Enter the next big theme of this series: Soma is a peasant in the eyes of his peers and thus an outcast and underdog at the elite Totsuki Institute. Now, this episode worried me a little more than the other one in terms of the disrobing effect, but not because of my usual complaints about fan service: I just thought the sequence of Erina tasting his food started to drag and took about twice as long as it should have. But, once you get to the end of the episode, I think there might have been a good reason for this, since it ends with Soma being rejected from the institute. It's a really hilarious cliffhanger for the viewer because obviously he gets into Totsuki, and yet we have to wait a week to actually see it happen.

I am already really impressed by the people putting this anime together. The number one problem facing anime adaptations of successful manga is, after all, pacing. And it's not just a problem in terms of making the shows have successful cliffhangers without indulging in twenty million flashbacks (something that makes early Naruto unwatchable for many people); rather, it's a problem simply in terms of catching up to the damn anime. If this anime continues to successfully explore the same themes as the manga while taking its time in doing so by indulging in the anime form, it can only help the success of the Food Wars brand as a whole.

And how great is the “God Tongue” stuff? Erina is the polar opposite of Soma and so her abilities serve as a great dramatic foil for Soma's more visceral approach to the culinary world. To milk some extra comedy out of that ability with her incredibly specific, yet incredibly awkward analogies is just the cherry on top.

I might just start scoring these episodes based on how fucking hungry they make me, because I can't imagine there will be a bad episode for a long time.

Score: 5/5

Food Wars 1.2 - God Tongue Official Website