Shokugeki no Sanji

Everything I say below refers specifically to the first chapter, the second one released in January of 2021 is a vast improvement, doing a lot of what I wanted the original to do. It feels like a proper One Piece side-story with some really neat character moments. The story definitely feels more One Piece than Food Wars while also doing it's own thing, properly embodying a fun early One Piece dynamic. It's a vast improvement and a hard recommendation from me, elevating even the original one-shot for me. 8/10

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This one-shot story that takes place shortly before the Straw Hats first find Sanji is probably most interesting for what it is, rather than what happens in it. This manga is a short tale that takes the concept present in Shokugeki no Soma (Food Wars) and slaps it right on top of the One Piece world.

If I had to make one major complaint about everything relating to Food Wars, its that it is entirely repetitive and predictable. Every food battle is exactly the same with possibly 3 different minor deviations. This manga utilizes the most barebones and basic structure of a Food War and slaps it haphazardly onto a mini story about Sanji.

This little crossover ends up feeling more Food Wars than One Piece, and the fact that it is even a crossover is weird at best and completely pointless at worst.

The art, while great, doesn't hold up to the charm of Oda's art for the series, and the general feeling is, as I previously said, entirely generic Food Wars stuff.

However, I will give it credit for doing what it wanted to at a proficient level. It melded the two universes in a minorly interesting way and helped give a little mini-story that prefaced the Baratie Arc in One Piece. I would recommend it to any One Piece fans out there that are interested enough to give this 2 minute read a shot.

6/10