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 main protagonist. Sōma is the son of Jōichirō Saiba and worked at his father's diner, Yukihira, until it was closed when Jōichirō decided to work overseas. Sōma then enrols at Tōtsuki Culinary Academy, the most prestigious culinary school in the country, where Jōichirō was once an undergraduate. He is a very confident and positive person, and isn't afraid of any challenge no matter how insurmountable it seems. He challenges his father to cooking matches regularly and despite losing every time, he maintains a confident attitude in the hopes of using his failures to aid him in the future. Despite many of his classmates having hostile feelings towards him, Sōma maintains 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 diner 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, the previous director, Senzaemon, told him that it was Senzaemon who advised Jōichirō to have Sōma transfer to Tōtsuki. Once he learns of his father's ties with the Nakiri and of Erina's darker past caused by Azami, Sōma 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.

When the Polar Star dorm was ordered to close by the Azami administration, and the Shokugeki challenge system was corrupted by Eizan Etsuya and his business partners, Sōma went against all odds and defeated Eizan in a Shokugeki. Thus, Sōma saved Polar Star and restored the Shokugeki, and gives a defiant message for those like Azami and his subordinates, even either if some are Elite Ten or not, who tries to underestimate his and the other students' high potential cooking skills as a true chefs, declaring a war against Azami and Central. Sōma's action spawned two major consequences: he, Polar Star dorm members, and other rebels, are now the primary target of Central and Azami's administration, and he has split Tōtsuki into two factions; as more rebels and faculties from previous Azami's regime he gained will support and/or assist him and the Polar Star Dorm. During the promotion exams in Hokkaido, Sōma and his fellow rebels roll through the first two phases thanks to Erina's Hokkaido Lectures. He is re-matched with a rejuvenated Hayama for the third phase with a theme of bear meat, with Dojima Gin officiating, and Nakiri Soe, Alice's father, and his two aides as judges. Despite Hayama having the seemingly upper hand with his fried bear with Cajun spice, Sōma regained the edge on him with his mince bear meat katsu, with caramelised amur cork honey. Unfortunately, his fellow rebels were crushed by the Elite Ten at the third phase, with only him, Erina, Takumi, and Megumi managed to pass and fight on. As Azami already in Hokkaido and about to depart to another direction, Soma declares a team battle challenge to Azami for his ruthless treatment and cowardish, but Azami attempt to run away from this "merit" challenge. However, with the help from an unexpected arrival of his father and Senzaemon, Azami is forced to accept Soma's challenge, thus cancelling "Promotional Exam".

Currently, the only individuals who now knows Sōma's identity as Jōichirō's son is Senzaemon Nakiri, the residents of Sumire Town, the current residents of Polar Star Dorm, the former Polar Star residence Gin Dōjima, 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 (Season 1-2), Hisako Kanemoto (current)^[1] (anime)

She is one of the two main heroines in the manga. Erina is the primary antagonistic rival to Sōma Yukihira, until becoming more of a friendly rivalry. Erina is the only daughter of Azami Nakiri/Nakamura and an unnamed mother who is Senzaemon's biological daughter. Due to her background as one of the prestigious families of high class Japanese food chain industry, the Tōtsuki Corporation, Erina often detests whoever is considered "common" and unjust to her taste due to her family regal pedigree. Having a fearsome reputation for her "God 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, there has been several rare occasions where she gives credit to chefs with skill.

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 leads 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 Jōichirō, 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.

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 happened before), but also find answers she would have never thought of. She also learnt that Sōma is in fact, Jōichirō's son. Erina explains to Sōma how she met Jōichirō, and reveals to have no cooking creativity mindsets from beginning when she was a child until she met him. Sōma responds by making his creative, eccentric dish: Chicken Egg Tempura, and Erina finally snaps from the trauma Azami cause on her. At the start of the "Promotional Exam", Erina embraced her new found courage and helped the other first year rebels like her with her cooking knowledge to help them counter Central's traps. One of the Central's followers, Endo now refers the current Erina is now a reincarnated Joan of Arc of the chef culinary.

Megumi Tadokoro (田所 恵, Tadokoro Megumi)

Voiced by: Minami Takahashi (anime)

She is one of the two main heroines alongside Erina and Sōma's most prominent cooking partner. 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 (traditional Japanese Inn), giving up a table tennis scholarship at a prestigious high school to attend the Academy. Unfortunately, even with her incredible talent and experience 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 Autumn Elections 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. During the Moon Banquet Festival, she helps Sōma run his booth and they are later assisted by Mimasaka Subaru. On the eve of the festival's last day, Kobayashi Rindō invites Megumi and Sōma to Eishi Tsukasa's 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, Ryō, 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.

When the Polar Star dorm was ordered to shut down by the Azami Administration, Megumi and other Polar Star dorm residents refuse to let the dorm fall. They defended the dorm from Eizan's minions until Sōma won the Shokugeki. As Sōma won the Shokugeki, forcing Eizan and his corrupted associates to play fair, the dorm is saved, with Megumi and other residents welcoming Sōma back home. Despite this, Azami ordered the "Survival Hunt": last ditch Shokugekis for the continuing existence of Tōtsuki's food research societies/culture clubs, where Azami on sent his elitist Central student members to do ensure their closure. However, Megumi won her match and saved the Regional Cuisine RS.

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. 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.

The dormitory gained prominence when two of its past members - Gin Dōjima and Jōichirō Saiba - became the first two seats of the Tōtsuki Elite Ten and won considerable funding and territory for the building's expansion, ushering it's "Golden Era". According to Fumio, the dorm has plenty of Elite Ten resided in this dorm during this time, including Jun Shiomi and Azami Nakamura. As such, it drew some ire and envy from other students because of their success and many raids and attempt at vandalism often happens during this time and the residents had to barricade and defend the dorm. Also during this time, Jōichirō witness Azami's evilness in him on attempt to destroy the Tōtsuki's school system, and the culinary world as a whole. Disgusted, Jōichirō left without graduating by purpose without his old friends knowing.

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 Sōma Yukihira and Megumi Tadokoro. 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 Tōtsuki, such as the food culture clubs and the administrators, even the Shokugeki, Azami betrayed his former dorm and sent Eizan to demolish it within ten days. With nine days left, Sōma challenges Eizan to protect Polar Star from being demolished, by himself without having the other residences involved. However, Eizan has bribed the judges to vote for himself, and also sending his subordinates to demolish Polar Star ahead of schedule, even before Sōma commences his cooking. Apparently, thanks to the powerful barricade furniture left by a Golden era students like Jun, Gin and Jōichirō, Polar Star Dorm's security is too powerful against those who wants to destroy the dorm. In the end, Sōma won the Shokugeki and Eizan's subordinates' pulled out. Polar Star members, particularly Sōma, is now Azami and Central's potential threat and primary targets. During Central's third "Promotional Exam" on their ruthless tactic on sending the current Elite Ten members into Shōkugeki against the rebels, all Polar Stars freshmen to keep Erina away from her friends, including their friends Alice, Ryō, Isami, Ikumi and Hisako, as well as a now redeemed former temporary 9th seat Elite Ten Hayama (due to his critical situation of being blackmailed by Central and lost to Soma first time) are lost and expelled, with Isshiki failed to save one of his beloved dorm-mate freshmen. Except Sōma and Megumi, who survived along with Takumi.

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. Declaring herself the "Madonna of Polar Star", 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 Sōma is Jōichirō's son, and thereafter showed considerable interest in his development. Fumio seems to know Azami quite well when he became the new director of Tōtsuki, and paid Polar Star a visit after Sōma won his Shokugeki. She still calls Azami by his former name Nakamura and despises his so called "Salvation to the Culinary World", dismissing it as nothing other than "revenge".

Satoshi Isshiki (一色 慧, Isshiki Satoshi)

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (anime)

The former 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 Sōma's talent upon his acceptance into the dormitory. Two days before the Autumn Election, around the same time when Jōichirō temporarily returns to his former dorm place to check on his son, Satoshi was entrusted by Jōichirō to watch over Polar Star for him, which he accepts. He knew that Eizan uses dirty tricks to get Sōma expelled due to his business loss on Karaage Wars by the young Yukihira, and arranging behind the scenes for the stalker Mimasaka to goad Takumi into a Shokugeki, and thus making Takumi lost the Mezzaluna and preventing the semi final showdown that Takumi and Sōma's was looking forward to. He lectures Eizan not to underestimate Sōma's true skills, and tells him that it is Sōma's humble determination and never give up attitude that allowed him to excel in Tōtsuki, despite the stigma the student body placed on Sōma for being a transfer student and a diner-brat.

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, Sōma's determination, and believing in Tōtsuki's lost honor on the "Cooking is Everything" motto, Isshiki now had been planning a coup against Central. Being one of the known four Elite Ten who did not vote Azami, Isshiki, along with Terunori Kuga(8th Seat) and Megishima Tosuke(3rd Seat) are dismissed from the Elite Ten during Azami's regime, although Erina was not. Suspecting his, and his two friends', dismissal from the Elite Ten will happen since they didn't vote Azami as a director, he covertly written a new set of fair rules for the upcoming "Survival Hunt" Shokugeki. It allows the judging to be fair and impartial, ensuring an objective outcome of the Shokugekis. During the "Promotion Exam", he, Kuga, and Megishima was last seen to try, and covertly, assist Sōma and the other first years on passing their exams. Unfortunately, some of his fellow dorm mates were crushed by the Elite Ten during the third phase of the promotion exams.

Yūki Yoshino (吉野 悠姫, Yoshino Yūki)

Voiced by: Maaya Uchida (anime)

Yūki is a petite, 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 Sōma'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.

When the Polar Star dorm was ordered to shut down by the Azami Administration, Yūki and other Polar Star dorm residents refuse to let the dorm fall. They defended the dorm from Eizan's minions until Sōma won the Shokugeki. As Sōma won the Shokugeki, forcing Eizan and his corrupted associates to play fair, the dorm is saved, with Yūki and other residents welcoming Sōma back home.

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 Sōma 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.

When the Polar Star dorm was ordered to shut down by the Azami Administration, Ryōko and other Polar Star dorm residents refuse to let the dorm fall. They defended the dorm from Eizan's minions until Sōma won the Shokugeki. As Sōma won the Shokugeki, forcing Eizan and his corrupted associates to play fair, the dorm is saved, with Ryōko and other residents welcoming Sōma back home.

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 Sōma, and was one of the few students that remained calm during the gruelling 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 Sōma 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. When the Polar Star dorm was ordered to shut down by the Azami Administration, Ibusaki and other Polar Star dorm residents refuse to let the dorm fall. They defended the dorm from Eizan's minions until Sōma won the Shokugeki. As Sōma won the Shokugeki, forcing Eizan and his corrupted associates to play fair, the dorm is saved, with Ibusaki and other residents welcoming Sōma back home.

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, and the star of Miyazato Seminar food culture club, despite being only a freshman. 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. Because of this, his club gave him the nickname "The Professor of Taste".

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".

When the Polar Star dorm was ordered to shut down by the Azami Administration, Marui and other Polar Star dorm residents refuse to let the dorm fall. They defended the dorm from Eizan's minions until Sōma won the Shokugeki. He was the first to witness Sōma winning the Shokugeki on TV, forcing Eizan and his corrupted associates to play fair. The dorm is saved, with Marui and other residents welcoming Sōma back home. During the Survival hunt, it is currently unknown if Marui's Miyazato Seminar food culture club survived.

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 they came home completely worn out despite their usually high stamina.

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 Sōma, he is willing to mix Italian cuisine with ingredients and methods from other dissociated 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 Sōma. As he, too, has first-hand experience working at a small restaurant, Takumi sees Sōma 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 Sōma to informal cooking challenges (usually leading to an embarrassing situation for himself), hoping to one day defeat Sōma in a formal Shokugeki challenge. Despite their rivalry, both he and Sōma 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 Napolitan 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, Mimasaka 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. Sōma 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 Sōma to keep it until he can win it back. He and Isami open a booth calling it a branch of "Trattoria Aldini" during the Moon Banquet Festival, and gains the highest sales in their area. Days later, after Azami Nakiri becomes Tōtsuki's new director, the brothers was told about Erina's history with Azami, and informally formed an alliance with Sōma and the other rebels against Central. During the "Promotion Exam", Takumi and the other rebels manage to pass through to the 3rd stage, despite attempts by Central to take them all down. At the 3rd stage, Takumi and Megumi are given a simple task on cooking for Rindou, and pass. Unfortunately, he and Megumi soon learned from Erina and Sōma that their friends, including his brother Isami, were unable to survive Central's third ambush.

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 Tōtsuki.

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.

Although an equally talented chef, Isami is shown to be a tad less sophisticated 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 Hōjō) 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. Unfortunately during Azami's regime on Central's "Promotion Exam" ruthless and dirty tactics to get rid of the rebels away from Erina, he is mercilessly defeated by Eishi on the third "exam", and expelled permanently.

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."). She is the heir to a large meat distributor and conglomerate, who has close to a monopoly on the national beef market, and where she gets her exceptionally high quality ingredients in the dishes she makes. Although initially an antagonist, she later becomes a close friend of Sōma 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. 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.

Coming also from an affluent food family, she often sees Erina during her younger days at their families' business meetings and conferences, where she admires Erina's grace and dignity. She first appears early in the manga while attempting to take over the Don Research Society's clubroom at Erina's order. Her callous behavior led Sōma 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 Elections preliminary stage. However, she did not reach the main tournament, finishing 7th in her block(tied with Ryōko). Ikumi also developed an obvious crush on Sōma after he defeated her in a shokugeki, and often goes out of her way to help him (despite her tsundere tendency to claim otherwise).

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. On the second day of Survivors Purge match, she won her match and saved the Don RS. Unfortunately on Central's "Promotion Exam" ruthless and dirty tactics to get rid of the rebels away from Erina, and she is defeated by Momo on the third "exam", and expelled permanently.

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 finished 2nd in the Autumn Elections Preliminaries 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 Sōma's partner during the Stagiaire Period. During this time, she reveals her insecurities of being Erina's secretary after losing to Hayama but Sōma 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 Sōma 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 Sōma 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 Ryō 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. However, Azami already knows this, as Hisako's cover already being blown earlier, but it doesn't stop her on protecting Erina from Azami, and most of all when she sought Sōma as the last hope on restoring Totsuki and finding out Sōma's true heritage as Jōichirō's son with Aldini brothers and Erina to Azami. Hisako entrusted Megumi to take care of Erina before commencing the 3rd stage of the "Promotion Exams", as they were separated. Unfortunately, she is mercilessly defeated by Saito in the 3rd stage, and expelled permanently.

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. 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. For most of her childhood, she lived in Erina's shadow; as such, to improve herself, she traveled 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.

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. Her 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.. 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. Nonetheless, she lost to Sōma in the Bento themed quarter-finals because her dish merely showcased a good progression of flavors but did not fully utilize the novelty and features of a Bento. Despite crying over the loss, she continued to be amicable to Sōma after the loss.

Alice, Ryō, and a reluctant Hayama opened a booth under the Shiomi Seminar in the Moon Banquet Festival. 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, Ryō, 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 Ryō return to the Nakiri mansion though they would visit Erina regularly. Being the captain of the Cutting Edge Research Society (by default, because she had beaten the previous captain in a shokugeki during middle school for their room and resources), Alice was challenged at the 1st Survivors Purge by Central's 2nd year chef Rentarō Kusunoki. Despite dismissing it in the beginning, Ryō overheard Rentarō's insults towards the first years like Alice and himself, thus Ryō challenges Rentarō in a Shokugeki to protect the Cutting Edge research Society. After Ryō won the challenge, Alice angrily berates Azami in public, and she and Ryō is still continuing to fight against Central. During the "Promotion Exam", she and Kurokiba learned from Soma about Hayama's betrayal caused by Azami's blackmail; and at the third stage of the exam, she and Kurokiba are mercilessly defeated by the Elite Ten, and expelled permanently.

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. Six months after Alice's family and Kurokiba departs back to Denmark, in the same month where Azami cruelly teaches Erina his ruthless elitism and prevent in touch with anyone but to rely on him, Kurokiba had been knowing Azami for ten years later since he ripped Alice's letters to Erina, leading Senzaemon exiles Azami for this ruthless reason.

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 Sōma). 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, Ryō, 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, Ryō 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, Ryō 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 Rentarō 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. During the "Promotion Exam", he and Alice learned from Soma about Hayama's betrayal caused by Azami's blackmail; and at the third stage of the exam, he and Alice are mercilessly defeated by the Elite Ten, and expelled permanently.

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 Sōma, he also aims to be at the top of the Elite Ten 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 Sōma and Ryō. During the next round, he easily defeats Hisako, telling her that someone who conforms in being the number two could never defeat him. He tied with Ryō during his semi-final match, paving a three-way Final between the two and Sōma, and won the final. He even hugs Jun to show how happy he truly was. Later, Alice requests Jun Shiomi to use the Shiomi seminar's both during the Moon Banquet Festival in order to compete against Sōma. 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.

During Azami's administration, the Shiomi seminar was disbanded and its research projects were all cancelled. Hayama was blackmailed to join Central by Azami, who compromised the seminar's business partnerships and holding their research data hostage. Azami offered to open a new research centre for Jun in exchange for his allegiance. Cornered, and compelled by his love for Jun, he joined Central as a new Elite Ten member, where he gained a temporary 9th seat. However, a disappointed Jun and Sōma berates him for succumbing to Azami. A disgruntled Hayama, however, vows to protect the Seminar through his deal with Central. At the promotion exams, Azami ordered him to face Sōma in a bear meat themed match, with Gin Dojima officiating, and Nakiri Soe, Alice's father, and his two aides, the twins known as Sheila and Bertha as judges. Despite having the seemingly upper hand with his fried bear with Cajun spice, Sōma regained the edge on him with his mince bear meat katsu, with amur cork honey and defeats Hayama. Gin Dojima expresses his disappointment in Hayama for losing the same cooking passion he had at the Autumn Elections, and losing the desire to cook to make someone happy (aka. Jun). After eating Soma's dish, Hayama realize what he has lost and a promptly appearing Jun wishes Hayama to grow independent for his youth and regain the meaning of friendship, and he thanks Soma for redeeming him. However, due to being blackmailed by Central, Hayama is expelled and unable to accept Sōma's offer to reside in Polar Star.

Tōtsuki Culinary Academy

Staff

Senzaemon Nakiri (薙切 仙左衛門, Nakiri Senzaemon)

Voiced by: Banjō Ginga (anime)

Headmaster of Tōtsuki 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-in-law, Azami for disgracing the Nakiri family and Tōtsuki's name in public. He then becomes Erina's legal guardian and erases everything about Azami from Tōtsuki. He enlisted Jōichirō's help to properly re-train Erina how to recover from Azami's brainwashing. Upon Azami's return during the Moon Banquet Festival, Senzaemon was removed as headmaster after Azami gained the approval of six members of the Elite Ten. In the aftermath, Senzaemon revealed to Sōma that he is aware of his identity as Jōichirō's son and it was also he who advised Jōichirō to have Sōma apply at Tōtsuki despite Jōichirō's reluctance, and both became closer ever since. Despite his removal, Senzaemon is still active behind the scenes with Jōichirō to wrest Tōtsuki from Azami.

Roland Chapelle

Voiced by: Yū Mizushima (anime)

A stern French chef and lecturer at Tōtsuki 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 Kojirō Shinomiya and Megumi and Sōma. He has smiled once before with regards to food when he tasted Sōma'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 Sōma 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 Ten 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 Sōma and his allies' faith that they will restore Tōtsuki's lost honor. On the later day after the second survivor purge during a meeting with Azami, Roland is horrified of Azami's actions on brainwashing the middle school chef students into an exact copy of Azami himself, even after tasting from one of them.

Jun Shiomi (汐見 潤, Shiomi Jun)

Voiced by: Mikako Takahashi (anime)

Former alumnus of Tōtsuki's 74th generation who became a professor at the school, and head of the Shiomi Seminar. Jun is a former roommate at the Polar Star Dormitory with Jōichirō, Gin and their former friend turned enemy Azami, she also took Akira Hiyama under her wing and became his mentor and mother figure. Jōichirō 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. Despite her age, experience, authority, and academic prowess, she is very timid, shy, and reserved person often seen belittled by Hayama, who became her assistant.

Under Azami Nakiri, Tōtsuki's new director, Jun's research seminar was under the knife. Hayama was blackmailed by Azami to joining Central at the expense of the seminar, and Jun is left disappointed and she left the academy with broken heart. She reappeared at the third phase of the promotion exams after being invited by Dojima Gin to witness Hayama and Sōma's match; where a repentant Hayama lost. She rebuked him for being reckless in joining Central and expressed that despite losing the research society, she only wanted him to continue to grow as a chef with his fellow classmates and enjoy cooking again from his heart.

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 Tōtsuki Resort and a member of the board of directors, and supervises the training camp for the first-year students. Nicknamed "the Living Legend" as he still holds the record for the highest graduating exam score, and turning down hundreds of offers to work in restaurants all over the world. he was a student of the 69th generation, a former roommate in the Polar Star Dormitory with Jōichirō, Jun and their former dorm-mate turned traitor Azami, and held the first seat of the Elite Ten Council. He regards Jōichirō highly and respects his skill, and most importantly, his spirit as a chef for everyone's smiles, as it is by Gin revealed despite being the first seat that his cooking skill is not as strong as Joichiro's, and his past scores against his best friend during their past matches around 20 victories and 101 losses. 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.

Despite his skills as a chef, Gin sees himself more of a mentor, educator and father figure to Tōtsuki. Because of this, he is highly respected by both alumni and undergraduates of the academy. After the completion of the first year's training camp, he is the first to notice Sōma's true identity as Jōichirō's son, despite not having been in contact with Jōichirō for a long period of time. Yet, Gin deemed Sōma still have much to learn to surpass his father to succeed his and his father's family restaurant. Besides the annual first year's training camp, he appears often as a guest judge for various events associated with Tōtsuki, including the Autumn Elections, and the Promotional Exams in Hokkaido. Although officially neutral, Gin was still shocked and appalled by the sudden removal of Senzaemon, and the installment of Azami as headmaster. However, he did help the rebels behind the scene to keep in touch with them while staying neutral.

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, with the nickname of "Azura" (demon). Though he left Tōtsuki on his own purpose without graduating around a middle year of his last academic year, Jōichirō still became a world-famous chef before settling down in Sumire Shopping District to open his own restaurant, Restaurant Yukihira. It is confirmed by Gin back in their day as Totsuki's students that Joichiro's cooking skill is far stronger than Gin's, despite being promoted as the 2nd seat, as his past scores against his best friends around 101 victories and 20 losses.

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.

Jōichirō is a close friend of the Nakiri family, and was often asked to return to Tōtsuki by Senzaemon as a secret chef. In that day where he was return as Senzaemon's secret chef, Joichiro's first meeting with young Erina was just a mere accident when she was tired from her food tasting job and unintentionally had Joichiro's cooking fragrance seduced her to the private room where Senzaemon and Joichiro are, but Joichiro has no hard feelings, at all, and Erina becomes inspired by this to follow a brighter path of being a good chef. Joichiro departed from Totsuki again second times 6 years later,where Azam's abusive teaching on Erina begun, and ended up being exiled for abusing his own daughter and betrayed entire Totsuki-related areas. All what is inside Erina's remaining soft heart is the memory of Joichiro, as she sees him as a more of a father-figure than her illegitimate father. Although reluctant, Senzaemon convinced Jōichirō to transfer his son to Tōtsuki, because of his legacy. However, he soon learns of Azami's takeover during an unexpected meeting with Gin in a foreign country. Azami soon learns that he is Sōma's father, and reveal how their relationship in Tōtsuki turned from respect to disdain and disappointment. Particularly, when Jōichirō left Tōtsuki without graduating; leading Azami to believe that Tōtsuki's system has destroyed his "dear sempai", but he betrayed Joichiro and other Polar Star dorm-mate first before he betrayed all entire Totsuki areas, even trying to break Soma's spirit behind Joichiro's back. As Azami has gone too far on setting an ambush to expel all rebels led by Soma from Erina in "Promotional Exam" in Hokkaido, starting with sending the remaining Elite Ten (including a blackmailed Hayama until Soma defeated and freed him, but expelled due to this) on the third phase, where as Soma, Takumi and Megumi survived, Joichiro along with Senzaemon arrived to help Soma to make Azami accept an irregular Shokugeki team battle called "Regimental de Cuisine" in exchange if Azami's team wins the match, Joichiro will close his restaurant and will permanently work under Azami. Knowing along with Senzaemon that losing to whoever under Azami's command is very different and merciless, even the rebels keeps fighting back many times, Joichiro has no choice to completely return to Totsuki as the rebels' coach in preparing the special lessons for upcoming team battle.

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 Sōma for coming to her defense, leading Sōma to challenge him to an unofficial Shokugeki.

Already a French Cuisine expert as a student, Kojirō was convinced he was going to be successful in France as the best French-Japanese fusion chef. Unfortunately despite 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 Sōma is assigned as a Stagiaire (intern). Ever since his unofficial Shokugeki against Sōma and Megumi, his personality has noticeably softened and is not as strict as before and he even helps Sōma 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 Tōtsuki.

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 Sōma'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 Kojirō, Fuyumi and Donato's graduations, she cried upon learning of Kojirō'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 Kojirō during his stay in France became true; not only did Kojirō become a ruthless chef, but he also lost his will to increase his cooking skills and standards over time until his unofficial Shokugeki with Sōma 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 Sōma 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)

Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu (anime)

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 Sōma 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)

Voiced by: Asuka Nishi (anime)

Former 89th Generation and Elite Ten 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 Ryō's match, Sonoka crumbles under the pressure of deciding who had to win, to the point the viewers and Ryō himself were pushing her around. It was only because of Dōjima's intervention that she didn't break in tears.

Elite Ten

Elite Ten is a student council of Tōtsuki, 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, Rindō, 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. An extremely talented chef, Eishi was nicknamed "the teacher killer" during middle school due to the overwhelmingly delicious dishes he produced at a very young age. All the teachers that tasted his food often had to restrain his eagerness because they were knocked down at the power of his dishes. Despite being the current 1st seat of the Elite Ten Council, he 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 Autumn Elections. 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). Tsukasa supported the installment of Azami as the new headmaster. As a fellow food elitist, he supported Azami's ideals, including shutting down all cooking establishments throughout Japan that is deemed inferior; sardonically stating that "It can't be helped".

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 first met Tsukasa in their first year of middle school, and they've been close ever since; and often tries to get him to relax to no avail. Despite her support for Azami's installment as the new Headmaster of Tootsuki, there are a few occasions where it is hinted that she is not fully influenced by Azami's ideals, and she is seen often disagreeing with some of Central's methods; including the expulsion of Isshiki, Megishima, and Kuga from the Elite Ten, her reluctance to wear Central's badge, and her seemingly straightforward, and easily passable, cooking tasks for the rebels Takumi and Megumi in the third phase of the promotional exam.

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 Sōma, 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 stuffed animal cat 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 western style desserts/sweets, and described by the judge Ōizumi as Tōtsuki's best patisserie. She's displayed as anti-social and arrogant, deeming that her cooking is far more superior than the other non-Elite Ten students, means they will lost sooner by her. Momo also having a phobia of riding on the airplane for some reason. 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, which is part of his technique for his cooking skills and always has his eyes closed. After Sōma 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. She is currently ranked as the best second year student at the academy.

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 Sichuan Cuisine. Coming from an affluent background, he traveled a lot as a child, which gave birth to his interest in Chinese cuisine, not just from Sichuan, also Hunan, and Guizhou Cuisines. Once he got into the Elite Ten, he uses his influences and resources to further develop himself in the field. 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 in the Council, often rowdy, and has a short fuse. Just like Sōma, Terunori is someone who seeks a challenge against the stronger chefs in order to improve his cooking skills. During the Autumn Leaf Viewing at first year, he challenged the Elite Ten members, with Tsukasa is the only council member to accept Terunori's challenge and defeats him in a Shokugeki. Determined to rectify himself, he challenged Tsukasa again during the Moon Banquet Festival: should he be able to reach first in sales, everyday in his area, he and Tsukasa would face off again. Unfortunately, for him, Sōma managed to best him on the fourth day, thus voiding his resolve.

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 close the Chinese R. S. 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. His Chinese RS survived at the announcement of the "Promotional Exam" to be held in Hokkaido by the Central. He later appeared assisting Sōma to prepare himself against his former friend turned a Central member and Elite Ten's 9th seat, Akira Hayama for three days later during the third "exam", as well as both being fully explained from Gin how Hayama join Central is actually a blackmail set up by Azami.

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 Sōma after his plan to take over the Sumire District through Mozuya (a store based on karaage) fails when Sōma intervenes during his return to his home diner at Sumire. He is manipulative, and presents himself as a puppetmaster, working behind the scenes to get his way. He soon tries to get rid of Sōma by spreading false news about him, and sending Mimasaka Subaru to defeat him during the Autumn Election's main tournament but fails.. He sees himself as a food consultant and businessman rather than a chef, due to his yankee appearance and had been a consultant back his middle school years. However, he still possesses exceptional cooking skills worthy of acknowledgement in the food industry. He is nicknamed Alquimista (lit. Alchemist).

Eizan is one of the six Elite Ten members who voted Azami Nakiri as Tōtsuki Academy's new director. He wastes no time in using his newfound power to visit 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. Further establishing himself as the gangster figure of the academy, Eizan bribed the judges for a challenge involving Tetsuji Kabutoyama, head of the Skewer Research Society, which was broadcast throughout the academy. The judges were actually his business partners, who are aligned to Central's ideals. Despite the odds, Sōma challenged Eizan for the survival of the Polar Star Dorm. Against everyone's expectations, Sōma unanimously won his Shokugeki against Eizan by showing the judges his creativity towards the theme, and tenacity towards the ideals of the Shokugeki. The fairness of the Shokugeki was restored at the conclusion of the match, and a humiliated Eizan vows revenge against Yukihira. As Hayama becomes the Elite Ten 9th seat due to being blackmailed by Azami, Eizan's current positions remained unknown at time.

Erina Nakiri (Tenth Seat)

Central

Central Gourmet Institute (or Central for short), is currently a ruling organization within Tōtsuki Academy in place of Elite Ten Council after Azami's reformation on Tōtsuki 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, including on copying some of Elite Ten's cooking skills. This has been made apparent by Roland and Jun, as Central has no sense of freedom and wants nothing more than slaves, especially like what Azami did to the middle schooler chefs into brainwashed soldiers, and even after blackmailing someone into joining this organization like Shiomi seminar's champion Akira Hayama that Central never promised anything to return their victim's goods in exchange to be forcefully loyal to them. According to the current first seat Tsukasa, when the Central's rate grows higher, it will destroy all restaurants that opposes Azami's regime and mass produce a new restaurant build by Central members, leaving the destruction of the customers' livehood.

Azami Nakiri (薙切 薊, Nakiri Azami)

Erina's father and Senzaemon's former son-in-law who is recently 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 as a freshman, then promoted to 1st seat as a sophomore until his senior. He is formerly known as Azami Nakamura (中村 薊, Nakamura Azami), a former resident of the Polar Star Dorm with Jōichirō and Gin as his seniors, with Jun also one of his former dorm-mates during their year, and later married Senzaemon's daughter. His true plan behind marrying into the Nakiri family is that he plans to take over Tōtsuki and the culinary world. He use to respect Jōichirō mostly as he use to be respected by his other dorm-mates. Until that time during Joichiro's last year in Totsuki that he somehow noticed Azami has suddenly fallen to a dark path and attempt to destroy Tōtsuki's school system, leading Joichiro presumably left the school instead of graduating because of this. His friends and Senzaemon found out the truth about Azami's recent downfall by themselves without knowing where Jōichirō went, but only Senzaemon knows why Jōichirō left the school on purpose. Jōichirō's sudden disappearance from 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 Tongue" and "taught" her about "cooking" inside a dark room. 6 months after Jōichirō's departure from Tōtsuki, 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, and having most of his info being removed from Tōtsuki's records. After being banned from Tōtsuki, Azami 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.

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 Tōtsuki'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.

On the second day of his regime, Azami addresses the entire school in his speech focused on his ideology and reform, in making Tōtsuki 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 Tōtsuki into utopia, but a dystopia as it only forces students to imitate the Elite Ten and denies any form of creativity. He then has Eizan rigged the Shokugeki by bribing Eizan's business partners, in order to ensure every form of resistance kneel before Central's ideals without any conflict. As the purge of all food culture clubs is just the beginning, Azami's next plan is to demolish all other restaurants, which are deemed inferior to him throughout Japan, so will other restaurants throughout the rest of the world. He also brainwashed most of the middle school and first year high school chef students as the exact copy of himself, such as the cooking and personalities, which horrifies Roland.

After Eizan is defeated by Sōma, Azami visits Erina in the Polar Star Dorm where he received a cold reception from Fumio and the residents, and learnt that Sōma is in fact Jōichirō's son. On the next day, he launched the 1st of the "Survivor's Purge" and dismissed Isshiki, Megishima and Terunori from the Elite Ten for opposing Central's ideals. However, Isshiki suspected this may happen and has covertly produced a new set of rules to ensure fairness in the upcoming matches. He was very angry when Alice and Kurokiba's Cutting Edge RS won against one of his minions, which led Central's second lost against an opposing faction. Alice publicly declared her resentment for him and his methods, and that she's fighting for Tōtsuki and Erina's freedom from Azami.

After announcing the disbandment all food culture clubs and the announcement of the promotion exams, he stole the Shiomi Seminar's research data behind Jun and Hayama's backs, and blackmail Hayama into joining Central in exchange for a new research facility for the Shiomi Seminar. However, there was no sign of any guarantee that his end of the bargain will be fulfilled as he then send a conflicted Hayama to dispose of Yukihira Soma at the promotion exams, further establishing his devilish nature without remorse. However, Tsukasa, the Elite Ten's 1st seat, warned him not to underestimate Sōma and the current freshmen, as they witness them overpower some of Central's powerhouses during the 2nd "Survivor's Purge". His loyal staff set some traps during the freshmen's "Promotion Exam" in Hokkaido to cull the rebels, from having the examiners giving them poor quality ingredients, to exhausting raw ingredients that's needed to make the dishes. Unbeknownst to him, the rebels still managed to scrape through as a recovered Erina has given them extra lessons in order for them to overcome Central's traps. However, his underlings finally managed to land a massive blow to the rebels at the third phase; all, except for Soma, Takumi, and Megumi, have lost their cooking battles and are expelled.

Aida Shawn (アイダ・シャウン)

Azami Nakiri's loyal secretary.

Mea Yanai (梁井 メア, Yanai Mea)

A second year student with a pink hair and mischievous attitude. She lost to Ikumi in the second survival match.

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 Ryō actually not interested to be that food culture leaders and let it demolished. As Rentarō's insult for calling the first years like Alice and Ryō being just a lowlife, leading a rivalry between him and Ryō. Even worst for insulting the chefs who appears to be a lowlife in front of the public and during a his and Ryō's match up, Ryō Kurokiba's dish, a coulibiac is far more superior and very careful on finding the salmon's true taste than Rentarō's dish, Saumon Conffit Flamme, leading the Central's second lost since Sōma Yukihira defeated Etsuya Eizan on reversing Eizan and the Central's rigged Shokugeki. After his lost, he warned Azami that the first year from a 92nd generation is far more stronger than the previous generations of the first years like himself was.

His true skill is using a heating techniques on both temperatures. Particularly that Rentarō 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 Rentarō from making a trouble with the other chef students like Sōma and Takumi, and telling his fellow members to follow their important task. He lost to Megumi in the second survival match.

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 Tōtsuki, 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)

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka (anime)

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 Sōma 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)

Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (anime)

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. Sōma 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 Sōma as he only studied what Sōma was planning on making. Sōma 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 Tōtsuki and quit as a cook but Sōma convinces him otherwise to continue on his cooking life. He later reappears when Sōma 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 Sōma'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)

Voiced by: Daiki Yamashita (anime)

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 Sōma and follows him with all his reporter equipment.

Tetsuji Kabutoyama (甲山 鉄次, Kabutoyama Tetsuji)

Tetsuji is a 2nd year student at Tōtsuki 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 Sōma after seeing his cooking during the Autumn Elections. He would eventually challenge Sōma 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 Sōma 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 Sōma 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)

Sōma's classmate from middle school who was once a taste tester in one of Sōma and Jōichirō's cooking contests at the start of the series. She has a crush on Sōma and is constantly egged on by Aki to confess to him. She later reappears when Sōma 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 Sōma 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 Sōma'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 often assists Sōma during 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 (薙切 レオノーラ, Nakiri Reonōra)

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (anime)

She is the Danish wife of Sōe 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. However, whenever she tastes an exceptional dish, she would illuminate(or "baring" as Alice would call it), and describe the dish in perfect Japanese. Like her daughter, Leonora is every knowledgeable in molecular gastronomy as she heads Nakiri International alongside Sōe and, like Alice, her eyes also deform into cartoonish shapes when she is flustered or emotional to comedic effect.

Sōe Nakiri (薙切 宗衛, Nakiri Sōe)

He is a son of Senzaemon, Alice's father and Leonora's husband, and the head of Nakiri Internationals. He soon learned the betrayal of Azami after what happened 10 years ago, then learned that Azami has compromised Tōtsuki, acting as a new director after being voted by one of the six current Elite Ten. Unlike his brother in-law, Azami, Sōe is kind to his family like Jōichirō Yukihira. During Central's "promotion exam" on its third phase, he and Gin Dōjima attends the revenge match between a blackmailed Central's temporary Elite Ten 9th seat Akira Hayama and Jōichirō's son Sōma, acting as a neutral judge to ensure Azami and his Central never do a dirty tricks behind the rebels' and their backs.

References