×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Food Wars! The Second Plate
Episode 13

by Rebecca Silverman,

How would you rate episode 13 of
Food Wars! The Second Plate ?
Community score: 4.6

First, the bad news – the ending of this second season is pretty final in terms of there being more Food Wars! anime in the future, at least in a TV show format. But the good news is that, finally, The Second Plate is worthy of its first season. Soma's character has evolved to the point where he can still be the same confident wiseass as always while coming to truly understand what it means to synthesize a new dish and value all cooking techniques. Not only does he acknowledge that he has a lot to learn, he even looks forward to it! When he arrived at Totsuki, Soma was the teacher figure for a lot of his fellow students, showing them up (and sort of instructing by proxy) with his knowledge of a professional kitchen, his creativity, and his unwillingness to back down even in the face of defeat. That was important for other characters, like Megumi and Nikumi, who needed new outlooks on cooking to help them along. It may have even been instructive for Erina, loathe as she'd be to admit it. But something about Soma's attitude suggested that he could only learn by experience and that the words and techniques of other chefs were somehow less useful to him. His defeat in the Autumn Elections helped him to broaden his definition of “learn from your mistakes,” and the second stage of the Stagiaire truly forced him to realize that there are many different ways of preparing a meal for good reason.

This week's episode presented Soma's final challenge during his tenure at Shinomiya's "Shino's Tokyo." Not only is it Soma's last night learning from the sous-chefs, it's also his turn to try and create a new dish worthy of being on Shinomiya's menu. In a beautiful piece of bookending, he decides to create a French version of the dish he made for his entrance exam to Totsuki, oyakodon (chicken and egg over rice). The creativity – a quail roasted and stuffed with risotto and poached egg on the side – is impressive, but what's the reaction to it is more significant. Shinomiya has been antagonistic toward Soma from his first appearance, even as he's softened somewhat during this story arc. Likewise, Erina could be called Soma's chief antagonist in terms of her attitude toward him. By creating a new version of the same dish that she refused to acknowledge when the story began, we can see the contrast in how a true professional reacts, as well as proof that Erina has not yet matured as a character. Shinomiya, while impressed, does not acknowledge the dish's strength at first, instead calling it “too small” in its scope, a similar reaction to Erina's when she learned what Soma was making her. But where Erina couldn't bring herself to say anything further or even admit that it was good, Shinomiya puts aside his personal dislike of Soma and offers to show him how to improve the dish, even bringing it up to Shino's standards. He has not been forced to recognize Soma's talents (as Erina felt she was), he has the maturity to see that no matter how hard he finds Soma himself to take, he really does have potential and ambition, which are both things that Shinomiya wants to nurture. In some ways, that's Soma's greatest triumph, even more than getting his dish on the menu.

Everyone else did well at their placements as well, and I think that Takumi singing while writing “love” in ketchup on omurice may be my new favorite scene from the series, replacing the Magical Cabbage Girls from season one. I do wish we had seen more of Erina's Stagiaire, because with the declared intention of the program, I'm not sure she's (psychologically) capable of completing it. On the other hand, we did see her texting and smiling before Hisako's return with the prized shoujo manga, so that's a good sign, and the parallels established between her and Shinomiya in this episode seem to indicate further character development on the horizon.

Way back at the start of the first season, when the foodgasms were particularly troubling, I volunteered to take this series on because, having read the manga, I knew it got better. I am pleased to say that it got even better than I knew at the time, and even though The Second Plate has had its issues with pacing and art, it really pulled it all together in a very satisfying way. I want to learn how to roast a quail now or just where I can buy a quail in my area (which could prove to be an issue), but that's probably a point in the show's favor. Thanks for the entertainment and the hunger pangs, Food Wars!. Here's hoping I'm wrong about another season!

Rating: A-

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


discuss this in the forum (131 posts) |
bookmark/share with: short url

back to Food Wars! The Second Plate
Episode Review homepage / archives