Original Air Date: August 14th, 2015
The names of the Fall Classic contestants are revealed, along with the theme: Curry Dishes. Soma and Megumi decide to investigate more about spices by visiting Professor Jun Shiomi, former Polar Star resident.
This episode provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: The Table Tennis match at the dorms, where Isshiki has a heated match against Megumi (as long as her Hidden Depths as a professional ping-pong player) and leaves out the "Shokugeki no Soma is a Cooking Manga" meme.
- Apologizes a Lot: Seeing Megumi and Jun interact, Soma's eyes glaze over as he realizes they’re stuck in an infinite loop of apologies.
- Evolving Credits: In the Opening Rising Rainbow, Megumi's vegetables are carrots. For the Ending Sacchan no Sexy Curry, Jun is walking along with Akira.
- Failed Dramatic Exit: Just as Soma was about to leave by declaring his rivalry towards Akira, Jun accidentally hit him in the gut with the doorknob.
- Hypocritical Humor: After Jun reveals that Jouichirou basically tortured her during their student days, Soma laughs at his dad being a bad senpai. Megumi only looks at him with critical eyes.
- Impossibly Delicious Food: Akira did two curry dishes to put in practice all of Jun's Techno Babble about how the amount of flavor can affect the spices. Aside from the different techniques used by Akira when preparing these four test dishes, there's also the fact that the Shiomi Seminar has been growing fresh curry leaves in their greenhouse.
- Irrational Hatred: Partly lampshaded by Satoshi towards Erina; she usually makes completely accurate and reasonable decisions, yet whenever Soma is involved she would do the exact opposite.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Despite Erina's intense dislike towards Soma — which leads to her protesting when Soma is set up as a potential candidate for the Fall Classic — she does not make any further arguments when Eizan also supports Satoshi's decision to have Soma nominated and explains why Soma is worthy of the nomination.
- The Nose Knows: Soma realizes that Akira never looked at his pot while making curry, because he could know the state of the dish by just smelling it.
- Older Than They Look: Despite being roughly the same age as Gin and Jouichirou, Jun Shiomi still looks like a middle schooler. Jun attributes her young appearance to all the spices she eats, claiming they have medical benefits. Soma thinks it’s a terrible excuse.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: Since Jouichirou's arrival happened before the Fall Classic's announcement, Soma knows about Jun Shiomi because Jouichirou mentioned her during their talks. In the manga version, Jouichirou mentioned Jun was very fond of him, while Fumio decided to keep quiet about it.
- Repeat Cut: When Soma identifies himself as Jouichirou's son, Jun knocks him down with a punch — which is then seen from three other viewpoints, labeled as though a sporting event were providing instant replay.
- The Rival: After giving them a detailed explanation of how the spices work, Akira reveals that he knew from the beginning who Soma was and declared that he will become Tootsuki's Number One. Soma is thrilled to have a rival that can do more than him.
- Techno Babble: Jun gets into this mode when explaining theories about spices. Akira is tasked with translating it into practical use.
- The Unapologetic: Jun doesn't apologize to Soma for decking him when he mentions his father; hell, she refuses to aid him because he's his father's son. Akira had to force her to do so, reminding her of her duties and manners as a teacher, but also because she accidentally hits Soma later in the stomach with the door knob.
