I can't really agree, based on Hayama's results. Even before he lost his shounen Power of Love (and was thus at his best), he was still only on roughly the same level as Souma. Souma would have won their first match had it been a shokugeki and only lost by the slimmest of margins as it did happen, and the Finals had to go down to multiple levels of tiebreakers to put Hayama over. They're pretty much on equal standing.

Now, the author has gone to great lengths throughout the manga to avoid legitimately establishing Souma as being at the level of an Elite Ten, as whenever he does get some form of victory over one there's always some kind of excuse involved. Hayama lost his smile, Kuga still won the sales battle overall, Isshiki wasn't using one of his best dishes, Eizan was blatantly dicking about, so on and so forth. The implication has always been that Souma would get his ass handed to him by an Elite Ten who isn't holding anything back.

If Souma isn't on that level, then logically neither is Hayama. Maybe if he'd kept his head on right while partaking of all those material advantages that his short-lived stint in Central had offered him, but that seems to have been an either-or proposition from the beginning.

I could, I guess, buy Hayama being able to take on those other scab Elite Ten that Azami roped in to replace the ones he kicked out. But I can't see him on the level of any of the chefs who legitimately merit their ranking in Tootsuki's top ten.

And I just wrote multiple paragraphs of a power level discussion in a cooking manga. Kill me.

 

????

I don't understand why you see it like this. The way I see it, the author has made it very clear that Hayama's superpowers put him above Soma in a way he has yet to find a way to overcome.

Edit: Perhaps the most damning evidence of this is the fact that even with such an (apparently) crippling disadvantage, Hayama still nearly beat Soma who was fighting at 100%.

 

Souma labored under that same disadvantage during the Elections (cooking only for himself, while Hayama had Jun) and nearly won against him on two separate occasions. He lost in the Preliminaries by a single point, and actually won with a higher number of the judges in that decision. Their contest in the Finals came down to a fourth level tiebreaker. How much closer can those results have been?

All the evidence in the manga seems to support what I'm arguing. Where has Hayama ever been shown to be head and shoulders above Souma to such a degree where he should be able to compete against opponents that can blow the MC completely out of the water? His super nose might afford him a slight edge over Souma, at least enough that he was able to squeak out two wins against him. It's never been shown to be the kind of overwhelming difference that we saw in Souma's losses to the likes of Tsukasa or Jouichirou.

 

Soma and Kurokiba both came absurdly close to beating Hayama in the tournament. The deciding factor ended up being Hayama's own personal flair as a chef shining through his dish in a way theirs didn't. That's not anywhere close to the gap between Soma and the first seat, which was showed off in their mock fight a bit ago. It doesn't matter that the E10 should all win in theory, what matters is they're trying to get rid of the rebels and Soma is arguably the most talented of them (as well as the figure head). It only makes sense to send the first seat to do the job.

I'd understand if the top tier E10 members were off doing their own thing, I'd even understand if they were busy dealing with Kurokiba and/or Alice. But if the first seat is going to be involved either way why the hell do it like this?

Either daddy Nakiri is secretly gunning for senpai's son to marry his daughter, or he fucked up the easiest slam dunk in history for no apparent reason.

 

Maybe he was a) confident in Hayama's ability to win and b) appreciative of the irony in having a first year, also a rival, be the one responsible for Soma's expulsion?

 

Well, so this happened.

Not really looking forward to the next matches, tbh. Dunno, doesn't make me feel anything that apparently so many have lost since I am 99% certain that they won't leave. Those are empty stakes, at least for me.

 

Squatting at the dorm or getting stronger off-screen.

I like how calm Souma is. But getting multiple Elite 10 seats with his rebel group? I want to say how many holes that plan has, but Azami clearly isn't serious and the shounen power might make it happen.

 

Kurokiba losing is surprising, I suppose. Expected him to fare better, but I suppose it would add undue complexity since he's not in the same venue.

I want to say that Soma shouldn't be seeing a fight between third years and first years as a 'fair fight' but it sounds weak even to me, much as I don't want it to. To Soma, a straight up cooking match is a fair battle, as long as both bring their best to the table. I can respect that.

I'll admit I didn't see a contention for the seats coming up, but I was expecting a way out of this mess, and this seems to be it.

I do have to wonder how the fuck he expects them to win, though. It wasn't that long since Tsukasa bashed his face in; what makes him so confident? Or is it a kind of 'Oh well, I guess we have no choice but to do it' logic?

Rindou does appear to be on the side of the rebels. Huh.

 

Rindou is on the side of her own amusement really.

 

I think this is the first time a manga author has been so confused.

Alice, losing?

funny.

 

You must very conveniently forget the part where Soma thrashed her.

 

Hrmm, the thing is, even with Erina, they'd only have 4 out of ten seats. Even if one is vacant, that's still 4 of 9. Not a majority. My guess is that Isshiki and Kuga come to the rescue, regaining their former seats. Possibly, Eizan may even end up being the key vote, where he's been with Central and after his 'loss' to Soma an blah blah blah, has a change of heart and redeems himself by betraying Central.

 

Eizan only cares about his consulting business I doubt he'll do anything to jeopardize that. I can see aid coming from the former third seat or Rindou selling her vote for something tasty haha.

 

Well, shit is about to get real.

 

Might we see some actual plot progression soon? One can only hope.

 

Lol 'Why do you always pop up out of the blue?!'

Soma's the best.

 

Good chapter. I actually welcome the chance for some backstory. For one, it's not in the middle of something vital; it's actually done during a lul in the action, as it should be. Yet few manga/anime remember that, and instead choose to pause a super intense situation to give us information that, purely by comparison, are pointless.

I'm actually super curious to learn what happened, and more about Jouichirou. He seems to be Soma on crack, in that he has the same if not better skillset and outlook but actually has a drive and sense of direction.

The concept of the regimental shokugeki (or team battle) looks very interesting too.

 

Fumio/Gin otp

 

Holy shit young Jouichirou is the best. These flashback chapters are great.