Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma

Episode 19

You can tell we're starting a new story arc because of all the new characters. This episode introduces us to four new players in the Totsuki game of varying levels of interest and importance, including Nao, the creepy Sadako-esque girl who makes the ending theme make sense. She's got a thing for Erina (it's not entirely clear if it's romantic or otherwise) and gazes upon her from afar...and by that, I mean that she sits in trees with binoculars and spies on Erina while cursing the existence of Arisa, her sidekick/servant. Other characters may have more plot potential, but Nao could really throw Erina off-balance, and that could make her quite important.

The new storyline is about the Autumn Elections, a special cooking competition where chosen students make a themed dish and hope to impress the celebrity guests and judges. The Elite Ten generally come out of this event, so it's a major deal for aspiring leaders. Despite Erina's bias against Soma (and seeing her called out on it by Isshiki is pretty great, in part because she doesn't seem to fully grasp why she dislikes him), he makes it into the competition, as does Megumi, Takumi, Alice, and several other Polar Star students. The theme is soon revealed to be “curry dishes,” something about which neither Megumi nor Soma know a lot. They set out to find Jun Shiomi, a former Polar Star student and kohai of Soma's dad...only to find out that her version of history is a little different from his, and she will never, ever, have anything to do with the family of the man who forced her to taste his experiments. Fortunately she has a student named Akira who is also a curry and spice expert. Too bad he's also competing in the Elections.

Jun and Akira are probably the most important new characters simply because they will have a direct effect on Soma as he creates his curry dish. Both are spice specialists, and therefore intimately familiar with the properties and preparation of exotic spices. More than almost anyone he's faced before, Akira is a real threat to Soma's success, simply because he knows more about the required food than the son of a diner ever could. Where Soma has been able to work around other issues with showmanship or creativity, this dish isn't one that can be overcome with sheer pluck. Megumi may actually have a better chance here, simply because of her expertise with vegetables and her more matter-of-fact approach to recipes. Soma's creativity could get him into a lot of trouble – something he admits. It feels like a first (or at least the first in a long time) when he flat-out tells Akira that he's jealous of Akira's skills. Totsuki students tend not to admit when they can't do something, and once again this sets Soma apart from the crowd. Remember, he sees failure as a lesson rather than a defeat, so he may be able to channel his jealousy into something productive.

As for Megumi, she's going to have to overcome her nearly crippling anxiety and lack of self esteem to do well. Another of the new characters we meet this week is Miyoko, an Amazonian young woman who is interested in Megumi because she tied with Shinomiya in the shokugeki. Clearly she sees Megumi as a woman with potential, but when Megumi protests that it was Soma who made her win (an assessment I don't agree with), Miyoko stomps off, telling Megumi that if she relied on a man to help her win, she's not who Miyoko thought she was. This is an interesting moment in a show that hasn't always been good to its female characters, and while Miyoko runs the risk of being the ugly stereotype of the man-hating feminist, she might be able to help Megumi to realize that she's worth more than she thinks she is.

This may have basically been set up for the action to come, to say nothing of stuffed with new characters and not huge amounts of plot, but it still manages to be interesting and to play with poor Takumi's attempts at being a shounen rival character, to say nothing of Soma's attempted cool exit. It's a good breather between the fried chicken storyline and the Autumn Elections, slower but still mostly advancing the story. Soma may have a rival worthy of the name in Akira, and it should be quite something to see their spice battle play out.

Rating: B

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

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.