List of Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma characters

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma is a manga series written by Yūto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki.

Main characters

Sōma Yukihira (幸平 創真 Yukihira Sōma)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (anime)

He is the son of Jōichirō Saiba and worked at his father's restaurant, Yukihira, until it was closed. Despite strong discrimination of his background at the academy, he aspires to use the school as a stepping stone towards his cooking dreams. He is currently a student at Tōtsuki Culinary Academy and a resident of Polar Star Dormitory. Sōma isn't afraid of any challenge that he either gets himself in or gets involved with. He even challenges his father to cooking matches regularly. Despite losing every time, he maintains a confident attitude in the hopes of using his failures to aid him in the future. He is not afraid to challenge anyone, which is seen when he challenges Satoshi Isshiki or Kojirō Shinomiya to a Shokugeki. Sōma is a very confident and positive person, though he can be quite dense when it comes to romantic matters or his rivalry with Takumi Aldini, which he sometimes takes it in a light-hearted manner. He can be serious too when it is needed. Despite many of his classmates having hostile feelings towards him, Sōma has a very friendly, cheerful and energetic personality and gets along with everyone in the Polar Star Dormitory and even some of his other classmates. He does have a tendency to create experimental "special dishes" and have his friends taste them, even though most of these are terrible; something he shares with his father. Sōma's specialty is common cooking, making artful dishes out of common and/or cheap ingredients and using common Japanese dishes (i.e. curry or beef bowls) as bases for his dishes during competition. After the Stagiaire Period, he begins to develop his own specialty by taking cooking skills from different cooking styles and applying them to his own cooking. During the first day of Erina's father, Azami, as Tōtsuki's new director, Soma talks with the previous director, Senzaemon, and learns that it was Senzaemon who advised Jōichirō to have Soma transfer to Tōtsuki. Once he learns of his father's ties with the Nakiri and of Erina's darker past caused by Azami, Soma indirectly agrees to help him as he has not forgotten how Erina berated his cooking when they first met and swears to make her say that his food is delicious. After Erina is put in the Polar Star dorm's care, and before Hisako's departure back to her home to hide her involvement in Erina's escape from Azami, Soma is told by her about Azami's plan on using a people like his own daughter, Erina, as one of the primary tools for his regime. After defeating Eizan in Shokugeki by forcing him and his corrupted judges to play more fair and square, Sōma gives the message for those like Azami and his subordinates, even either if some are Elite 10 or not, who tries to underestimate his and the other students' high potential cooking skills as a true chefs, as the means of declaring a war against Azami and the Central, Soma's action spawned two major consequences: since he is now a primary target and potential threats to Azami's administrations, and more of supporters and faculties from previous Azami's regime he gained will support and/or assist him and the Polar Star Dorm.

Currently, the only individuals who now knows Soma's identity as Joichiro's son is Senzaemon Nakiri, the residence of Sumire Town, the current residence of Polar Star Dorm, the former Polar Star residence Gin Doujima, Jun Shiomi and Azami Nakiri né Nakamura, Akira Hayama, Erina Nakiri, Hisako Arato, and the Aldini brothers.

Erina Nakiri (薙切 えりな Nakiri Erina)

Voiced by: Risa Taneda (anime)

The main female protagonist and primary antagonistic rival to Sōma Yukihira, until becoming more of a friendly rivalry. Due to her background as one of the prestigious families of high class Japanese food chain industry, the Tōtsuki Corporation, Erina often looks down upon whoever is considered "common" and unjust to her taste due to her family regal pedigree. Having a fearsome reputation for her God's Tongue to taste any food and accurately describe the taste, Erina is able to disqualify anyone whose dish tastes "bad" and her foul critique could break chef and student alike. However, she also gives credit to chefs with skill (other than Souma); for example, in ch.109 she treats Megumi quite well, offering her a ride in her car for part of the journey and praising Megumi's skill, saying that she should have more confidence in herself, adding that she was surprised that someone with her level of skill has gone unnoticed. Also in ch.108 she defends Megumi from an extremely hostile chef so that she can voice out her suggestions which was later proven correct by a staff member. She appears to admire Sōma's father, Jōichirō, but does not know that Sōma is his son. She is also shown to have feelings for Soma, although she does not realise it herself. She is extremely competitive as shown in Ch. 29, she lost a game of Uno to Hisako and determines that they must have a match in Othello.

Erina is the only daughter of Azami Nakiri/Nakamura and an unnamed mother who is Senzaemon's biological daughter. Azami was the one who first taught Erina about cooking as well as developing her "God Tongue". However, his "training" was nothing more than abuse and brainwashing which left her traumatized by his presence and lead to Azami being exiled from the Nakiri family and Tōtsuki Academy. Following this, Erina was taken in by her grandfather, Senzaemon who later asked Jouichirou Saiba/Yukihira to properly train Erina to recover her. Despite her recovery is at a progress, thanks to Joichiro, Alice, Hisako and both of her uncle Natsu and aunt Leonora, Azami's dark influence still intact in her, something she and everyone else (including her grandfather) didn't realize at all. Years later during the last day of the Moon Banquet Festival, Azami returns and visits Erina's restaurant, much to her shock and fright. Azami explains his stand on what "real gourmet food" is and somehow convinces six members of the Elite Ten to accept him as Senzaemon's replacement as Tōtsuki's director. Azami then fires Hisako from her secretary position causing Erina's emotional condition to worsen, unable to free herself from her father's manipulation. That fear turns Erina into nothing more than his puppet. She is later convinced by Alice to leave the Nakiri mansion where it is revealed that Azami tore all the letters Alice sent to Erina from Denmark when they were kids. They are later taken by Megumi to the Polar Star Dormitory after getting caught in the rain. The residents are told of Erina's history by Hisako and they immediately accept her and even ask her to taste their food. However, it did not last long, as Hisako warned Soma that Erina is one of Azami's primary tools for his regime. After having lived in the Polar Star dorm, she finds the residents quite mysterious because they not only defy her God's Tongue (something that had never hapened before), but also find answers she would have never thought of. During her first stay in Polar Star after escaping from her father, Erina witnessed Joichiro's shadow on Soma, while cooking for her. Later, at night after Soma's victory against Eizan and a restoration of Shokugeki systems during Azami's visits on the dorm to "see how her daughter well" and leaves again as Soma goes to Azami for a chat before he left, Erina goes find Soma and soon learn that Soma is in fact Joichiro's son, when Soma noticed on what Azami referring about Saiba, telling him that Joichiro is his father, along with Hisako and Aldini brothers, when Yoshino shows the picture of the current Polar Star residents, rendering Erina becomes speechless and regrets on insulting Joichiro's son, Soma to think he is just a lowlife in fatal mistake, and yet becomes willingly to help him since he's her idol's son, for the sake of his father. She also worries if her father's non-sense speeches, and anything to do with Joichiro bothers Soma, but Soma replies to her that past is past and must think about the brighter future to get over it. As the Polar Star Dorm members, including Aldini brothers and Hisako are divided into 3 members on each 4 teams to reconnaissance at the stadium where the Survival's purge is held, Erina is currently under cares of Isshiki, who is no longer an Elite Ten.

Megumi Tadokoro (田所 恵 Tadokoro Megumi)

Voiced by: Minami Takahashi (anime)

She is one of the main characters of the manga. Originating from the snowy outstation in Japan, Megumi went to Tōtsuki Culinary Academy to become a chef and dreams of eventually helping her mother run their Ryokan, giving up a table tennis scholarship at a prestigious high school to attend the Academy. Unfortunately, even with her neat skills in cooking, Megumi's poor social skills and her extreme stage fright get the best of her and because of this she does not do well in the early days of her time at the academy. It wasn't until she met Sōma and partnered with him in their first class together that she has shown signs of her confidence growing throughout the series. After witnessing Sōma's incredible cooking skills and creative method of cooking, Megumi would become his assist partner and friend throughout the series. She is also a resident of the Polar Star Dormitory and is great friends with the other female residents, Ryōko Sakaki and Yūki Yoshino. The secret weapon in her cooking is hospitality, which creates a feeling of familial love and nostalgia (once regressing an arrogant chef to his childhood in the Japanese countryside) in those who eat her dishes. She also has a very motherly nature as seen during the cooking class she taught in for small children. In Chapter 61, it is hinted that Megumi has developed feelings for Sōma. She was defeated in the quarter-finals of the tournament by Ryō Kurokiba in a match represented by fantasy battles that pay homage to series such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Sukeban Deka.

During the Stagiaire Period, she partnered with Erina in a French restaurant and survived thanks to Erina's bravery in taking over the restaurant from its ruthless chef. After Soma challenges Kuga Terunori during the Moon Banquet Festival, she helps Soma run his booth and they are later assisted by Mimasaka Subaru. On the eve of the festival's last day, Kobayashi Rindou invites Megumi and Soma to Eishi Tsukasa's booth/restaurant where she witnesses the skills of Elite Ten's First Seat as well the return of Nakiri Azami who was appointed Tōtsuki's new director. The next evening, Megumi discovers Erina, Alice, Ryou, and Hisako, who had escaped the Nakiri mansion, behind the Polar Star Dorm and invites them in to escape the pouring rain. Upon learning the truth about Erina from Hisako, Megumi, along with the rest of the dorm's residents happily accept Erina as a new resident. During a Shokugeki between Soma and Eizan, where Eizan uses his dirty trick to make Soma loose by sending his corrupted accomplishes from Tetsuji's match against him as his judge, and his minions to destroy Polar Star and kidnaps Erina back to Azami, Megumi refuse to let the dorm falls, as she believe Soma in the faith of herself her dorm-mates, Erina, Hisako and Fumio, to defend the dorm, with the inclusion of the barricade equipments from the Golden era Polar Star Dorm from Eizan's minions until Soma won the Shokugeki. As Soma wons the Shokugeki into making Eizan and his corrupted associates to play fair, the Polar Star is save, with Megumi and her friends are happy about it. As the survival hunt Shokugeki on the other remaining food culture clubs set by Azami on sending his elitist Central student members to do it beings, Megumi, along with Marui's respective food culture clubs they are in, are not involved in the hunt's first round.

Polar Star Dormitory

The Polar Star Dormitory is a student residence house within Tōtsuki Academy, intended to house less affluent students that do not have their own means of residence and transportation to the academy. The dormitory gained prominence when two of its past members - Gin Doujima and Jōichirō Saiba - became the first two seats of the Tōtsuki Elite Ten and won considerable funding and territory for the building's expansion. The current Polar Star Dormitory houses the seventh seat of the Elite Ten—Satoshi Isshiki—as well as a number of talented students, including both Soma Yukihira and Megumi Tadokoro. According to Fumio, the dorm has plenty of Elite Ten resided in this dorm during a Golden era.

In order to become a resident, a student must first complete a test by cooking a satisfying meal for the dormitory manager. In addition to housing, the dormitory also provides vegetable gardens, workshops, and other facilities that are cared by and utilized by its residents. As proof of their strength, six out of the eight members of the dormitory competed during the Tōtsuki Autumn Election, and all six received very high scores (above 80) in the elimination phase. Out of the six, Sōma and Megumi placed in the top 4 of their blocks and advanced to the quarterfinals of the main tournament.

After Azami has compromised all faculties around Totsuki, such as the food culture clubs and the administrators, even the Shokugeki, Polar Star is about to be demolished in ten days later. Until on the nine days left, Soma challenges Eizan to not only protecting Polar Star from being demolished, also for himself without having the residence involved. However, Eizan has gone too far on trying to make Soma lose easily, not only having his bribed judges to vote him again like he did to Kabutoyama, but also sending his subordinates to demolish it immediately, even after Soma finishes his cooking. Apparently, thanks to the powerful barricade furniture left by a Golden era students like Jun, Gin and Joichiro, Polar Star Dorm's security is too powerful against those who wants to destroy the dorm, as Fumio state during the dorms' raid by a grudged students afterward, it was settled with a Shokugeki to end the conflict on Polar Star. In the end, though Eizan's subordinates' demolition on the dorm has been forfeit after Soma defeats Eizan, Polar Star members, and mostly Soma is now Azami and the Central's potential threat and their primary targets. For the record, besides Jun Shiomi, Azami Nakamura use to be a resident of this dorm, but later betrays his dorm-mates after Joichiro witness Azami's evilness in him on attempt to destroy the Totsuki's school system, thus leaving the school without graduating by purpose without his old friend knowing as well.

Fumio Daimidō (大御堂 ふみ緒 Daimidō Fumio)

Voiced by: Mari Yokoo, Hitomi Nabatame (young) (anime)

Fumio is an elderly lady with blond, spiked hair combed backwards. She is the warden of the Polar Star dormitory, and administers the cooking test that all prospective residents must pass before being admitted to the dormitory. At first appearing to be intimidating and stern, Fumio is revealed to be a caring mother figure to the Polar Star students. She was happy when six of the Polar Star students were chosen for the Autumn Elections, calling it a resurgence of the dorm's Golden Era.

Fumio holds pride in the past achievements of the dormitory, when Gin Dōjima and Jōichirō Saiba represented the dormitory as the first and second seat of the Elite ten. She still maintains contact with Gin, and would receive Jōichirō on his sporadic visits. She was surprised upon finding out that Soma is Jōichirō's son, and thereafter showed considerable interest in his development. After Azami becomes the new director for his tyrannical ambition, Fumio seems to know who Azami is well, warned Soma not to engage against Elite Ten all the sudden until the young Yukihira found the way to prepare himself, and felt the situation of the academy won't be last long, which will turn into nothing more than dystopian academy on the later days.

Satoshi Isshiki (一色 慧 Isshiki Satoshi)

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (anime)

The current seventh seat of the Elite Ten and a sophomore student at Tōtsuki Academy, Satoshi Isshiki is a handsome and care-free boy with a penchant for wearing nothing but an apron and a fundoshi, even when working outdoors. He is very supportive of his underclassmen at Polar Star, and is one of the first to recognize Soma's talent upon his acceptance into the dormitory. Two days before the Autumn Election, around the same time when Joichirō temporarily returns to his former dorm place to check on his son, Satoshi was entrusted by Joichirō to watch over Polar Star for him, which he accepts. He learned that Eizan uses a dirty trick to get Soma expelled due to his loss on Karaage Wars by the young Yukihira, such as making a false info about Soma Yukihira, and arranging the tournament finals for Mimasaka against Takumi for semi final, as the arrangement for the semi final was originally meant for Takumi and Soma's rivalry, lectures Eizan not to underestimate Soma's true skills, which Eizan didn't after Azami took the title as a new director. He is one of the four members of the Elite Ten who did not accept Azami as the new director, the fact that he did not know if there will be a new director after the last Moon Banquet Festival. Believing his dorm-mates fighting spirits on protecting their home dorm through their bonds of friendships are way powerful, thanks to the presence of Joichiro's son, Soma to revived the Golden era days, and restoring Totsuki's lost honor on the "Cooking is Everything" motto, Isshiki now knows whom Azami is, and had been planning a coup against his administration. He also had his senior, Rindou act as an undercover informer for him, through observing Soma and his allies, to enact their plan on restoring Totsuki from Azami's hand. He did regret on unable to do anything to save his dorm and dorm-mates from Azami's regime due to himself being Elite Ten member, and because he believes Soma will led an unity to restore Totsuki back to its rightful place from Azami, Isshiki praises Soma on defeating Eizan from the match-fixing cheat tricks that was set up by him and Azami, restoring Shokugeki policy in the first victory against Azami's regime. Being one of the known four Elite Ten who did not vote Azami, but unlike Erina, Isshiki, along with Terunori and Tosuke are no longer an Elite Ten during Azami's regime, and Eizan's defeat by Soma yesterday, and most of all due to having a potential of forming a rebellion against Azami's rules. Isshiki knows his and his two friends' dismissals from being Elite Ten will happen since they didn't vote Azami as a director and attempt to propose it, and he already fully met Joichiro. As the survival hunt Shokugeki on the other remaining food culture clubs set by Azami on sending his elitist Central student members to do it begins, Isshiki had been planning the arrangement of a more legal Shokugeki rules and tells his friends about the Central's hunt match on the other food culture clubs before he was kick out from the council.

Yūki Yoshino (吉野 悠姫 Yoshino Yūki)

Voiced by: Maaya Uchida (anime)

Yūki is a petit, energetic girl with odango and a first year student residing in Polar Star. She is the most hyperactive of the dormitory's residents, often acting childishly, teasing the other students, and reacting to situations with exaggerated mannerisms. She has a flat chest, and as a running gag, is often shown to be envious of more well-endowed students like Ryōko, though Ryōko and Megumi remain her closest friends in the dormitory. Yūki is also frequently shown reacting in exasperation to Soma's antics.

Yūki's specialty is cooking wild game. She raises and breeds a large number of game animals in the dormitory, including both deer and boar. During the Autumn Elections, she prepared a wild game curry that won high praises from the judges, finishing 7th overall in her block, but she was ultimately defeated and failed to advance to the main tournament.

After Azami has compromised all faculties around Totsuki, such as the food culture clubs and the administrators, even the Shokugeki, as Polar Star is about to be demolished in ten days later, she and her friends are sad about the situation they will ended up with. After Soma won the Shokugeki against Eizan, as the demolition of the Polar Star Dorm, where Yuki and his friends defending the dorm using the Golden era's equipments has been forfeited, Yuki and his friends are saved.

Ryōko Sakaki (榊 涼子 Sakaki Ryōko)

Voiced by: Ai Kayano (anime)

Ryōko is a tall, mature-looking girl with long purple hair, orange eyes, and a large bust. She is gentle and kind, responding to the eccentrics of the other Polar Star residents in a level-headed manner and comforting the other students when they are troubled. Ryōko's specialty is fermented foods due to her parents owning a well-known fermented goods shop, and she maintains a workshop near the dorms to produce her own ingredients. She also keeps a bottle of "fermented rice drink" that she would sometimes bring out during parties and celebrations, which Soma suspects is actually illegally brewed sake.

During the Autumn Elections, she presented a "Curry Soy-Natto Rice" using charcoal-fermented natto and homemade rice sauce fermented with koji. The dish garnered praise from the judges, who suddenly felt as if they were in a festival as part of "Fermented Foods Sakaki Main Store" due to the quintessentially Japanese and festive taste of the dish. though she ultimately only took 7th place in her block and failed to advance to the main tournament.

After Azami has compromised all faculties around Totsuki, such as the food culture clubs and the administrators, even the Shokugeki, as Polar Star is about to be demolished in ten days later, she and her friends are sad about the situation they will ended up with. After Soma won the Shokugeki against Eizan, as the demolition of the Polar Star Dorm, where Ryoko and her friends defending the dorm using the Golden era's equipments has been forfeited, Ryoko and her friends are saved.

Shun Ibusaki (伊武崎 峻 Ibusaki Shun)

Voiced by: Taishi Murata (anime)

Shun, usually going by his last name Ibusaki, is a first-year resident of Polar Star. He has messy hair that usually covers his eyes, and has a quiet nature. Ibusaki is shown to be very calm and perceptive; he quickly noticed that Satoshi was holding back during his informal competition with Soma, and was one of the few students that remained calm during the grueling breakfast challenge despite mounting pressure.

Ibusaki's specialty is smoked food. Like many of the other Polar Star students, he would often use the dormitory lounge for smoking food, and would hand-chop the wood he uses. He presented a curry using an array of applewood-smoked items during the Autumn Election Preliminaries, including smoked eggs and smoked salt. He was given the nickname "Prince of Smoke" for this dish, placing 5th in his block alongside Marui, but was ultimately eliminated.

During a Stagiare on saving a French restaurant, which was almost bankrupt, Shun thought about his friends Soma and Megumi, whose cooking level are now higher than him during an Autumn Election tournament, and want to remain work in the restaurant, in order to surpass his friend's cooking level. After Azami has compromised all faculties around Totsuki, such as the food culture clubs and the administrators, even the Shokugeki, Shun recklessly remain cooking a smoked food, thus ended up being scold by the outside lecturers sent by Azami for not following their recipes. As Polar Star is about to be demolished in ten days later, he and his friends are sad about the situation they will ended up with. Upon hearing Eizan's challenge while his friends trying to stop Soma to do something reckless, Shun acknowledge Soma well to protect his friends from being involved. However, as Eizan has gone too far on not only using his bribed judges, Shun witnesses Eizan's subordinates are in front of the dorm to demolish it to threaten Soma into losing quickly, even after Soma finishes his cooking. After Soma won the Shokugeki against Eizan, as the demolition of the Polar Star Dorm, where Shun and his friends defending the dorm using the Golden era's equipments has been forfeited, Shun and his friends are saved.

Zenji Marui (丸井 善二 Marui Zenji)

Voiced by: Yūsuke Kobayashi (anime)

Zenji, usually going by his last name Marui, is a first-year student and resident of Polar Star. He has a bookworm-like look, with bobbed hair and oversized glasses, and is shown to have poor stamina. Among the Polar Star students, he was the most exhausted by the Summer Training Camp curriculum, comically shown to be in near-death on several occasions. Despite this, he is a very competitive chef. He has no specialization; instead, he researched cooking styles from all over the world and employs them as needed to make unique, free-style dishes.

During the Autumn Elections, he presented a "White Porage Curry Udon" using cooking methods dating back to 1920. This dish was praised by judges, giving him an exceptional score of 88 - tied with Ibusaki for 5th in his block - though ultimately not enough to advance to the main tournament. As a running gag, and despite his protests, Marui's room in Polar Star is often commandeered by his dorm mates for hosting parties and other social activities. This has even extended to his hotel room during the Summer Training Camp, with the other students actively remarking that they should play cards "in Marui's room".

After Azami has compromised all faculties around Totsuki, such as the food culture clubs and the administrators, even the Shokugeki, Marui has investigate the dissolution of all food culture clubs, informing Megumi what happen. As Polar Star is about to be demolished in ten days later, he and his friends are sad about the situation they will ended up with. After Soma won the Shokugeki against Eizan, as the demolition of the Polar Star Dorm, where Marui and his friends defending the dorm using the Golden era's equipments has been forfeited, Marui and his friends are saved, after he witnessed Soma have won the match on TV and calls his friends a good news about it. As the survival hunt Shokugeki on the other remaining food culture clubs set by Azami on sending his elitist Central student members to do it begins, Marui, along with Megumi's respective food culture clubs they are in, are not involved in the hunt's first round.

Daigo Aoki (青木 大吾 Aoki Daigo) and Shōji Satō (佐藤 昭二 Satō Shōji)

Voiced by: Junichi Yanagita (Daigo) (anime)

Voiced by: Kengo Kawanishi (Shōji) (anime)

These two are constantly fighting, but they are united when it comes to defending the honor of the dormitory and its members. These two fought since they were in middle school when Aoki stole Sato's favorite toy. Aoki thought it would be funny to get revenge by ruining one of Sato's dishes by adding salt to it during one of their cook offs. Ever since then they continue to fight over everything.

Despite their lack of screen time compared to the other members of the Polar Star dorm, they are apparently skilled cooks as they were not only accepted into the Polar Star dorm but they also survived the Summer Training Camp and passed the Stagiaire Period, the latter both of which are incredibly difficult to pass and all who fail are mercilessly expelled from Tōtsuki Academy.

Supporting characters

Takumi Aldini (タクミ・アルディーニ Takumi Arudīni)

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae (anime)

Takumi is the oldest nephew of the owner of the Trattoria Aldini, a trattoria located in Florence, Italy. He is half-Japanese, but unlike his brother Isami, he appears more European - with blonde hair and blue eyes - and is noted as being extremely handsome to the point of having his own fan club, both in Tōtsuki academy and in his hometown. He enrolled in Tōtsuki at the behest of his uncle, taking with him his mezzaluna and a bottle of homemade olive oil as a good luck charm. Takumi is a talented chef. His specialty is Italian cuisine, although many professional chefs noted that he has a broad vision, willing to use methods and ingredients that lesser chefs would not easily have come up with. He has demonstrated that he is not limited by his specialty; like Soma, he is willing to mix Italian cuisine with ingredients and methods from other unassociated culinary styles to create inventive dishes, and if necessary, is capable of modifying his recipes in a short time. He is a notably more gifted chef than his brother, and patrons of the trattoria frequently would request his cooking. Despite this, he is very kind and supportive of his brother, to the point of risking his pride and his mezzaluna - his memento from his home - to defend Isami's honor.

Takumi has a fierce (and somewhat one-sided) rivalry with Soma. As he, too, has first-hand experience working at a small restaurant, Takumi sees Soma as someone similar to himself and, thus, a worthy rival and will jump at any chance to compete with him. He frequently tries to challenge Soma to informal cooking challenges (usually leading to an embarrassing situation for himself), hoping to one day defeat Soma in a formal Shokugeki challenge. Despite their rivalry, both he and Soma greatly respect each other, and likely view each other as friends outside of the arena. Takumi's dish for the Autumn Election Preliminaries is the Naporitan Curry Fettucine. Appearing like a normal Italian dish at first glance, the dish was made with curry in place of pasta sauce and with cheese kneaded in-between two layers of pasta. It earned praise from the judges, and Takumi placed 3rd in his block, thus advancing to the quarterfinals of the main tournament.

Before the quarterfinals, Subaru angered Takumi into betting his mezzaluna by insulting his brother. However, despite improving his dish at the last minute, his recipe - a lemon-flavored semifreddo with limoncello - was unexpectedly copied and improved by his opponent, Subaru, leading to his loss. Soma wins back his mezzaluna (along with all of the other tools that Subaru has taken) after defeating Subaru in a Shokugeki held parallel with their semi-final match, but Takumi tells Soma to keep it until he can win it back. During the Moon Banquet Festival, he and Isami open a booth calling it a branch of "Trattoria Aldini" and gains the highest sales in their area for the festival. Upon seeing Soma, Megumi, and Subaru struggle with their booth against Kuga Terunori's booth, he and Isami offers to help and are later joined by Ikumi. Their assistance would ultimately cause Soma's booth to gain first place in sales for the festival's fourth day. Days later, after Azami Nakiri becomes Tōtsuki's new director, the brothers meet up with Soma about Azami's recent announcement on making the Tōtsuki into a dystopian academy, as well as being told about Erina's history with Azami before the announcement starts.

He along with his brother are also the main characters of the Shokugeki no Soma-Fratelli Aldini spinoff manga which focuses on their times in Italy before going to Japan to Tootsuki.

Isami Aldini (イサミ・アルディーニ Isami Arudīni)

Voiced by: Yūki Ono (anime)

Isami is Takumi's brother, and the younger nephew of the owner of "Trattoria Aldini". Unlike his brother, he has a more Japanese appearance, with black hair and sharp eyes. Isami is originally shown to be overweight, with his eyes and mouth drawn in a simple fashion, although he became much thinner during the Autumn Election preliminaries. Like Isami, he enrolled in Tōtsuki at the behest of his uncle to hone his skills.

Isami is a good chef, although he is less talented than his brother. He was scolded for trying to (and failing to) revise a dish that Takumi had made during their time in the trattoria, and constantly sought to be praised for his cooking like Takumi. Though Isami is supportive of his brother, he does aims to eventually surpass him as a cook. Nonetheless, the brothers are very close to each other.

At the Autumn Election preliminaries, he presented a tomato curry calzone that was praised by the judges. He aimed to surpass his brother's score with the dish, but ultimately finished 5th in his block (tied with Hojo) and was eliminated. He tried to support Takumi in his quarterfinals match against Subaru Mimasaka, and was devastated when Takumi lost to his own dish. He and Takumi would open their own booth naming it a branch of "Trattoria Aldini" during the Moon Banquet Festival which gained first place in sales in their area.

He along with his brother are also the main characters of the Shokugeki no Soma-Fratelli Aldini spinoff manga which focuses on their times in Italy before going to Japan to Tootsuki.

Ikumi Mito (水戸 郁魅 Mito Ikumi)

Voiced by: Shizuka Ishigami (anime)

Ikumi is another first-year student who specializes in meat-based dishes, and later, in meat-based donburi. She is often called "Nikumi," a portmanteau of the Japanese word for "meat" and her given name, although she strongly dislikes when most people use this nickname (Her family name, "Mito" is also a reference to the English word "meat."). Although initially an antagonist, she later becomes a close friend of Soma and the denizens of the Polar Star Dormitory. She is considered very beautiful and is known for her provocative and revealing attire, often cooking in little more than a bikini. She is the presumptive heir to a large meat distributor, and is used to using exceptionally high quality ingredients in dishes she makes. She first appears early in the manga while attempting to take over the Don Research Society's clubroom at Erina Nakiri's order. Her callous behavior led Soma to challenge her to a beef bowl themed Shokugeki, under the stipulation that she would join the Don Research Society if she lost. Despite using the highest of high grade beef cuts, she lost because she didn't make it in such a way that the whole bowl could be eaten at once, with the beef on top ending up filling the judges' stomachs so well that they couldn't finish the rice underneath. She was forced to join the Don society and grew to respect bowls, to the point of making a beef bowl during the Autumn Election group stage. Ikumi also developed an obvious crush on Soma after he defeated her in a shokugeki, and often goes out of her way to help him (despite her tsundere tendency to claim otherwise).

Ikumi's talent with meat lies in her incredibly sensitive lips, allowing her to accurately judge the temperature of meat with just a single taste. She also specializes in using A5 grade beef, which is so tender that it doesn't even have to be chewed. She did not reach the main tournament of the Election, having been eliminated in the preliminaries. During the Moon Banquet Festival, Ikumi and the now-successful Don RS opened a booth which placed third in sales in their area. Days later, after Azami Nakiri was made Tōtsuki's new director, he announced his new curriculum wherein all clubs, seminars, and research societies are to be disbanded which naturally caused outrage among the students. Ikumi is seen as one of the student who oppose the new curriculum.

Hisako Arato (新戸 緋沙子 Arato Hisako)

Voiced by: Saori Ōnishi (anime)

Erina's secretary and close friend, Hisako specializes in medicinal-based dishes. She thinks of Erina as the best, and that she could only be her number two and nobody could ever get to Erina's level past her. She passes the Fall Classic Preliminaries with the highest score in her block, only after Alice. During the next round, Hayama utterly defeats her and tells her that someone who only aims to be the second could never defeat him, which hurts Hisako's pride so much that she couldn't consider herself worthy of being near Erina anymore.

Later, she ends up as Soma's partner during the Stagiaire Period. During this time, she reveals her insecurities of being Erina's secretary after losing to Hayama but Soma convinces her otherwise and she cheers up. They then work together to improve the restaurant they were assigned to with Hisako acting as the restaurant's auditor and business manager while Soma cooks the food which results in them easily passing their internship. Hisako has since returned to Erina's side and has started behaving friendlier towards Soma and even allowed him to have Erina taste one of his dishes much to the latter's surprise and curiosity.

In the past, Hisako read an old cooking magazine that featured Azami, Erina's father. However, aside from his name and appearance, everything about him was completely erased from Totsuki Academy. When she asked her own father about Azami, he warns Hisako against ever asking about him again and that Erina's only guardian is Senzaemon. When Azami returns to Tōtsuki years later and becomes the new director, he fires Hisako as Erina's secretary causing her to become extremely depressed. Later, she is met by Alice and Ryou and they convince Erina to leave the Nakiri mansion. The escapees are then found by Megumi and take shelter inside the Polar Star Dormitory where Hisako reveals Erina's history to the residents and asks them to take Erina in as a new resident which they happily accept. Hisako leaves Erina in their care and returns to her family's mansion to avoid being associated with Erina's sudden disappearance though she would visit everyday to bring Erina a change of clothes.

Alice Nakiri (薙切 アリス Nakiri Arisu)

Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki (anime)

Alice is Erina Nakiri's cousin and a first-year student of Tōtsuki Culinary Academy. She is half-Danish and half-Japanese. Like her cousin, she has a dignified appearance with fair skin and a curved body, though she possesses short, silver hair and a pair of stylized eyes that often deform into cartoonish shapes. Her extremely pale skin, whitish silver hair and red eyes is likely the result of albinism. For most of her childhood, she lived in Erina's shadow; as such, to improve herself, she travelled to Denmark at the age of 5 to improve her culinary skills, hoping to eventually surpass her cousin. Despite their rivalry, she and Erina got along well since childhood. In a same time she left Denmark, she wasn't aware that her uncle abuses Erina into ruthless, until their grandfather, Senzaemon exiles him for good. She also learnt from her parents that Azami have been disposing the letters she had sent to Erina.

Like Erina, Alice has an extremely haughty attitude. She thinks highly of herself due to her pedigree and her cooking skills, and would often look down on her opponents - though never dismissing them like her cousin would. Unlike Erina, however, Alice is much more friendly and sociable with others that she considers as rivals. Although she is very interested in experiencing new things and often teases Erina for her lack of knowledge on common matters (such as dating or romance), she also lacks knowledge of many common things due to growing up in a rich and privileged family. She also enjoys teasing Erina in order to manipulate her into embarrassing situations.

Alice is an extremely talented chef. Her specialty is molecular gastronomy, expressing her belief that cooking should be an art as well as a science. As such, all of her dishes are carefully arranged and appear as if they were pieces of art, once being described as a "systematically arranged jewelry box". For instance, in the Autumn Election Preliminaries, she presented a curry dish that appeared to be a white puree sitting atop a block of sauce with rings of pie batter around it. The artistic appearance of her dishes do not detract from their taste, however; her dish earned a 95 - the highest score in the preliminaries - with all of the judges lost for words to describe the flavor of the dish. Alice's expertise in molecular gastronomy is broad, extending to thermal control, flavor extraction, texture manipulation, and other techniques to manipulate the appearance and taste of her dishes.

During the Autumn Election quarterfinals, she was matched against Soma and presented a set of 12 sushi with different texture and taste, with many judges complementing her on the progression of flavors. Nonetheless, she lost to Soma when it was revealed that her dish did not fully utilize the novelty and features of the bento. Despite crying over the loss, she continued to be amicable to Soma after the loss, even inviting him into the Nakiri residence. Upon learning that Soma challenged Terunori Kuga during the Moon Banquet Festival, Alice becomes jealous that Soma gets more attention than her. She then forcefully recruits Akira Hayama with Jun's permission to use her seminar's booth. Their sales, however, were very low due to Alice constantly changing the menu but she eventually decides to consider the needs of the customers more allowing their sales to finally improve. After the festival, Alice learns of her uncle-in-law Azami's return and his appointment as Tōtsuki's new director and it is also revealed that Alice knew of his treatment toward Erina from her own parents as well as the fact that Azami destroyed her letters to Erina from Denmark. Choosing to go against Azami, Alice, Ryou, and Hisako convinces Erina to escape from the Nakiri mansion and leaves the latter two in the care of the Polar Star Dorm while she and Ryou return to the Nakiri mansion though they would visit Erina regularly.

During her second middle school year, she beat the Cutting Edge Research Society's captain in a Shokugeki, taking all the equipment to owned by the society. She also unintentionally became the club's captain as well, which does not interest her. During the reign of Azami at Totsuki, she opposes her uncle, who sent Rentaro Kusunoki to demolish the Cutting Edge society. Ryo heard Rentaro's insults towards the first year like Alice and himself, thus Ryo challenges Rentaro in a Shokugeki to protect the Cutting Edge research Society. Despite not interested being a club captain of Cutting Edge Research Society, she and Ryo are still fighting against Azami's regime.

Ryō Kurokiba (黒木場 リョウ Kurokiba Ryō)

Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto (anime)

Ryō is Alice Nakiri's aide. Originally, he owned a local pub within a port city in Denmark, where he also served as the executive chef. He was very controlling as an owner, having absolute authority in both the kitchen and to his customers. He met Alice during her visit to Denmark and became her aide at some point after, although the exact details of when he left his restaurant is currently unknown.

Ryō ordinarily appears to be inattentive, lazy, and mostly subservient to Alice. Unlike Hisako, he does often quip back at her at times and comments on her reactions in a deadpan manner, though the two are very close to each other. However, his demeanor changes when he puts on his headband - his passive expression gives way to a much more aggressive appearance, with sharp eyes and a mad, almost savage grin. In the manga, he had been described as a "mad dog" and a "dictator in the kitchen". Like Alice, Ryō is an exceptional cook, possibly even more so than even Alice by his own admission. He specializes in seafood, and his cooking has frequently been described as "violent" and "forceful", characterized by rich and sharp flavors. He considers the kitchen to be a battlefield between a cook and his customers, and believes that a chef should make a customer submit to his tastes. As such, he despises camaraderie among chefs, and is fiercely independent in his cooking.

Ryō's "French curry lobster rice with Cognac" at the semi-finals was considered to be exceptional by the judges, placing 2nd in his block with a score of 93 (tied with Soma). He proceeded to defeat Megumi Tadokoro in the quarterfinals of the tournament, using a "soup de poisson ramen" that was presented with an imagery of the judges being beaten to a pulp by its rich flavors. He engaged in a three-way final with Sōma and Akira after he and Akira tied in a match represented by a Yu-Gi-Oh-style fantasy battle.

During the Moon Banquet Festival, Ryou, Alice, and an unwilling Akira Hayama open a booth under the name of the Shiomi Seminar. Despite Akira's complaints about Alice's leadership and their poor sales, Ryou goes along with his mistress' whims though their sales would later improve. After Azami's return and recently took over the academy in using Nakiri surname, Ryou later assists Alice, Erina and Hisako in escaping the Nakiri mansion and leaves the latter two in the care of the Polar Star Dorm while he and Alice return the mansion.

During the time when Kurokiba is having a stagiare session, prior having a session on the restaurant where the delinquent customers are, Kurokiba must overcome his past failure against Hayama during Autumn Election. He went to an Indian restaurant to learn more how to use spices properly to increase his cooking skills. By the time during Azami's regime, shortly before the Survival's purge against Central begins next day, Kurokiba challenge the 2nd year Rentaro Kusunoki for underestimating the true might of freshmen chefs. In the end, Kurokiba wins the Survival match by presenting a French styled of a Russian dish, coulibiac, using spinaches and green spices as the secret ingredients.

Akira Hayama (葉山 アキラ Hayama Akira)

Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (anime)

An assistant of Professor Jun Shiomi, Akira comes from overseas, and met her when he was a kid, warning her about adultered spices in a market. Akira specializes in curry dishes, with a wide knowledge in various spices and aroma. He's a tall and handsome man with a tanned skin and silver hair. Like Soma, he also aims to be at the top of the Ten Master Council. His nose is very sharp when it comes to spices and is capable of identifying ingredients and grade of cooking by the first smell, so sharp it's considered a worthy match of Erina's "God's Tongue", and being identified as Aroma Master. Despite being Jun's assistant and both are experts in spices, she uses theoretical knowledge, while he depends on his sense of smell. Unlike the naive, ditzy, easily angered and dependent Jun, Akira is mature, reliable, street smart, cool and down-to-earth.

He was originally an orphan living in (presumably) India. He was abandoned by both his parents, and was not even given a name by them. Born with a strong sense of smell, which led him to meeting Jun when she was there researching spices, where she recognized the dormant talent in him. When she left she brought him back to Japan, where he was adopted by the then leader of the "Hayama Seminar" which became the "Shiomi Seminar" once he retired. He quickly learned Japanese while there, and studied spices and aroma under Shiomi, who became a mother-figure for him. The motivation for his cooking and his drive to win all stems from wanting to give something back to Jun for pulling him out of the slums and giving him a second chance at life.

He passes the Preliminaries of the Autumn Elections with the highest score in his Block, only a point higher than Soma and Ryou. During the next round, he easily defeats Hisako, telling her that someone who conforms in being the number two could never defeat him. During the semi-final against Ryou, Doujima decides that the final will be a three-way Final between the two and Soma, since the judges couldn't agree on which dish was better. During the final, the judges decides that his dish is the best of the three, winning the Fall Classic, and he even hugs Jun to show how happy he truly was. He later forms a friendly rivalry with Soma and Ryou, and both begin to spend more time on his room. Later, Alice requests Jun Shiomi to use the Shiomi seminar's both during the Moon Banquet Festival in order to compete against Soma. Believing Akira had finally made friends, Jun immediately accepts much to Akira's displeasure but he eventually accepts it. After three days of constant loss and little profits, Akira complains about Alice constantly changing their menu instead of focusing on customer service. Alice relents and, after finally settling on a proper menu, their booth finally becomes successful.

Tōtsuki Culinary Academy

Staff

Senzaemon Nakiri (薙切 仙左衛門 Nakiri Senzaemon)

Voiced by: Banjō Ginga (anime)

Headmaster of Totsuki and Erina's grandfather. Known as the "Gastric Godfather", he has the tendency of stripping his upperbody when he eats a good dish. Despite his appearance and reputation, he is actually reasonable and gives accurate commentary and assessment for the food he tastes without being overly critical to the losers. In the past, he exiled his son, Azami for disgracing Nakiri and Totsuki's name in public. He then becomes Erina's legal guardian and erases everything about Azami from Totsuki. Upon Azami's return during the Moon Banquet Festival, he announces that he is now Totsuki's new director and Senzaemon has been removed after gaining the approval of six members of the Elite Ten. It is later revealed that not only is Senzaemon aware of Soma's identity as Joichiro's son but it was also he who advised Joichiro to have Soma apply at Totsuki despite Joichiro himself never graduating though both remained close ever since. He was the one who enlisted Joichiro's help to properly teach Erina how to cook after Azami was exiled fom Totsuki. He believes in Soma and his allies' faith that they will restore Totsuki's lost honor from Azami, and thus finally becomes true on the first step of declaring a against Azami and the Central, Soma defeats Eizan in Shokugeki, on forcing him and his corrupted judges to play more fair and square, then gives the message for those like Azami and his subordinates, even either if some are Elite 10 or not, who tries to underestimate his and the other students' high potential cooking skills as a true chefs, as the means of declaring a war against Azami and the Central.

Roland Chapelle

Voiced by: Yū Mizushima (anime)

A stern French chef and lecturer at Tootsuki and head of its French Cuisine Division. Nicknamed "The Chef Who Doesn't Smile" because his standards are ridiculously high, although he does recognize talent. Even now the alumni still fear his wrath long after they've graduated, and they briefly panicked when he almost found out about the unofficial Shokugeki between Koujirou Shinomiya and Megumi and Soma. He has smiled once before with regards to food when he tasted Soma's dish in his class, which he not only passed, but apologized he could not give a higher grade than an A. An act so extraordinarily rare as suggested by his nickname, as to further fuel the awe or hatred of other students, including Erina when news of it reached her.

On the second morning during Azami Nakiri's regime as Tōtsuki's new director, Roland is among the senior staffs who is first told of Azami's new curriculum for the academy and the knowledge of it leaves him shocked, causing him to oppose the new curriculum as all it does is force students to imitate the Elite Ten's cooking instead of being creative in their own way thus contrasting Azami's "gourmet utopia" by calling it a dystopia instead. After Soma defeats Eizan in Shokugeki, on forcing him and his corrupted judges to play more fair and square, then gives the message for those like Azami and his subordinates, even either if some are Elite 10 or not, who tries to underestimate his and the other students' high potential cooking skills as a true chefs, as the means of declaring a war against Azami and the Central, Roland is happy, and believes in Soma and his allies' faith that they will restore Totsuki's lost honor.

Jun Shiomi (汐見 潤 Shiomi Jun)

Voiced by: Mikako Takahashi (anime)

Former alumnus of Tootsuki's 74th generation who became a professor at the school, teaching second-year high school classes, Jun is a former roommate at the Polaris Dormitory with Jouichirou and Gin, she also took Akira Hiyama under her wing and became his mentor and mother figure. Jouichirou used her for his cooking experiments when they were students; whatever he did was something traumatic enough that it makes her hate him and anything to do with him in the present. Despite being around the same age as Gin and Jōichirō, she still looks like a middle school student, and even though she hates Joichiro's habit of cooking a weird dishes, Jun still consider sees him as a friend and a hero. During her youth in a Golden era when Polar Star was first raided by a grudged students who wants to destroy the dorm, Jun helps Gin and Joichiro in defending the dorm, until it settle through a Shokugeki grudge matches. When Azami Nakiri, Tōtsuki's new director, announced that all clubs, research societies and seminars are to be disbanded, Jun is left in speechless shock, until Soma defeats Eizan and restores Shokugeki match system.

Takao Miyazato (宮里 隆夫 Miyazato Takao)

The president of the Shokugeki Administration Bureau.

Alumni and former students

Gin Dōjima (堂島 銀 Dōjima Gin)

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (anime)

Gin is the General Head Chef of the Tootsuki Resort and a member of the board of directors, and supervises the training camp for the first-year students. Nicknamed "the Living Legend", he is a former roommate in the Polar Star Dormitory with Jōichirō and Jun, and held the first seat of the Elite Ten Council. Like Jōichirō, he was a student of the 69th generation. He regards Jōichirō highly and respects his skill. He is a tall and extremely muscular man with a buzz cut, and formerly has a brown spikey hair in his youth on Golden era. Although a tough judge as the other alumni, he is capable of seeing how other people can be better chefs. Also, when asked why he still works for Tootsuki rather than opening his own restaurant, Gin always puts the students and the school as his first priority. He also noticed that Kojirou didn't cook one of his special dishes in order to cover his stagnating cooking skills. Despite being a former Polar Star dorm resident, he is the first Polar Star member who noticed Sōma's true identity as Jōichirō's son. Yet, Gin deemed Sōma still have much to learn to surpass his father to succeed his and his father's family restaurant. During his youth in a Golden era when Polar Star was first raided by a grudged students who wants to destroy the dorm, he, Joichiro and Jun were defending the dorm, until it settle through a Shokugeki grudge matches.

He later reappears as a guest judge in the second round of Autumn Election Tournament alongside other Tootsuki alumni. After the Moon Banquet Festival ends, he meets Jōichirō unexpectedly while having a meeting in a foreign country. The two share a drink and discuss about Soma, Jōichirō's son, where he is informed via phone call that their former friend Azami has returned to Tootsuki, taking over the academy by manipulating six of the Elite Ten members into voting for him.

Jōichirō Yukihira (幸平 城一郎 Yukihira Jōichirō)

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (vomic and anime)

The father of Sōma Yukihira. He was formerly known as Jōichirō Saiba (才波 城一郎 Saiba Jōichirō) he was a 69th Tōtsuki Generation student, a former resident of the Polar Star Dormitory, and a previous 2nd seat of the Elite Ten Council. Though he left Tōtsuki on his own purpose without graduating, Jōichirō still became a world famous chef before settling down in Sumiredōri Shopping District to open his own restaurant, Restaurant Yukihira.

Like his son, Jōichirō is laid back but professional and has a serious side that emerges whenever he is cooking. His passion for cooking knows no bounds and his skill is world famous to the point that a high priest would disobey his beliefs and religion to eat his cooking, despite the consequences. As the sole parental figure in Sōma's life, he is a mentor, teacher, and rival to his son. Jōichirō is, if anything, supportive of his son and the two share the same habit of creating horrible dishes. He purposely left home to work in New York so that Sōma would have to attend Tōtsuki and motivated him by telling him that he needs to succeed in Tōtsuki if he ever wants to surpass him. Despite this, Jōichirō does occasionally like to see Sōma stressed and frustrated by challenging him to many cook-offs which always end in Jōichirō's victory. Again though, this is to show Sōma how much more he has to grow. He also tries to tell Soma the secret to becoming a good chef, but Soma hangs up before hearing it.

During his time at Tōtsuki he held the title of "Asura" and was even the 2nd seat of the Elite Ten Council. He was much more relaxed and carefree but still retained his horrible experimental cooking habit even back then. Fumio noted that because of his nature in his youth, he lost many Shokugekis because of his lack of drive or simply underestimating his opponents due to his own laziness. Still, Jōichirō was a main driving force and a pioneer of the Polar Star's Golden Era, but unlike his fellow Polar Star friend Gin Dōjima whom Fumio compared to a loyal dog, Jōichiro is likened to a stray cat for his wandering and a weird cooking habits. During his youth in a Golden era when Polar Star was first raided by a grudged students who wants to destroy the dorm, he, Gin and Jun were defending the dorm, until it settle through a Shokugeki grudge matches. Presently at first, only the current and the former residence of the Polar Star Dormitory, and the Sumire Town residence are aware of Jōichirō's identity as Soma's father. It was revealed that Joichiro was asked to return to Totsuki by Senzaemon to inspire a young Erina to follow a brighter path of being a good chef after her father, Azami was exiled from Tōtsuki. After Senzaemon learn Soma's existence as Joichiro's son, Joichiro was suggested by Senzaemon to transfer his son to Totsuki, as a key to bring Totsuki's honor even brighter, and because of his bloodline and legacy flows through his son's vein. He later reunites with Gin unexpectedly in a foreign country after the Moon Banquet Festival ends. While having a drink and chatting about Soma, they are informed via phone call that Azami has returned and has taken over Tōtsuki by manipulating six members of Elite Ten into voting for him. In the past when he was an Elite Ten, Azami Nakamura (prior married to Nakiri) use to admired Joichiro however, Joichiro witnessed something evil in him on attempt to destroy Totsuki's school system, and secretly left the school without graduating, out of disgust of his junior's hidden evil action, leaving without most of his friends, and Azami knowing where he left to, as Azami thinks that Totsuki has ruined the Joichiro's reputation.

Kojirō Shinomiya (四宮 小次郎 Shinomiya Kojirō)

Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (anime)

Owner of a French cuisine restaurant called Shino's, Kojirō was a student of the 79th generation and held the first seat in the Elite Ten Council. He is commonly seen sporting glasses and red hair. Also known as the " Legumes Magician", Kojirō is very proud and stubborn, and "fires" Megumi for altering his recipe even though her reasons were justified and threatens to do the same to Soma for coming to her defense, leading Soma to challenge him to an unofficial Shokugeki.

Already a French Cuisine expert as a student, Koujirou was convinced he was going to be successful in France as the best French-Japanese fusion chef. Unfortunately espite his best efforts to ensure his self-named restaurant Shino's would thrive, the other French chefs disliked him for being a foreigner and wouldn't follow his recipe to the letter, even sabotaging his recipes. He barely managed to keep it afloat after emotionally hardening himself, getting rid of anyone who questioned his skills in the kitchen. Unfortunately, being stuck with this mindset meant he refused to make exceptions or try other methods to his dishes after reaching the top, thus allowing his skills and standards to cease increasing over the years and stagnate.

During his match with Megumi, Shinomiya does a technically perfect dish that is far better than her elegant and supportive dish, netting him all three votes from the judges. However, Gin gives a bonus vote for her for thinking of the customer's needs and prompts Shinomiya to try it himself. When he does, he judges that it's far below the quality of what he made, but is cooked using a more flexible style intended to suit the tastes of those who eat it. When tasting Megumi's dish twice, he is suddenly sad in regretfulness of what he has done wrong on forgetting his mother's kindness, Shinomiya gives a bonus vote of his own to his competitor and when the score ends up tied following Inui's unofficial vote, he realizes he could both learn something from her and that failing her before really wasn't fair, so he lets her pass.

He later reappears when he decides to open a branch of his famous french restaurant in Japan called "Shino's Tokyo" where Soma is assigned as a Stagiaire (intern). Ever since his unofficial Shokugeki against Soma and Megumi, his personality has noticeably softened and is not as strict as before and he even helps Soma by improving the latter's new dish which he then added to his new restaurant's menu. It is revealed during this time that he chose to specialize in French cuisine in order to make his mother happy.

He is also the main character of the Shokugeki no Soma-Etoile spinoff manga which focuses on his time in France after he graduates from Tootsuki.

Hinako Inui (乾 日向子 Inui Hinako)

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (anime)

Proprietress of the Japanese cuisine restaurant "Kirinoya" and an alumnus of the 80th generation, also 2nd seat of the Elite Ten in her Generation. During her time as a student, she was referred to and feared as the "Mist Empress". She takes a liking towards Megumi and her cuteness. She may look gentle, but she's actually quite a tease--she purposely dawdled when asked to judge between Soma's and Takumi's dishes before hastily announcing a draw when her group was ordered to return to the HQ, and she seems to enjoy making fun of Shinomiya which always results in him comically punishing her.

During Kojiro, Fuyumi and Donato's graduations, she cried upon learning of Kojiro's departure to France and worries for his future there due to his abrasive and unfriendly nature which would cause him to quarrel with his staff, to which the others agree much to his anger. Hinako later challenged him to a Shokugeki with the condition that he would not leave if she won but intentionally held back her true skills as she felt he should indeed go. Apparently, Hinako's theory about what might happen to Kojiro during his stay in France became true; not only did Kojiro become a ruthless chef, but he also lost his will to increase his cooking skills and standards over time until his unofficial Shokugeki with Soma and Megumi.

Hinako, along with Fuyumi and Gin, are chosen to be judges for the Fall Classic 2nd round.

Fuyumi Mizuhara (水原 冬美 Mizuhara Fuyumi)

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (anime)

Owner of the Italian restaurant "Ristorante F" and an alumnus of the 79th generation. She is also the 2nd seat of the Elite Ten in her generation, coming after Shinomiya. She is often deadpan, sarcastic and serious for most of the time; she has short hair and is the only female judge who wears a tie and pants. In high school, she often got irritated with Shinomiya because of his arrogant smirks, but at the same time respected him as a chef. She tried to recruit the Aldini bothers and Soma for her restaurant after the Summer Training Camp but failed.

Fuyumi, along with Hinako and Gin, are chosen to be judges for the Fall Classic 2nd round.

Taki Tsunozaki (角崎 瀧 Tsunozaki Taki)

Former 88th Generation and Elite Ten member, owner of the Spanish restaurant "Taki Amarillo". She is invited to be a guest judge for the Autumn Election Tournament's 2nd round. She is an aggressive and short-tempered person, who is constantly bullying Sonoka because of her "assets", disrespecting her seniors (such as Hinako, but respects Fuyumi) and talking about beating up people she doesn't like. She, like many before her, looked down on Soma after hearing his background as a cook from a small diner causing Hinako to disagree with her. However, after tasting his dish, she and the other judges decide to vote for him.

Sonoka Kikuchi (木久知 園果 Kikuchi Sonoka)

Former 89th Generation and Elite 10 member, owner of the Western Style restaurant "Shunkatei". She's invited to be guest judge for the Fall Classic 2nd round. She is known for having the largest bust among the female characters so far. Despite being a former 2nd Seat of the Elite Ten, she's quite submissive and prone to panic. To decide the result of Akira and Ryou's match, Sonoka crumbles under the pressure of deciding who had to win, to the point the viewers and Ryou himself were pushing her around. It was only because of Doujima's intervention that she didn't break in tears.

Elite Ten

Elite Ten is a student council of Totsuki, formed by the ten best students. The council is an illustrious group of students in Tōtsuki composed of the ten best students in the entire academy. This organization is responsible for handling the academy's internal evaluations, including judging the achievements based on the student presentations in the academy grounds as well as helping organize events including the Tōtsuki Autumn Election. Because of their status in the academy, they have certain freedoms when carrying out personal projects such as Erina Nakiri's kitchen expansion project, which resulted in the demolition and disbanding of many Tōtsuki clubs with famed history. They are also given a large budget by Tōtsuki Culinary Academy for them to utilize in any conceivable reason as long as the purchases are related to cooking and food research. Their authority in the academy is second only to the director, Senzaemon Nakiri. That being said, even the lecturers have less authority than they do and must obey anything they say. However, their power in the Academy is much more powerful, enough so that they can formally request a new director of the campus if the majority of the council votes in favor and overrule the director's wishes himself. Inside of the group itself, members are placed in a ranked order with the 1st seat being the best student in the entire academy. For many, the 1st seat is the highest honor possible in the academy and most successful chefs in the culinary world have been a 1st seat. Even then, other alumni who attained even the 2nd seat easily found success in their culinary careers.

In order to be selected to join the Elite Ten, an Elite Ten review committee scouts any student in the academy who possesses exceptional will, determination, and drive to improve their cooking to the highest level. Academic grades, performances in certain events such as the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training Camp and Stagiaire, and most importantly, their Shokugeki records have been major factors for all members chosen for the council.

Members within the Elite Ten have been known to challenge higher seated members for their seats, though it is not known what kind of compensation comes from a loss between seated members. Students can become a member as early as the beginning of their first year in the high school section as demonstrated by Erina. Azami Nakiri demonstrated that a first year student can acquire a seat a high as the 3rd seat, provided that they show their worth to claim a seat. However, a vast majority of the seated members are generally 2nd and 3rd year Tōtsuki students. Elite Ten members can use their seat as compensation for a Shokugeki as long as they agree that it is feasible. Non-seated students are allowed to challenge a seated member to a Shokugeki for their membership in the council. However, considering the amount of influence and reputation that an Elite Ten seat carries, challenging an Elite Ten Council member carries serious risks. Should a challenger lose the Shokugeki for a seat, according to Satoshi Isshiki, even expulsion from Tōtsuki will not equate to an Elite Ten seat. Most seated members will not accept a challenge from an unseated student due to a lack of interest from battling them since they are focused on attaining a higher seat. However, seated members can willingly give up their position as compensation for a Shokugeki which carries less risks for the challenger, should they lose.

Due to unexpected takeover by Azami Nakiri, as the six of Elite Ten members (Eishi, Rindou, Momo, Saitō, Nene and Eizan) voted Azami as the new director without knowing his true color, and reform the school into a dystopian situation, the Elite Ten's ruling is currently replaced by a student run organization, Central, despite leading its members.

Eishi Tsukasa (司 瑛士 Tsukasa Eishi) (First Seat)

The current first seat of the Elite Ten and a third year student. Eishi, despite being the current 1st seat of the Elite Ten Council, suffers from stage-fright and public anxiety, and always wishes for somebody to beat him in an official Shokugeki to relieve him of his duties and prefers to do background administrative work, rather than standing out and appearing to the public. He easily falls into small depressions from the difficulties posed by being the leader of the Elite Ten, among them the stress of having to organize the Shokugeki during the Autumnal Election. He often needs reassurance from the rest of the Ten that he is performing well, or else he will end up crippled by doubts. Despite his timidity and bouts of anxiety, he has absolute confidence in his cooking as shown when he does not bother to ask his customers how his food tastes which gives the diner a powerful vivid image of the ingredient as though it were alive on the table. He is specialized in a gourmet type European-themed cuisine, and due to his all white color scheme appearance and well-known around the gourmand culinary world, he is nicknamed a Der Weiße Ritter der Tafel (lit. The White Knight of Table). On the day before the second Survivor's Purge match began, Tsukasa becomes a substitute French teacher who oppose Azami's new rules. In his class, he wants someone to be his sous chef, thus Soma Yukihira it is, as his obsession to cook out with an Elite Ten member cannot be controlled, and soon realize that he is unintentionally following Central's studies. Impress of Soma's skills and deeming him useful to be his pawn, but not interest in Soma's cooking, but his skill to improve Tsukasa's skills, Tsukasa attempt to invite Soma to join Central, but he refused many times because it's not funny to join a wrong side Tsukasa is in, leading Tsukasa to force Soma to submit to Central's rules through an unofficial Shokugeki, and if Tsukasa lost instead, he will forfeit from the first seat. Tsukasa only follows Azami's ideal, due to having some similarities, and worst of all, selling a freedom of all restaurants that are deemed inferior and about to be demolished throughout Japan, so as other inferior restaurants from the rest of the worlds.

Rindō Kobayashi (小林 竜胆 Kobayashi Rindō) (Second Seat)

The current second seat of the Elite Ten and a third year student. A happy go lucky girl who has cat-like facial features and enjoys eating. In fact, while the other members of the Elite Ten where busy with their own booths/restaurants during the Moon Banquet Festival, she spent the entire festival eating in every single booth (120 booths in all) and did not bother to open a booth of her own despite being the Second Seat of the Elite Ten. She is friends with Eishi and often tries to get him to relax to no avail. During Soma's challenge against Eizan, she witnessed that Eizan wasn't using his specialty and resorted to using dirty tricks against Soma, this attributes to Eizan underestimating Soma. In a flash back Rindo asks Isshiki why he isn't worried about the polar star dorm being shut down. Isshiki remarks that theres nothing to worry about as Soma won't lose, later Rindo says how everything went as Isshiki predicted. The next time Rindo is shown she is amongst the other elite 10 getting ready for the survivors purge of the research clubs. Rindo says she doesn't like the azami badge as it gets in the way, but is then told by Nene not to argue.

Tōsuke Megishima (女木島 冬輔 Megishima Tōsuke) (Third Seat)

The current third seat of the Elite Ten and a third year student. Only known after Azami manipulates most of the six members to accept him as a new director, he's one of the four Elite Ten members who does not accept Azami, Erina's father as the new director, and thus after Eizan's defeat at the hands of Soma, he, along with Isshiki and Terunori, except Erina, are no longer an Elite Ten during this regime, and most of all due to having a potential of forming a rebellion against Azami's rules.

Momo Akanegakubo (茜ヶ久保 もも Akanegakubo Momo) (Fourth Seat)

The current fourth seat of the Elite Ten and a third year student. She is often seen carrying a teddy bear known as Butchy (ブッチー Bucchi), which "assist" her in cooking, such as using its hand as a mitten to take out her finished warm dish. During the Moon Banquet Festival, her booth is ranked 1st place in sales. This is probably due to the fact that Tsukasa only has 3 tables in his booth thus limiting his sales compared to the others. As described by the customers of her stall, Momo is specialized in desserts/sweets, and described by the judge Ōizumi that her cooking style is a Western style. At first, she was seen to be emotionless, until after Soma defeats Eizan and reviving the Shokugeki system policies, as the Central members like her are now hunting down the remaining RS and seminar, she is actually arrogant, deeming that her cooking is far more superior than the other non-Elite Ten students, means they will lost sooner by her. Prior to her full appearance, she made a brief appearance in manga ch. 4, excluding in some early anime season's episode.

Sōmei Saitō (斎藤 綜明 Saitō Sōmei) (Fifth Seat)

The current fifth seat of the Elite Ten and a third year student. He usually carrying some sort of sword and always has his eyes closed. After Soma defeats Eizan and reviving the Shokugeki system policies, as the Central members like him are now hunting down the remaining RS and seminar, he has a habit on opening uniform jacket and think the Shokugeki is part of his training.

Nene Kinokumi (紀ノ国 寧々 Kinokuni Nene) (Sixth Seat)

The current sixth seat of the Elite Ten and a second year student. Prior to her full appearance, she made a brief appearance in manga ch. 4, excluding in some early anime season's episode.

Nene is one of the six Elite Ten members who voted Azami Nakiri as Tōtsuki Academy's new director. After the Moon Banquet Festival ends during a second meeting, where Terunori is recently absent in that meeting, Nene notice something suspicious behind Isshiki's smile and Terunori's absence.

Satoshi Isshiki (Seventh Seat)

Terunori Kuga (久我 照紀 Kuga Terunori) (Eighth Seat)

The eighth seat of the Elite Ten and second year student, Terunori Kuga is a specialist in Chinese Cuisine. He leads the Chinese Cuisine Research Society where he trains dozens of students with army-like efficiency to make the food he has created. He is the most laid-back among the Council, and least opposed to a Shokugeki against Soma, provided he could prove there was something he was better at than Terunori. He is quite short of stature and tends to go into fits of rage whenever someone else points this out. Many other Chinese Food enthusiasts in the academy are dissatisfied with him, and the research society, as he has specialized exclusively in Sichuan Cuisine and has forced this specialization on the Society, only allowing this style of Chinese cuisine to flourish, and suppressing the other Chinese regional cuisines. Back in his first year, prior to joining the Elite Ten, Terunori was like Soma, someone who seeks a challenge against the stronger chefs in order to improve his cooking skills. Tsukasa is the only council member to accept Terunori's challenge and completely defeats him in an official Shokugeki.

It is revealed during the Moon Banquet Festival that the reason why he was so set in keeping his booth as #1 ranked in sales in his area for the entire festival was because of the promise of a rematch between him and Tsukasa. Unfortunately, Soma's booth bested his on the festival's fourth day thus rendering their promise null and void and would finally cause Terunori to acknowledge Soma's skills. After Azami, Erina's father manipulates most of the six members to accept him as a current director, Terunori is one of the four Elite Ten members who do not accept Azami as the new director, the fact that he knows that Azami will closed Terunori's R. S., which may have happened on the second day, so as the other R. S. and other faculties, and will be replaced by the "Central", and thus after Eizan's defeat at the hands of Soma, he, along with Isshiki and Tosuke, except Erina, are no longer an Elite Ten during this regime, and most of all due to having a potential of forming a rebellion against Azami's rules.

Etsuya Eizan (叡山 枝津也 Eizan Etsuya) (Ninth Seat)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (anime)

The ninth seat of the Elite Ten and a second year student, Etsuya Eizan forms a grudge on Soma after his plan to take over the Sumire District through Mozuya, a store based on karaage (chicken deep-fried in oil, similar to tempura), fails when Soma intervenes during his return to his hometown at the district. He is soon trying to get rid of Soma by spreading false news about him, and sending Mimasaka Subaru to defeat him during the Autumn Election's main tournament but fails, as Eizan's plot is soon found out by Isshiki and was told not to underestimate Soma's true skills. He is a food consultant, and due to his yankee appearance and had been a consultant back his middle school years, even saving his Totsuki from corruption for being lucrative and one of the clients does not have a culinary skills when he was a kid, he is nicknamed Alquimista (lit. Alchemist). However, behind Eizan's recent downfall like the way he has become today in the present remained unknown.

Eizan is one of the six Elite Ten members who voted Azami Nakiri as Tōtsuki Academy's new director. Eizan takes the role of visiting every organization in the academy to announce their disbandment. Naturally, everyone refused to accept this and tried to undo the disbandment order by challenging Eizan to a Shokugeki. One such challenger was Tetsuji Kabutoyama who's Shokugeki was broadcast throughout the academy. Before the judges even tasted the food, they immediately announced Eizan's victory which strongly hinted that Eizan had bribed them beforehand thus ensuring his victory in every challenge. As Soma noticed during Senzaemon's rule, Eizan would never do any Shokugeki challenges. Until during Azami's rule where Eizan can now accept any Shokugeki challenges, Soma witnessed that Eizan did not concentrated on his cooking at all and has been playing dirty like how he bribes the judges who also his business partners and actually following Azami's ideals all along, as well as noticed the "lesson" Eizan warned to him and the other organizations in the academy means to force the other students and organizations within the academy to kneel under the current Tōtsuki's feet like a slaves. Thought all Shokugeki has been cancelled however, on the next day, Soma challenges Eizan by force for the sake of not only Polar Star Dorm and Totsuki's lost honor, but also himself for the best and righteous, without having the Polar Star involve. However, Eizan has gone too far besides bribing the judges like he did against Kabutoyama, but also send his subordinates into involving Polar Star along with it and demolish it quickly, threaten Soma to lose quickly, even after they are done cooking. Apparently, it does not work at all, as the Polar Star Dorm security defenses, including Sōma's cooking spirit are way too strong and does not scares Soma at all, no matter if he win or lose, even the current Polar Star residence are safe thanks to the powerful barricade furnitures left by the former Golden era residence, forcing Eizan to show his forte for real, something Soma wished to seek to all Elite Ten to show their true forte in a real Shokugeki. After the corrupted judges rather refused to taste Soma's dish, and instead tasting Eizan's Hainan Ji Han dish, Soma finds out that Eizan is a coward who use a dirty tricks to win against the high potential chefs, whose some of their dish is far way superior than Eizan's and attempt to use a false info about those high potential chefs. Because underestimating place where the high potential chefs are too far, Eizan, along with the Central's cowardliness, eventually being uncovered when he eats one of Soma's Hanetsuki Gyoza first before his serve to the three judges, succumbed by its inner taste of the hidden flavor (a ketchup), leading one of his two judges besides the middle succumb to the dish's aroma as well and eats, as the middle judge who refuse to taste Soma's dish changes his mind while being threatened by Soma on never underestimate the inner taste of the pure hearted high potential chef's dish, which eventually becomes Eizan's lost. His lost at the hands of Soma leads the loosing all of his colleagues and subordinates, and becomes humiliated, as he knows that he will be kicked out from Elite Ten and leave the school. However, Azami can't allow Eizan to leave, as Eizan is important for Azami's plan, which will foreshadows his realization that he is none other than just Azami's tools like the rest of the five Elite Ten members who voted him as a director, and the new Central members who are selected by him.

Erina Nakiri (Tenth Seat)

Central

Central Gourmet Institute (or Central for short), is a currently a ruling organization within Totsuki Academy in place of Elite Ten Council after Azami's reformation on Totsuki into a dystopian situation. Azami's goal was to educate all Tōtsuki students to be able to cook any kind of dish, including those that are usually reserved for Elite Ten level students. Thus Central was created as a student run organization to assist in this endeavor. Central is composed of numerous Tōtsuki students whom Azami has chosen. Central contains 6 members of the current Elite Ten Council. Central creates and decides what dishes the students are required to make. All dishes regulated by Central must be prepared exactly as their recipe designates as the correct method. All attempts to ad lib, modify, or defy these choices results in stiff reprimanding from proctors and professors.

As what Takumi thought about Azami's selected Central members, they are nothing more than his puppets who hasn't shown their true strength yet, without any humble and lack of confidences like Eizan use to towards any different kinds of chefs whether being plebeian commoners or not.

Mea Yanai (梁井メア Yanai Mea)

A second year student with a pink hair and mischievous attitude.

Rentarō Kusunoki (楠 連太郎 Kusunoki Rentarō)

An arrogant second year student who often underestimating his opponents, and can be recognized by his cocky attitudes, wearing bandanna, a tattoo on his left cheeks, and a crosses on his cooking outfit and the earring on his left side. In a few days ago, he is sent by Azami to demolish Cutting Edge RS where Erina's cousin, Alice Nakiri were a captain, but she and Ryo actually not interested to be that food culture leaders and let it demolished. As Rentaro's insult for calling the first years like Alice and Ryo being just a lowlife, leading a rivalry between him and Ryo. Even worst for insulting the chefs who appears to be a lowlife in front of the public and during a his and Ryo's match up, Ryo Kurokiba's dish, a coulibiac far more superior and very careful on finding the salmon's true taste than Rentaro's dish, Saumon Conffit Flamme, leading the Central's second lost since Soma Yukihira defeated Etsuya Eizan on reversing Eizan and the Central's rigged Shokugeki. He presumably copies Ryo and Alice's skills however, his true skill is using a heating techniques on both temperatures. Particularly that Rentaro owns a Salamander cooking machine.

Shigemichi Kumai (熊井 繁道 Kumai Shigemichi)

Nicknamed Shige, is a second year student with a brutish appearance. However, unlike his fellow Central members, who are arrogant towards other non-Central students, and despite his appearance, Shige is very reasonable chef with a code of honor, as he stop Rentaro from making a trouble with the other chef students like Soma and Takumi, and telling his fellow members to follow their important task.

Rui Kofuru (小古 類 Kofuru Rui)

A mysterious white-long-haired second year student who is seen with a closed bang on her eyes like Shun Ibusaki.

Other students

Kanichi Konishi (小西 寛一 Konishi Kanichi)

Voiced by: Shinji Kawada (anime)

A second year student, the president of the Don Research Society and, aside from Ikumi, the only current member. He has a pompadour and constantly embarrasses Ikumi by acting like a parent towards her. Due to Ikumi's impressive performance during the Autumn Elections Tournament, the Don RS has since become popular and has gained more members, much to Kanichi's pride and delight.

Urara Kawashima (川島 麗 Kawashima Urara)

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka (anime)

The Master of Ceremonies of the Shokugeki and other competitions at Tootsuki, she greatly enjoys the attention she gets from her male fans and audience, and greatly dislikes it when other women take this attention from her.

Yua Sasaki (佐々木 由愛 Sasaki Yua)

The other Master of Ceremonies at the Fall Classic Preliminaries, who unlike Urara has trouble keeping the attention of the audience.

Nao Sadatsuka (貞塚 ナオ Sadatsuka Nao)

Voiced by: Saori Gotō (anime)

A freshman who's obsessed with Erina, wanting to defeat Hisako in order to become Erina's secretary. During middle school, she lost a Shokugeki against Hisako, forcing her to stay 50 meters away from Erina at all times, but she still watches her with binoculars and writes her 30 letters per day. Her cooking has a hideous smell, but the taste is actually far superior than the average, making her earn the first high score in the preliminaries, only to end up as eighth in her block. After being defeated by Hisako, Nao becomes charmed by her cooking, and her obsession with Erina transfers to Hisako. During the academy's Moon Banquet Festival, Nao becomes friends with Soma due to their shared interest of making "weird" dishes.

Miyoko Hōjō (北条 美代子 Hōjō Miyoko)

Voiced by: Asami Seto (anime)

The heir of a Chinese cuisine restaurant in Yokohama, Miyoko's specialty are Chinese techniques and wok maneuvers. The restaurant her father owns has many men who looked down on her cooking skills because of her gender and had tried to drive her out of the kitchen, causing her to have a low opinion of men in general. After the preliminaries conclude, she approaches Megumi to give her support for the next round, indicating Megumi earned her respect as a chef. In some unknown past and perhaps after the Autumn Election, she was invited by her senior, Terunori Kūga to join his Chinese Cuisine R.S. because of her forte on able to cook a Chinese cuisine, but she refuses because she simply sees Terunori too annoying for her, yet he welcomed her to come back and join him if she changed her mind. She also mentions that her relationship with the employees of her father's restaurant has started to improve since the Autumn Election.

Subaru Mimasaka (美作 昴 Mimasaka Subaru)

A heavily built student who is introduced during the Fall Classic. Despite his look, he's smarter than he appears and has a strong sense for details. He has no "specialty", but copies the other chefs he faces. He loves intense cooking duels and is only interested in winning, so he always bets on Shokugekis the opponent's precious tool, mostly to hurt the loser way beyond the defeat. He's a gracious host and not averse to having casual chat with future opponents. However, before and during a match he mocks, belittles and sets out to destroy someone by beating them with the exact thing they chose to make.

He unexpectedly first appears during the Preliminaries, taking away the fourth spot from Zenji Marui and Shun Ibusaki. He insults Takumi and his brother, making him bet his mezzaluna, and thanks to his stalking abilities, he perfectly copies Takumi's dish, and even though the judges dislike his actions and methods, his dish is judged as better. Soma challenges him to give back all 100 cooking tools he took if he defeats him, or he would quit being a cook. His obsession with only winning and slightly outshining the competition leads to his loss to Soma as he only studied what Soma was planning on making. Soma got around this by constantly thinking up ways to improve the dish right before he even started to cook during the competition, something Mimasaka didn't thought was possible. After his defeat, he tries to leave Tootsuki and quit as a cook but Soma convinces him otherwise to continue on his cooking life. He later reappears when Soma asked for his assistance in running his stall during the Moon Banquet Festival. In preparation for this, he borrows the Yukihira diner in order to do his "image training" and his assistance allows Soma's booth's sales to improve considerably, as well as owing his life for his kindness he had done for him back in Autumn Election.

Mitsuru Sōtsuda (早津田 みつる Sōtsuda Mitsuru)

Mitsuru is a 3rd Year Middle School student at Tōtsuki Culinary Academy and a member of the Newspaper Club. He is a cute middle school student who worships Soma and follows him with all his reporter equipment.

Tetsuji Kabutoyama (甲山 鉄次 Kabutoyama Tetsuji)

Tetsuji is a 2nd year student at Totsuki Academy and a member of Skewer Research Society. He is known as the Iron Skewer for his skewering cooking techniques and has a Shokugeki winning rate of 80% since first year. He took an interest in Soma after seeing his cooking during the Autumn Elections. He would eventually challenge Soma to a Shokugeki after the latter returned home from his Stagiaire Period but was easily defeated. As part of their Shokugeki's conditions, Tetsuji promised to teach Soma about skewering.

Tetsuji and the other members of their society also participated in the Moon Banquet Festival by opening their own stall and won second place in sales for their area. Days later, after Azami Nakiri was made Tōtsuki's new director, he announced his new curriculum wherein all clubs, seminars, and research societies are to be disbanded which naturally caused outrage among the students. Later that day, Tetsuji opposed the disbandment of his research society(as did many others) and challenged Eizan Etsuya to a Shokugeki in order to keep his society alive while betting his expulsion from Tōtsuki should he lose. However, before the judges had even tasted their dishes, Eizan's victory was quickly announced causing Tetsuji to accuse Eizan of bribing the judges which he indirectly confirms. As part of their Shokugeki's stipulations, Tetsuji is expelled from Tōtsuki. Until Soma defeats Eizan into Shokugeki match fair and square, and restoring the Shokugeki system policies, many people who respects Tetsuji demand to return him to the academy.

Other characters

Mayumi Kurase (倉瀬 真由美 Kurase Mayumi)

Voiced by: Ai Kakuma (anime)

Soma's classmate from middle school who was once a taste tester in one of Soma and Joichiro's cooking contests at the start of the series. She has a crush on Soma and is constantly egged on by Aki to confess to him. She later reappears when Soma returns home during vacation to air out the Yukihira Diner and assists him and Ikumi in reviving the Sumire Shopping District which was low on business due to a popular fried chicken chain opening near the train station thus stealing the district's costumers. After Soma returns to Tōtsuki Academy, Mayumi now helps the district chairman in running the district's own flourishing fried chicken shop.

Yūya Tomita (富田 友哉 Tomita Yūya)

Voiced by: Shinji Kawada (anime)

One of Soma's friends and a frequent patron of the Yukihira Diner, and the chairman of the Sumiredōri Shopping District and the 2nd generation owner of Tomitaya. His first appearance in anime is way earlier in the first episode than his first manga appearance in chapter 34. He is often help Soma during a critical problems, such as the Karaage Wars to restore their hometown's economy, and during a fourth day of Moon Banquet against Terunori Kuga.

Leonora Nakiri (波切 レオノラ Nakiri Reonora)

She is the Danish wife of Natsu Nakiri and is Alice's mother. She appeared during the final match of Autumn Elections, where she was the judge along with Gin and Senzaemon. She is very kind and loving but has difficulty in speaking Japanese unlike Alice. Like her daughter, Leonora is every knowledgeable in molecular gastronomy as she heads Nakiri International alongside her husband and, like Alice, her eyes also deform into cartoonish shapes when she is flustered or emotional to comedic effect.

Natsu Nakiri (波切 夏 Nakiri Natsu)

The father of Alice, husband of Leonora, a younger brother of his unnamed sister and son of Senzaemon. He is a founder of Nakiri International. Unlike his brother in-law Azami, Natsu is very kind to his family, since he inherited his father's kindness. He remained in Denmark for his business, while sending Leonora and their daughter back to Japan and hired Ryou Kurokiba as Alice's aide. After learning Azami's true colors from his father, such as brainwashing Erina into becoming as ruthless as his ex-brother in-law and had his daughter's letters shredded by him without Erina knowing, Natsu and his wife told their daughter what happened to Erina while they were abroad.

Azami Nakiri (薙切 薊 Nakiri Azami)

Erina's father and Senzaemon's former son-in-law who is feared and widely notorious within Tōtsuki Academy for his so-called superior complex on the "gourmet food". He first appears during the last day of the Moon Banquet Festival at Erina's booth/restaurant. He was formerly a member of Elite Ten as the 3rd seat, then promoted to 1st seat on next year and formerly known as Azami Nakamura (中村 薊 Nakamura Azami) during his time in Totsuki's high school branch from first year, whereas Joichiro and Gin were his seniors, and later married Senzaemon's daughter. Most of all, he also a former resident of a Polar Star Dorm. His true plan behind marrying into the Nakiri family is that he plans to take over Tōtsuki and the culinary world. Upon his appearance at his daughter's restaurant, he establishes himself as a food elitist, believing that anything less than absolute perfection is garbage. He believes that "gourmet food" is something that can only be appreciated by those who have the education and background to assess and critique food, while the general masses have no inkling on the distinction between "gourmet food" & "common food" (which Azami deems as "fodder"). He garnered the support of six members of the Elite Ten to vote him in as Tootsuki's new director, thereby replacing Senzaemon and fires Hisako from her secretarial duties so that he can freely control Erina, who is utterly terrified of him, using her as a puppet to further his ambition. He use to respect Joichiro, but his senior later secretly turned down on him after he noticed Azami's evilness in him on attempt to destroy Totsuki's school system, and presumably left of school instead of graduating for his friends and Senzaemon to find out the truth about Azami's true color by themselves without them knowing where Joichiro currently went to. Joichiro's sudden disappearance from (secretly abandons) Tōtsuki without graduating makes Azami think that the academy has ruined his senior's reputations.

He claims to be the one who molded Erina's "God Toungue" and "taught" her about "cooking" inside a dark room. Once inside, he would have Erina taste and compare dishes and then order her to throw away those that tasted inferior. When she refused, he would hurt her by gripping her wrist very tightly. He also taught her to neither forgive nor show mercy to inferior tasting food, including the failures, even it's just a single failure, which ultimately brainwashed her into becoming what she is today. Azami would also destroy Alice's letters from Denmark which were meant for Erina, preventing his daughter from communicating with anyone from the outside world thus forcing her to rely only on him alone. Upon learning about everything Azami had done, Senzaemon banned him from the academy and from using the Nakiri surname, even betraying his former Polar Star dorm-mates, with most of his info being removed from Tōtsuki's records. After being banned from Tōtsuki, Senzaemon learns that Azami has started a society exclusively for the wealthy in the United States and later expanded to the Middle East and South Asia. Azami's reputation is so bad that Hisako's father refused to talk about him, even in private, and warned Hisako against ever mentioning him again though he would eventually tell her after Azami's return.

On the second day of his regime, Azami addresses the entire school in his speech focused on his ideology and reform, in making Totsuki more of an "utopia" in his image. First, he orders the disbandment of classes, seminars, clubs, research societies and associations, and other independent organizations by sending Eizan to purge them. Second, he had a new organization founded within the academy led by himself as the Chairman and the Elite Ten dubbing it the Central Gourmet Institution (or "Central" for short) by claiming that abandoning those who couldn't make it under the merit-based system (referring to the old system) would be too brutal. Central's education will be accessible to everyone: they will be able to learn Elite Ten-level skills and recipes which would no longer cause conflict. However, Roland Chapelle opposed this as what Azami is doing is not making Totsuki into utopia, but a dystopia as it only forces students to imitate the Elite Ten and denies any form of creativity. Worst of all, he rigged the Shokugeki by hiring one of his subordinates who are also a business partners of the six Elite Ten member who voted Azami as a new director as the judges, such as hiring Eizan's business partners, in order to make every non-elitisms kneel before his superiority without any useless conflict. Apparently, after Eizan is defeated by Soma, his plan does not going well at first, as Azami is silently furious over his subordinates' lost. In a same time when Soma gives the message for those like Azami and his subordinates, even either if some are Elite 10 or not, who tries to underestimate his and the other students' high potential cooking skills as a true chefs, as the means of declaring a war against him and the Central, now he is planning to target Soma and those who sided with him. He changes the rules on suspending the demolition of the research societies and seminars, but only through Shokugeki to keep some of the clubs in, including hiring a new judges who presumably neutral, in order to lure Soma into his traps, such as attempt to turn Joichiro's son into like him, even after he find out the boy's true identity as Joichiro's son at night when "visiting" Erina on "how is she tonight". On the next day, he dismissed Isshiki, Tosuke and Terunori from the Elite Ten for proposing Azami's rules, but Isshiki knew this may happen since he fights for a rebellions like from Polar Star. He is very angry on Rentaro Kusunoki's lost, which led Central's second lost against an opposing team lead by Alice and Ryō, even after Alice proposed she's fighting for Totsuki and Erina's freedom from Azami.

One of his rules when some food culture clubs lost the Shokugeki to Central, those who are still doing their former clubs' activities, will be given a gruesome punishment, with Chanko RS is the first casualty, as they are secretly doing their former activities, even after their loss in the first Survivor's Purge match. Because of this, Azami's new security system is very tight and there are no freedom to create a new dish on their own. As the purge of all food culture clubs is just the beginning, Azami's next plan is to demolish all other restaurant, which are deemed inferior to him throughout Japan, so will other restaurants throughout the rest of the world.

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