Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma: The Fifth Plate

Episode 3

Hey, look what's back! Yes, it's Food Wars!' fifth season, and it is not hesitating about bringing out the big reveals. The major one is, of course, that Mr. Suzuki the new teacher is, in fact, Saiba Asahi, Joichiro's sort-of adopted son. He's wormed his way into Totsuki for Reasons that he has yet to fully reveal, but a major one is almost certainly jealousy – of Soma, in particular. As Joichiro explains it, he picked up Asahi when he was cooking at an orphanage in the U.S. and took a liking to the kid. Without apparently adopting him (this seems to have been one of those terribly run orphanages that allow for Sad Orphan Flashbacks or grand triumphs, depending on whether you're in Bungo Stray Dogs or Annie), he trained the eager boy up…and then ditched him to go back to Japan to his real family.

Ouch. Maybe Asahi has a good reason to hate Soma and Joichiro after all, at least from where he's standing.

Parental relationships have never been especially good in Food Wars!' world, particularly those involving fathers, if only because mothers have been largely absent from the storyline. That Joichiro, whose relationship with Soma is hardly perfect, might have another son whom he disappointed doesn't feel all that outside of the realm of possibilities, especially since he's clearly got something of a hands-off policy. As we see implied this week, Joichiro seems to have left much of Soma's care to his wife, the late Tamako, only really stepping in towards the end of her life and after her death. While this certainly wouldn't have negated the possibility of him bringing Asahi home to Japan with him, it does imply that “fatherhood” is not necessarily a role he comfortably embraces. Since he seems not to have officially adopted Asahi (he mentions Asahi's wish to “take on the Saiba name,” not “be a part of the Saiba family, which an American child might have been more likely to say since we lack the practice of adopting to carry on a family line/business), he may not have understood that Asahi saw him as a father figure. That means he could be said to have created his own monster.

“Monster” may be a bit of an exaggeration, but that depends on what angle you approach it from. In terms of his jealousy of Soma, it's more in the realm of hyperbole. When you look at it from the point of him wanting to marry Erina…that's a whole different story. Even ignoring the age gap, which in a few years might not feel so large, Asahi has specifically entered Totsuki as a teacher. Erina, although the new director, is also still a student at the academy, and any way you slice it, a teacher lusting after his student is definitely not okay. While some of that lust may be for power, a substantial amount also appears to be for Erina herself, as lecherous camera angles meant to represent the male gaze – Asahi's gaze specifically – continually show us her sprawled, unconscious body or the more sexual aspects of her waking form. Likewise, Asahi's face and voice show us that he's certainly not reluctant to make Erina his bride in all senses of the term; there's definitely more than just wanting control of Totsuki at stake here.

And why does he want control of Totsuki? This is where things start to board the 9:27 to WTF Station. Asahi, after having been abandoned by Joichiro, joined up with a group known as Noir, which is French for “black.” They are, apparently, a group of so-called underworld chefs, meaning that they'll cook where good, law-abiding chefs wouldn't go. So for mobsters, terrorists, corrupt politicians…you name the place, they'll be there to cook. And because this isn't weird enough, they all wear towering black caps that are either brimless witch hats or dark dunce caps and cover their faces with red bandanas. While that's a recipe for an easy cosplay or Halloween costume, it isn't particularly believable plotting, even for a show where good food routinely blows peoples' clothes off.

This episode barely squeaks by with a three. It crams a bit too much into too little time in an effort to pack the final season with the remaining manga volumes, an effort which shows in a not great way. There's still enough mystery about Tamako and the excitement of The Blue to make it interesting, but the series needs to rein it in a little lest it risk spilling its plot on the floor.

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Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma: The Fifth Plate is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.