“ | Who do you think we are? We’re facing dishes made by countless professionals everyday. We may have said you did a good job, but we meant a good job for a student. I’d say you can be proud if you manage to score 50 points. | ” |
—Osaji Kita, regarding their job as judges |
The Unknown Known (未知なる既知 Michi naru kichi) is the twenty-first episode of the first season of the Shokugeki no Soma anime and is the twenty-first episode overall.
Synopsis[]
The preliminary round of the Totsuki Autumn Election is currently underway.
Plot[]
Akira Hayama and Ikumi Mito see Sōma Yukihira sleeping. However, Sōma suddenly wakes up by smelling the fragrance from his pot, and he opens the lid when it boils, enveloping the arena. Akira identifies the scent as rice risotto with a paste consisting of apples, bananas, and carrots. Sōma confirms this, but Akira knows there is another secret behind it.
In Hall B, some of the students are criticizing Megumi, so her dormmates, Daigo Aoki and Shōji Satō, come to her defense and scare them away. Fumio Daimidō admonishes them and says to cheer both her and Yūki Yoshino as they are. However, Megumi doesn't hear a word because she is laser-focused on her prep work instead. In her haste, she bumps into Miyoko Hōjō, who chastises her for her clumsiness before Megumi apologizes. The audience is amazed by Miyoko adding spice to her curry dish, and then stir-frying the eggs and rice. Also, Takumi Aldini cuts the pasta into slices in a second, and they see his brother, Isami Aldini, holding a dough. Megumi wheels in a covered trolley, unveiling a freshly caught monkfish hanging on a butcher's hook, and the audience Daigo, Shōji, and even Miyoko are shocked. Orie Sadatsuka questions what it is, and Satoshi Isshiki explains that it's how the monkfish gets butchered. As she's aware of it, Orie says monkfish are difficult to butcher due to being covered in slime since hanging them is traditional. Megumi readies herself to butcher it while it is hanging, and the audience voices skepticism about her ability to do so.
Megumi brings her hands together as she draws inspiration from Sōma's optimism and can-do attitude. Asking to borrow his courage, Megumi visualizes Sōma slapping her hands together, which he did during her unofficial training camp Shokugeki. Slipping on her gloves, Megumi takes a knife and effortlessly butchers the monkfish, much to the crowd's amazement. It turns out that nine years ago, Megumi learned to do this in order to help out her restaurant when her grandfather was unable to butcher the monkfish. Despite having a disbelieving fisherman for a teacher, Megumi keeps persisting until she has mastered the technique so her restaurant can continue to have live demonstrations to draw a crowd. Daigo and Shōji are happy to see Megumi's true ability, and Fumio tells them to keep cheering for Ryōko and Yūki as she is also happy for Megumi. Upon witnessing Megumi's skill, Yūki is willing to show hers too while Takumi, Isami, and Alice are still cooking. As time passes, the preparation time is over, and Nao Sadatsuka vows to defeat Hisako Arato and replace her to win Erina Nakiri's favor.
While getting the boys' attention, which annoys the girls, Urara Kiwashima announces that five judges will give 20 points to each dish so that only four students can enter the main tournament. The first student to present, Takumi Ishiwatari, receives praise from the judges, Osaji Kita and Shingo Andō, but he gets chagrined to learn that his score was only 33 out of 100. The judges are all discriminating gourmands and have considered 50 as a laudable score for a student, much to Takumi Aldini's understanding. Succeeding dishes receive similarly low scores: 28 points, 31 points, and even 6 points, much to Megumi, Yūki, and the audience's shock. The arena is hushed by the harsh scores, and Megumi and Yūki are shocked about it. when a horrible stench envelopes the entire area, which comes from Nao's dish.
As Urara is just about to bring up the next student, she and the judges smell a horrible stench. It is revealed to have come from Nao's dish. When she unveils her dish, it's called Jet Black Curry Laksa, which has an aroma so horrible that it envelopes the entire area. And everyone, while Satoshi is wearing a mask and Alice is wearing a gas mask, covers their noses. The judges refuse to eat it when Nao mentions using kusaya, a fish brining solution, on flying fish and mahi-mahi as the main flavor of her dish. Suddenly, out of a sense of obligation, Orie bravely takes a bite, only to find it... delicious; she can't stop eating it. The judges are mesmerized by her dish, finding themselves in bondage to the cooking of Tōtsuki's Boiling Witch. As a result, Nao has received a score of 84 points, catapulting her to first place and hoping to serve Erina.
Hisako, the next student to present, remains non-plussed. Nao bears a grudge against Hisako, even challenging her to a Shokugeki two years ago to usurp her position as Erina's aide. When Hisako won the match, Nao was forced to comply with a restraining order limiting her to 50 meters from Erina. Nao was relegated to spying from afar with binoculars and sending 30 letters to Erina daily. She reasons that if she defeats Hisako on this big stage, Erina will reconsider her decision. The judges evaluate Hisako's Mutton Curry Soup unenthusiastically at first, as their senses have been overwhelmed by the odor of Nao's strong dish. With a single sip, however, they regain their vigor. Hisako used the essence of four medicinal plants, which are also spices used in curry, to leverage her specialty of medicinal cuisine. After eating Hisako's curry, the judges deemed Nao's dish as crude and offensive. To drive home the difference between their cooking, Hisako offers Nao a portion of her dish. After trying it, Nao is cleansed, but the effect is only temporary, which brings Nao to her knees.
Hisako has harsh words for Nao: her family has practiced oriental medicine for generations, and she has converted that knowledge into cooking. Hisako likens herself to a dietetic doctor in Imperial China, serving her Empress Erina. Hisako dislodges Nao from first place with 92 points, and the arena erupts in cheer. However, instead of being put off, Nao gains admiration for Hisako, which gives Hisako chills. Meanwhile, the Aldini brothers await their turn, with Isami telling Takumi that he would really like to win against him in cooking today.
Features[]
Characters[]
- Polar Star Dormitory residents
- Megumi’s mother (Flashback)
- Akira Hayama
- Ikumi Mito
- Block B Judges
- Elite Ten Council
- Satoshi Isshiki
- Erina Nakiri (Cameo)
- Miyoko Hōjō
- Takumi Aldini
- Isami Aldini
- Tōtsuki Academy Alumni
- Donato Gotōda (Flashback)
- Fuyumi Mizuhara (Flashback)
- Alice Nakiri
- Hisako Arato
- Nao Sadatsuka
- Urara Kawashima
- Takumi Ishiwatari (Debut; Cameo)
Featured Dishes[]
- Takumi Ishiwatari's Boneless Achari Murgh
- Nao Sadatsuka's Jet Black Curry Laksa
- Hisako Arato's Mutton Meat Shimotsu-to Curry
Featured Cooking Duels[]
- Sadatsuka vs. Arato Shokugeki (Flashback)
Locations[]
- Tōtsuki Culinary Academy
- Celestial Arena
- Block A
- Block B
- Celestial Arena
- Megumi’s hometown (Flashback)
- Tadokoro family inn
Trivia[]
General Trivia[]
- The episode shares its title with Chapter 48 of the manga. Interestingly, the events in that particular manga chapter were depicted in the previous episode instead.
- The title is a reference to the capabilities of the contestants which are hitherto unknown, but are made known during in the tournament. In the context of the episode, this applies to Megumi's knowledge of how to butcher a monkfish, Nao's cooking, and Hisako's medicinal cuisine.
Manga and Anime Differences[]
- Some of the scenes were switched in the anime.
- Part of Megumi Tadokoro's backstory with the monkfish is shown in this episode, but was not featured in the manga until chapter 57, only after several other students had presented their dish.
- In the anime, Miyoko Hōjō's backstory was revealed in Episode 20 instead of during the Preliminaries. As such, her interaction with Megumi in this episode is shortened.
- Takumi Ishiwatari, the first student to be evaluated in Group B, was not named in the manga.
- The scene where Orie Sendawara wanted to examine Megumi's dish more closely while she was preparing it was cut from the anime.
- In the manga, Osaji Kita and Shingo Andō were introduced to the audience via Takumi Aldini's thoughts. This was changed to a monologue by Fumio Daimidō in the anime.
- The score distributions for Takumi Ishiwatari (8, 7, 2, 7, and 9) and Nao Sadatsuka (17, 16, 17, 17, and 17) were not shown in the manga.
Errors[]
- TBA
[]
v - e - t | Episodes |
---|---|
Introduction Arc | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 |
Training Camp Arc | 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 |
Tōtsuki Autumn Election Arc | 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 |
Stagiaire Arc | 35 • 36 • 37 |
Moon Banquet Festival Arc | 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 |
Central Arc | 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 |
Promotion Exams Arc | 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 55 • 56 • 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 62 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 • 68 • 69 • 70 • 71 • 72 • 73 |
Beach Exam Arc | 74 |
BLUE Arc | 75 • 76 • 77 • 78 • 79 • 80 • 81 • 82 • 83 • 84 • 85 • 86 |
OVA | OVA 1 • OVA 2 • OVA 3 • OVA 4 • OVA 5 |