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Food Wars! The Second Plate
Episode 9

by Rebecca Silverman,

How would you rate episode 9 of
Food Wars! The Second Plate ?
Community score: 4.2

Although this final three-way battle of the Autumn Elections only took one episode, in keeping with the less-savory pacing of this series, this is still one of the best thought-out episodes, proving that just because you're rushing through the source material doesn't mean that you can't do it justice. While we do miss out on most of the food prep, which is a shame, the ending more than makes up for it with Soma's impressive chutzpah.

Of course, we knew that he was going to pull something sneakily fantastic – he had to, otherwise his lack of knowledge about fresh fish would put him out of the running before he even got started. The end of last week's episode showed us that he had decided to age his fish – as in marinade or pickle rather than letting it sit in the fridge for a week – in order to close the gap, and when he brought out his decidedly unimpressive Pacific saury, peoples' faith in him visibly dropped. That shaken belief in Soma's ability to keep being the dark horse is what keeps the edge in this episode. We already know that Ryo and Akira are going to produce amazing gourmet dishes – the tension comes from how Soma will turn comfort food into something to rival their creations.

Meanwhile, Ryo is about to learn something that Mimasaka discovered a couple of weeks ago: going up against someone with their own weapons is not as easy as it sounds. After accusing Akira of being a one-trick spice pony, Ryo decides that he's going to one-up his rival by creating a dish that relies on herb butter and baking in a heat-resistant film to heighten the aroma of the food. In some ways, that move spells out his doom, because no matter how good he is at incorporating aspects of Alice's scientific cooking, he's still not spent his whole life working with spices the way Akira has. To beat someone with their own tricks takes the kind of research Mimasaka conducted; Ryo's too confident in his own cooking to bother to do that. That said, his presentation is excellent, with the bundles tied up with ribbons like a gift from chef to diner. If the prize was for plating, he'd definitely have my vote.

Akira, interestingly enough, is also taking Ryo's “one-trick pony” comment to heart, choosing to make a carpaccio, an Italian dish of thinly sliced raw meat or fish, which is commonly served as an appetizer. Although there was no restriction on the course that had to be prepared, it still seems like a gutsy move, especially since carpaccio relies far less on spices and sauces than anything else he could have chosen. Naturally, there is still spice involved (and I will say that I miss the discussion of allspice from this segment of the manga, though I can see why it was left out here), but in understating his talents, Akira really brings them to the fore.

Against these giants, what can Soma hope to do, especially since his dish is a traditional, non-gourmet dish popular in Hokkaido? This is where the episode really shines. Of course, Soma is the final chef to present his dish, as time runs out, shown by the passage of the moon across the heavens, which frankly sounds like something ripped out of The Kojiki. At first, his entry seems decidedly underwhelming, and not only is the audience disappointed, but we are as well – all of this, and Soma's dish is mediocre? Then, in an excellent choice of presentation, we have a post-credits scene, bringing us back from the depths into a place where we can hope – Soma may be out of his depth, but he hasn't stopped swimming yet.

It's the choices like the post-credits scene, the shortened foodgasms, cooking as swordplay analogy, and general focus on the judges that really helps to make this episode work. Yes, it crams a lot in and cuts out most of the cooking and culinary trivia, but it also keeps you on the edge of your seat, especially at the end. Since this is clearly going to go beyond the Autumn Elections story arc, let's hope that this means that Food Wars! has finally hit its stride, and that the remainder of the season is as well-planned as this episode.

Rating: B+

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


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