Or, the day Soma was saved by a loli. 

Impression

I’d completely forgotten that I usually hold off on a screenshot gallery for Shokugeki no Soma until… after I’d finished producing it. Oh well, more pictures of Alice for you guys!

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Shokugeki 14 Img028Like with the unofficial Shokugeki against Shinomiya, I don’t think there was any real doubt that Soma would end up being expelled. But his crisis this time was the result of a major failure on his part, and all the fault for it lies with him alone. It’s not the first time he’s realized that Tootsuki is a more interesting place than he’d thought, and this is exactly what Jouichirou wanted him to learn in sending him here in the first place – that there is a world of cooking he hasn’t yet experienced, and that there are so many people who are just as good as, if not better than him. In this task, Soma made a wrong decision. Having grown up with diner dishes, meant to be eaten immediately after serving, he failed to take into account the fact that buffet dishes are not eaten straight away – the customers come to the dishes as and when they like, and so factors like longevity are of utmost importance. In fact, it’d be best to just play it safe and serve cold dishes, like Alice did. Taking into account the nature of what he’s supposed to be serving is something he succeeded in during the don Shokugeki as well, and it’s not the last time we’ll see this become important.

Shokugeki 14 Img015He did manage to adapt well – and from a statistical point of view, it’s amazing that he reached 200 servings in 30 minutes. If he’d kept up that momentum, he’d have been able to easily rival Erina-sama and Alice. Doujima was impressed and all, but it can’t be called a success if he barely scraped through a crisis, and Soma himself acknowledged that. He has a long way to go, but it’s good that he has that humility – the ability to accept a failure and decide to learn from the experience. In the end, the training camp did provide him with a few good challenges to contend with – and you’re not a proper shounen protagonist if you don’t fail every once in a while! That loli really was his saving grace, though. It would have been really bad if he failed to impress his first customer (although they had the sense to not make her have a full foodgasm).

Shokugeki 14 Img006If you were wondering why Alice seemed to be on somewhat friendly terms with Erina, and why Erina doesn’t outright treat her as a worthless mongrel, it’s because her full name is Nakiri Alice! A background in molecular gastronomy (something to the effect of ‘food science’) gave her a slightly different upbringing from Erina, but she still grew up with a Nakiri pedigree and has the skills to show for it. And a free ‘assistant’ on the side – there’s actually a funny story behind how she got Kurokiba, I have no idea if we’ll even get to that point in the anime. For now though, she’s pretty much the same as the majority of students at Tootsuki – she’s arrogant, and aims for Tootsuki’s top. What sets her apart is that she has a slightly better claim to it than everyone else.

P.S. Not as a 4-year old though, God’s Tongue didn’t like her birthday cake.

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This face is actually hilarious

This Post Has 2 Comments

  1. 15fan

    This was a very good lesson for Soma he not only did he mistake the task at habd but was stumped! However his actions simple yet yet amazing to watch got everybody over there! That poor girl was getting pushed put of the way but she got to see a simple very delicious omelette and the way it was made!

    BTW The Alice / Erina duel was quite fun to watch but the next EP wiil tell more!

    Nice to see the Polar Star canidates move on! Even Aldini didnt want to see Soma go!

    This ep sets up the better part of the maga and wiil let everybody hone their skills! Still more challemges ahead!

    That extended ending / song was a very nice touch!

    1. Vantage

      Yup, the Autumn Election arc will be great! Jouichirou is in the preview, so it looks like we’re skipping the Karaage Arc. I guess with the number of episodes we have left, it would make sense to go straight to the Election and get through it as much as possible!

      New OP/ED next week too 😀

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