Food Wars The Third Plate Episode 16 Review: Revenge Match

Watch Yukihira as he once more has to face the spice master, Akira Hayama, as well as the challenge of cooking bear meat. I didn’t even know bears where edible.

Japanese Original Episode Title: リベンジ・マッチ

Plot

Yukihira is being separated from everyone else and thrown into a kitchen to experiment with bear meat so he can face Akira, the newest member of the Elite Ten. And at this point, I just have to ask one more time, why don’t they just expel everyone and be over with it?

Apparently, cooking bear meat is quite the challenge due to its stinky-stinky aftertaste. While you’d think Yukihira would be thrilled to work with something so disgusting (he has, after all, a PASSION for gross food), he starts experimenting by trying to conceal the stench. Somewhere near the middle of the episode Kuga jumps in for no apparent reason and offers Yukihira his help, along with his extensive knowledge of Chinese spices. Yukihira goes on a trip to the mountains and discovers some local berries that could help him successfully season the meat. He also realizes he should probably be working with the stench rather than against it; and while he’s discovering all that, Akira is already done the cooking and strolls around showing off his dish.

The episode ends with a completely unnecessary shot of Rindo-senpai’s ass. Its importance to the development of the plot remains unknown to me.

Episode Highlights

Akira turning douchebag: I believe, well no, let’s say I hope there is some sort of backstory to Akira’s decision in joining the Elite Ten. His relationship with the short spice lady seemed very important to him so I’d be surprised to see this whole subplot being brushed on the side.

Erina getting grabbed: What the hell was that all about? I mean it’s one thing being bossed around and humiliated by your dad and another to have his lackeys personally forcing you to follow them. What a cheap attempt at drama.

Dojima-senpai: Unlike everyone else taking this way too seriously, Dojima-senpai is the voice of reason and feels comfortable enough to declare himself as neutral. *slow clap*

Kuga-senpai: That short guy of questionable ethnicity that can only cook mapo tofu is still on the show? Wow. Does anyone actually really care?

Megumi’s body language: Seasons come and seasons go but poor Megumi, no matter how much she improves, doesn’t seem to build on the confidence much – she does, after all, need to keep that ‘shy/cute’ persona going. I swear she always keeps her hands folded in the front, forming tiny fists. This must be painful.

Great cooking knocks you out: In yet another display of the show being ridiculously extra, Akira Hayama’s cooking when joining the Elite Ten is actually shown to knock people out. Why not send them to the shadow realm, says I?

Weird fire person: What is that weird firey figure that appears just before the titles between Akira and Yukihira? Probably yet another hard effort to demonstrate how important all this is.

Themes & Trivia

Bear Meat: Yes, the Japanese, especially in the North, eat bears. Matagi, well-known bear hunters of Hokkaido, practice old-school bear hunts to this day. In my humble opinion, it’s much better to eat any sort of game rather than meat that’s come out of a torture factory, so the whole controversy around this issue seems a bit pathetic, when pigs, one of the most intelligent animals in the world, are being slaughtered and consumed on a daily basis.

Schisandra berries: Schisandra Chinensis, whose fruit is called magnolia berry or five-flavor-fruit, is a deciduous woody vine native to forests of Northern China and the Russian Far East. You can buy food supplements of it online, and it’s quite popular in herbal medicine.

At least the food trivia is good this season…

…unlike in the previous one, where we had to put up with Kuga-senpai’s nonsense.

How did you find this Food Wars episode? Let us know in the comment section! And don’t forget to check the rest of the Spring 2018 anime reviews on MANGA.TOKYO!

NEXT TIME: The Umami Tightrope (旨味の綱渡り)