Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma is filled with sexy female characters, including Erina of the Rebel Alliance and Rindou of the Elites. Among them, Akanegakubo Momo, the third seat of the Elites, remains "cute." A genius pastry chef, Momo rose to third seat thanks to her undeniable cuteness and sense of style. Though she may look like a child, her queenly nature, somewhat reminiscent of Erina, is one of her charms! This time, we'll focus on Momo's cuteness!
What are Akanegakubo Momo's basic characteristics?
First, let's take a quick look at Momo's basic information. Although she looks like a child no matter how you look at her, she is in her third year. Her height is 140cm. It is generally said that the average fifth-year elementary school girl is 140cm, so Momo-senpai is about the same height as a fourth-year elementary school student despite being in her third year of high school. Her blood type is B. Her birthday is listed as August 21st, which means she was already 18 years old at the time of the Solidarity Shokugeki. As befits a pastry chef, her favorite food is vanilla extract.
The name of the stuffed animal she always accompanies her is "Butchy."
When it comes to Momo, the teddy bear Butchy always appears with her. She's generally socially awkward and gloomy, making her shy around strangers, but she always opens up to Butchy. Incidentally, Butchy seems to have some emotional attachment, as his veins are often depicted bulging when he's angry (lol).
How cruel! Butchy's arm gets torn off
Butchy is always loved and cherished by Momo... but he can also be surprisingly strict. Sometimes, out of frustration, he bites Butchy's ear... but perhaps the most shocking scene is this one. Without any hesitation, he calmly tears off Butchy's paw pads (lol). In this scene, he tears off Butchy's hands and uses them as mittens to remove the finished dish from the oven.
There's also space on his back for small items
As revealed in Season 3, Butchy has a zipper on his back, which, when opened, reveals a space for storing student handbooks and other items. These notebooks are those of the members of the Polar Star Dormitory and are important to Soma and his friends, but Momo was moved to tears by the sight of Butchy being treated so roughly. Incidentally, there seems to be a decent amount of space on his back, enough to fit a whole student handbook inside.
She just loves cute things! Momo even likes to give people cute names.
Momo, who loves cute things and cuteness, started working as a pastry chef because she believes she looks her cutest when she's making sweets. While her cooking is primarily focused on cute treats, she also gives nicknames to various people that she finds cute, such as "Megumi-chan," "Takumi-myun," and "Yuki-hyun." However, Isshiki speculates that this is because she sees them as inferiors who need to be doted on, which is why she calls them cute nicknames.
Momo's Weakness!? Momo hates flying!
Momo is generally expressionless and only interested in cute things, but even she has one fear: airplanes. When they were supposed to fly to Hokkaido for their promotion exam, Momo resisted to the very end, crying because she was afraid of flying. In the end, Saito dragged her along, but was there some kind of trauma in Momo's past?
How will she perform in the Rentai Shokugeki?
Akanegakubo Momo will appear in the third bout of the Solidarity Shokugeki. Others appearing in the third bout from the Top Ten are Saito, who also appeared in the second bout, and Eizan, the seventh-seater. Even compared to these two, Momo, the third-seater, is a much stronger opponent, arguably the most formidable. Soma also appears from the Rebel Alliance, but it is Tadokoro Megumi who is chosen to face Momo. The difference in skill between the two was so great that even the commentators wondered if this match was a throwaway. However, this Shokugeki turned out to be an unexpectedly close one.
What happened in the match between Momo and Megumi?
The theme ingredient given to the two was "apple." As a pastry chef, Momo found this to be a significant advantage, and she used the apple to create a rose. At first glance, it looked like a real rose, but each petal was made from an apple, and the bottom part was a tart. While Momo overwhelmed her opponent with not only the taste but also the appearance, Megumi challenged her with a common, everyday sweet.
The sweets Megumi made were a traditional Japanese treat!
After Momo's gorgeous dessert, what came out was a dorayaki. As you can see, it was just an ordinary dorayaki, pale in comparison to Momo's princess tart. However, the filling was made using French cooking techniques taught to her by Shinomiya, along with Takumi's own shredded ginger. Her spirit was so impressive that she garnered a vote from one of the judges, Anne, and brought the match to a close 1-2 victory over third-place finisher Momo.
Momo won the Shokugeki. But her expression...
Momo narrowly won with a score of 2-1. However, there was no smile on her face. Seeing Megumi crying in frustration after losing the Shokugeki, she left the venue, saying, "Not cute... Not cute... Tadokoro Megumi." As mentioned earlier, Momo has a habit of giving cute nicknames to people she considers inferior to her. However, it seems that she called Megumi by her first name instead of a nickname out of "respect" for her unexpectedly strong performance.
In the Force Bout, she faces Erina Nakiri, the leader of the Rebel Alliance!
Momo's Force Bout will be against Erina, the leader of the Rebel Alliance. After consecutive battles since the third bout, she's worried about her exhaustion... but since her Shokugeki with Megumi, Momo has been feeling irritated for reasons she doesn't even understand, and she decides to release that frustration through a Shokugeki with Erina. The theme ingredient offered to the two is "brown sugar." Once again, it's an ingredient that's advantageous for making sweets, but Erina seems overconfident, while Momo looks desperate... This lack of composure will have a major impact on the Shokugeki.
The dessert Momo made to relieve stress is a castle!?
In the third bout, Momo calmly made the "Queen's Apple Tart" using apples, but in the fourth bout, she must have been extremely stressed out, as she created a gigantic "Brown Sugar Roll Kiki Castle" to release her stress. Considering Momo's height, it's interesting to wonder how she managed to create a dessert this tall (lol). It seems she personally thought it was quite a feat, and unlike her apple tart, she looks accomplished.
Erina's dessert got 95 points. Momo judged it that way, but...
Erina's dessert, "Leger de Glace Soufflé," was a French-style dorayaki-style dessert made with two layers of soufflé dough sandwiched between red bean paste. However, Momo gives Erina's dessert a score of 95, citing the reasoning that "putting red bean paste between pancakes weakens the flavor." Erina then encourages Momo to try her own dessert. Momo wasn't particularly enthusiastic at first, but the moment she tasted the dessert, her eyes filled with hearts...
Momo falls for Erina's cuteness!? Momo is completely defeated by Erina's cooking
The moment Momo tasted Erina's dessert, she was speechless and her eyes filled with hearts. Even Momo's fellow members of the Elites couldn't help but express surprise at her, as she had always believed that her own sweets were unique and had never made heart-shaped eyes for anyone else's. Despite this, Momo managed to refute Erina's remarks, but ultimately, she finally made a heart shape with her body rather than just her eyes, exclaiming, "This dorayaki is so cute!" and conceding defeat.
Mimasaka's performance of Momo is terrible
Mimasaka provided more support than expected for the Rebel Alliance during the Solidarity Shokugeki. (Before the Soma vs. Saito match, Mimasaka pretended to be Saito and faced Soma.) Mimasaka used Perfect Trace to trace all of her opponents, but... Momo's tracing was awful! (Nene's was also pretty awful.) Why does Mimasaka try to trace not only their moves but also their faces? (lol)
A Summary of Charismatic Cuteness: Akanegakubo Momo
So far, what did you think of this introduction to Akanegakubo Momo? Not only is Momo herself cute, but the sweets she makes are also adorable, making her a true "charisma of cuteness." As anyone who has watched the first season knows, voice actress Rie Kugimiya's voice is a perfect fit for the character, making for an amazing character.
