10 Second Anime - Shokugeki no Soma S2 - Episode 8

Souma seeks to counter Ryo's and Hayama's superior skills in choosing quality Pacific Saury for the final cooking contest.

Episode 8 - "Battle of Seasonality"

Heh.

Yay! Megumi goes on a "date-o" with Souma-kun!

No, not really. But she did "get ahead" of the other girls in Souma's harem by tagging along on his trip to the fish market.

Megumi is a seafood expert like Ryo, but has nowhere near the competitive streak.

The conventional route to winning the final cook-off is choosing the best, freshest Pacific Saury for the dish. Compounding things is that this fish is in season, so there's a lot to choose from. It's not just about the firmness, but how long the fish has sat around to maximize the savory taste.

Souma is at a disadvantage to Ryo, who haunts the fish market everyday to keep his seafood skills up from his younger days. I had to laugh at how Alice always turns the conversation to herself who says she only comes to the seafood market "sometimes" because of how early it opens.

I noticed how Ryo's sashimi skills were clearly better than Souma's.

Hayama the Hottie made an impression on one vendor when he showed his sharp nose. Souma is at disadvantage here too.

Double yay! We get Ryouko fanservice! And Ryouko is actually important to the plot.

Souma's unconventional solution to beating the fish sense and fine nose of his competitors is to get to the same level of firmness and umami by aging the meat. Curing, fermenting and aging experts assemble!

Not only do we get Ryouko scenes because of her fermentation prowess, but we get Ikumi due to her meat aging knowledge. This also means we get another crack at the joke of her crush on Souma and how he's totally oblivious about it.

Yeah, it's that same pattern again, Ikumi.

Ibusaki the smoke guy is there too.

Ikumi is all aboard the Souma meat aging train. Unfortunately, they only have 9 days to figure the best way to cure, age or pickle the fish, but it takes 3 days of waiting for each attempt.

Ooh, drama! Both Hayama and Ryo figure Souma's up to something when he doesn't show up to the fish market for the last couple of days before their contest.

And who is this Danish Nakiri with a bad Japanese accent?

Yeah! It's Alice's Mom, Leonora. Thank goodness she's there, because the other judges were going to be Grandpa Nakiri and Doujima. That would have been all muscle-powered foodgasms. Mature lady foodgasms are alright too.

Alice gets her looks and "style" from her mother, and apparently her teasing nature too, much to the consternation of Erina.

I suppose the judges don't really care at all about conflicts of interest, when Alice's mother is going to be judging the food of the boy her beat her daughter.

More drama. Leonora menacingly told Souma she's looking forward to taste the food of the boy who made her Alice cry. After we saw that weird brown thing that Souma pulled out of his container, I think we all are.

I think Leonora coming from Denmark is going to be the key to Souma's pickling strategy. How do I know it's pickling? When Souma saw Fumio's late night snack with her sausage (cured meat), there were all kinds of pickled vegetables to go with it. The Scandinavians are known for their, ah, interesting ideas on fermenting fish in brine, so Alice's mom is going to be Souma's path to victory.

The other clue is how Pacific Saury is known to regular people as the taste of Autumn. That fits Souma's specialty of the tastes of the common people. His pickling is going to celebrate this theme, engaging Doujima and Grandpa Nakiri. Or, so I'm guessing from the little clues presented to audience.