@bepo:
i have to say, thise is exactly what they did on "new prince of tennis"and it seems to be working for them
I think it has some difference in where the series started off. Prince of Tennis has always had some level of going even beyond what would be "extra human". Although PoT started off somewhat grounded with things like ambidexterity or curved snake shots, it developed into quite a few superhuman feats. Things like the Tezuka Zone or the World of Ice or the State of Self Actualization or inducing the Yips in your opponent are all absurdities that defy any normal Tennis play, and it's not inconsistent in the series that they'd ramp up the powers (although I have heard that they have somehow gone beyond that with a particular scene of some super tough high schoolers defending the audience stands from getting annihilated from a shot). There was always a place for absurdity and for it to ramp up.
Soma and the rest of the chefs at the start, besides Nakiri's God Tongue (which isn't necessarily an asset to cooking, either), carefully strafed that line between implausable and impossible, and what I mean by that is that while it's absurd to think that a high school chef can produce the most elite of foodstuffs, the process of making it is still sound and grounded in actual food stuffs. Yes, you can use honey and pineapple to tenderize meat. Yes, you can use those fun little food kids to make seaweed balls to top your bento. As cyclone mentions, they've made actual recipes based on these things. Although Hayama had his extreme sense of smell, his dishes didn't hinge on using it to get an overwhelming advantage. He just had spicy dishes. Kurokiba was just really good with fish. The internal consistency of the series had young chefs that could do everything by themselves, but it was stuff that anyone could do (given enough time and help). It was intense and had a lot of pressure, but Soma and the gang just did "more" of what anyone else could theoretically do in real life.
Now you've got villains using obtuse objects like "Chainsaws" or "claws" or "your dad's old jock strap" as the basis of any dish that gets presented, and although the judges and onlookers try to describe how it would actually be a practical application, it almost certainly is not gastronomically sound and reproducible in real life. Part of it is, as Cyclone says, the fact that the absurd cooking is completely breezed over, but on the other hand, it's just really lazy writing in order to ramp up cooking techniques after they've clearly lost the effort to come up with actual ideas.
@DarthAsthma:
That the cooking has become more outlandish is not the same as there is no cooking though. And to me that is a direct result of obsessing over making things the coolest, most amazing, most tense, most highstakes battle every time. You wouldn't need to be this gimmicky if your foundation was being invested in the characters. I used to be invested in seeing Megumi grow and I was looking forward to explore other characters become the focus like she has and explore different types of cuisine that way.
I was even psyched about the rivalry with Aldini which basically became a joke instead.
I think it's pretty clear that you can see the slow downshift of quality after Aldini got shafted for copy bro and pulling dumbass results like the three way tie. Since then you could actively see people like the Polar Star Dorm being relegated to audience commentators while a slew of 1 time antagonist took the stage. Also following the cooking to that degree has never been the point. The way cooking has been displayed has always focused on making it dramatic and cool hence you get stuff like Souma juggling those egg dishes. There have been for sure several dishes even early in the series where I have a hard time imagining anyone cooking them straight from the manga pages and not from the recipes that were provided in the volumes. The ones that you could follow straight from the page I imagine are all on the simpler side like the chicken brooth and egg thingy. I also have a hard time imagining having a character like Alice be a key antagonist so early if the author intended the draw to be that readers can cook the dishes right after reading.
Reactions becoming lame is just over the passage of time the gimmick wears out and the only time you would care about that gimmick after all this time is if you cared about the characters that live through it. I can imagine the gimmick still working if the author build the judges as long time characters and made the foodgasms contrast their personality/design. Things of the Doujima magical cabbage girl variety rather than what we got now.
I'm also kind of reminded of Snyder DC movies. All flash no substance.
I agree with the general assessment of having stronger character pull giving for a better reaction, like Alice Nakiri being a likeable character and her reaction in the match vs Soma being memorable in spite of its relatively mundane execution. But when we talk about reactions being lame, at least for me, it's that the reactions are incredibly uninspired since the autumn festival. The golden age where we had the ramen stand fight. Subaru had his fun day at the amusement park. The Dojima magical cabbage girl is also great (from the previous arc). There was a variety of very inspired reactions that not only helped convey personality of characters experiencing it but also a general visceral experience of how the food would possibly taste (exaggerated, of course). Since at least the regiment, the quality of inspired reactions was basically just clothes being ripped off. A few things like David Rice thinking of Megumi like a mother, but everything has just become very routine rather than something with more personality.
And on the note of the writing, it's not that the writing before Azami was the latest and greatest, and tbh I would generally agree with halfmetal-lich's assessment early on that Aldini was going to be a victim of The Worf Effect, serving as the Yamcha of the series. The writing was always flawed, and we definitely criticized the three way finals back when it happened. Stakes have always been a bit contrived when you know Soma will always win when it counts (and most other times, too). But (this particular sentence isn't directed to you, DarthAsthma) people mistake our criticism of the writing here often thinking that we're looking for the creme de la creme, when all we want is at least the bare minimum, and that was definitely kept up through the apprenticeship arc. You had endearing characters in the core cast, and the excitement of the matches was in part because of what sorta dishes they'd conjure. I would argue that the enjoyment of the series rests on both the cooking and the character personalities, and if one is lacking, then the other will fall as well.
The series was carried by a good amount of personality in its character writing in its supporting cast as well as exploration of different parts of the culinary arts (from restaurant ownership in the apprenticeship parts to actual cooking). Alice's cooking is not easily reproducible at home, but everything she did is actually within the realm of reason and done at some high end restaurants, hence why the explanations for her dishes were also true to gastronomic principles as well. Even if you can't directly make it, it does teach you something about cooking and could serve as inspiration for something else. Her cooking was also a reflection of her priorities and personality. The dark chefs have culinary styles that go beyond actual practical application (and now straight up magic by stealing abilities by taking their knives… which was already Subaru's gimmick), and the cooking and tasting basically is glossed over now. Soma's odds of survival were never in question because the plot was fairly standard, but the audience could relate to the scenario more when the cooking was approachable instead. If we were to compare it to an action series, the series has basically lost its flow in choreography that allows the reader to follow the action. It certainly doesn't help that both protagonist and antagonist are bland af characters, either.
Simply put, the fact that talking about the nuances of owning a restaurant and line working is more exciting than the grand finale to the biggest cooking competition where "the best cooking" happens is a sign of both essential parts of the series having no heartbeat to speak of at this point in time.
that just shows how obvious it is the series has declined in substance and cohesion.
