Tag: Soma

Hello my Dear island guests.  We all get inspired by our fellow bloggers sometimes. This time I was very inspired by the very first person who ever replied to my blog.  Anime and Fanfiction as I know her or Fanfiction Anime World as her blog is known now. I knew her real name.. but I must admit it slipped my mind a little ago, so if you read this, please refresh my memory! She created a lovely idea of splicing two fandoms in some crossover! What fascinated me most is how she spliced a western show with a Japanese video game. She spliced The Owl House with Pokémon Sword and Shield. This could make a great series of blogs for my fanfiction. 

As I still can’t play enough boardgames to keep up my board game versus… this would be a great substitution. So today I take part in her challenge.. and will use it as a pilot for a potential series! If I have fun writing it. Today I shall Splice Shokugeki No Souma or Food Wars.. and Breaking Bad.

_{Note: This Post will contain major spoilers for Breaking Bad, though most spoilers are only implied. The ending of Breaking Bad directly influences the plot of my new show. So a spoiler warning is in effect.}

Breaking down the Elements

No, I will not be calling this show Bad Food. Nor will I be going with Baking Bad. Instead we will be calling it  Shokuji Aoi which translates into “Blue Meal” or “Blue Food” While I could make the show a super silly spoof , I opted out of that idea. There are real stakes in this anime and the theme would be less commercial than Food Wars itself..Tonewise there are elements of Madoka in this series. manifesting more in ways like Wixoss. But still mostly being a splice between just Breaking Bad and Food Wars. It would be a one season series consisting of about 12 to 20  episodes. It would go up on Netflix or HBO. While in a “complete” series” there would of course be more depth and fleshing out I will discuss the major plot points. And thus the major characters/battles.

The Important Characters from Breaking Bad

Walter White/Heisenberg

Gustave “Gus” Fring

Jane Margolis

Mike Ehrmantraut

Lydia Rodarte-Qualye

The Important Characters from Food Wars would be:

Soma Yukihira

Alice Nakiri

Ryou Kurokiba

Hisako Arato

Megumi Tadokoro

There would be other characters from each show but these would be the main five for each.
I used Western naming conventions as the setting would be Albuquerque New Mexico. Yet set in an alternate version of the Food Wars universe.. In this show teams of two would compete in a cooking war. But unlike the Shokgeki this would be much more buisness like. While the Shokugeki cast fights for rewards, the Breaking Bad Members fight not to be punished Losing teams would be eliminated. For one half of the cast .. eliminated would be very literal. 

The Set Up

The show would oddly enough be directly set AFTER the events of Breaking Bad.  We see the final scene of the show repeated. Walter White being on the ground with the cops drawing closer to his location. On his mouth a smile.. his eyes staring into infinity. When suddenly the cops are nowhere to be seen. Jesse Pinkman shows up.. voiced by Aaron Paul …only it is not him.  “Yow Bitch.. you should not have gone and done that “  he tells Walter. “Game Over Bro’ . Walter looks confused, the place he is at seems to glow blue, he sees a lab, but it almost seems to exist in negative space.. as if he sees a negative of a lab. Jesse then changes into Walt Jr ‘Dad you promised you would come home”  he says. Walter groans and asks the presence in front of him to cut the bullshit.. “What is happening”. Walt Junior changes into Skyler and tells Walter he never understood. It is okay though.. he gets one more chance!  Walter had been a bad person in his life.. and normally people like him do not get reborn.. but this spirit got bored so he could do with some entertainment. Walt could come back.. and reunite with his family.. but for that he would have to cook!

The presence then changes into  the classic Walter..before he had been diagnosed with cancer and begins to explain to him that he will be sent to another world.. to live a new life .. a form of purgatory if you will.  There he would meet a few of the people he (had) killed and would have to do battle with them.  The one who loses a battle would fade away forever.. send to hell where they all surely belonged. The winner however would be able to return to their old life.. as if nothing ever happened. Getting the life they wanted back.Walter asks if he has to kill them again.. because whoever it is.. if he killed them once he can do it again. The god shakes his head and tells Walter he has to cook!

In Albuquerque a few kids , some of the greatest cooks in their world can assist them.. he is to partner up with one and report to a battlefield.. if he fails to reach a battlefield in time .. he will automatically lose and be sent to hell. Walter Agrees , no one is a better cook than him.. even if he would encounter Gil.. and starts his challenge. Walter asks for the mysterious god’s identity who only introduces himself as Tet.. now looking like Hector Salamanca. Still thinking Walt is the best chef he moves into the streets of Albuquerque. Yet when he meets Yukihira..he realises.. that his style of cooking ain’t just going to cut it. That trickster that had  fooled him. The winning cooks from the Shokugeki universe get promised one wish of this world’s god upon their return to their world. Yet if he loses.. he gets send to hell! Who is this god that likes to play games with them?! Can he get his second chance?

The Pairings

Walter White.. who introduces himself as Hank Heisenberg to Soma immediately notices how different he and the boy are.  This guy is impulsive, simple and somewhat brash. He reminds him of Jesse but less of pottymouth. Both had that glint in their eyes though, both follow their heart over their mind. Over the course of the series they would develop a similar, but less toxic relationship. Their foodstyle would be Yukihara’s simple but bold dishes mixed with Walter’s chemical bag of trickery. Turning a tomato blue by causing a reaction, making a cold dish suddenly heat up by triggering a chemical reaction that would suddenly Flambé a dish. Think Soma’s dishes with a bit of magic. Over the course of the series we see them get further apart and closer together. Soma is actually interested in “Hank”’s Science and we see Walter take a mentoring role towards the kid as the show progresses.. even if they do not always trust each other. Unlike other cooking matches, in Shokugeki these challenges are done from Foodtrucks, elements that much better fit the Breaking Bad theme as Soma and Heisenberg’s food truck will be a converted camper.

Lydia the slightly timid woman working with the neo-nazi’s would be paired up with Hisako. Both characters have shown somewhat similar character traits and both are very concerned with their health in their own way. So Hisako’s healthy cooking style would be amplified by Lydia’s knowledge in that department. To keep things fair everyone has been granted your typical Isekai skill boost so suddenly Lydia knows all sorts of chemical secrets to make stuff healthier.. or heck even more addictive.. Some challenges will be weighed on sales numbers and Lydia is pretty good at making deals. So all in all this pairing would work rather well. Their Food Truck is an Eco-friendly vehicle with a slightly pretentious tone to it. To reflect Lydia’s twisted values.

Mike Ehrmantraut and Ryou Kurokiba would be paired up as both are depicted as fairly volatile right hand people. Both can stand up for themselves as they need to and both have that “hunter” quality over them. Mike in this team plays a bit the role of gatherer. In Breaking Bad he takes care of people so it is safe to say he might have a similar skill set when it comes to hunting animals to get the better produce. He also seems like the type that really enjoys fishing. Which bounces off with Ryou well. Both have this psychotic quality as well that doesn’t always show. Oftenly they are just the silent right hand man but when stuff hits the fan both can get very dangerous! And because they are the right hand man the next pairing makes a lot of sense as well. Their Foodtruck would be something of a Burglars van, with no licence plates, blinded windows and a whole lot of black!

Gustavo Fring and Alice Nakiri are a pair made in heaven. While Alice isn’t as blatantly evil as Gus she does have that same cold and logical personality quirk.. a sense of entitlement and superiority while also not being too afraid to be humble. Both are manipulative and cunning. Alice focuses on molecular Gastronomy, and Gus his catering  experience will make them great rivals to Walter and Soma. They are basically a role reversal of that pair.With Alice doing what Walt does.. and Gus doing the humble style fried food Soma is known for.  They are just more willing to cheat than Soma would. Alice above anyone else has a wish to rise above the rest of her family. We let this play out before the third Food Wars season when tensions between everyone were still super high. This would allow for more personal development and also keep the plot from stranding due to friendship being in the way to much. They work from a Pollos Hermanos food truck and when Alice asks what it means Gus lies to her telling it means Chicken Geniuses.. praising her intellect and skill. Alice believes this and his happy to be validated.

The Final pair would be Megumi and Jane. While Jane is hardly innocent in the series she is also the one who least deserved her faith. She just ends up being in over her head. She has the least impressive skillset. However as a drug addict she spends plenty of her money on forbidden substances. Still having to feed Brock her specialty is making something out of nothing. Managing to turn an egg and some soy into a delicious umami rich sauce, or creating a herb crust out of chives and garlic when all other spices run out. There is an honesty to her cooking .. of caring for others. Of all the Breaking Bad characters her personality comes closest to that of Soma cooking for others rather than herself. Megumi is of course a great pairing with a bit of the good guy personality and we have already seen she can bounce of Soma’s creativity rather well so this pair would do much the same.  Their food truck would would have bright colours and cute fish. Jane as a mother knows that it would be hard to draw in kids to eat fish..so they have to go with something bright so they can also draw in younger people.. and thus their parents. Jane is also the only one who will not tell Megumi she will be send to hell if she loses. The poor girl is just a kid, she can not handle that.

We need to cook!

Walter and Soma would not be very compatible at first. Walter feels guilt for what he did to Jesse but at the same time triggers heavily on any boyish behaviour Soma shows. Heisenberg is very prone to be overzealous throughout. So to have a chance in this competition none of the major teams can be his first match.  Instead their first match will be against Tuco and Nao both characters have shown signs of being somewhat deranged and it turns out their madness is incompatible. While Nao’s style of creating a foul smelling dish that is actually amazing would normally work, Tuco unblances her dish and the pair gets easily eliminated. As Tuco is sent to hell and Walter and Soma win by sheer luck Heisenberg realises he must take this seriously. Meanwhile Soma struggles to steal wishes from other people..because Soma doesn’t really have a wish!  He just wants to keep on cooking. This will be his battle.   The battle will here are less like a classical Shokugeki and more like Soma’s battle against Kuga where profit raised determines the winner.  There are judges however that taste the food which may persuade some customers. In case of Tuco and Nao’s cooking this became very clear where suddenly no one wanted to eat at their truck! Even if Tuco held people at gunpoint.

Fairly soon in the series Heisenberg and Soma face off against Lydia and Hisako. Hisako confesses to Soma she is in love with Erina and wants to wish for the strength to confess. This triggers Soma to almost forsake a match.. Without Soma Walter can not win and he will not be sent to hell by Lydia.First he tries to talk Souma into focusing on the match! “Souma WE NEED TO COOK” he would shout but to no avail.  So instead he begins talking to Hisako and discovers she is in love with Alice’s sister, he has seen Alice before in an earlier episode but did not face her. He then manipulates her into thinking that even if she would confess to Erina there is still a chance she could turn her down. She might be wishing for herself to go through unspeakable pain. Soma at this point is too oblivious to Walters intentions and tells her she might not do that.. but then realises Erina has been spending a lot of time away from Hisako. Walt’s words then make her mistrust Erina and almost sure she would be rejected so she states that she will wish for her heart to be closed off so she never would have to feel that pain. Now Soma gets in the fight to protect Hisoka from herself. Putting up his best dish yet.. and Lydia is sent to hell as Walter just says “Bye Lydia”.  Soma, still oblivious to Walt’s cruel nature, just comforts Hisoka and tells her she will help her gather the courage to confess… he also cheers her up with his food. She nods and accepts defeat gracefully. 

The Henchmen and the Pizza

This match triggers the god Tet to go discontent! It’s no fun if people take their loss so gracefully! So he alters the rules to make it more enjoyable for him to watch. Those who lose shall never have their wish granted and everyone has to write their wish down and keep it in a special sealed envelope. You can no longer change it, and if you reveal it your team is disqualified. The next important match Walter and Soma fight is Ryo and Mike.. a match against something minor would have occured in the form of Etsuya and Gil.  Etusya’s wish would be very gatekeepers prompting Souma to properly dominate him to prevent him from ever corrupting their school that much. However when it is time to face Ryo , Soma struggles to let him give up his dream. In this match Walter is also having some guilt feelings in his battle against Mike. It is one of the few things he regrets. He has also been getting closer to Yukihira. In that minor match, he thought Soma a lot..who was very grateful and they made an amazing dish. Using fish eggs.. but making neutral pop rock candy in between to create a literal flavour explosion.

The challenge this time is to make a Pizza. Ryo makes a fantastic seafood Pizza but Walt comes up for a chemical reaction to make the most light air filled crust in a pizza ever.. light as a feather, while Soma comes up with a with a way to mix blended anchovy through a sauce for a less intense anchovy experience but still a flavor explosion. Before they are able to plate up though both find themselves to be unable to finish the others off.  They know this will put them on top.. but both struggle to finish of their rivals. The other team sees this and begins to scream at them.

Ryo yells and Soma for just letting him win, who does he think he is.. his wish is not worth it if he did not earn it.. If Soma would let him win that wish would just be as toxic as not having the wish in his entire lifetime. In fustration Ryo throws one of the Pizza’s on the roof of Walts foodtruck. This resonates with Soma and he is back in the game. Mike tells Walter that even if he thinks Walter is an asshole.. he did nothing Mike would not have done.. he would have just done it less stupidly.. this business they were in is about survival. He would love Walter to go to hell but he would much rather send him there himself. If he really is such a quiter, he is free to give up but then he would be even less of a man than Mike thought of him now.  Shocked Walter looks at the Pizza on his roof, he  is reminded of his son, of his wife, of the little one!  He can not quit here. Walter gets back in the game.. and he and Souma win by a small margin. Walter apologises to Mike and who scolds at him that he did not learn anything from last time. Before he is sent away he tells Walter to beat that son of a bitch Fring.

Antagonistic Battles

Before they face off against Gustavo though Soma challenges Tet to a Shokugeki. If he wins all the invalidated wishes become possible again. If he loses the Shokugeki he can get sent with Walt to hell should they lose. The god refuses this stating that only Soma’s soul would not be enough to feed him the despair of the others. So Soma changes the bet. If Soma wins he gets to alter his wish, if he loses he can be sent to hell like earlier. The god agrees and we see a classic Shokugeki. Here we see a jury appear consisting of Saul Goodman, Dojima Gin and a food critic from our world.. anyone who wants to make a cameo will do. Just a third world. A blind tasting will determine the winner and while the god conjures the most luxurious ingredients of the world, Soma manages to blow him out of the water with the first dish he ever made in the series.  The bacon wrapped Pork roast… but with elements of what he learned along the way. The jury can taste that dish tells a story while the other almost felt self indulgent and arrogant of the chef. So Soma can alter his wish.. he smiles as he writes down a new one.

The match against Gus and Alice begins.. This is set up as the final battle, their biggest competitors, if they win here they can take the entire tournament.  Becoming more and more aware of Walt’s cruel nature however Soma tries to redeem the man. Seeing how bad Gus is however.. makes him quickly play this match very serious! He states that he made an important wish and he can not lose!  Alice and Gus cheat throughout the match, changing their prices, giving people back false change for better results..Tet ignores any plea to rectify this as he is just having fun! Alice molecular gastronomy skills allow a chicken to fry in it’s own fat. For our  protagonists, as a dish the young boy and the drug lord create a steak remicincent of the chaliapin steak don, which is tenderised by the enzymes in onions.

However in this case they create gelantisnied cubes of onions that tenderise the meat and due to the gelatin texture make the brain think it has both a sauce and is even more tender. The gelatine cubes are of course also blue. Blue is also a cuisson being a way of meat being cooked.. being even below rare.  So on top of the dish they present a Blue salted carpaccio with rocket leafs.  The Heisenberg Double Blue they call it and with it they defeat Gus and Alice super special, chemical reaction fried chicken. As Gus’ face melts off as he is sent to hell he straightens his tie one more time and then it is over. Soma thanks Heisenberg for teaching him this. While Soma’s food style is very honest he loves messing with people’s minds so he does really learn a lot and really sees Walter as a mentor..something that changes something deep within Heisenberg. 

Breaking Better

Soma and Heisenberg have reached the finals. Where they face Megumi and Jane. Megumi was super worried as she wished for her entire village to prosper. If her wish gets corrupted they will all suffer because of it. Soma tells her not to worry and that he has her covered. She should just cook to the best of her extent and make this a final worth fighting for. Walter faces off with Jane.. who stares at him with eyes filled with hate. “I was weak, but you let me die? Why”  The bald man stares back and with tears in his eyes he says “I was weak as well’. ‘For the first time in my life I was someone.. not just a teacher.. I was Heisenberg’ … he then swallows. ‘But Heisenberg was nothing.. without Jesse, nothing without Saul, without Skylar and without Junior.’ I could not see it back then Jane..so you were in the way.. you had to go. I needed Jesse’. Soma and Walter whisper a bit. Walt scribbles down a few notes.  ‘Soma follow this process in the exact order  that way we have our winning dish , you will have your wish’.

Walt looks at Jane and tells her she would have killed Jesse as much as he would almost had.. at least he had the strength to save him.. she was weak.. she even left her own son behind for drugs. “So did you Walt so did you’.  The man shakes his head. ‘No I left my son behind for his future! I pushed him away because I wanted him to be happy’. ‘You left your son because you were weak.. and you’re still weak, if you’ll go back you’ll be dead within a week so I am sending you to hell where you belong with all your weakness. Jane cries in anger but instead of breaking.. like she is sure what Walter is aiming for finds a passion to oppose this horrible man. She finds a strength within her she will prove him wrong.. IF she gets back she will never do drugs again, she hated that this man was right.. but she would force him to be wrong! Megumi gets angry at Heisenberg as well! Causing her to lose any anxiety she might have. She is particularly angry at Soma though who seems to be laughing with what Heisenberg is doing.

When the final dishes are to be revealed Megmumi shows a take on her rainbow Terrine, while she missed several flavours Jane refused to give up on this dish as this could definitely give them the win.. even though her mind was being assaulted she came up with some great choices to supplement the dish. The jury is in awe of the dish and tells Soma he has to have come up with an amazing dish if he wishes to compete. He grins and lifts a cloche. As Megmumi sees the dish she gasps. ‘Soma .. Mister Heisenberg….why?!’ Under the cloche is Soma’s Squid with Peanut Butter. A chemical reaction in the Peanut butter has turned it purple making the dish look even more gross.  Soma laughed and said it was Heisenbergs idea. Walter speaks to him and tells him his name is not Heisenberg his real name is Walter White. Jane looks confused. “Walt why .. did you give up” .  Walter smiles… “I am the one who decides who lives and dies.I am not the man who waits to be killed. I decided…. You did a horrible thing Jane.. but I did plenty. This Tet guy may make people able to live with what I did.. he can not make ME able to live with it. Junior.. .. he is grown up.. he doesn’t need me anymore.. but there are two people out there in that world who need you.’  She thanks him and nods. 

Hellsenberg

Tet scoffs.. Hah but now Soma will not have his wish. Soma tells he trusted Mister White he saw him change.. from a cruel drug lord into a loving teacher, trying to do what is right for his family and the people he loved. He knew he would do the right thing here. Soma then reveals his wish. “I wish for everyone’s wish to be lost forever’ “By your own rule.. this wish now must be negated.. and can never come true”  The God yells in frustration..but then laughs. “Well played, you have bested me twice’ ‘Young Tadokoro , plenty of fish and wealth shall descend upon your village and it will prosper during your lifetime and the next.. now you and Jane go Home. “Walter White.. it is time for you to go to hell’ Walt nods but asks.. “Could I ask you for a final goodbye.. I know I was a bad person but this has to give me some good will’ The god thinks.. ‘No one will be able to see you.. just a final look’ Walt nods. That is plenty.
A little later Jane suddenly is back.. she’s in a hospital. Jesse is sitting next to her bed.. he seems to have thought she slipped in a Coma.. misremembering her death.He looks weak.. cried out.. like he has been through hell since her death.. As she opens her eyes a flicker of hope returns to his eyes.. it’s not much.. he is almost too weak to stand up.and give her a hug. Almost… A single bag of Heisenberg money is suddenly underneath ther hospital bed.. they do not know how it got there.. but they do not care either. They will use it to start anew.

Walt Junior is sitting on the couch watching some tv when suddenly there is a knock on the door. “Don’t open it” says Skylar.  It’s late.. they can come back tomorrow. Something compels Junior to go to the door .. as he opens it there is no one where.. yet he can not help but feel watched. Weirdly he feels loved at that very moment.. A big gust of wind shows up.. it’s about to storm. .a lone black pork pie that blows across the street, but no one can be seen.  Just for a flash old memories overwhelm Junior a bit and a single tear rolls down his cheek.  He closes the door and walks back into the living room. “Who was it?” Asks Skyler.. As Walt takes one last look at his wife and baby Holly.. as his spirit transitions into the afterlife he says “I told you Skyler. I am the one who knocks’.

And that brings and end to this crossover between two series that should not really cross-over! Yet that is part of the fun! Check out Fan Fiction and Anime World’s take on her challenge! I might turn this into a series on here taking the challenge up on a monthly basis! Do you have any idea for a cross over let me know!