The good thing about a lot of anime series is that when an episode ends, most of the time the following episode begins right where the prior episode left off. This is the case with Food Wars!, ReLIFE, etc. Episode four ends with the cooking challenge between Soma and Satoshi, with Soma trying Satoshi’s dish. Let’s get on with episode five: “The Ice Queen and the Spring Storm.”

I really don’t know how I feel about this particular episode. I liked it, yes, but I found it kind of boring compared to the previous episodes. There is always something exciting happening before, but this episode was pretty much all dialogue and not really anything else. There should always be a complete balance with dialogue and actions to keep something interesting, and this episode seemed unbalanced.

So it seems Soma can make friends somewhat easily, especially with Satoshi, who comes across as carefree and extremely friendly, and a little bit odd. There is always that kind of character in anime. But he is a bit more standoffish when Soma keeps prying about the Council of Ten.  This episode seems to focus a lot on Soma and Satoshi than any one else.

When Soma tries Satoshi’s dish, he literally reacts the same way other’s do when they try his food.  He becomes naked and is surrounded by blue skies and cherry blossom trees. Soma thinks about Satoshi’s meal and how it’s on a whole different level than other students. In the meantime, Satoshi tells him he is on the Council of Ten, and he wants Soma to show him how he expresses himself through food.

It’s revealed later on that Erina Nakiri is the tenth seat on the Council of Ten. And this is a very good comparison to the personalities of Erina and Satoshi. Satoshi is cheerful and seems very supportive of those around him, especially Soma for some reason. Erina on the other hand, looks down at every single person, thinking only of herself, and just thinks highly of herself. She’s one of those characters that I find so irritating I cringe whenever she’s speaking. I’m hoping as I go through the first series, there may be some change in Erina’s holier-than-thou attitude.

Back to Soma and Satoshi. Since Satoshi made a meal with mackerel, Soma decides to go the same route, but with a different recipe. He calls it #20 from Yukihira’s secret menu, which is Mackerel onigiri chazuke. Everyone that had been at Soma’s welcome party, finally wakes up and realizes someone is cooking food. Shun says to the others that it’s a cooking battle.

Soma serves his food to everyone, and they all enjoy it immensely. Satoshi detects that Soma used a French cooking method, and asks him how he knows those techniques. It turns out Soma learned from his father. Satoshi thanks Soma for the good competition and says his food expresses the exact moment of the beginning of spring. After the others go to bed, Soma asks Satoshi how he could try to get into the Council of Ten. He tells Satoshi that he and his father are fighting. Soma’s talent won’t be acknowledged by his dad unless he can join the council.

Satoshi doesn’t descibe how challenging to get a council seat works. He does say there is a cooking challenge but he didn’t go into detail about it. So Soma wakes up early in the morning and waits for Satoshi. Once Satoshi finds out what Soma is trying to do, he tells him the challenge isn’t going to happen. One reason is because even if Soma was to get expelled from the school, it wouldn’t do him any good. There are three other steps that Soma would have to follow.

Those steps would be that authorized officials declare the challenge valid, there are an odd number of judges, and an agreement on conditions from both participants.

After Soma finds out more about the Council of Ten, such as they are the highest-decision making on campus and no teacher can go against their ruling, he sees that it is no use trying to challenge someone for a seat. But Satoshi believes Soma will be the “trigger” that brings Food Wars to “full bloom.”