@DarthAsthma:
If Takumi loses I'll have to change my outlook on the manga. Respect your characters is kind of important to not have anyone but the main cast become absolutely irrelevant. Takumi losing here would definitely make me consider him irrelevant for the near future which sucks. So yeah that makes me really want to say him losing here feels like a bad move from a story telling perspective.
That said Eizan being stopped so early seems wonky too but that's still better too me than someone I consider one of the more prevalent side characters getting the small fry stamp. At least Eizan has the excuse of losing by proxy so he can still do something later by himself.
Another thing which wouldn't sit with me, is having another match with Mimasaka. His cooking style is pretty gimmick and seems fun for one duel.
But would another duel where he would do the same thing be exciting to watch? It would just end up being here Takumi you failed see how Soma(or whoever) beats this style of cooking.
But who knows what the master plan is maybe even if Takumi loses there is a way where he doesn't lose all his dignity and relevance.
Guess it depends how it's handled, but the sheer fact Takumi is going to put up a fight and didn't already lose this chapter already allowed him to keep some dignity IMO. He's at least going down fighting instead of it being just an utter defeat. Plus, you mentioned emotional stakes before. Watching Soma win against a creep that being his rival like this definitely ups the ante on emotional investment
That said, if Soma knows he's facing Subaru, there's a couple avenues the story can be written to make it work. In general though, Soma's last minute preparation definitely would give him an edge. He'd buy a bunch a random ingredients to see what works and if Subaru just steals the receipt he could accidentally end up making one of Soma's failures or something, though maybe that's too sloppy for the King of Stalking to make such a mistake.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
@zxcv11791:
lol what a pattern. He was wearing a different suit too last chapter, did the Shoukugeki director change outfits just to present new info for the judges?.
Actually looking back at the judge's suit last chapter, the suits aren't as prominent, but the suit he's wearing has the same design as this chapter. That was pretty cool