Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma

Episode 20

While technically every episode can be divided into two parts, this week's Food Wars! really does make a pretty big shift after the commercial break. The first half of the episode focuses on everyone prepping for the great curry battle to come, whatever that may mean for them. Mostly it's a lot of reading, taking notes, and experimenting, with a good dose of fretting and fussing, all of which makes perfect sense given what's riding on this competition. On the other hand, watching someone grind spices and taste them with different foods doesn't make for edge-of-your-seat viewing.

Luckily Food Wars! knows how to add a little interest to these duller proceedings. Nao, who seems to exist at this point to be comic relief, seems a little confused between “black magic” and “making curry,” while a totally bored Erina flutters around Hisako like a six-year-old who ate too much sugar. Takumi Aldini goes back to Italy ahead of his brother Isami, which makes the usually quiet Isami worry, while Megumi heads home for vacation only to be greeted by random townsfolk, as happens in small northern towns. There are enough scene changes and small quips that it keeps even this slower moving half of the episode interesting while building up tension for the start of the competition in the latter half of the show.

Not that there's much thrill there either – watching different people stir pots isn't as exciting as some of the other cook-offs have been – but once again little details make the episode. (Particularly what Soma's doing.) Soma's casual brush-offs of Takumi's shounen manga-style challenges is always funny, and this week's adds in the mystery of the guy next to him, which totally bemuses Takumi and shuts both him and the background music down in short order. The special guest judges, although not favorites of mine, do add to the interest of the episode with their hot-and-cold personalities, and they seem so very unimpressed with being judges in the first place that you have to wonder how this is going to turn out. I personally also admire Isshiki's ability to keep his cool around Orie, the guest judge he's shepherding around, because he's the only one who doesn't look uncomfortably aware of her very overt sexiness, which is also impressive because she's dressed fairly conservatively.

Unfortunately “sexiness” is one of the stumbling blocks this week, as in an attempt to keep eyes on the screen while pots are stirred, Nikumi and Miyoko are both shown breasts-first before we get some boob and butt jiggling action. It's (sadly) fairly typical to use Nikumi for fanservice when things get slow, but Miyoko earlier in the episode is shown having to cope with extreme sexism, with the chefs in her family's Chinese restaurant not wanting to work with, or for, a woman. Part of her goal is to prove her worth in the professional kitchen, so to emphasize the parts of her that make her so objectionable to her future co-workers is to devalue her ambition. It simply doesn't feel right under the circumstances, especially since it seems like part of her role in the show is to teach Megumi to stand up on her own and that she doesn't need to depend on Soma all the time. Sure he gave her the boost she needed, but she made it into the competition under her own merits, and we know she's thinking about what Miyoko said to her last week. As a character, Megumi does need to learn that she herself is good enough, and hopefully this contest will give her another push in that direction.

Not much is really required this week in terms of animation, and there are a lot of still shots. Mostly that's fine, albeit not exciting, but it's clear that a couple of other shortcuts have also been taken, which we primarily see in Isshiki's face when he finds Soma in the Polar Star kitchen – there's just something off about it. Likewise Megumi's hair seems to change lengths a couple of times, as does Nikumi's breast size. But really this all appears to be gearing up for next week's continuation of the competition, which should increase the tension and the action dramatically. Plus I'm pretty sure it'll make us all crave curry if you aren't already. Time to go to the store and lay in a supply.

Rating: B

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

Rebecca Silverman is ANN's senior manga critic.