Sōmei Saitō

Sōmei Saitō

Gallery

Sōmei Saitō
Anime
Kanji	斎藤 綜明
Rōmaji	Saitō Sōmei
Personal Information
Status	Alive
Birthday	February 11th
Gender	Male
Blood Type	B
Height	186 cm
Food Forte	Sushi
Professional Status
Generation	90th
Occupation	High School Student
Affiliation	Tōtsuki Culinary Academy (former) Elite Ten Council: 4th seat (former) Central (former)
Media
Manga Debut	Chapter 118
Anime Debut	OVA 4
Voice Actor	Katsuyuki Konishi

Sōmei Saitō (斎藤 綜明(さいとう そうめい), Saitō Sōmei^?) is a 90th Generation student Tōtsuki Academy Alumnus, Originally introduced as the 5th seat of the Elite Ten Council, he is also the former 4th seat.

Appearance

Sōmei is the second tallest among the current Elite Ten Council. His hair is styled like a mohawk, with his crest being black, while the rest is gray. He has a horizontal scar starting and ending over both his cheeks and runs over the bridge of his nose. He also typically appears with his eyes closed in both casual and formal moments.

He wears a standard Tōtsuki uniform, but slings the coat over his shoulders like a cape and does not wear the standard tie. He has large earrings and carries a Maguro bōchō blade, a Japanese knife specialized for cutting large fish, named Isanakiri. It is revealed that he is quite muscular and wears bandages across his stomach.

Personality

Sōmei lives by the code of the bushido, the way of the samurai, and incorporates it in his mannerisms. He is extremely honorable and is not above praising his opponents who show true mettle and skill.

Somei was often considered a little eccentric with his samurai voracity and persona and was noted as unusual by senior members of Elite Ten .

History

Sōmei's family used to run a small time Sushi restaurant that was busy everyday and had many regulars. Sōmei's mother raised him by herself and worked as the head of the restaurant. At a young age, Sōmei was able to enroll into the middle school division of Tōtsuki Culinary Academy as part of the 90th Generation. He studied diligently so that he could one day help his mother with their restaurant. At the age of 15, after his mother fell ill, he decided to take over as the head of the restaurant. As the head chef and for being so young, he was looked down upon by many Sushi Chefs, the association and the seafood vendors. Using his skills in Sushi, he cut down all those who looked down on him.

As a third year student, Sōmei completed the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training Camp and Stagiaire events in his first year and all subsequent events afterwards. He would eventually attain the 5th seat of the Elite Ten Council.

Before his debut, he alongside other members of the Elite Ten gathered and selected the participants of the 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election.

Plot

Moon Banquet Festival

Main article: Moon Banquet Festival Arc

As a member of the Elite Ten, Sōmei and the other Elite Ten Members attended the Autumn Leaf Viewing ceremony, so the first year students who participated in the 43rd Annual Autumn Election Main Tournament could formally meet them. Sōmei remained silent throughout the event and left shortly after to prepare for The Moon Banquet Festival. He was shown later on to have ranked sixth in overall sales for the uptown area.

Central

Main article: Central Arc

After the conclusion of the Moon Banquet Festival, Tōtsuki received a shift in leadership as Senzaemon Nakiri was replaced by Azami Nakiri as the new headmaster of the academy. Sōmei and five of the other Elite Ten Council members voted in favor for the move.

Cooking Style

Sushi - Sōmei specializes in crafting sushi and is known for his skill in the art, earning him the current 4th seat of the Elite Ten Council. Sōmei's mastery of Sushi gives him an extensive and powerful ability to highlight his star ingredients through flavor enhancers such as butter, garlic, orange juice and lemon juice.

Cooking Skills

• Expert Butcher - Sōmei possesses enough physical strength to effortlessly lift Isanakiri and precisely fillet a large tuna into sashimi.

Dishes

Original Dishes

Ten Pieces of Tuna Ruby Orbs Sushi

• Ten Pieces of Tuna Ruby Orbs Sushi- Ten pieces of aesthetically simplistic miniature sushi prepared by Sōmei in the 3rd Bout of Rebels vs. Central Régiment de Cuisine.This sushi consists of differents parts of tuna prepared in different methods, forming together aesthetically simplistic miniature sushi. The sushi is described as beautiful as glittering jewels.
  • Brushing the medium-grade fatty tuna (Chūtoro) over with Nikiri makes the umami flavor bursting out, which then combines with another kind of umami from the marinated lean tuna (Akami). The fat meat from around the collar bone (Kamatoro) is balanced with refreshing vinegared rice. The dish overall perfectly draws out and capitalizes on the deliciousness of each type of tuna. What's more, the special vinegar used in the rice results in more mellow richness, maintaining a soft, fluffy finish.
  • Also, thanks to the scoring method, the moment a person bites into a piece, the tuna topping will melt and mix with the sushi rice, resulting in an overflowing sensation of delicious tuna flavor.

    

    Jewel Butter Seafood Bowl

• Jewel Butter Seafood Bowl - A dish made by Sōmei, in the 1st Card of the 3rd Bout of the Rebels Vs. Central Régiment de Cuisine. This Japanese and French dish consists of short-grain rice flavored with orange and lemon juice. Using a salmon steak which is covered with meunière sauce, he skillfully slow roasts it with butter and wheat flour. He also sautes squid liver and innards along with butter, garlic, soy sauce and meunière sauce. The salmon roe was pickled in soy sauce, pomegranate seeds and tonburi seeds, all served in a large bowl.

Clubs

• Elite Ten Council (formerly) - Sōmei is the former 4th seat of the Elite Ten Council.

Cooking Duel Records

Rebels Vs Central Régiment de Cuisine

Round	Rival	Culinary Theme	Dish	Results

2nd Round

Subaru Mimasaka

Tuna

Ten Pieces of Tuna Ruby Orbs Sushi

Win -Sōmei is allowed to continue in the Régiment de Cuisine.

3rd Round

Sōma Yukihira

Butter

Jewel Butter Seafood Bowl

Loss - Sōmei is eliminated from the Régiment de Cuisine.

Misc. Cooking Duels

Rival	Culinary Theme	Dish	Stipulation	Results

Hisako Arato

Unknown

Unknown

Win: Hisako will be expelled. Lose: Hisako will pass the third assignment of the Promotion Exams.

Win - Hisako is expelled.

Trivia

• Sōmei (綜明) contains the kanji for "synthesize" (綜 Sō) and "bright" (明 Mei). Saitō (斎藤) is made up of the kanji for "Buddhist food" (斎 Sai) and "wisteria" (藤 Tō).
• Sōmei's kitchen knife, Isanakiri (いさなきり), means "whale cutter" in English.