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Food Wars! The Third Plate
Episode 15

by Rebecca Silverman,

How would you rate episode 15 of
Food Wars! The Third Plate (TV 2) ?
Community score: 4.2

Although the cooking doesn't get as much focus as it might have this episode, that doesn't matter as much as you might expect. The real meat this week is in the character development, or rather, the ongoing evolution of Erina and the strengthening bonds between her and the Rebels. While Evil Henchteacher Endo may be overstating things when he calls her the Jeanne d'Arc of rebellious students, it's clear that Erina having something that she feels strongly about has been really good for this former mean girl. Not only has it given her something to fight for, which she never had before, but it's also allowed her to actually make friends her own age. It's like Erina's going through a renaissance all her own, and that's heartening to watch.

Not that it isn't awesome to see Soma, Takumi, and Megumi throw their cooking skills in Endo's face too. The man is a disgrace to the teaching profession (among other things), and he compounds that with the unbearable arrogance that Central's way is The One True Path to culinary greatness. Whether that's something he truly thinks or he's just Azami's toady isn't particularly important; it's a bigger deal that he's gleeful about the unfair way he's literally setting students up to fail. To see Soma and his friends rub that in his snout is immensely satisfying, and depicting him naked the entire time, his clothes having exploded off in his foodgasm, underlines that he's working for an emperor with no clothes.

The second phase of the exam is actually over before the episode's halfway point, which does feel a little rushed. It's clear by the post-credits scene why this was done, as our major reveal is slipped in to make us impatient for next week, but it still doesn't work as well as it might have. Fortunately, seeing the kids hang around Sapporo makes up for it a little. Once again, this is mostly about Erina's character development, which is still exciting because she got so little in the first two seasons. Watching her be surprised that the Polaris kids want to be her friend is a little heartbreaking – she clearly doesn't think she deserves their friendship based on her past behavior. She's obviously trying to distance herself from who she used to be, as we saw in her special boot camp and when she tells Hisako this week that it's fine for her to go off with someone else. It's a surprise to her former aide, who seems to recognize what a big step this is for Erina, but even more of one for Erina when Megumi immediately decides to stick with her. Later when the two girls end up with Soma and Takumi, you can see that Erina's slightly uncomfortable, but less so than she would have been before. She's taking baby steps, and that's nice to see.

It's equally nice that Soma and Takumi seem to have ironed out their (imagined) rivalry. Soma's face when Takumi talks over him during his food brag at the exam is priceless, and I can't help feeling that Takumi is making up for all of those times he felt overwhelmed by Soma. Now the two boys seem to have developed a much more functional friendship, and since that seems to be what sets the Rebels apart from the Central groupies, it makes the story stronger.

Of course, Central has probably noticed this too, which could be inspiration for the third stage of the exam: one-on-one cook-offs with members of the Elite Ten. Apart from the continued unfairness of Erina getting the kid glove treatment (and I wonder if she'll protest that at some point), this is definitely designed to crush the Rebels' spirits in the worst way possible. By pairing Soma against the new Seventh Seat, Evil Akira (dressed like a CLAMP character from the late '90s), they're clearly trying to make a statement about the benefits offered to those who submit – Akira had a society he wanted to protect as well, and he narrowly beat Soma in the Fall Classic. Once you get over your anger at him accepting the apparent bribe of a seat on the council, both of those factors are probably worth considering. There may be more going on here than meets the eye.

Rating: B+

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


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