10 Second Anime - Shokugeki no Soma S3 - Episode 5

Souma and Kuga's Moon Festival wager ends in a stalemate of sorts. Erina's father returns to the Toutsuki Academy as a shocking development.

Episode 5 - "The Darkening Dinner Table"

Hmm.

A couple of things episode caught my attention. The first was the confrontation of themes of what the essence of gourmet cooking is. The current regime under Grandpa Nakiri has been a kind of democratic evolutionary approach where market forces, chef intentions, and customer satisfaction drive an ever changing idea of cuisine forward. The return of Father Nakiri sees gourmet as classical art reserved for the elite where cuisine is fixed in a perfect form defined and enforced through a totalitarian structure. It always comes down to democracy versus fascism in elite institutions for the Japanese.

We could see that this kind of story was coming at some point, because you don't drop an unorthodox transfer student with a chaotic rebellious streak into a calm pond for no reason. That calm pond was actually a calm ocean about to be hit by a typhoon and Souma was going to be the other storm to oppose the approaching one. And now that storm has landed and we have to see what waves the developing cyclone in Souma will make.

The other thing that caught my attention was how Rindou was used as a character to throw us a curveball in how the opposing culinary philosophies don't necessarily mean good versus evil or black against white. The stark lighting of the luxury car headlights brought this kind of contrast to the fore in the final scene, but the people involved showed there will be nuances to the differing sides.

Rindou, Tsukasa, and Kuga were greatly humanized in their character development as they interacted with Souma and Megumi. Azami Nakiri is definitely a bad guy, as is Eizen the manipulator. The others involved in the coup looked like they had arrogant or elitist attitudes. But Rindou is fun! She sampled food of every kind during the five days of the Moon Festival. She can't possibly be a villain or elitist, can she? Her involvement with the coup as well as Tsukasa shows their might be some rationale behind their choices besides the clearly insulting reasons Azami proclaimed.

The small stakes of using shokugeki to gain status among the clubs and individually is over. People are having a real food fight over the soul of cooking! The tension and drama is going to be higher from now on.

Heh.

Oh, it was only the 4th day of the festival. Souma only beat Kuga on one day. There's still the last day to compete.

Kuga had his own reason to be in the central plaza instead of the top of the mountain with the other Elite 10. He had a wager with Tsukasa to win all five days in sales just so he could get a shokugeki rematch.

Rindou is fun. I like her.

Ah. Souma spoiled Kuga's wager. Then Kuga spoiled Souma's wager. Everybody loses. No shokugeki for anybody. Souma just started way too deep in the hole on the first two days.

Wow, the Yamanote area is very posh. Except for Isshiki's pavilion...

Ha. Rindou is a monster in her own way. 120 booths in five days! She saved Tsukasa's restaurant for last. Best for last?

Tsukasa is a real worry-wart, but not when it comes to his cooking.

Finally, some female foodgasms. Thank you Megumi and Rindou.

Erina is still waiting for Souma's dad to show up some day. Are we ever going to find out why his last name is Saiba but Souma's and the diner is called Yukihira? Probably the name of the absent mother and wife. I'm sure there's a pivotal story in there somewhere.

Oh ho! Azami Nakiri looks like a real asshole. It's time for a real villain to star in this show.

Hee! Eating Tsukasa's food got Souma all fired up. 燃えて来たぞ！ (moe te kita zo! - Natsu from Fairy Tail).

This Azami guy doesn't think much of the food critics. He trained Erina's God Tongue, which is like perfect pitch for music, so that's how all gourmet food should taste exactly the same.

Souma thinks another hot pepper bun is equivalent to dining at Erina's place. Worth a shot.

Ooh. Those hot twins from the Autumn Elections are here. Boo. No foodgasms from them.

Wow. Look how far this show has come for Hisako to be that happy to see Souma. She knows his egalitarian attitude would quickly defuse Azami's forced tension.

Azami recognized the name Souma Yukihira. Yukihira or the boy's whole name? This is good foreshadowing for backstory.

Talk about backstory - Azami had been banished and hadn't seen Erina for 10 years. Grandpa Nakiri isn't too happy about this reunion.

Hmm. Rindou sounded like she knew what was going on with this confrontation.

Ah. Well, of course she did. She signed her name to this insurgency letter! We'll have to find out how Azami convinced these six to stage a coup d'état.

The ones who didn't seem like they don't have the same attitude as Azami - Isshiki, Erina, Kuga, and Megishima the hoodie guy. The last one will need some story telling to explain things.

Wow, drama! Looks like we're focusing on poor Erina next time.