Food Wars! The Third Plate

Episode 17

Did you need another reason to hate Azami? Probably not, but Food Wars! isn't taking any chances of making him seem sympathetic, so this week they throw another crime in our faces: he bullied Akira into joining Central by threatening Jun. (It's even worse if you consider that Jun is practically Akira's mom; threatening someone's family is a new low for Azami.) His methods for doing this were typically underhanded – he forced all of Jun's corporate sponsors to withdraw their offers of financial aid. Not only does this speak to the power Azami wields outside the academy, it also shows how low he's willing to go to force his vision of “gourmet” on the world at large. Technically, he really shouldn't be able to interfere with outside businesses, especially since if his plans go through, some of these companies will go belly-up. It's like he's the Don of the Food Mafia, and a kid like Akira, who isn't comfortable going to others for help, was essentially put in a position where he had no choice but to comply.

All of that explains not only why Akira's now with Central, but also his determination to beat Soma no matter what and the dead-eyed stare he's had all season. He's fighting not so much for Azami's ideals or even to stay at school, but for the only family he has. That's more of a burden than any sixteen-year-old should have to bear, and a loss could have serious emotional repercussions for him. Not that this means he ought to win, but it is something that Soma's going to have to help him deal with on the off chance that Soma carries the day.

We're not going to find out about that until next week, which is actually a good thing in terms of pacing. I was afraid that they were going to try to cram the entire match into this episode, which would have taken a lot of the tension out of it. The decision to do this in full and presumably cut back on other content later (because there's still a lot to cover here) will likely prove to have been the right one. There's a lot more at stake here than just Soma's enrollment; this is the match that has the most fully revealed the depths to which Azami will sink. If his minion wins here, against the rebels' best man, that won't bode well for Totsuki overall.

It's also an important cook-off because Soma's never beaten Akira before. While this would be an awesome time to start, it couldn't happen if he hadn't lost before. All along an important piece of Soma's character has been his ability to learn from his mistakes and defeats. He's okay with admitting that someone is better at something than he is (a rarity at Totsuki), and his main take-away has consistently been the way he examines why he lost. Having done this twice with Akira, he's now ready to really put what he learned into practice, something we see right off the bat when the head judge, Alice's dad, immediately realizes that he used the gamiest parts of the bear meat. Scent has always been Akira's weapon; for Soma to deliberately attempt to use that against him like this, and to thus far succeed in it, speaks volumes about both his confidence and his ability to learn.

Will Soma succeed in beating Akira? And will the same be true of the rest of the rebels? It's not a good sign that Nikumi is up against he Council member who specializes in desserts, which is far from her area of expertise, and how Takumi and Megumi will fare against Rindo also feels fraught with peril. We'll just have to dwell on the glory (?) of either Dojima's abs or Cilla and Berta in little bear bikinis or the humor of Soma pulling a Takumi running around screaming Akira's name until next week.

Rating: B+

Food Wars! The Third Plate is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.