Mitsuru Sōtsuda (
Appearance
Mitsuru is very young with almost girlish eyes and ear length unkempt black hair, giving him a young and cute appearance compared to most male students introduced thus far. During the Moon Banquet Festival, Mitsuru's bangs grew in length, now reaching just below his cheeks.
In his introduction, Mitsuru wears a long sleeve dress shirt with a striped tie and a vest along with slacks.
Personality
Mitsuru is a typical young boy who looks up to people he admires. Among them is Sōma whose surprising performance during his cooking duel against Alice Nakiri amazed him and fueled his desire to see his senior during the week before Sōma's Semifinal Shokugeki. Because he is not a high schooler yet, he does not have a huge role in his club, but he still strives to become a great first rate reporter one day.
History
Mitsuru was accepted into the middle school section of Tōtsuki Culinary Academy, where he eventually became a member of the Tōtsuki's Newspaper club.
Plot
The 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election
Main Article: Tōtsuki Autumn Election Arc
Mitsuru was in the audience during the quarterfinal rounds and watched as Sōma Yukihira defeated the crowd favorite Alice Nakiri and began to take interest in him. After the conclusion of the Quarterfinals, through the extensive data gathering abilities of the Newspaper Club, Mitsuru caught wind of the Semifinal Shokugeki between Sōma and Subaru Mimasaka.
Road to the Semifinals
See also: 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election
Mitsuru informs Sōma about his upcoming Shokugeki match.
The day after the Quarterfinals, Mitsuru decided to visit Polar Star Dormitory, hoping to talk to Sōma. Upon arrival, he was greeted by none other than Sōma. However, he was immediately put into a wrist lock when Sōma assumed that he was a spy for Subaru. After clearing his name, Mitsuru took Sōma onto campus to see how quickly the word spread about his Semifinal Shokugeki had spread thanks to the school newspaper. Mitsuru asked Sōma if he could follow him during his week before the Semifinals so he could write an article about him, hoping that covering him would lead to a more lucrative position in the club. Though Sōma refused to let him, Mitsuru followed him anyways.
The next day, Mitsuru arrived to Sōma and gave him a lunchbox, causing some nearby girls to think that Mitsuru had a "crush" on. While Sōma "rejected" him, Mitsuru volunteered to go and buy whatever ingredients for Sōma to earn his trust. Since Megumi Tadokoro was too busy with classes to be Sōma's usual taste tester, Sōma invited Mitsuru to the 5th Cooking Lab and taste test his dishes. Sōma whipped up a quick plate of Beef Stew, which Mitsuru declared was delicious. However, Sōma told him that the dish was the exact same one he had allowed Subaru to eat to create a starting point for their match. Even though Mitsuru said that his stew was good, Sōma was unsatisfied, so the two decided to seek aid from the person with the best palette on campus.
Mitsuru and Sōma arrived at Nakiri Mansion to ask for Erina Nakiri's input. After unknowingly managing to negotiate Erina to critique Sōma's dish, Erina declared that Sōma's stew was unsuitable for the Semifinals, despite Mitsuru's praise. Returning to the kitchen, Sōma was still searching for something to give him an edge. Ikumi Mito arrived to give Sōma a bag of various meat to use for his match. After seeing something worth using for his match, Sōma promptly kicked Mitsuru out of the kitchen, refusing to let him potentially leak his idea. Mitsuru took all of the data from the past week with Sōma to write his preliminary article.
Semifinals
Main article: Yukihira Vs. Mimasaka Semifinal Shokugeki
On the day of the Semifinals, Mitsuru arrived early at the Shokugeki Arena and began to panic when Sōma was running late. As soon as he arrived at the arena, Mitsuru asked him if he finally had an idea to beat Subaru. Sōma answered that he did not know, much to his surprise, however, he was going to enjoy cooking like he always does. During the match, despite Sōma's best attempt to keep his ideas for the match a secret, it had seemed that Subaru had caught wind of his usage of beef tail and had decided to compliment this with mesquite smoked bacon to garnish his stew. Much to his horror, Subaru personally approached him to thank him for his article about Sōma, revealing that Mitsuru had inadvertently helped Subaru take control of the match. Due to this unexpected yet horrifying revelation, Mitsuru blamed himself for his carelessness that would cost Sōma dearly for the Shokugeki. Despite Mitsuru's fears, Sōma was not worried in the slightest as he unveiled a cooler filled with numerous beef parts, announcing that he will be taking the judges to a "Beef Amusement Park".
With his dish done, Subaru presented his dish first, a Beef Stew with Bacon Garnish. As the judges ate his dish, it was well received. Afterwards, Sōma presented his dish however the judges saw that his dish was nothing more than a random assortment of beef parts similar to Yakiniku, but Sōma assured the judges that the beef parts were actually garnishes. After a single bite, the reception was overwhelmingly positive. They were impressed by Sōma's tenacity and creativity and were so immersed in the dish, they began their adventure at Yukiheeland then got out of their seats and held hands in front of the judging table. In a decisive and one-sided result, Sōma was declared the victor of the match.
Afterwards, he observed the second semifinal match between Ryō Kurokiba and Akira Hayama. By the end of the match, due to Sonoka Kikuchi's indecisiveness to choose a winner, it was decided that the final match of the 43rd Autumn Election will be a three-way battle royale between Ryō, Akira, and Sōma. After the announcement, Mitsuru and his fellow T.S. members surrounded Sōma, covering his thoughts about the upcoming final match. Shortly after, Satoshi Isshiki entered the arena, wheeling out a large block of ice which he promptly smashed to reveal the main ingredient for the final round: Pacific Saury.
Finals
10 days later, the Finals began in the evening of the day. Mitsuru speculated the match. By the end of the final match, Akira was declared the winner of the 43rd Autumn Election with Sōma and Ryō placing second.
Cooking Style
- Unknown - The extent of Mitsuru's cooking abilities is unknown, but he must have some fundamental knowledge of culinary arts to be admitted into Tōtsuki's Middle School section and have not flunked out by his current 3rd year.
Clubs
- Newspaper Club - Mitsuru is a member of the Tōtsuki Newspaper Club, also known as Tōtsuki Sports. However, because he is only a middle schooler, he does not get large articles. Nevertheless, Mitsuru wants to become a first-rate reporter, and seems to take the paper more seriously than the school's primary focus, cooking.
Trivia
- Mitsuru, when written in kanji (満), can mean "full" or "growing". Sōtsuda (早津田) is written with the kanji for "early" or "fast" (早 Sō) , "port" or "harbor" (津 Tsu), and "rice field" (田 Da).
References
- ↑ Shokugeki no Soma episode 29 credits
- ↑ FOOD WARS! THE SECOND PLATE ENGLISH DUB CAST LIST