Original Air Date: April 3, 2015
Restaurant Yukihira's has become the new target of a merciless Land Shark, and Soma has to defend his business at any cost.
This episode provides examples of:
- All for Nothing: Soma prevents the Yaeko from tearing down the diner. While not permanent, his dad decides to close it himself, but for a different reason.
- Alpha Bitch: Land Shark Yaeko Minegasaki doesn't stop until she gets what she wants, has three mooks around her and doesn't hesitate to play dirty.
- Always Someone Better: It's well known among customers that Jouichiro and Soma constantly battle on who can make a better dish, and Soma has lost every single time. The episode sees his 489th loss.
- Attack of the Monster Appendage: According to Mayumi, Soma's "Squid Tentacles with Peanut Butter" tastes like she has been molested by tentacles. It took her a few days to being able to describe the experience as such.
- Bait-and-Switch: The episode leads the viewers to think the series is going to be about Soma defending the restaurant from many villains each episode. Towards the end, it becomes clear that Soma will have to encounter challenges at his new school, and the action will rarely take place at his neighbourhood.
- Book Ends: The Episode opens with the word "DISGUSTING" displayed right before Soma appears grilling his dried squid on peanut butter and after trying it remarks that it was so disgusting he couldn't help but laugh. At the end in The Stinger, Erina rejects a soup by tossing it on the cook's head as the word "DISGUSTING" displays on-screen and coldly states it was so disgusting she couldn't even laugh.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: After defeating Yaeko and her mooks, Soma just describes the incident to Jouichirou as "Just some rude customers".
- Catchphrase: Soma's "Happy to Serve" is used when he defeated Yaeko and her mooks.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Soma's horrible dish is "Squid tentacles grilled with Peanut Butter", while Jouichirou's are "Grilled Sardines with Strawberry Jam". As horrible as both dishes are, Mayumi kinda felt nice after tasting Soma's experiment.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Mayumi admits to herself that Soma's squid experiments taste
a bit good. Since the reaction to his experiments are akin to being groped by tentacles, she states she kind of likes it happening to her, which implies she may be a Covert Pervert. - Early-Bird Cameo: The store owner Yuuya Tomita has lines along with the other regular clients. In the manga version, he did not debut until chapter 35.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Soma's very first scene has him laughing at his own horrible experiment and competing against his dad with both a good and a bad dish and feeding it to his classmate Mayumi.
- Erina's very first scene has her having a tasting of a soup and tossing it to the cooks head while declaring it "Disgusting".
- Evolving Credits: For the ending "Spice", the foodgasm reaction is from Mayumi.
- Female Gaze: One of Minegasaki's assistants has well-toned abs.
- Impossibly Delicious Food:
- The neighbors and regular clients of Yukihira's express with blissful faces that they're lucky to have so delicious food so close.
- Yaeko Minegasaki, with just a bite of Soma's "Roast Pork, Just Kidding", was enough to shake her. Soma uses this in his favor by making her promise that they will never return in exchange for the rest of the plate. By morning, all of them were unconscious after the "foodgasms".
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Yaeko believes the last minute dish Soma makes for her wouldn't be enough to keep her from shutting down the diner (since she had her mooks break in and sabotage the place, and rejects it after just looking at it. After tasting it, however...
- I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: Averted. When first talking to Soma, Yaeko, trying to use her beauty when negotiating with Soma, makes sure he gets a straight view of her open cleavage, and even jostles it enough that it opens up even further to show part of her bra. Soma however is more focused on the fact the woman is trying to get him and his dad to close their restaurant.
- Insult Backfire: While gloating, Yaeko said Yukihira's was a failure. Later Soma says that the dish she enjoyed so much was originated from a mistake he did while garnishing other dish, meaning she enjoyed a failure.
- Lethal Chef: Both Soma and Jouichirou are known as this by the regular customers on their free time. While working, they flip to Supreme Chefs.
- Male Gaze: The most prominent ones are Mayumi's imaginary spot while tasting Soma's Grilled Squid Tentacles Dressed in Peanut Butter, Yaeko's cleavage and foodgasm reaction, and Erina's Waterfall Imaginary Spot focusing on her buxom and butt under a wet robe.
- Mood Whiplash: After Soma defeated the land sharks, he promises to himself to become head chef and protect his business. Seconds later, his father announces he's closing the store and send him to a boarding school.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: Yaeko did this while gloating after destroying all of Yukihira's stock.
- Oh, Crap!: Soma's reaction when he realized that Tootsuki wasn't just an ordinary cooking school: It is the most important Culinary Academy in Japan, with a Graduating Rate so low that only less than 10% of the students manage to pass.
- Starter Villain: Yaeko and her team are the first task Soma faces to protect his restaurant.
- The Stinger: We have a brief Establishing Character Moment from Erina Nakiri, who compares a soup to "Being hit on the head by a jukebox while standing under a waterfall".
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: After the land sharks sabotaged the stock and ruined all the restaurant's meat, Soma managed to serve a dish made with his breakfast groceries and trial-and-test experience.
