The manga series Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, features an extensive cast of characters created by Yuto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki. The series primarily takes place at Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute, an extremely competitive culinary school of which only a handful of students graduate each year. Students are judged on their cooking in a number of classes and events. Of particular interest is a competition called a shokugeki (food war), a cooking duel held in an indoor arena where students stake their pride and futures as chefs. The storyline follows teenage transfer student Soma Yukihira as he meets other students, some of whom start as rivals and antagonists, especially Erina Nakiri, the granddaughter of the school's dean, but later become allies when the story shifts in the