Discussion Romance in Shokugeki no Soma

[Franckie]

Romance has never been a focal point. Regarding Souma, nothing has really happened thus far. Only two characters have confirmed feelings for him, Mayumi and Ikumi. Mayumi is nonexistent though and Ikuma's feelings are played for comedy. Pairing-wise, Souma will either end with Erina or Megumi considering current developments (e.g. his father's advice). Right now Megumi is the leading candidate since she is (1) the female lead, (2) Souma's cooking partner, and (3) her cooking philosophy is nigh-identical to Jouchirou's. Erina still has too many problems, ranging from her irrelevance to the main plot to being a Nakiri. If Souma were to marry Erina, he'd have to change his surname to Nakiri because of Erina's superior social-status, like what her father did when he changed his surname from Nakamura to Nakiri. And with the pride Souma takes in his family name, that development strikes me out-of-character for him. The two need more development before I can endorse Souma x Erina as plausible.

 

[JonDou]

If Souma were to marry Erina, he'd have to change his surname to Nakiri because of Erina's superior social-status, like what her father did when he changed his surname from Nakamura to Nakiri.

I feel there are signs Erina might be getting tired of being a Nakiri. She's proud of her family but I wonder if she is tired of being the God Tongue. They use her like a piece of lab equipment to test food. Hopefully she is beginning to realize how wrong that is. She will have to follow Soma and become Yukihira because I don't think Soma will want to become all formal and bend to the will of the Nakiri family.

 

[REN KOUEN]

it seems the yukihira / erina romance is almost being forced at this point, i kinda feel bad for the other girls as they cannot really compete with erina-chi

 

[JonDou]

it seems the yukihira / erina romance is almost being forced at this point, i kinda feel bad for the other girls as they cannot really compete with erina-chi

I know what you mean and so many are so very sure Erina x Soma will happen. Romance seems to be the furthest thing from Soma's mind right now and his relationship with Erina has so far only been a rivalry, so I don't see the evidence for them to become an item except for some tweet from Tsukuda that only a handful of fans saw. He's the son of a chef she admired, but what a shallow reason to fall for someone? She finds him irritating and he thinks she's arrogant. Not the stuff of successful romance (see the 1973 movie, The Way We Were) I'm still hoping Tuskuda won't abandon Megumi and she and Soma will get to walk into the sunset together.....

This next chapter could set the tone for what the future of their relationship will be, but I think if will focus more on Erina getting her mojo back.

 

[TotalEconomist]

@JonDou The author said that Erina would be the first option and nothing more.

Which means it can go anyway in the end.

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 15, 2016, Original Post Date: Jun 15, 2016 ---

I feel there are signs Erina might be getting tired of being a Nakiri. She's proud of her family but I wonder if she is tired of being the God Tongue. They use her like a piece of lab equipment to test food. Hopefully she is beginning to realize how wrong that is. She will have to follow Soma and become Yukihira because I don't think Soma will want to become all formal and bend to the will of the Nakiri family.

That's what I think as well, plus it's Soma's dream to carry on the Yukihira tradition.

Personally, I think Jou is similar in this regard and chose to dodge the Saiba name because he hated the pressure.

Who ever marries Alice will probably take on the Nakiri name though

 

[REN KOUEN]

I know what you mean and so many are so very sure Erina x Soma will happen. Romance seems to be the furthest thing from Soma's mind right now and his relationship with Erina has so far only been a rivalry, so I don't see the evidence for them to become an item except for some tweet from Tsukuda that only a handful of fans saw. He's the son of a chef she admired, but what a shallow reason to fall for someone? She finds him irritating and he thinks she's arrogant. Not the stuff of successful romance (see the 1973 movie, The Way We Were) I'm still hoping Tuskuda won't abandon Megumi and she and Soma will get to walk into the sunset together.....

This next chapter could set the tone for what the future of their relationship will be, but I think if will focus more on Erina getting her mojo back.

well the beginnings have been set in motion

he wanted her to have yukihira style cooking again when he heard about her relationship with pops
old man nakiri asked him to save erina
erina keeps having the whole romance starry eyed moments
erina who never wolfs down any food wolfed down the tempura egg don

im not against these two being together, and i know this manga isnt primarily a romance manga

i just dont like when the shipping is this obvious.

 

[Zekiel]

I know what you mean and so many are so very sure Erina x Soma will happen. Romance seems to be the furthest thing from Soma's mind right now and his relationship with Erina has so far only been a rivalry, so I don't see the evidence for them to become an item except for some tweet from Tsukuda that only a handful of fans saw. He's the son of a chef she admired, but what a shallow reason to fall for someone? She finds him irritating and he thinks she's arrogant. Not the stuff of successful romance (see the 1973 movie, The Way We Were) I'm still hoping Tuskuda won't abandon Megumi and she and Soma will get to walk into the sunset together.....

This next chapter could set the tone for what the future of their relationship will be, but I think if will focus more on Erina getting her mojo back.

She finds him irritating only when he's acting pushy if you will.... she finds him as a friend now. Jou wont be the reason she falls for him.... it will be because he gave her a new foundation to stand on......not because he's his son....... he's bringing the joy of cooking back in her life along with joy in general.....

--- Double Post Merged, Jun 15, 2016, Original Post Date: Jun 15, 2016 ---

well the beginnings have been set in motion

he wanted her to have yukihira style cooking again when he heard about her relationship with pops
old man nakiri asked him to save erina
erina keeps having the whole romance starry eyed moments
erina who never wolfs down any food wolfed down the tempura egg don

im not against these two being together, and i know this manga isnt primarily a romance manga

i just dont like when the shipping is this obvious.

to me its better that way.... and it breaks the trope.... of major development not happening until the end of the manga.......... The development is happening early so one could have the cd come through faster and more efficiently

 

[Akia999]

As Soma and Erina relationship stand right now, they are leaning toward good friends. While I'm sure there will be some ship teasing when Christmas come, I prefer that they stay friends until they are older.

I'm noticing a trend whenever there is any "shipping moment", the shipper go : "OMG when they are going to go a date?! When are they going to confess?! When they are going to bang each other?! When they are going to get marry?! When are they going to have children?!"
Some are treating them as husband & wife...
Talk about thinking WAY ahead in the future.

The last thing I want is a rushed romance relationship because the shipper must get what they want...
I want to see these two have a more solid relationship before embarking on a romantic relationship. I hope the author take his time to slowly do that (Well, it did took nearly 200 chapters for them to be friends.)

Let's face it, most of the characters in this series are more focused on their cooking than any sort of romantic relationship. The author can tease all he want but I don't think there will be any ships confirm when they are still in high school.

Shinomiya is still single up till now & he had 2 girls pinning after him.lol
Though one of his friends did say he had went on dates but all his relationship failed...He's not as bad as Soma who doesn't care about romance.lol

Alice and Ryou have strong relationship with another but it's clearly not romantic at this point. Ryou & Alice cares more about honing their cooking skills at their stage.
The same with Rindou & Eishi who are good friends. Rindou is more interested in eating & Eishi only cares for his cooking.

If it was up to me, I would prefer them being in a romantic relationship when they are adults or after graduation. Meanwhile, they can be best friends.
You can LOVE your friends in a platonic sense. Joichiro famous quote only say "to find a woman you want to cook for". It does not mean "romantic love" only. So Soma & Erina can start out as "platonic love" before moving to "romantic love" at the epilogue.

My ideal epilogue will be:
Just like his dad, Soma travelled around the world and eventually became the owner of Yukihira restaurant when he is in his 20s.
One day, a rich customers walks in aka Nakiri Erina, the heiress of the Nakiri empire.
Cue flashbacks of their interaction during the younger days for nostalgia factor.
They catch up and tease each other.
Soma serve her a dish and she give a joking tsundere respond (which irritate him) before saying it's delicious with a genuine smile which makes Soma happy. (She has already say it was delicious once)
They then reaffirm their friendship & love for one another (with any promises if any) and continue chatting with each other.
Cue Joichirou quote from the beginning and the series end.

 

[Brandish μ]

I like how there really isn't a romance focus in the manga, as they can concentrate on cooking.

But, if it happens, I think Erina x Souma will happen. IIRC, Joichirou said to Souma early on about "cooking for the woman you love". Erina is the God tongue, and it would be kinda cheesy but also cool if Souma became a better cook to make something really delicious for Erina. Right now I don't see Souma as romantically interested. Erina though, I think so. She's getting flustered an awful lot with Souma recently, and opens up to him. And she had a bit of a crush on the old man too, so maybe it's easy for her to swap Also she reads a lot of shoujo so won't be surprised if she's thinking romance a lot.

Another ship for me is Alice x Ryo. They're pretty cool together, but also from the anime I remember when Alice's mum ate something and it felt like she ran off with a lover, imo that silhouette was just like Ryo. Add this to their story from kids, and how they are now, I like this ship.

 

[-Ken-]

I know what you mean and so many are so very sure Erina x Soma will happen. Romance seems to be the furthest thing from Soma's mind right now and his relationship with Erina has so far only been a rivalry, so I don't see the evidence for them to become an item except for some tweet from Tsukuda that only a handful of fans saw. He's the son of a chef she admired, but what a shallow reason to fall for someone? She finds him irritating and he thinks she's arrogant. Not the stuff of successful romance (see the 1973 movie, The Way We Were) I'm still hoping Tuskuda won't abandon Megumi and she and Soma will get to walk into the sunset together.....

This next chapter could set the tone for what the future of their relationship will be, but I think if will focus more on Erina getting her mojo back.

You mean........... The last 2 pages of the very first chapter series is not enough....?