Food Wars! The Third Plate

Episode 7

It doesn't sound so bad at first – Azami's plan to reinvent Totsuki could be seen as a much more egalitarian structure, free of the torments imposed by the previous elitist administration. But seeing his policies implemented is a whole 'nother matter. It becomes apparent that what Azami isn't really trying to make the school more equal, he's trying to stamp out creativity, innovation, and independent thought altogether. As he did with his daughter, Azami's plan is to bully the school into a state of numbness, where they can't even have a thought that isn't his own. He's trying to remake the student body into something like that army of mapo tofu making CG drones under Kuga. This is hardly the work of a decent educator.

He also wants to close the school's only dormitory, putting a bunch of students out of their home. That's hardly what I'd call responsible human behavior, much less for an educator. As far as we know, only Soma previously lived locally, so there's no telling what will happen to the rest of the kids; Megumi even says she camped out in Polaris' shed while she was waiting to get in. So it's no surprise that Soma is ready to rumble even once he's realized that Eizen has rigged the system – there's a lot more at stake here than creative freedom.

This episode really solidifies Soma's role in the story – he's not just the protagonist, he's the hero of justice, just as much as if he climbed into a mecha and blasted bad guys. The only difference is that Soma's weapon is food, which works just as well to punch villains in the taste buds as in the face, a true testament to how well Food Wars! works within the confines of traditional shonen fighting manga and anime. And is Eizen ever a villain who deserves to be punched in the face, the taste buds, and wherever else. He's a little Azami-in-training, using his position and cash to do what he deems “right” or at least “fun,” playing with people like one of my cats plays with bugs – slowly tormenting them before deigning to put them out of their misery. It's not hard to see him finessing this practice as he ages, much like Azami is doing to the student body at Totsuki.

Of course, all of this is moving toward not just making sure that justice prevails and a bunch of teenagers aren't put out on the streets. It's also about showing Erina that she can fight back – her dad may have tormented her and wounded her ability to empathize, but he isn't unstoppable, and neither are his greasy little minions. If Soma can save Polaris, he'll be making a statement to her: "you can fight back." When Megumi mentions that if Polaris goes Erina will have no place to hide, that drives home the point that this is just as much about Azami's unwillingness to let his daughter go free as it is about any scheme for revenge. Erina has been his pawn, and now that she's slowly coming into her own surrounded by good people, she needs to see that she doesn't have to remain powerless. Maybe it won't be the kind of power she wielded before, but she can still stand up and make a difference.

That's the lesson the whole school is set to learn from Soma, because how likely is it that he'll just sit back and let even bought judges try to ignore his food? On top of that, Isshiki has been suspiciously absent from the dorm since Azami's return – he and the others who voted against Azami may be in the middle of cooking something up. Rindo's appearance at the end of this week also seems worthy of analysis. She may have voted for Azami, but she also appears to be a kind of wild card, playing sides against each other simply to keep things interesting for herself. If she doesn't like what Eizen's doing (and it sure looks that way), there's a good chance that she'll help Soma take him down. Whatever game she's playing, one thing's for sure: it's going to be a long week until we get to find out what happens next.

Rating: A-

Food Wars! The Third Plate is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.