Ai-Epu vs Ishihara: Part 3 (Final)

Round Three

Contestants: Captain Sayaka Aoki (Assistant: Kawashima Naomi) vs Captain Watari Tetsuya (Assistant: Tachi Hiroshi)

Guest Judges: Toake Yukiyo, Takashima Reiko, Takeshita Keiko

Theme Ingredient/Recipes:
Bamboo Shoots / Captain's Choice

Recap: The final battle was staged just as it had been during the New Year's Special. One theme ingredient that must be used in a series of dishes. The dishes are left up to the cooks, much as you would see in an episode of Iron Chef. Each Captain has an assistant that they select from their team before the match starts. They can be used for a five minute period during the Cooking Battle, and are used at the Captain's discretion. Both took the stars of the previous battles (Naomi and Hiroshi). Before going into battle, there was a segment which featured the entire staff and Aoki going to Ishihara studios and seeing the vast collection of vehicles that they've used over the years. They also were treated to a huge feast from the head chef of the studio, who is used to cooking for hundreds of people at a time (actors, production staff, extras, etc). During the intros, Takeshita Keiko presented to each Captain a special knife engraved with their names.

As the battle started, Aoki was definitely under pressure. Tetsuya was working on several dishes at once, his main focus on a bamboo shoot and seafood stew. Secondary dishes were appearing to be bamboo shoot rice and salad, and bamboo shoots with caviar.

Aoki was also working on a rice dish, which would combine bamboo shoots with shrimp sauteed in champagne. She had to get the assistance of one of the Ishihara team members to keep the cork from shooting into the audience. Her other dishes were a bit of a mystery early on in the battle. Things began to get a bit clearer once the assistants were called on for help.

Tetsuya was first to go for the 'Help Time' button, having Hiroshi plate a combination of fish and shoots and then cook them with a blowtorch. He also got the okay to bring the rest of the team into play on helping with the presentation. They began the process of heating a large number of stones over a charcoal furnace/grill. There was some ribbing about leaving Satoshi on the sidelines, but he soon came over and helped. Before time was up, the entire team sprinkled the caviar dish with gold foil.

After Hiroshi returned to the assistant's chair, Aoki called on Naomi. She quickly (to the amazement of everyone) chopped up some shoots and created a Shumai dish with mushrooms. Before her time was up, she also got a chance to start some bamboo shoot steaks for Aoki. These would be the other two dishes created. She also got some assistance from her team with the presentation, asking them to get some flowers for decoration and to carve up one of the bamboo stalks used for soup bowls. (much like Leader did during his battle with Aoki in the New Years Episode).

The battle was over shortly, with Tetsuya looking extremely confident.

All the special judges participated in the judging and this segment pretty well focused on their reactions. Aoki was up first with her bamboo steaks, which had been sauteed in butter, soy sauce, and sake. The immediate reaction was 'shoppai' (salty) and there was a strong sake taste as well. It was still good, but just a little too much of some of the ingredients.

Tetsuya brought out his bamboo shoots and caviar, which everyone enjoyed. Aoki looked more nervous as she brought out Naomi's shumai dish. This was a hit with the all the judges, but Aoki openly admitted that all she really did was cook the dish. Naomi got a great deal of praise for her efforts. Tetsuya second dish was a combination of bamboo shoot rice with a salad and sakura buds. It had a mixed reaction from the judges, but overall they all liked it. There was some kidding that maybe there was some bias from the all-female team of judges, along with some jokes about Yingling and Satoshi getting together I believe (lost a bit in translation on that part).

Aoki's final dish was her bamboo shoot rice with shrimp, combined with a bamboo shoot soup served in the bamboo bowls. This also was a big hit with all the judges, and even Team Ishihara sampled it. Her use of champagne with the shrimp and grapefruit juice in the rice was really applauded. Everything now hung on Tetsuya's final dish, his seafood and bamboo shoot stew.

The stew was to be combined with some large prawns that Tetsuya had prepared but not cooked beforehand. As he placed the prawns into the stew, his team brought over the stones that had been baking on the furnace/grill for some time. He then plunged the stones into the stew, bringing it to a roiling boil and cooking the prawns. Everyone was delighted except for Aoki, who could only look on in stunned silence. Another home run for Tetsuya.

In the final judgement, it wasn't too surprising to see Tetsuya score a Perfect 100 while Aoki came up just five points short with 95. The tally was moot, as Aoki needed to beat Tetsuya by at least 28 points. Team Ishihara was declared the winner, but they gave part of their prize (dinner at a very expensive restaurant) to the Ai-Epu team. Tetsuya thanked Aoki for the great battle.

Overall, this was a great episode. While not as thrilling as the Ai-Epu vs TOKIO battle to start off this year, it hopefully will remain the format they use for upcoming three-hour specials. I really liked the audience participation aspect, as it added a lot of fun to the first battle. I do think that going forward they really need to consider the impact of having Yingling in the mix. Any team saddled with her is going to have to do quite a bit to overcome the odds. The Ai-Epu team would have won if it wasn't for her, and while she does add a lot of fun to the show, it does detract from the serious battles going on during the specials. But otherwise, another great special for the series.