Original Air Date: July 29th, 2016
Soma ups the stakes of his Shokugeki with Subaru by putting his career as a chef on the line. Having only a week left, Soma has to figure out how to basically defeat himself.
This episode provides examples of:
- Adaptation Distillation: A lot of Taki's violent personality traits have been left out, only throwing a dismissive comment on Soma's low chances. In the manga she also said that she would beat Subaru up if he soiled her knives, bickered with Hinako and bullied Sonoka.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- Mitsuru tried to convince Soma to give him an interview by preparing him lunch. In this version, Mitsuru also chases him with his camera and gives him a towel outside of the bathroom. In all of these cases, Soma's dormmates are watching.
- Erina's flashback shows how Hisako got Erina her shoujo mangas, and apparently by Hisako's eyebags she either spent all night looking for them or had to go to every bookstore to get them.
- Ryou and Akira are shown watching Soma's duel and comenting to themselves every step of his stew and why it works.
- Adapted Out: For the sake of the pacing, some of the gags are left out, like Soma jokingly thinking about becoming a lawyer or the fact that the school newspaper was busy trying to get an interview with Subaru.
- The Cameo: Koujirou Shinomiya appears only for a few seconds in a phone conversation with Doujima.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Subaru copying Soma's first steps in the stew and adding his own spin.
- Also Played for Laughs in the episode, where Erina finds out that her favorite manga was incomplete in the middle of the arc.
- Comically Small Bribe: Since Hisako was nowhere to be seen and Erina finished her manga in a Cliffhanger, she only accepted to taste Soma's stew on the condition that he borrowed the continuation of the series from one of his dormmates.
- "Eureka!" Moment: After Mitsuru getting full by finishing his dishes, Erina's review of his stew and Ikumi's carepackage, Soma realized what was wrong: Since the beef stew was a comfort food that gradually got better by the third bite, the Tournament called for something that can cause impact by the first taste. Also Ikumi sent him many kinds of beef cuts from tenderloin, rump, and even unconventional ones like oxtail, tongue and so on.
- Evolving Credits: In the ending Snow Drop, the person in the flower field this time is Erina.
- Fan of the Underdog: Mitsuru chose to make his article about Soma because of his admiration towards him, despite almost the entire school hating his guts.
- Foil: Two pairs of the judges are this: Taki and Sonoka, like Fuyumi and Hinako, are polar opposites who had been the Second Seats of their respective generations. Unlike Hinako and Fuyumi, who well know Soma's potential, Taki was quick to dismiss him because of his background profile, to which Sonoka agreed.
- Foreshadowing: The ones who read the manga noticed the blueprints in Koujirou's restaurant and know that those are the plans for his new SHINO's Tokyo Branch.
- Hard-Work Montage: After Soma realizes his work plan and kicks Mitsuru out of the kitchen, the rest of the week passes by in a quick montage, and in one of the days he almost drowned while washing his face.
- Heroic BSoD: By the time of the semifinals, Takumi spent the whole week locked in his room with a broken look. Isami had to deliver him Soma's invitation to the Shokugeki.
- Mistaken for Gay: When Mitsuru is requesting Soma to give him a chance for a interview, two girls in the background wonder if they always had that kind of relationship.
- The One Guy: Gin Doujima is the only former First Seat and male judge in the panel. The other four are all female former Second Seats.
- Pragmatic Adaptation:
- To explain how Subaru's character study worked, he has an Imagine Spot where he places himself in Soma's normal environment. This gag is shown in the manga for the Full Moon Banquet arc.
- To explain why Erina was reading her shoujo manga, a Call-Back to the OVA's second episode is shown, where Alice mocks Erina for not knowing anything about romance, hence Erina requests Hisako to get her mangas.
- Tag Along Kid: Mitsuru acts as this for Soma's trials. At first Soma hoped him to give him some useful feedback, but he only praised all his test runs and got full before getting anywhere. Then he tags along to Erina's house.
- Tsundere:
- Erina only agreed to help Soma out, stating that "her fee can still be negotiated". Before they leave, she tells him to get her the rest of her mangas before slamming the door.
- Ikumi runs away at least twice this episode. The first time when she couldn't understand why Soma was being so reckless. The second time was when she delivered him some meat cuts, and then flees while claiming that she only helped him in the name of the Don RS.
