「追跡者」 (Tsuisekisha)
“The Pursuer”

When last week’s announcement said that Takumi and Subaru were going to have a shokugeki, I was actually scared that Takumi was going to be kicked out of school. The only saving grace this week was how he only lost his mezzaluna (which is a huge blow, don’t get me wrong) and he didn’t forfeit his attendance at the school. On the other hand, Souma actually wagered his ability to cook again on his shoukugeki which surely makes this upcoming battle more nerve wracking. Given that he’s the main character, there’s no chance he’ll lose but that doesn’t make it any less interesting of a match. As it turns out, Subaru is not who I thought he’d be but in a good way His character is one that we haven’t met before at the school and having someone replicate and predict all your moves? That makes Subaru more scary and threatening. On the flip side though, it also makes HIM more predictable too because now that you know he’s going to make what he thinks you are; you just have to make something that’s outside your realm. Of course, that’s easier said than done because not everyone is able to prepare something that’s outside their specialty. Luckily Souma is very diverse in his abilities and he’s not pegged to make just one thing or type of cuisine. I’m curious about what he’ll come up with next.

The semifreddo this week was not an atypical take on dessert so I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to see more from this theme. I’m a huge fan of desserts and I was sad to see that not only do we only get ONE dish (albeit, slightly different) when there are so many different Italian desserts that Takumi could’ve made. This includes but not limited to tiramisu, panna cottas, cannolis and my personal favorite, gelato! I know that the semifreddo is a feat in and of itself so I don’t want to undermine the effort that goes into making one. It’s a light and pleasant dessert for anyone that’s looking for something sweet but not overwhelmingly so. Plus, the interior layer is similar to an ice cream but not, so it’s a great alternative if you want anything cold and not cake-dense. The semifreddo which Takumi produced, is actually a common way of preparing this Italian dessert. Lemon flavors are often used to balance out sweet desserts and I’m impressed with the dissection of the process of making one. Even using the limoncello isn’t an uncommon ingredient, but alcohol and dessert is always a good mix in my opinion so there’s nothing wrong with being common.

Feels like a long time since we’ve seen Souma actually compete in this competition (less than a month though in actuality) and now we’re in the semifinals of Autumn Elections. While I have no doubts that Souma will blow this out of the water with Subaru, it’ll be even more interesting to see whether Akira or Ryou come out of the next round. I always knew they’d come out on top in their respective rounds (judging by the OP), but who knows who will win now. Personally I’d like to see Ryou come out and battle Souma in the finales because they’re a couple I haven’t seen go head-to-head yet. Akira would be interesting as well but we’ve already seen where Souma is next to him and to see it again, wouldn’t be as refreshing of a battle. With all that said though, do I really think Ryou will win over Akira? Probably not… as great of a chef Ryou is, it seems to me that Akira knows his flavor combinations and aroma better than Ryou does. Ryou has worked at a restaurant though, so depending on what the theme is, that might change things. Hopefully after Souma and Subaru finish, the anime will spend an equal amount of time on Ryou and Akira.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: I’m a HUGE dessert person so I was a little disappointed that all that came out of this week’s #shokugeki_anime was two semifreddo dishes =( Subaru is just as creepy and scary as I thought he’d be. Poor Takumi =( #shokugeki_anime

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11 Comments

      1. I would say the judge hated Mimasakas methods during the competition, not him as a person. Noticed how when he revealed his stalker/bullying nature he got upset. He went against the spirit of competition.

        Lyfe
  1. It says a lot about the integrity of the competition that Mimasaka was even allowed to continue. They basically condoned his Stalking/Bullying.

    At the very least he should have been DQ’d, or the Chefs forced to cook something different. You’d think during the time it takes them to change the ingredients etc for the Chefs Aldini could have thought outside of the box and prepared something that may have got him the win.

    Irl the crowds reaction to Mimasaka would have been very different. Boos etc.

    Lyfe
  2. Shahir
  3. Although Soma kept his cool with Mimasaka in the dorm, you could tell he was angry inside. His little wager against him was proof of that, putting everything on the line to put Mimasaka in his place.

    Oh and Lemon desserts are amazing 🙂

    Lyfe
  4. I think most of us are convinced Soma will win, so I guess the question is how he wins. Will he copy Subaru’s methods? Will he lay false trails for Subaru to follow? Will he go out of his way to do something bizarre and unpredictable that he hasn’t done before? Will he beat Subaru on Subaru’s own terms by using the same dish, and if so, with or without a surprise twist ingredient?

    For me that’s the draw of the next ep – not who wins, but how it goes down.

    Puffles
    1. Idk it seems like a pretty predictable way he’ll win.
      Soma’s cooking style is all about either utilizing unconventional cooking methods or a certain ingrediant to make a specified meal in a way nobody would initially have considered or found practical.
      So I can only imagine Subaru tries too hard to predict Soma when the reality is that Soma is unpredictable as hell.
      But we shall see, I personally believe that’s how it will go simply because that’s really the only way to combat someone who cooks like Subaru does.

      Tori

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