Car go vrrbrrrr. …okay, sorry, I have no other ideas for how to start this post. Look, I don’t drive. I can’t be witty about something I don’t have firsthand experience with.
The episode begins with Kurea and Shinon in a waiting room before taking the test to get their driver’s licenses. Kurea is studying, while Shinon insists that she will pass with the power of the stars above and pure luck or something, and that, most importantly, she’s already done her studying. So, to test that, Kurea asks Shinon to name a traffic rule. And Shinon’s response? “It’s bad to hit people with cars”, or something to that effect. And, in all honesty, that feels like something I would say. Maybe I’m just a mix of traits of all of the girls, so no specific girl in the club is truly “me-core”. And if that’s the case, then I’m fine with it. After all, not everyone is going to have an exact match of them in fictional media.
All the confidence that Shinon had, however, disappears the instant she gets into the testing area, because she’s not as prepared as she thought, even trying to get Kurea to share her textbook before the exam. This doesn’t occur, however, due to it being so close to being time for the exam, this sharing does not occur.
After the exam is graded, the numbers of the people who passed are shown on screens. And through that, we learn that Kurea passed…but Shinon has failed at this attempt. And this, everyone, is why it’s important to study. I say as I am fully aware that I’m most likely going to be leaving my days of studying behind me for good. But hey, I’ve gotta pass on some good morals, right?
Anyway, we skip to three weeks later, when Shinon gets her license too! Because that was somehow going to happen eventually! This was because Shinon’s parents wanted her to get her license while she was in university. Of course, this now means that she could get more duties while on the job. Whether or not that’s a positive is up to you. And after seeing the licenses, the crew decide they have a new plan: to go on a road trip!
To do this, the friend group ends up borrowing the car for the restaurant that Kurea’s family owns. Before heading out, Shinon does the cat check under the car. Then she does the cat check in the trunk. Then she does the cat check in the hood of the car. Please, Shinon, never change. I love that you do the cat check two more times than necessary and in two more places than necessary.
But once it’s confirmed that it’s safe to use the car, everyone gets in, with Kurea driving, and head out! During the drive, we see the mountain that Mako and the gang went to in Episode 3, where everyone (except Nana because she didn’t join until the next episode) reflects on the adventure they had up there, with Nana getting sad because she wasn’t there. There is reassurance that the crew was going to make new memories with her, and we even get to see her pull out a Rubik’s Cube. She solves it once, and then Mako asks for her to do it again, with Nana saying that she’ll do it as many times as Mako wants.
This ends up being a bad thing, because Nana becomes carsick, so the gang ends up stopping at a convenience store looking building, where Nana gets the chance to rest. And once she and the gang are rested up, Kurea decides to let Shinon drive. Which yet again, bad decision. Because Shinon wasn’t paying as much attention to the road as she should have, the gang ends up ON THE FREAKING FREEWAY. This also isn’t good for Shinon, as now she’s freaking out. She remains driving long enough for the gang to get to a parking area. After taking time to rest, Kurea begins driving again.
Now, I’ve gotta backtrack a bit. Earlier in the episode, Kurea reflected on a memory of her as a child. That memory was of her waking up early and begging her mom to go along with her for shopping, and which her mom takes her on, to another part of Japan, though Kurea commonly slept on the way back. Connecting this to the present moment, the gang end up deciding to do a car ride to the place that Kurea and her mom commonly frequented during that time.
They arrive, split into groups to go shopping, and get that all done. Then the idea of doing a barbeque comes up, and so they do it at a beach somewhere. The club works together to do the barbeque, and the food is good. They walk for a bit, and they find a Ferris Wheel, which they ride. On the ride back, Mako and (as would most likely be safe to assume from the post-credits scene) the other girls (excluding Kurea since she’s the driver) end up falling asleep on the way back. Ah, that’s nice.
I love when shows take elements that they bring up and incorporate them within the same episode. It always feels so rewarding. I’m in the camp of “if you bring something up in your work, it better have payoff at some point”, and it feels like Food for the Soul is in that camp as well. I’ve been enjoying the show so far, and it’s been fun to tune in each week to see what direction the show goes in next.
To be honest, I’m getting the feeling that the show is intending to get the message across that you only live once, so make the most of the time that you have. Or maybe just the message of GO OUT AND COOK MORE FOOD INSTEAD OF EATING OUT ALL THE TIME. Maybe even both. But it’ll be interesting to see where this story goes next.
ADDITIONAL POSTS ABOUT FOOD FOR THE SOUL:
Sara Talks Anime 
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