First Impressions / Shokugeki no Souma

Episode 03

「月饗祭」 (Tsuki kyou sai)
“Moon Festival”

End Card

 

Episode 04

「若き獅子たちの群れ」 (Wakaki Shishitachi no Mure)
“A Pride of Young Lions”

The Moon Festival begins!
Excuse me for the tardiness of this post… life has been busy and in actuality, I’m glad that I wanted another week before commenting on the outcome of these events. It’s nice to get a full picture of what Souma was planning. He’s able to use a lot of his knowledge of running a restaurant to beat Terunori at his own game. In reality, I think running a food market stall is completely different than running a restaurant so to have experience with his dad isn’t “completely” applicable here. I think it’s a stretch to think that 3 people can pump out as much volume as Terunori’s guys (that look like they’ve been training for ages). Not saying that it’s impossible, but I guess this is the world of anime and there are going to be exaggerations. Where I thought Souma did well though, was targeting the folks waiting in line. This was my prediction several episodes ago when I said that people waiting in line might be fed the black pepper buns since they’re more easily accessible AND cheaper!

Getting into the food this week…
Souma continues to serve his black pepper buns – which I mentioned 2 weeks is known to be street food from China. Unlike a lot of the stuff that Terunori is serving (e.g. mapo tofu), Souma is serving more traditional market food. Terunori is actually running a restaurant with his staff size, the dishes and the way people have to sit down to eat. To offer more variety, Souma started using his existing ingredients to make new things – like noodles! I talked about noodles last time too, didn’t I? I may not like Chinese food and rice, but I love noodles! Danzi noodles (or also known as ta-a noodles on the interwebs), is a Taiwanese dish which is more readily served standing up and smaller portion sizes. You can also serve a full portion but if it’s a market, people want to try different things. The lion’s head meal is – one of a kind!. Completely different and original and not very “Chinese” at all with the curry spilling out of it into the mapo tofu. I was completely at awe at what I was seeing because this isn’t something I’ve had before. The meatball (being the lion’s head), is a very traditional Chinese dish that’s often served at restaurants; which I’ve only had as apart of a sit-down dinner. It’s not exactly street food and I’ve never had them at markets – but to combine that with noodles AND mapo tofu?! That’s like the ultimate dish! So multi-dimensional with all the different flavors and spices, it’s almost something that Akira would create. How I would love to try some of it… maybe I can try creating it at home.

My favorite part from the past two episodes has to be the reunion between all the old characters. With such a large cast, Shokugeki no Souma loses a lot of the focus on its secondary characters whom are all very charming in their own ways. It’s nice to see them actually come back and get some screen time as well even if it’s short-lived. Nao coming back to try Souma’s food is hilarious! I think they’re going to be great friends with their interest in trying out “disgusting recipes”. Even seeing more of Alice, Ryou and Akira is fun because they’re such a mismatched trio that happened to end up together. They’ve been at the bottom for several days now but I’m proud to see Alice actually come up with a new innovative dish to wow everyone – even I would try that. 3D printer for food, say whatttt?! And despite all that, the most surprising reappearance has to be Mimasaka Subaru (Yasumoto Hiroki). After he’s defeated by Souma, I never expected to see him again since he’s seen as a “villain” in the series than an actual student like Takumi whom is just more competitive. It was awesome seeing everyone come together to Souma’s rescue when they don’t really have to, but do out of the goodness of their hearts. Their own booths are managing fine so they’ve come to support Souma in his efforts. The comradery at that booth was exciting to see and that announcement at the end (and the defeat of Terunori) was the icing on the cake. Like I said earlier – seems a little too unbelievable, but hey! Anything is possible in the world of anime and that’s what makes it so fun to watch.

End Card

19 Comments

  4. I liked seeing Nao again, but I feel like she was a little underutilized. She didn’t really ADD anything to the plot or offer ideas or inspiration to Soma. She was just there.

    Heck, half the time she was literally just nomming black pepper buns in the background while Soma and Megumi talked.

    Guile
    Reply

  6. “3, 4” Oh god really? I KNEW there was something missing last week! I was trying to figure out if my memory was just faulty!

    Well Episode 4 was the one I was waiting for this season. For once I wasn’t focused on the lazy animated “movement” and was totally engrossed in the stakes! This is brilliant writing- all those allies Souma made earlier came to help meet the demand of his growing customer base! Battles are better fought with friends.

    Did Ryou cut his hair? He looks better this way. I wanna see more physical changes in character appearances. It makes them realer.

    starss
    Reply

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