What do you think about the Central Arc?

Hi,a few days ago I finished the 3rd season of Shokugeki no Soma. I enjoyed the anime a lot, especially the first season. It’s my favourite anime I watched in the last 3 years.I was quite surprised when Azami took over the school. No foreshadowing and the show seemed to keep on going with their usual story evolution (in this case Soma taking on the Elite ten). So it was a very disruptive move to change from the usual light-hearted rivalry between the school members to a complete war of ideology. This is what is bothering me the most. It seems out of tone. Not only is Azami the new leader due to a hostile takeover. He wants to implement his ideology in a way that can be described as war and reminds many of the political ideology and dictatorship we have seen in the past century.I am a bit worried what this means for the future of the anime. I liked how the anime handled things. A main character that already has a high skill set and still a lot of potential. Totsuki was the perfect place for him to be. It’s a harsh environment which made you reach your limits and surpass them through strict lessons and tests. And even more importantly for Soma through cooking battles with cooks who can compete with his level or do even possess better skills. While doing so the anime managed to keep up a good chunk of comedy and a light-hearted tone despite the challenges. Now it is not a fight to surpass your skills anymore but a fight for survival. The school wants to suppress your way of cooking. It’s not about improving anymore but simply about copying existing recipes in the best way. It’s also not doing any good for the comedy. The comedy until now based heavily on the group dynamic, the school environment and the mostly light-hearted tone in the anime. With this new setting I doubt this can be continued in a way we had till now. It also did no good for the elite ten. At least for me they lost quite some appeal. Some were kicked out and replaced by new characters (we already saw in the hunt for survivors) which are very bland. They look like the average bad guy filler without any interesting characteristics.What do you think about the changes and the new darker arc? I still enjoyed watching the show and I think I will continue to do so. But I would have preferred the show to continue with arcs in a way which are similar to what we had in the past. I have not read the manga but I read that the Central Arc with Azami as their leader is still going on. What makes me hope for a bright future is the fact that we are still in year one. So I hope they will finish the story involving Azami, Central etc. around the end of year one and return to the old ways of doing in the beginning of year 2. via /r/ShokugekiNoSoma http://ift.tt/2rpVsKu