Food Wars! The Second Plate

Episode 12

It's a shame that Food Wars! couldn't have started with the Stagiaire, because with this story arc, the show has really returned to its former glory. Even though the episode solely focuses on Soma and his current assignment, there's enough interaction between the characters present to watch everyone grow, to say nothing of the way Soma's development is closely tied to his quiet sideline actions rather than his usual flash and bang. That's not to say I wouldn't have loved to see more of the rest of the main cast, because Ryo's assignment at a restaurant with a timid chef and a thug clientele and Alice at a ramen joint both sound like great stories in and of themselves. (And is Takumi at a maid café?) But Soma's work at Shino's Tokyo is more than enough to carry the episode.

As we could guess from last week, Shinomiya, the alum Soma went head-to-head with over his treatment of Megumi during the training camp, is his boss for the second week of his Stagiaire. Shinomiya has decided to open a second location of his Paris restaurant in Tokyo, despite his initial backers' despair at his return to Japan. He's reluctant to take on a Totsuki student when everything is so crazy preparing to open, but he eventually agrees on the condition that he gets one of the Autumn Election finalists. No sooner have the words left his mouth than Soma is on his doorstep, like a gift from the Fairy of Bad Jokes. But of course this is a selection made with as much care as the previous stage – despite the fact that Shinomiya and Soma did not hit it off last time they met, they're both just what the other needs at this point. Shinomiya needs a self-sufficient, skilled chef and Soma needs someone who understands how he learns best – through adversity.

Despite this, things don't look likely to work out at first. Soma's never worked in this kind of high-end establishment, nor does he have any particular skill with French cuisine, so both of those are strikes against him. In addition, Shinomiya only has three other staff members, so Soma's going to have to pull his weight while adjusting to the needs of four different people as they work to serve a restaurant full of people expecting top-class service. This is not a job where a cocky attitude and showmanship is going to solve his problems; on top of everything else, Soma needs to learn to be a professional in the adult sense of the word. What's best about this episode is that Shinomiya clearly never doubts that Soma can do it. He may not be thrilled to have him, but he does remember that Soma's the kid who had the balls to challenge him, a world-class chef and graduate of Totsuki, to a shokugeki, honestly thinking that victory was possible. This is not someone who backs down from a challenge; he grows from it. To that end, Shinomiya is content to lay out ground rules and let Soma both prove himself to his staff and learn in his own way. To the rest of the staff, it looks like he's just ignoring Soma, but as we can see from Soma's rapid improvement (and sleepless nights), this is precisely what he needed to grow. You can't develop your specialty if you're working too closely under someone else, and Shinomiya has the confidence in Soma to let him have at it.

By focusing so closely on Soma, we have a front seat to his growth as both a worker and a chef. This is one of the few times that he lets us in enough to see that he really is bothered by his two losses (the shoukugeki with Shinomiya and the Autumn Elections), to the point where he's at risk of becoming obsessed with his own improvement. Unlike Erina, he won't rest on his laurels, but he also won't resort to sneaky tactics like Mimasaka. This is what sets Soma apart from the pettier students: his dedication to doing things on his own terms, for himself. While he does want recognition, which we certainly see in his final request to Shinomiya to create a dish for Shino's Tokyo, mostly he wants to be proud of himself. If the two coincide, that's even better, and hopefully that's what we'll see when the series airs its final episode next week.

Rating: A-

Food Wars! The Second Plate is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.