Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma

Episode 18

If you don't walk away from this episode with a serious craving for some fried chicken (or specifically karaage), I'll be surprised. This week Soma, Mayu, and Nikumi launch their offensive on Mozuya, the karaage chain that has been sabotaging Soma's home shopping district, Sumire Avenue, and in some ways the dish they come up with is the real star of the episode. There are so many scenes of chicken frying that your cholesterol may rise simply by watching the show, and it must be said that the food looks very scrumptious. Granted, I do enjoy fried chicken (and karaage), but unless cooking oil grosses you out in general, this is a pretty mouth-watering week on Food Wars!.

The plot, of course, has more to do with Soma's innate ingenuity and the general prowess of Totsuki students – without Nikumi's connections, it's doubtful if they could have pulled this off – and pleasantly middle school friend Mayu gets to play a role as well. In most of the story arcs in this series we see amazing (snobby) chef face off against amazing (snobby) chef, so the inclusion of Mayu, who is really just a regular person, stirs things up a bit. Her only stake in this venture is Soma himself, and she's too shy to make that known, so when she says something is good, but not good enough, we know she has no ulterior motives involving his failure and her own elevation in the Totsuki community. In most other high school set stories, she'd be a forgettable side character, but here, while she's not exactly a shining star, she can hold her own by virtue of her very normalcy. It's kind of a relief to have a character who isn't a mad genius or a self-important snot, and Mayu's presence here helps to keep the karaage arc grounded.

The main purpose of this storyline is, as is revealed at the very end, to introduce the 9th Seat at Totsuki, Eizen. Another self-proclaimed genius of the type elite anime schools seem to be rife with, Eizen was the consultant hired by Mozuya to mastermind their new Tokyo store. Eizen was instantly suspicious when Kinu Nakamozu (the Mozuya owner voiced by Aya Hisakawa) mentioned a boy who was challenging her, but she decided on her own that Soma wasn't a threat and didn't report further to Eizen. As Eizen predicted, Soma was more than trouble for Nakamozu, and now yet another member of the Elite Ten is among Soma's enemies. Once again it feels like stung pride is behind the animosity; Eizen flat out says that he's mad that Soma ruined his business plan. This really drives home the immaturity of many of the rival characters: they're so used to being praised and told that they're right and the best that they can't handle being beaten, so they react like kids whose candy was taken away. Not that Soma is a paragon of maturity, but he's secure enough in his skills that he doesn't feel the need to proclaim his awesomeness to everyone or to punish those who might beat him. It's a trait he shares with many of his Polar Star dormmates, which makes me wonder whether it's worth it to be on the very top if you have to feel so nervous about maintaining your place that it makes you vicious.

Unfortunately this episode does feel a little stretched, with the scenes of Nakamozu on Sumire Avenue a little too drawn out, as if the animators were stretching the scene as much as they could. There are a few off moments as well, such as the fact that only the chicken ever appears bitten into in the Sumire Special that Soma and Co. come up with, leaving the lettuce looking oddly untouched. In one shot of people walking, one unfortunate high school boy's legs appear to be on backwards, and he's on screen in a still shot for far too long for that to get a pass. Otherwise the episode looks good, and it's a relief to see Nikumi covering her torso while she's at the fryer. (A relief cooking-wise, that is – in terms of fanservice it may be a less popular decision.)

Whatever your personal feelings about the fried chicken arc, it really is an important in order for the next storyline to happen, the Fall Election/Classic/whatever translation you prefer. With Soma now on the bad sides of two of the Elite Ten (the lowest two, but still) the odds are beginning to seem even more stacked against him. We'll just have to wait until next week to see how he handles the added pressure...assuming he notices it at all.

Rating: B

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

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.