(Reaper): Hello. Welcome to Project Nitsuj. I am Pandora Chaos Reaper, but you may call me Reaper. It’s been quite some time since we’ve last seen each other. I hope all of you are well. I am sorry to report that my master and the AI girls are away at the moment and will be gone for some time. However, he has ordered me to show you this pre-recorded series of reviews he has been working on in his spare time. What anime it is, I cannot say, but please enjoy it to your heart’s content.
*Reaper begins to play the review*
(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Battle manga and anime have changed a lot over the years. In the past it was people throwing punches to beat up others or using weapons to bash their heads in. While we still get that today, a new type of battle manga and anime has been taking over, and it’s called: non-battle battle. These are the kinds of battle manga and anime that have battles but not in a traditional sense we’ve come to know. They would be battles on a mental level where it wasn’t about beating your opponent with your fists, but rather out thinking and outperforming them. There’s been a number of non-battle battle manga and anime over the years such as Phoenix Wright, Kaguya-sama: Love is War, The Promised Neverland, Kakegurui, and of course Death Note. It’s hard to pinpoint when non-battle battles came to existence. Some say it got started with Death Note which yes, it kind of got the ball rolling and showed everyone the appeal of this genre, but one series I think popularized and let everyone know that there’s a lot of potential here is, Food Wars. The Shonen Jump classic that ran from 2012-2019 and made people all over the world hungry whenever they read it. It was a strange time for the magazine where they were trying not to rely on the typical battle manga and branch out to present something new to their readers. One of the stories that came about from this time was Food Wars. So, how did this series come to be? Well, it was a collection of great individuals working together. The idea originally came from the artist, Shun Saeki, who worked on a number of independent works and wanted to make a story about a girl who loves food and expresses her thoughts about it through ‘ecstasy’. The only problem was he couldn’t come up with a good story to go along with the concept and wanted to focus on just drawing. Enter Yuto Tsukuda, who was Shun’s junior in college and worked on sport manga in the past such as Shōnen Shikku (a story about soccer) and Ao no Rettou (a story about ski jumping). Yuto was happy to help out as he was a big fan of Jun’s artwork and wanted to use this series as a way to show off how great it was. Yuto would work on the story and Shun would work on the drawings while also adding in his 2 cents on the story from time to time. Along with their editor, the two also received outside help from celebrity chef, Yuki Morisaki, who was brought in as a food consultant and even got help from the fans who sent in their recipes and ideas for food they could show in the manga. They made a one-shot for Shonen Jump which everyone loved and the series became an official part of the magazine in the spring of 2012 where it enjoyed a modest run before fizzling out around 2018 and coming to an end in 2019. During the manga’s run there were a number of animes based off the series with all of them being done by J.C. Staff (DanMachi, Heavy Object and Prison School) who adapted the manga from beginning to end and for the next few weeks we’re gonna take a look at this series to see how it started off well only to fall apart at the end. Hope your hungry, this is, Food Wars.
Opening and Ending Theme
The first opening is “Kibo no Uta” by Ultra Tower. Not a big fan of this song. It’s not really that bad of a song to begin with. At first, I didn’t really care for it, but after listening to it a few times I started to like it. My main problem with the song is that it’s too long for a series like this. I mean the series is about competitive cooking and this song really underplays just how intense cooking can be. So while not bad song, it’s just not the best song to be used for an opening.
The ending is “Spice” by Tokyo Karankoron. I do like the peaceful vibe this song gives off and the warm feeling it leaves us. Sadly, it’s not a very memorable song. Every time an episode ended I kept forgetting that this was the ending theme.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts off with our main character Souma voiced by uhh~ Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Kirito from SAO. Man this guy is everywhere. I don’t hate him he’s a good VA and his voice matches up perfectly with Souma but does he have to voice every main male character in anime? Give the other guys a chance) having a cook off against his dad. Joichiro at his family diner. They have one of the customers named Mayu who is a classmate of Souma (and we find out later has a secret crush on him) be the judge for their contest where she chooses Joichiro dish over Souma making this the 489th time in a row that Souma has lost to his dad (yes, he keeps count of his losses and his dad loves to rub it in his face. They’re a crazy family). Despite losing Souma quickly realizes his mistakes in his dish and it’s here that a lot of people like to compare him to Ryoma from Prince of Tennis because the two are both prodigies in their field, but the main difference is Souma is a likable person. You wanna know why people hated Prince of Tennis? It was because of Ryoma. Not because he’s a prodigy (I was okay with that) it was his attitude. The guy was a douchebag for no apparent reason and had a mindset that he was better than everyone around him. Souma on the other hand doesn’t act like Ryoma. He’s very humble with his cooking and knows he’s good but not as good as he wants to be. He’s not arrogant or cocky either he’s quite meek and uses his skills when he needs to use them or when the time calls for it. As the two are closing up the diner, a woman (a sexy one at that) by the name of Minegasaki comes in. She’s from a real estate agency who plans on tearing down the district and replacing it with a million dollar (or billion yen) hotel however Joichiro refuses to close the diner putting her in a bind. The next day when Souma comes home from school, he sees that someone has come in and destroyed all of their food supplies (where are your manners!? You just wasted a lot of food which is a very big deal in Japan). Minegasaki comes in with her three bouncers (didn’t know real estate agents had bouncers. But hey when you got a body like hers you probably need the extra protection). She wants Souma to make her his juiciest meat meal and since she trashed the place there’s no ingredients to use and will have to shut down the restaurant because of a promise he made with her last night. He agrees to make the meal and using the ingredients he picked up from the grocery store makes in imitation steak made from bacon, potatoes, onions, and garlic and roasted all of it in the oven (scene here: https://youtu.be/0pupIkOBKi8). Minegasaki eats it and instantly gets a foodgasm (yeah get used to me saying that, there are a lot of them in this anime). The meal is so good and delicious that Minegasaki practically begs Souma to let her finish it all and promises to leave the restaurant alone (scene here: https://youtu.be/av5OobLjsBQ, I don’t know what he put in that food but I want to learn how to do it). The next morning Joichiro returns where he tells Souma he’s going to be closing the restaurant down for 2-3 years (necessary for the plot) to work with an old friend of his and while he’s away he wants Souma to attend a culinary school (they have culinary schools for high school students? Get them while they’re young I guess). At first Souma is skeptical about the school but when he arrives for the entrance exam he finds that the school is the top culinary school in the country, has a 10% graduation rate, and getting accepted is very difficult (I like this school already).
So in episode 2 in order to get into the school he has to pass the entrance exam with a bunch of other high class society kids who all come from famous restaurants and look down on Souma because he is a commoner (keep talking and this commoner is gonna whip your five-star ass). When it’s time for the entrance exam everyone runs away because the examiner is Erina voiced by Risa Taneda (Xenovia from Highschool DxD). A student at the elite culinary school who’s the same age as Souma and a girl said to have God’s Tongue. She’s a taste tester who has tasted dishes from some of the best chefs in the world as she’s able to describe the taste of whatever she eats in great detail and if she declares your dish awful it’s basically the end for you as a chef (and then you’re forced to work at McDonald’s). Since everyone isn’t confident in their skills to please her tongue (or the rest of her body for that matter) they all run away (scene here: https://youtu.be/czxniEO2PzI) except for Souma who decides to make her dish which is egg themed. He prepares his dish which is basically rice seasoned with delicious eggs that he coated in many delicious ingredients. As you would expect Erina isn’t too impressed with the dish (it’s not about the presentation. It’s about the taste. I admit presentation is important but in my opinion as long as the food tastes good that’s all that matters). Erina tastes it out of curiosity and it’s so good that she didn’t even judge it. She tastes it again only this time savoring the flavor of it. She finally tastes it a third time (third time’s the charm) and she gets her foodgasm because of how good it is. So Erina loves the dish as its unlike anything she’s ever had before but because she refuses to accept a dish from such a commoner she rejects the dish and calls it disgusting (oh that is a bitch move right there) and fails Souma (scene here: https://youtu.be/Xqz5rneimUU, your dad is so gonna kill you). However luck comes his way when the academy director (who just happens to be Erina’s grandfather) strolls by the kitchen, tastes Souma’s dish and loves it (so much that his eyes pop out of his head).
In episode 3 we go to the entrance ceremony of the culinary school where we see Erina is the class rep and is aiming for the number one spot. She’s also shocked to see that Souma is there at the ceremony giving a speech where he says he’s going to beat everyone who comes his way (scene here: https://youtu.be/JcTHcXrLgvQ. Balls! Brass balls on that kid). After that, we shift focus to a new character named Megumi voiced by Minami Takahashi who is nice to see finally getting a main role character. Up until now she’s only been voicing side characters but 2015 turned out to be her breakout year as she moved from a side character VA to a main character VA. Anyway, Megumi comes from a small port town in Japan and left at the age of 13 to pursue a career in the culinary arts. However, because of her shy and clumsy personality along with her neat style of cooking Megumi kept failing test after test yet she somehow got into the academy under probation and if she gets another failing grade she’ll be expelled from the school (she’s either the luckiest girl in the world or fate just loves messing with her). She decides to keep a low profile and not standout too much in her first class however she gets partnered up with Souma (fate loves messing with her) and they’re in danger as one of the harshest teachers in the school who practically hands out failing grades for anything that he finds imperfect or unacceptable (https://youtu.be/07So_lJQyqw) will be testing them. The teams have to make Boeuf Bourguigon in braised beef Bourgogne style (hey they’re actually using real dishes. That’s so rare to see in anime) and Souma has no idea what that is (neither do I because I’m not rich). Despite Souma not knowing how to make it Megumi does and gets to work making it however she leaves her station and burning stove (and I would fail her right there. You never walk away from a burning stove when you’re cooking something) where a few students decide to sabotage the meat by pouring salt on it (yep they’re assholes but at the same time this is Megumi’s fault for leaving her station). Despite this set back and only having 30 minutes left to make the dish Souma pulls through for the team and they deliver a dish that’s so good that it makes their teacher smile. They receive an A (scene here: https://youtu.be/P9iNdDBIXEI) and as for the students who sabotage them they receive an E because they accidently burnt the meat and dropped salt on it (poetic justice served). Once Erina hears about this she starts to make plans to eliminate him (will you just admit you like the boy and that he gave you a foodgasm).
In episode 4 Souma goes to the student dorm he’ll be staying at the Polar Star Dorm (which looks like something you would expect to see in Luigi’s Mansion. If you see a ghost Souma just stare at it for a few seconds and get a vacuum). He goes inside where he meets the dorm caretaker Fumio an old lady who’s a little scary but in truth she’s actually quite nice. In order to enter and stay at the dorm Souma has to cook a meal for Fumio and if it’s not good she’ll kick him out of the dorm. Since Souma has no ingredients on him he uses the leftovers from the dorm kitchen where he whips up hamburger beef and egg soup which is delicious and gives her a foodgasm (Shizuku: Eww) but in the form of her younger self. Souma passes his test and is allowed to stay in the dorm (scene here: https://youtu.be/PIEgbRtqZBQ). After that, we just meet the rest of the residents of this whacky dorm who are all pretty interesting. In fact, Megumi is there as well (haha it’s your fate to be a part of Souma’s harem). We also learn about the Elite 10 a group of students who are considered to be the best chefs in the school and next to the director of the school hold the most power (good. I always said students need more power in their schools). After the credits we find out the senpai in Souma’s dorm Satoshi is actually one of the Elite 10 (oh shit) and he wants to try Souma’s cooking.
Episodes 5-8
Not much to say about episode 5. Souma cooks up a meal with the same theme as Satoshi’s dish summer and mackerel. He makes a nice dish which Satoshi praises greatly and earns him respect (scene here: https://youtu.be/9vl–hUHhw4). The next morning Souma tries to challenge Satoshi again for his seat in the Elite 10 however it doesn’t work like that (of course not. That would be too easy). For starters Souma has to wager something of equal or greater value (FMA rules huh?), an adjudicator must be present to make the match official, an odd number of judges must be present (bias or unbiased. It’s up to you), and there must be an agreement between the challengers about the conditions of the match (such a hassle). While that’s being explained we see Erina take on a sumo wrestler chef (no questions. Just go with it) in a cook-off in order to bulldoze his clubhouse to make room for her new kitchen. She crushes him in the match and then makes plans to eliminate the next person on her hit list (she is just a little sadist isn’t she?).
In episode 6 Souma hears about research societies at school (I’m actually amazed this school even allows clubs to exist) and he and Megumi go to check them out. The first society they go to is the Donmono research society aka Don RS. For those of you who don’t know what donmonos are they’re basically beef bowls mixed with rice. They’re quite popular in Japan for being cheap, fast, and tasty to eat. If you’re ever short on cash and want something to make quickly while also satisfying your hunger this is the meal for you. They arrive at the club room where they meat (sorry little food pun there) the leader and only member of the club Konishi and his amazing Space Dandy inspired pompadour hair (actually to be fair the manga this anime is based off of came out long before Space Dandy but still nobody rocked the pompadour better than Dandy). Konishi tells them the club is shutting down because Erina has set her sights on the club and wants to destroy it because she believes that cheap food has no place in the world and should be destroyed (tell that to McDonalds). Once she declared war on the Don RS all of its members ran away leaving only Konishi to challenge Erina’s follower the lovely and busty tan-skinned with blonde hair American girl Ikumi (woah, God bless America. (Isis): Judging by your expression I know you’re not talking about the country. (Nitsuj): Not in the slightest). Ikumi is known as the meat master (I can see why, her meat does look delicious) because she specializes in meat dishes which are made using the highest quality of meat. She’s been sent by Erina to fight a member of the Don RS in a shokugeki where the club’s future will be on the line. After she bad talks donmonos Souma steps in to face her where new rules are set. If Ikumi wins not only will the Don RS club be demolished but Souma will be expelled from the school (that means no more foodgasms). However, if Souma wins Ikumi has to join the Don RS and dedicate her time to advancing the study of don (and having her in the club will boost membership big time). The match is set 3 days from now and the them is meat with don. So the next day Souma, Megumi, and Konishi create and try out recipes to make a don that will beat Ikumi who plans on using A5 meat in her dish (and if you’re wondering yes. A5 meat is a real thing. It’s the highest quality meat out and it costs hundreds if not thousands of dollars to get. It’s so good you could practically drink it. That sounds disgusting but then again I’m a semi-vegetarian). Souma keeps cooking and turning out good dishes but Konishi says it still won’t be enough to defeat Ikumi. That is until Souma creates the right dish but will it be enough to defeat Ikumi’s A5 meat (of course, he’s the MC)?
Episode 7 starts off great with us seeing Ikumi’s meat (what I wouldn’t do to try a sample of that meat). After that, the cook-off between her and Souma begins where of course the crowd is against Souma (well he did give that cocky speech at the ceremony and he is going up against one of the hottest girls in school. Although in all fairness all the girls in this series are pretty hot but that’s to be expected when the artist for this series is a hentai artist. Yeah, I wasn’t gonna say anything because I assumed everybody knew that already but Shun Saeki was in fact a hentai artist who actually drew hentai doujins and some of them got turned into animated series. His popular ones are of course Harem Time and Menkui. To be honest his artwork is very impressive. The food in this anime looks delicious to eat, all of the girls are cute with excellent figures, the fanservice is top notch, and it is cool to see him move away from hentai and into something that’ll give him a lot more recognition as an artist. So anytime when you see a foodgasm in this anime or manga you can thank him for it). Ikumi busts out her A5 beef and cooks in a very seductive way (um Saeki are you sure you’re done with the hentai stuff because your artwork says otherwise) while Souma uses cheap sirloin steak he got at the local supermarket (but shit it was 99 cents). This earns Souma more mocking because in everyone’s eyes Souma’s cheap meat can never beat Ikumi’s high quality meat (while I admit having higher quality ingredients will give you the best dish usually. In truth a great chef can make a great dish using whatever quality ingredients are lying around). They present their dishes to the judges where the judges seem to like Ikumi’s dish a lot that is until they taste Souma’s dish (which I have to admit looks delicious. I normally don’t eat meat but looking at Souma’s dish makes me want to convert). While his dish doesn’t give them a foodgasm they can’t stop eating because it’s so good something Ikumi’s dish couldn’t do. While Ikumi’s dish is good the rice and meat are fighting against each other. In fact, the judges didn’t even finish eating all the rice. Even Ikumi is moved to tears after tasting Souma’s dish and even gets a foodgasm from it (thank you). All the judges vote in favor of Souma’s dish and he wins the cook-off (scene here: https://youtu.be/n_m2yvdUTDc, as there any doubt he would win?). Erina sees this loss and throws Ikumi out of her faction (what is this a gang war? Everybody has their faction and followers?) and Konishi amazed by Souma’s skills asked him to be the next leader of the Don RS club. The next day Ikumi goes to the Don clubroom with her shirt buttoned completely (no~! What about the meat?) because she’s pretty much fallen for Souma (he even gives her a cute nickname, Nikumi). She goes in only to find that Souma hasn’t joined the club but he says he’ll come by and visit from time to time.
Episode 8 begins Souma’s first trial of hell. The students are going on a camping trip for 5 days (sounds fun) only it’s not a camping trip it’s instead a training camp from hell where for 5 days the student will be tasked with food challenges day in and day out and if they fail to meet the expectations of their teachers they’ll be expelled right on the spot (sounds bad). They arrive at the camp which is the academy’s resort hotel (they have a resort? Just what is this school?) where their teachers aren’t actual teachers but instead alumni all of who survived the culinary school (and came out sane thanks to years of therapy) and now own their own world famous restaurants. They’ve taken time from their busy schedules to train the new students, weed out the weak ones, and possibly find new prospects to work in their restaurants after graduation. After orientation everyone gets broken up into groups with Souma and Megumi winding up together in the same group and are put as partners in their first challenge by Chef Hinako (who may or may not have a lesbian crush on Megumi). Her assignment: make a Japanese cuisine that she likes in 2 hours. The twist, they have to get their ingredients from nature in a limited area. Pretty much all the students begin to panic except for Souma and two new students named Takumi and Isami Aldini the Aldini Twins (despite the fact that one’s blonde and slender while the other is fat and has brown hair). These two come from Italy and just like Souma they too come from a special of the day diner so Souma’s words at the opening ceremony struck a chord with them. Takumi now sees Souma as his rival and wants to defeat Souma in this assignment so he goes up to Hinako and demands that she judge their dish as a contest but she says no (wow, any amount of coolness I had for this guy just went out the window). They begin their assignment where Souma and Megumi catch a fish while the Aldini Twins go with duck and we get to see their amazing teamwork and fast cooking skills at work. While their food is good it doesn’t give Inui a foodgasm (you guys fail) but it is enough to satisfy her and they’re the first ones to pass the assignment.
Episodes 9-12
Episode 9 starts off with a little flashback into Takumi’s past. Just like he said he’s been a chef at his family’s restaurant his whole life just like Souma and was already an amazing chef at a young age. Even his father recognized his potential and knew that in a few short years he would surpass him however what would he do then? While his father recognized his potential he saw that Takumi lacked goals in other words a rival that would keep pushing him to get better and better. That’s when his father decided to send the boys off to Japan and into the culinary school from hell (good parenting) hoping that Takumi would find a worthy rival (mission accomplished). Back in the present it’s now Souma’s turn to make his dish and since Inui wants to make things interesting she decides to hold a competition between Souma and Takumi to see whose dish was better. For Souma’s dish he decides to make deep fried fish using fish, mountain vegetables, a freshly laid egg, and the key ingredient Hinako’s tea snack Kaki-no-tane. After getting all of the ingredients he needs Souma works his magic and creates a dish that gives Hinako a foodgasm (Souma wins) and she allows them to pass. At the end when Souma and Takumi ask her whose dish was better, but she can’t answer because they have to get back to the hotel immediately so she calls the match a draw and rushes off to the bus (I love this woman and having the voice of Mamiko Noto makes her all the more cute and enjoyable). So their match ends in a draw but Takumi tells Souma that one day he will challenge him to a Shokugeki. He then takes his leave saying that they will meat (sorry more food puns) again. Fast forward a few seconds later and they’re on the bus sitting together (scene here: https://youtu.be/k90Eoy12ivQ. It’s like whenever he tries to be cool he jinxes himself. It’s kind of sad really). They arrive back at the hotel where Souma and Megumi find out that everyone from their dorm passed the first exam and take a breath of relief that they survived the first day (only 4 more days to go). However, before they can enjoy their free time they must first make 50 meals for a group of muscle bound college students and they have only 1 hour to complete all 50 meals (welcome to the Labyrinth from Hell folks. There’s no puppets, no singing, or David Bowie bulging his junk at you. There’s just suffering and agony and if by some amazing stroke of luck, you manage to reach the center you can leave with what little sanity you have left only to lose that sanity at another level of Hell). They get to cooking with one of the alumni testing their food to make sure it’s good (where’s Gordon Ramsay when you need him?). Souma finishes all of his dishes and goes to relax in the open air baths where he runs into Erina just getting out of the bath (nice figure Erina).
Episode 10 picks up where episode 9 left off. Souma and Erina have a nice little chat (scene here: https://youtu.be/QsECw-H0W_c. Whatever, you know you want him). After that, Souma goes into the baths where he runs into Dojima the head chef of the resort and of course an alumnus of the academy (oh so you crawled your way out of hell too? Got any hints for the up starters?). They chat a little bit, shake hands, and then he leaves (thank God Souma didn’t drop the soap). The next day arrives where this time Souma and Megumi get assigned to Shinomiya a chef who became the first Japanese chef to have his own 3-star restaurant in France (3 stars is the highest you can go in restaurants and it’s rarely given out. Last I checked there’s only like 27 restaurants that have 3 stars in France). He’s known for being very strict with his grading and actually failed more than 30 students on the first day alone. Also, during his time at the academy he graduated as the number one seat of the Elite 10. His assignment is he wants them to make a dish that he created called the Terrine of 9 Vegetables (which actually is a real dish). It’s basically taking 9 vegetables and combining them into one. It sounds easy but in truth it’s very hard. Each vegetable requires specific preparation and cooking time. On top of that none must overwhelm or underwhelm their counterparts (like I said this is a very tough dish to make). This time around there are no teams (oh no. Megumi’s in trouble) and they all have 3 hours to prepare the dish and present it to Shinomiya. If he finds it dissatisfying the student will be expelled. Also, they have to use the ingredients that he prepared for them and the students can’t help or talk to each other. At his command the students rush to the ingredients to get the best ingredients turning into wild animals. Megumi gets pushed down but manages to get ingredients except for the cauliflower (the hardest vegetable to cook. A cruel bastard so to speak). All the remaining cauliflowers have begun oxidizing making them go bad however Megumi counters this effect by dipping it in vinegar (brilliant). Souma passes easily but Megumi fails not because her dish was bad, far from it, it was actually a good dish that even Shinomiya admits was good (so why the hell did she fail?). She failed because she changed the recipe which according to Shinomiya is breaking the rules (so you wanted her to serve something bad you unfair asshole?). Souma not agreeing with this decision steps in and voices his complaint to Shinomiya where he admits that he left bad cauliflowers in there on purpose (oh fuck him! No seriously, fuck him all the way to hell! He just openly admitted that he set his students up for failure. Who does that? Who wants their students to fail?). Souma continues to complain how unfair Shinomiya’s judgement was and demands that he reverse his decision but Shinomiya says no and threatens to expel Souma if he keeps it up (you can’t fire him, he’s the main character). Megumi stops him saying it’s alright with tears in eyes (aww~ how can he stop when she’s got tears in her eyes?) but Souma refuses to stop and challenges Shinomiya to a shokugeki where if Souma wins Megumi stays (scene here: https://youtu.be/zGDE73xAyCg, this is starting to sound like Yu-Gi-Oh. Only this time it makes more sense).
At the start of episode 11 Shinomiya outright says no to Souma’s challenge (smart move he has nothing to gain from facing Souma) but Dojima comes in and actually likes the idea of the challenge. That, and he too doesn’t agree with Shinomiya’s decision. Especially Hinako who throughout the episode constantly berates Shinomiya for picking on Megumi (I wish she was a recurring character she is just so funny and a joy to have in the series). Shinomiya is forced by Dojima to challenge Souma and Megumi to a shougeki but the stakes are risen where if Shinomiya wins than both Megumi and Souma will be expelled (well at least they’ll have each other). After finishing up their afternoon lectures they go to the annex basement where the unofficial shougeki will take place (in other words this can be seen as a street fight). The judges this time around are alumni (one being a shout out to L from Death Note) with Hinako as a spectator since it was believed she would be biased if she participated (well its true). Dojima sets the rules saying that they’re free to make anything they want with vegetables as the main theme. He also adds that Megumi is the lead chef of her team with Souma acting as support (and he’s screwed) and gives a good reason as to why this is. Megumi has been riding on Souma’s coat tail this whole time. Not intentionally of course but she is constantly being saved by him. She now has a chance to prove to everyone (and herself) that she deserves to be here and that it wasn’t a fluke that she got into the academy (and to show us that she’s worthy of being in the MCs harem). Shinomiya gets started on his dish while Megumi has a panic attack (Souma kiss her), but Souma smacks her hands to calm her down and it works (you should’ve kissed her man). After calming down and deciding to just focus on her cooking she decides on a dish to make with Souma providing support excellently from behind. Shinomiya finishes his dish which is Chou farci (it’s similar to a cabbage roll only mixed with meat and vegetables) that turns all the judges (including Dojima and Hinako) into magical cabbage girls (cabbage~ prism power~ make up).
Episode 12 is all about Megumi. Megumi and Souma’s dish is the Terrine of 9 Vegetables the same dish that was part of Shinomiya’s test. The judges taste it and they all love it. It’s here that we get an idea of what Megumi’s cooking is like. Motherly kindness and care. Megumi’s dishes are filled with kindness and care that warms your heart (it makes you feel like a kid again eating your mother or father’s dishes). The judges all compliment her for her kindness and compare her to kind youkais (remember, not all youkais were evil. Some were good and others were in-between) such as a koro-pok-guru (they’re very cute creatures look them up), a Zashiki-warashi, and the snow child. Even though Megumi’s dish was excellent Shinomiya’s dish wins with a 3-0 vote however Dojima steps in and calls Shinomiya out saying that he’s run into a wall because he didn’t prepare one of his special dishes like he normally does (Dojima knows how to get under people’s skin). Sure enough Dojima is right, Shinomiya has run into a wall with his cooking. He’s achieved everything he’s dreamt of doing and now he doesn’t know where to go next (where does a man go next when he’s reached the top?). Dojima says the answer he’s looking for is in Megumi’s dish so he tries it and it takes him all the way back to his youth when he was just a child growing up in the country with his mom. A time where he had no worries and just living out life with his mom. This brings a tear to his eye and he finally admits defeat. He reverses his decision to expel Megumi and Souma and takes his leave. Souma and Megumi also take their leave where we actually see Souma feel mad about the results of the showdown. Souma was aiming for victory, he was trying to beat Shinomiya but was completely destroyed getting no votes at all and won only on a technicality. But despite this loss, Souma doesn’t get discouraged if anything it actually motivates him to continue onwards and grow stronger (scene here: https://youtu.be/sZL865sWNFo, now that he knows what it’s like to lose he can finally grow stronger).
And right now feels like a good place to stop. I don’t know about you guys but I’m hungry right now. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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