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Sōmei Saitō
You are most unfortunate. But mercy would be gauche. Once you stand before the cutting board, your only option is to give it all![1]

— Somei Saito, and his unyielding ideal

Somei Saitō ( (さい) (とう) (そう) (めい) , Saitō Sōmei?) is a 90th Generation student Tōtsuki Academy Alumnus, the previous Fourth Seat of the Elite Ten Council, and formerly serves as one of the Senior Officers of Central.

Originally introduced as the Fifth Seat, he helped in ousting Senzaemon Nakiri in favor of Azami Nakiri for the position of Tōtsuki Culinary Academy Director, thus being promoted one seat higher. He then serves as one of the major antagonists of the series for the Central storyline.

Appearance

Somei 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 Totsuki 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.[3]

Young Somei 1
Young Somei
Young Somei 2
Young Somei (with mohawk)
Somei at age 20
Somei at age 20
Somei at age 27
Somei at age 27
Somei previous earring
Somei's previous orb earrings
Somei new earring
Somei's current hoop earrings
Somei uniform
Somei's school uniform
Somei uniform without blazer
Somei's uniform (without blazers)
Somei in kimono
Somei in a kimono
Somei winter jacket
Somei's outfit in Hokkaido during Promotion Exam
Somei undergarment
Somei's undergarment
Somei Chef Uniform
Somei's Chef Uniform

Personality

Somei's display of bushido code

Somei acting according to his bushido code, by letting his foes use his tool to even out the competition

Somei lives by the code of bushido, and the way of the samurai, and incorporates it in his mannerisms and sometimes speech, even genuinely acting like an actual samurai in some random situations. Due to this, he is one of the least antagonistic of the Central's Elite Ten and he values honor above else.

Despite being one of the top and highly skilled students in Totsuki, Somei sees little about rankings and what matters in the end is skills. As such, he never underestimates his opponent, even if they're first-years, and he is not above praising them, when they show their true skills. Even when defeated, he gives them praise and wishes them good luck in their future battles.

But while his code of honor and sense of chivalry allows him to be honorable, some of it can be seen as arrogance on his part, such as letting his opponent use his knife to make it equal, implying his opponent has some flaws to them compared to him.

Somei praising his opponents

Somei praising his opponents even in the middle of the battle

Conversely, he seems to have a low tolerance for Momo's childish moments.

Somei's ideal is that "the strong must protect the weak" which stems from his past, with his mother being prejudiced by misogynistic sushi chefs, and he took it himself to protect similar chefs who are being victimized.

Somei's condescending attitude

Somei's condescending attitude towards the sushi chefs

Somei defies the old ideals of sushi chefs, even if it means becoming their enemy, which is all for the sake of his ideals.

Somei sees himself as a lone samurai from the masses, carrying his one blade, polishing it to its limit, all so he could not lose.

History

Young Somei taking over their restaurant

Young Somei taking over their sushi restaurant

Somei came from a family that runs a small but successful sushi restaurant, named Saito Sushi, which has its fair share of regulars despite its size. The head chef of the restaurant is his mother, and Somei helped her as her assistant and delivery boy.

Through the hard work of his mother, Somei was able to enroll in the middle school division of Tōtsuki Culinary Academy as a part of the 90th Generation.

Somei's mother gained an internship in a famous sushi restaurant, Shigarami Sushi, thus their store has been closed for a while but instead of receiving any form of knowledge, she suffers discrimination instead. Rather than handling fish, she was tasked with household work, which resulted in her collapsing.

Somei dominates the sushi tournaments

Somei dominates the sushi tournaments

Somei, at the age of fifteen, then decided to take over the restaurant himself and became its new head chef. Due to his young age, he received mockery and insults saying that a middle schooler being a head sushi chef is against tradition. Those hecklers are also from the same restaurants that worked his mother to exhaustion.

Somei then revealed his skills which immediately made those chefs shut up. Somei has been warned that by going against Shigarami, he made the entire sushi world his enemy, which he welcomed with a smile.

Somei will then join various sushi competitions where he defeated all of them with ease, and eventually reached the top of the sushi world.

Somei was approached by Azami

Somei was approached by Azami regarding his plans

At some point in his days as a third year student, Somei was approached by Azami Nakiri who presented him with his grand evolution. As Azami's goals allow equal opportunity to anyone, Somei sees no reason to refuse and eventually joins him, even making sure that he will defeat anyone who tries to defy him.

As a third year student, Somei 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 Fifth 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.[4][5]

Plot

Central Storyline

Moon Banquet Festival Arc

Sōmei, along with Momo, at the Autumn Leaf Viewing

Somei, along with Momo, at the Autumn Leaf Viewing

As a member of the Elite Ten, Somei 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. Somei remained silent throughout the event and left shortly after to prepare for the Moon Banquet Festival.[6] He was shown later on to have ranked sixth in overall sales for the uptown area.[7]

After the conclusion of the Moon Banquet Festival, Totsuki received a shift in leadership as Senzaemon Nakiri was replaced by Azami Nakiri as the new headmaster of the academy. Somei and five of the other Elite Ten Council members voted in favor for the move.[8]

Central Arc

Sōmei and the rest of Elite begun the Survivor's Surge

Somei and the rest of Elite begun the Survivor's Surge

After Eizan's defeat by Soma in a Shokugeki, Somei watched as Soma challenged the Elite Ten Council during the live broadcast.[9]

Somei later reappeared at the gathering of Central Soldiers where him and Azami's "handpicked" students will be participating in Survivor's Purge.[10] While Somei was not seen taking part in the Survivor's Purge, it is likely that he competed in some of the Shokugeki's, contributing to the purge of numerous research groups.

At some point before the Promotion Exams, Central held an Elite Ten Battle Royal to fill in the three empty seats in the council. Somei is silent throughout the Elite Ten's meeting, quite opposite of his colleagues that are all noisy.[11]

Promotion Exams Arc

Sōmei learned that a Regimental Shokugeki is happening

Somei learned that a Regimental Shokugeki is happening

Somei, along with the rest of Central's members, was brought to Hokkaido to deal with the last of the rebels. Somei also literally dragged Momo along to the plane because of her fear of flying.[12]

As part of his duties in Central, Somei came to Hokkaido to deal with the last remaining Rebels during the Promotion Exams. In the third bout, Somei was paired against Hisako Arato, and his victory resulted in Hisako's expulsion.[13]

Sōmei putting expelled student's handbook in Momo's stuffed doll

Somei putting expelled student's handbook in Momo's stuffed doll

Somei's group then got a call from Eishi which he revealed to them that a Regimental Shokugeki. Somei is amused at the the turn of events, but considered it as a good opportunity to get rid of the Rebels.[14]

Few days later, Somei and the Elite Ten accompany Azami in his negotiation against the rebels, Somei is mostly silent at the duration of the discussion. He begun to speak later as he explained the essence of the Totsuki student booklets. Somei then proceed to collect the student booklets and put them all inside Momo's stuffed doll, making Momo sob.[15]

Central Elite Ten

Somei and the rest of Elite Ten at Regimental Shokugeki

At the specifically-built Regiment de Cuisine Arena, Somei and the seven other Elite Ten members appears as the representative of Central facing the eight chefs representing the Rebels, Somei decided not to take part in the First and Second Bout and remain only on the sideline.[16]

Witnessing Julio Shiratsu's defeat at his match against Satoshi Isshiki, Sōmei commented on Satoshi not holding back to save his juniors, he also commend on the former 7th Seat's resolve. The last match then ended with Shōko Kaburagi losing against Tōsuke Megishima, Somei reacted to the situation of losing their three chefs at the First Bout and hoped that it won't happen again or they'll suffer at the Third Bout.[17]

Sōmei begun cooking

Somei begun cooking

In the second round, Somei is selected as one of the three chefs to face the Rebels, his opponent is the first-year Subaru Mimasaka whom he finds amusing,[18]

As the lottery for theme starts, Somei has a conversation with the former Third Seat, Tōsuke Megishima, Somei talks to him about their past where they are still both members of the Elite Ten but now are facing each other as opponents, Somei also speaks up his shock at learning that Tosuke joins the Rebel Alliance.[19]

After the draw, the theme is for Somei and Subaru was revealed to be tuna.[20]

Subaru copied Somei

Somei's cooking procedure was successfully copied by Subaru

Somei begin his cooking by carrying a bringing the large tuna to his kitchen, unsheathing his Maguro bōchō while commenting on Subaru's misfortune of pulling a tuna against him, the best sushi chef of his generation. He then quickly fillet the large tuna impressing the crowd due to his power and technique.[21]

After that, he noticed that his opponent is also done with his filleting, at the same time as he is. Somei continues his cooking and pick a small knife remove the fat on Kamatoro and brushing Chūtoro with Nikiri Reduction. After finishing, Sōmei and the crowd are stunned at Subaru completely mimicking the process without falling behind which Subaru later explain as his new technique, Perfect Trace: Flash.[22]

Sōmei offered his Maguro bōchō to Subaru

Somei offered his Maguro bōchō to Subaru

Somei is impressed at Subaru's copying techniques but he also considers his imitation lacking as he never called himself using sessha, though his third year colleagues call him out on this and revealed that he indeed refer to it periodically. Somei returned to his filleting the tuna using his Maguro bōchō in one swing, cleaned it, return it to its sheath and give it Subaru for him to use.[23]

Because Somei sees Subaru's Maguro bōchō inferior compared to his own, named Isanakiri, it will not totally copy his cooking at all. In addition, it will violate his bushido code to ensure fairness in battle, Subaru gratefully accepted the blade and fillet his tuna using Somei's blade. After that, Somei ordered Subaru to follow his lead using his Perfect Trace: Flash.[24]

Sōmei ordered Subaru to follow him

Somei ordered Subaru to follow him

Later on, Somei finished his cooking first and served his dish, Ten Pieces of Tuna Ruby Orbs Sushi With Gunkan Maki.[25]

As Somei presents his dish, Subaru also finished his own version of the dish. This enrages the MC, Urara Kawashima, but Subaru served her his sushi and managed to prove that his dish is just as delicious as an Elite Ten's food. At this time, the other chefs from both sides finished their dish resulting in tasting six dishes all at once.[26]

The judges tasted the Rebels' dishes first and was immensely dumbfounded. However, as Somei and his teammates presented their dishes, the result is in an astonishing victory for them, defeating all three chefs from the opposing side.[27]

Sōmei sympathizes with his defeated opponent

Somei sympathizes with his defeated opponent

Somei's opponent didn't take his defeat well and complain to the judges, asking them how he got defeated when his trace is perfect. Somei himself explains the reason that Subaru lost is because he made too many cuts on his sushi resulting in change of flavor. In addition, Somei told Subaru to not to blame himself for his lost as the gap in experience is just too much for Subaru right now.[28]

Somei's opinion on Perfect Trace

Somei admitted that his battle against Subaru is like facing his own shadow

After the deliberation, Somei and his teammates who participated in the Second Bout found themselves extremely exhausted, Somei even compared his battle against Subaru as dueling against himself. Somei then asked Eishi if he will participate in the Third Bout which Eishi responded with no, and seeing Rindo who's also tired after his bout against Tosuke. Somei had no choice, but to participate in the next bout one more time.[29]

Third Round - First Bout

Somei faces Soma Yukihira for the Third Round

Before the day is over, the match up between between Central and Rebels has been decided immediately, with Somei's opponent being the first year, Sōma Yukihira.[30]

In preparation for his upcoming match, Somei performed cold-water ablution to hone his senses.[31]

The following day, Somei, along with Momo Akanegakubo and Etsuya Eizan enters the stage and faced the trio of first years in the Third Bout.[32] The theme for Somei and Soma's match was revealed to be butter.[33]

Somei then begin on preparing his dish, which is a sashimi rice bowl, Soma commented on this as he revealed that he will be making a dish with centered rice as well, calling it a coincidence.[34]

Soma faces the Fourth Seat

Somei and Soma begun fighting

Somei then started cutting oranges, juiced it, and put it into a small bottle. And at the same time with his opponent, Somei and Soma both throw their butter at the frying pan causing an intense aroma in the arena. While the audience thinks that both are going all out now, Somei considered the opposite as he believed that Soma isn't showing his best. This, of course, fascinates the Fourth Seat of the Elite Ten.[35] Later on in the battle, Somei took noticed the Rebel's teamwork.[36]

Soma and Somei throwing their butter at the pan

Somei and Soma throwing their butter in the frying pan simultaneously

After witnessing Eizan provoking his opponent, Takumi, Somei finds himself amused at Eizan's tactics, but he believes that it didn't affect his opponent and instead, it made him more fired up.[37] And seeing Takumi's victory later on against Eizan, Somei is truly impressed at the first-year showing his tenacity and determination at the battlefield.[38]

As the match between Momo Akanegakubo and Megumi Tadokoro ended which resulted in Momo's victory, making the Third Bout's score even, Somei started arranging his dish and serve it to the judges.[39]

Somei served his dish

Somei served his dish

Somei's dish is the Jewel Butter Seafood Bowl which appearance is powerful already to make the audience overwhelmed. As he move towards the judges, Somei told Soma that he wanted to taste his dish as well. The judges then tasted the dish and its deliciousness reveals itself as the judges can't find themselves stopping at eating it. This made the imprisoned rebels impressed as they thought that him being specialized in sushi cannot bring such a dish.[40]

Reaction to Somei's dish

Somei's dish left the judges cleaved in half

Somei answered this question and answered that being a sushi chef is actually the reason he can create it, by understanding the ingredients which is always accompany the fish, he can create a brilliant dish as he truly understand to the handle the potential of the ingredient, butter.[41] His dish proved to be really impeccable that Soma found himself in a really bad spot.[42]

After his presentation, Somei is asked by Soma on why he joined the Azami Administration which Somei answered swiftly; to protect his ideals. Soma then answered him back that he's doing the same thing, and he'll present those ideals through his dish, as Soma presented his dish, it's powerful aroma surprised the judges easily, even Somei himself. Soma dish left a very strong impact on the judges which made the Fourth Seat questioned where his strength is coming from.[43]

Somei asks Soma's source of strength

Somei asks Soma's source of strength

As the battle between him and Soma continues, Somei finds himself with his one sword being attacked by numerous weapons from all directions. This match made him remembered his conversation with Azami Nakiri where he said that if a samurai like him appears, he would like to test him, and that samurai appears to be Soma Yukihira, whom he called as a true warrior despite having an opposite ideal than him. Being Soma as the real warrior between them, Somei admits his loss. With his defeat, Somei has been eliminated for the remainder of the Regiment de Cuisine. [44]

Somei admits his defeat

Somei admits his defeat

Following his defeat, Somei gains a newfound realization of his ideals, that while he uses one sword during his battles, it was polished not through by himself in reality, he still has many people who helped him throughout his life. Before leaving the arena, Somei gives Soma the wish of luck against Eishi Tsukasa. In the waiting room, Somei felt refreshed despite his defeat, distressing Eizan. Somei just commented that Eizan's loss may have something to do with Soma's own personality, he then decided to leave the rest of the match to Momo and others.[45]

For the Round Four, Somei, alongside Eizan and Nene, watch the next three matches from the sideline.[46] During Eishi and Satoshi's match, Momo said that will win in absolute certainty which Somei retorted, saying that Momo is confident that she will win, only to lose. Somei then received various small smacks from the Third Seat. Somei don't seem to mind.[47]

Somei took over the family restaurant

Somei took over the family restaurant after graduating

Somei, for the Final Round, also watched the final match between the Rebels and Elite Ten.[48] It seems that like the majority of the audience in the venue, Somei finds Soma's dish for appetizers quite a confusion.[49] But Soma's declaration of the true purpose of his dish, being something that Erina should beat like in Shokugeki left Somei and others surprised in shock.[50] Eishi and Rindo having a positive feedback to Erina's main course gives Somei a smiling reaction.[51] Later, Erina's final addition to her dish makes Somei question on what is it.[52] Azami's Blessing then tool effect as a result of Erina's dish and Somei is one of the people that got disrobed.[53] The Regimental Shokugeki has ended and Somei watch it in silence.[54]

When spring arrived, Somei Saito graduated from Totsuki Academy.[55]

Epilogue

After graduating, he went back to work at his family's sushi restaurant. His reappearance as head chef of the restaurant caused it to become very popular, to the point of being completely booked until the next year's spring.

A few years later, along with his former classmates and Elite Ten members, he served as a judge for the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training Camp.

Cooking Style

Best Sushi Chef

Somei being referred to as the best sushi chef of his generation

Sushi - Somei specialized in crafting sushi and is best known for this art of cooking in the academy, earning him the Fourth Seat in the Elite Ten Council. Experienced with sushi ever since a young age, Somei stands out as the best sushi chef of his generation. To further highlights his skill, he defeated various established and adult sushi chefs as a young middle school.

Cooking Skills

  • Expert Butcher - Somei possesses enough physical strength to effortlessly lift Isanakiri and precisely fillet a large tuna into sashimi.
  • Seafood - As fish is an integral part of making sushi, Somei also have a wide range of knowledge regarding sea ingredients. His capability to utilize every part of fish into perfection is highlighted on his seafood dishes.
  • Expertise in Ingredient Usage - Somei'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 Tools

Isanakiri

Isanakiri

  • Isanakiri - A maguro bochi, literally translated to Tuna Cutter, is a long and highly specialized knife that is used to fillet tuna and other kind of ocean fishes. Somei, being a sushi chef, utilized this knife specifically for such cooking method.

Dishes

Original Dishes

Ten Pieces of Tuna Ruby Orbs Sushi

Ten Pieces of Tuna Ruby Orbs Sushi

  • Ten Pieces of Tuna Ruby Orbs Sushi- Ten pieces of aesthetically simplistic miniature sushi prepared by Somei 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.
JewelButterSeafoodBowl

Jewel Butter Seafood Bowl

  • Jewel Butter Seafood Bowl - A dish made by Somei, in the 1st Card of the 3rd Bout of the Rebels Vs. Central Regiment 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) - Somei is the former Fourth Seat of the Elite Ten Council.

Cooking Duel Records

Rebels Vs Central Régiment de Cuisine

Round Rival Culinary
Theme
Dish Results


Misc. Cooking Duels

Rival Culinary
Theme
Dish Stipulation Results


Trivia

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

References

  1. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 224
  2. Shokugeki no Soma volume 27 extras
  3. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 151
  4. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 37
  5. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 40
  6. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 118-119
  7. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 134
  8. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 134
  9. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 148
  10. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 151
  11. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 182
  12. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 172
  13. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 191
  14. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 202
  15. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 204
  16. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 206
  17. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 217
  18. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 218
  19. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 219
  20. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 220
  21. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 224
  22. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 224
  23. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 225
  24. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 225
  25. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 225
  26. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 226
  27. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 227
  28. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 228
  29. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 228
  30. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 231
  31. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 229
  32. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 229
  33. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 230
  34. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 231
  35. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 232
  36. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 233
  37. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 234
  38. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 237
  39. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 240
  40. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 241
  41. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 241
  42. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 241
  43. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 242
  44. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 243
  45. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 244
  46. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 245, 247
  47. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 248
  48. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 254
  49. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 258
  50. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 259
  51. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 260
  52. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 261
  53. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 262
  54. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 263
  55. Shokugeki no Soma chapter 264

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