Original Air Date: June 4, 2018
Jouichirou tells Soma why he dropped out of Tootsuki.
This episode provides examples of:
- Always Second Best: Despite graduating as a First Seat and with the highest grades in Totsuki's history, Gin admits to Megumi and Takumi that Jouichirou has beat him in 101 Shokugekis out of 121.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: The only reason Jouichirou was Second Seat and Gin First Seat in the Elite Ten was because Gin was more responsible with his grades, despite Jouichirou having a bigger winning record in cooking duels.
- The Cameo: Judges Shino Kuraki (from Soma vs Ikumi Shokugeki), Ooizumi, Osaji Kita, Andou Shindo appear in the episode 20 years younger.
- Cerebus Retcon: When it looked like a strange quirk shared by Jouichirou and Soma, Gin realizes that Jouichirou's weird experiments with food were developed as a way to blow off steam. Averted with Soma, who just does them to compete with his dad because it's fun.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Gin explains that one of Azami's motivations to turn the culinary world into a gourmet elite is because he wants revenge on the society that broke Jouichirou.
- Everyone Went to School Together: The story is from Gin and Jouichirou's third year of highschool, Azami was in first year, and Jun was in the middle school division. All of them lived in Polar Star and the former three were part of the Elite Ten.
- Foil: Jouichirou in his teens was similar to Soma in many regards like their carefree attitude and fascination with awful experiments with food, but Soma is underestimated for his humble roots, while Jouichirou is regarded as a genius by others to justify their own inferior abilities. To Jouichirou's relieve, Soma isn't bound to suffer the same fate as him, since Soma is incapable of feeling defeat as a bad thing.
- Framing Device: The flashback is told both from Jouichirou telling Soma why he dropped the academy, and Gin explaining Takumi and Megumi the whole context of Azami's motivations regarding Jouichirou.
- It's All My Fault: Gin partially blames his own expectations of Jouichiro and lack of foresight for his best friend's mental burnout, resulting in his premature departure from Tootsuki.
- Mood Whiplash: When Jouichirou finishes telling Soma his backstory, he finds Soma snoozing. Soma quickly clarifies that he only started to get drowsy in the last seconds of the story.
- My Greatest Second Chance: Gin reveals that he decided to work at Tootsuki Resort, itself an examination venue for students, to help future generations avoid the same fate that befell Jouichiro. In particular, he sees teaching his friend's son Soma as his personal atonement.
- One-Man Army: Jouichirou's reputation as "Asura" originated when he was challenged in his second year of high school by 50 students to a Team Shogugeki at the same time and defeated all of them alone.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The first one to notice something is wrong with Jouichirou is Jun, since he stopped doing gross food in his third year.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Senzaemon decides that the best for Jouichirou's mental health is to let him go away from school and find his passion outside.
- Tall Poppy Syndrome: A factor in Jouichirou's burnout is the title of "genius" that people started to give him, ignoring completely that everything he got was thanks to extensive practice and training.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Azami as a student was very sincere, almost shy and a huge Jouichiro fanboy, but never understood the real problem of his burnout, blaming the society for breaking him instead.
- Vague Age: While many of the judges appearances show them noticeably younger, Fumio and Senzaemon look exactly the same 20 years ago.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Most of the episode consists of Jouichirou and Gin's memories of Polar Star's Golden Age and what led to Jouichirou dropping out of Tootsuki.
