This third plate holds two different meat, which the first is called Moon Banquet Festival. This arc can be translated as a plot to show what those Elite 10 members are capable of, ranged from one of the lower ranked to the highest one. This results in a realization of strength gap between the MC and those members of the Elite 10. It’s a far gap, but not far enough to say unreachable.
That first arc is presented in a tidy and well-structured way, maybe even more than that of the few earlier arcs in the first season. By no mean this Moon Banquet Festival arc is impactful, but we can feel a different, fresher breeze than what we feel in the second season. Yes, in a way, this arc stands as one of the most unique arc in SnS title.
Then comes the second meat, called Nakiri Azami’s arc. In here, comes the exiled demon lord which causes wreck and havoc here and there, in the name of salvation. While this arc is a very classical shounen-ic one, where there is a definite evil antagonist and the MC fight against him, and presented in a pretty straight-forward manner, this arc also represent one major thing that exist in the world of cooking, and more generally in the world of art.
This arc represent the clash of ideals between quality and originality. A quality that is regarded very high. The ephitome of objectivity and no one can deny. Only a few, gifted and selected ones truly capable to make this way into realization. All should follow this way and this way alone can bring the world of art (cooking) to a higher plane.
Against that, there’s originality. A way that emphasizes creativity and individual differences. A way that speak of enjoyment in venturing a stormy place called hardwork. Instead of talking about a very high sky, which everyone sees sky that way, this way talks about a never-seen sky.
When we see it that way, this arc holds a very big promise of the story in the future and realize that this arc is only the start. We will see how both sides struggle to defend their own ideals and that is something to be expected and enjoyed.
Despite the big promise that it holds, however, delivering it is a different thing to talk about. While we can see this arc as an exciting start of the wars that will come, at the same time we can feel that this arc is the start of a very big pitfall, that compares evenly with the Autumn Election arc. Nevertheless, enjoy the continuation of this third plate ~
