It isn't always easy to tell when a character has reached a plateau in their development, especially in shounen tournament manga, where “physically superior” can be easily confused with “emotionally stronger.” Megumi Tadokoro, the shy country girl of Yūto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki's Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma, has been steadily evolving over the course of the previous eight books, serving as both a counterpoint to the harsh Erina Nakiri and a measure of how laid-back and nice Soma himself can be...and now, in volume nine, I think it is safe to say that she has hit a major high point. Most of this volume deals with her ramen cook-off against Ryo Kurokiba, Alice Nakiri's assistant, and the growth we see in her as a person is remarkable.

Previously we've seen Megumi be marked down for being flustered and shy, losing her cool (which admittedly she didn't have much of) every time she was tasked with cooking for a teacher or competition. In volume eight we watched her pull herself together when she and Soma were tricked into teaching a children's cooking class by Ishiki, and now in this book we really see her put it all together. Ryo, as you may recall from the first part of the Fall Classic arc, turns into a terrifying person in the kitchen, so when he is announced as Megumi's opponent, it's natural for the crowd (and us) to worry. And Megumi is worried – but she still manages to pull herself together. She can't quite bring herself to see cooking as a chef-eat-chef world the way most of the others do, and with this battle she comes to accept that that's okay. She doesn't have to be just like everyone else; she just has to do her best with what she has, both in terms of actual cooking and cooking philosophy. For Megumi, as the saying goes, the object of climbing the mountain isn't just to get to the top; it's also to enjoy the climb along the way.

If you think about it, this is also the philosophy that drives Soma. He's much more competitive than Megumi, yes, but he also really enjoys both the cooking and the fighting. He's said multiple times, and again in this volume, that he wants people to be happy when they eat his food, not just to admire it as a skillful piece of gourmet art. Since the latter view is much more the prevailing theory at Totsuki, that's made him a wild card, but it's also allowed Megumi to see that she can take that path as well. Just like any other good shounen protagonist, Soma influences and inspires his friends, and it's a real strength of the series that he fits that mold while cooking rather than fighting monsters or trying to take over the world.

In terms of the actual cooking this volume, we have first a ramen fight and then a burger battle, of which we only get the first half. The ramen isn't quite as visually stimulating as most of Food Wars!' cook-offs, possibly because of the focus on Megumi's development, but it is still enough to make you crave a big bowl. It is a big shame that we don't actually see more of the preparation of the dishes, though, since that is a consistent highlight of the series. The foodgasms, while toned down from earlier volumes, are still creative, although the Dean's reaction to Megumi's dish feels just a little icky – while we can see where the creators are coming from, it still feels a bit inappropriate given the ages of the characters. On the other hand, the half of the burger fight we see may be a bit much for more sensitive readers, as it involves Hisako butchering a live turtle, which are generally considered pets in the US rather than comestibles. There's also mention that she uses the organ meat in her dish, which once again is generally frowned upon in North American foods, liver aside. All of this may decrease the mouth-watering factor for English-speaking readers, although it is generally well depicted.

The fanservice is largely toned down for this book, at least on the female side; we see plenty of shirtless (old) men. There's one inexplicable panty shot and one naked female foodgasm, but otherwise, this is a pretty clean volume in that sense. It also has one of the best splash pages in the series thus far: the cover page for chapter 70 features Megumi as the leader of a yanki gang, and subsequent short comics in the book continue to poke fun at it and make obscure references to shows like Sukeban Deka. (There's also a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure spoof when Ryo presents his dish.) The book also continues volume eight's trend of letting us get to know some of the B characters a little better, with Isami Aldini getting more time on the page and Yuki and Sakaki continuing to be more major players.

Food Wars! continues to be the kind of series you can devour in half an hour or so once you start reading. With an increasing focus on the characters (we see Ryo's and Alice's meeting this time) and how they feel about cooking, the story is developing beyond just a cooking tournament as we are given the information to feel more sympathetic to all of the players. The recipes are much more difficult this time, so unless you're feeling ambitious they aren't as doable, but the character development more than makes up for it. Megumi fans, this is your book – and even if she's not your favorite, it's a good one.