Oishinbo - Vol. 22 Ch. 201 - The Tofu Showdown!! (Part 3)

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Oh damn, hoping they'll reveal why Kaibara held back, felt there was something more that I didn't manage to glimpse from the 3 chapters. I'm as equally flummoxed as Nakagawa, but Yamaoka does seem to have an inkling why.
 
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Oh damn, hoping they'll reveal why Kaibara held back, felt there was something more that I didn't manage to glimpse from the 3 chapters. I'm as equally flummoxed as Nakagawa, but Yamaoka does seem to have an inkling why.
The straightforward reading, and the one I went with as the character motivation, is that Kaibara intentionally let Yamaoka win as a charity. Especially after Chiyo explained his situation, Kaibara seems to secretly want Yamaoka to succeed.

You could read it some other way too, I've left it a bit open. Nakagawa certainly believes there's some other unknown, deeper motivation at play.
 
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Oh damn, hoping they'll reveal why Kaibara held back, felt there was something more that I didn't manage to glimpse from the 3 chapters. I'm as equally flummoxed as Nakagawa, but Yamaoka does seem to have an inkling why.
My sense of it is that Kaibara still wants to "train" Yamaoka further in the art of food, for the sake of "making the food culture better". Like, in the cases where Yamaoka loses, for all that Kaibara berates him, he still explains where he went wrong. And in other times Kaibara drops hints and allows Yamaoka to figure it out on his own.

Letting him win is a kind of carrot and stick, I suppose, because despite everything Kaibara seems to acknowledge Yamaoka's potential and ability. Yamaoka might ragequit cooking entirely if Kaibara had just stomped all over him every single time, and that'd be kind of a detriment in what Kaibara is trying to do.
 
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My sense of it is that Kaibara still wants to "train" Yamaoka further in the art of food, for the sake of "making the food culture better". Like, in the cases where Yamaoka loses, for all that Kaibara berates him, he still explains where he went wrong. And in other times Kaibara drops hints and allows Yamaoka to figure it out on his own.

Letting him win is a kind of carrot and stick, I suppose, because despite everything Kaibara seems to acknowledge Yamaoka's potential and ability. Yamaoka might ragequit cooking entirely if Kaibara had just stomped all over him every single time, and that'd be kind of a detriment in what Kaibara is trying to do.
Yeah, after reading hundreds of chapters of this manga, this is what I think about what Kaibara is trying to do, although he would never straight-up teach him straightforwardly because of his personality, and also (IMO), because he's still royally pissed off about Yamaoka destroying so many of his works and leaving his house after Yamaoka's mom's death.
 
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My sense of it is that Kaibara still wants to "train" Yamaoka further in the art of food, for the sake of "making the food culture better". Like, in the cases where Yamaoka loses, for all that Kaibara berates him, he still explains where he went wrong. And in other times Kaibara drops hints and allows Yamaoka to figure it out on his own.

Letting him win is a kind of carrot and stick, I suppose, because despite everything Kaibara seems to acknowledge Yamaoka's potential and ability. Yamaoka might ragequit cooking entirely if Kaibara had just stomped all over him every single time, and that'd be kind of a detriment in what Kaibara is trying to do.
Kaibara is a chef father who realize via this "battle" he could make the ranaway son to learn cooking more seriously.

So yeah, he will play along. ultimately as long as he maintain his expert dignity, he still could throw some carrot to ensure his son keep learning/praciticing
 

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