Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma

Episode 12

My father has a saying he used to whip out on long family trips when my sisters and I got antsy – the object of climbing a mountain is not to get to the top, but to enjoy the climb along the way. That's a lesson it turns out that Shinomiya could stand to learn, and one that seems to be behind Dojima's approval of last episode's shokugeki, and as Tadokoro's dish is tasted and the results tallied, we start to wonder if maybe she's not actually ahead of the game in that respect. Tadokoro may not be as polished as some of the other students, but she does seem to put more thought into who will be eating her food and how she wants it to affect them, while Shinomiya and Soma both pay more heed to the idea of winning. In other words, Tadokoro is enjoying the climb (or at least paying attention to it) while the other two are racing to the top of the mountain.

Most of this episode is actually spent in flashbacks, although it wouldn't be fair to call it a clip show or recap episode. Where last week's shokugeki felt padded to the point where it was wearing thin, this week doesn't seem to have quite enough material to fill half an hour, and far too much time is given over to Tadokoro remembering her failures and all of the times Soma said her name or otherwise did something that made her feel worthwhile. Yes, both are important to her character and development, but it hasn't been that long since we saw the episodes in question, so it gets to be a little dull. More useful is the flashback to Shinomiya's past, where we see him go charging off to France to be The Best and The First only to run afoul of both prejudice and his own personality quirks. When Shinomiya feels betrayed by his staff, who accuse him of “orientalizing” French dishes, he begins to build a wall around himself, insulating his pride and his cooking from other people. This in large part is what has contributed to his present state, an egotistical jerk who can't see any value in something that isn't his. Dojima sees this for the pitfall it is, and we definitely get the feeling that in large part the shokugeki was permitted to force him to see outside of himself, even if he has to be dragged there kicking and screaming. And he kind of is – from his snide comments upon first tasting Tadokoro's dish to his sneering “put down” that Dojima is “just” a hired chef, he's desperately trying to hold on to his status and pride, even when letting both of those things fall by the wayside would help him.

Whether or not Soma learns this lesson alongside him is debatable. That Dojima was hoping he would seems clear, and ostensibly Soma was just in this to defend his friend, but his upset at the outcome is simmering inside of him, boiling over at one point. Soma runs the very real risk of becoming like Shinomiya, and I sincerely hope that Tadokoro can temper him so that he doesn't. Equally important is the fact that Erina is basically a Shinomiya in the making, and it will be interesting to see how this experience will affect Soma's interactions with the other girl. We know that she's got a softer side; the question is whether or not she'll repress it until she, too, reaches the point of stagnation.

Rating: B

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.