Thanks go to Watashiwa, our gracious host, for inviting me this week as a guest judge.
I find myself in the unique position of being familiar with the ingredients used by three of our chefs, a seeming rarity with some past judgings. I hope to use this familiarity to judge them fairly, while also seeking the perspective of a consumer who is not familiar with the underlying tastes of the ingredients used, so as to be fair to the two chefs who used original ingredients in their attempts to best present this week's theme.
I would note that I am something of a harsh grader, despite my own faults as a chef (and I in fact make some of the very mistakes I might penalize points on!), so take the sight of your score in stride. I hope to see more tasty dishes from you all in the future, as these five dishes were all most certainly enjoyable. Even the damn potato chips.
Stupid potato chips.... *mutters mutters*
***
Chance, by Takerial [Naruto]
Ah, a chef who keeps up with the newest innovations regarding his chosen base ingredients. Truly, habaneros and tomatoes are most fitting to spice up this dish (especially in the small dose used. Not a fan of spicy!)! This dish had some faults, I'm afraid to say, but by and far, it was a dish that made my stomach feel warm and pleasant, with a lingering melancholy taste at the end.
I find it ironic that to someone unfamiliar with your base ingredients, might in fact find not a contrasting taste, but a more complementary one, finding the ending to be hopeful for the future.
For all that, however, the dish's complexity brings to the forefront its own faults. Like a sensitive cake collapsing, your attempts to cook in a certain way simply don't give this dish a proper structure. While you may have intended for the structure of the dish to come out as such, I fear I must agree with others that have already sampled this dish, and that a bit of structure would not in the least have diminished the taste of this dish, rather it would most certainly have enhanced it. My first serving of this dish was quite disagreeable with my tongue because of this, though later servings touched more upon the tastes I feel you wished to convey.
Readability: 13
Theme: 18
Details: 17
Plot: 18
Opinion: 17
Total: 83
Final Judging: For a... 'volcano cake', it was still a tasty dessert. I still wish it had looked as palatable as it tasted once I really sunk my teeth into it.
***
Faded, by Twin Blade [Original]
Okay, okay...Twin Blade...What the devil did I just put in my mouth?
...Don't panic!
It's not that I disliked it, I actually think I did, I certainly took quite a few repeat servings as I tried to decipher the sensations in my tongue, although I'm not certain I've gotten them all. It made me think of a photocopier, with each copy progressively getting more and more faded. I'm not altogether certain if this is the feeling this dish was supposed to convey, though a dash of mystery to spice a dish is always welcome in this judge's kitchen!
I certainly liked the tone used when I could sense it, but I can't really say much more about this odd piece.
Readability: 10
Theme: 18
Details: 18
Plot: 16
Opinion: 18
Total: 80
Final judging: There was something about this I just really liked more than the others, even if I didn't quite get it entirely, though. I'd like to judge this higher, I really would, but I'm -still- not certain what was going on, and more servings will just make me feel bloated. It hurts to give the piece that I liked the most the lowest overall score. Okay, -now- you can panic.
***
Indefatigable, by Cornuthaum [Code Geass]
I'll be frank and start off by admitting that like spicy things, I am not a fan of the "20 Truths"-type dishes. It is essentially not a single dish, but various interconnected dishes, all small in size by the nature of the format, and thus limited in the amount of spicing up one can do without it becoming a bloated thing, a wall of text, that simply won't fit in one bite, as was meant. But because of this...because (and I repeat that this is my opinion) there is just a lack of real plot, merely a theme, it's simply just not filling. It is the potato chips of meals, a snack meant to be consumed quickly, and only temporarily fill the stomach, never more than that.
A pity, because I truly do enjoy the way you weave ingredients together. You are a -master- of the kitchen, with a talent to make each of these pint-size morsels almost desirable on their own, leaving one peckish for just a bit more spicing and substance. In this work, you have given us a sample of nineteen different flavors of the theme, and truly did wonders with a dish that I myself do not fancy, even if it does come a little strong in taste (a necessity, I admit, with this dish, one that must push theme at the cost of a strong plot).
I would however be remiss if I did not point out just how badly this dish relies on its consumer being familiar with the base ingredient and being able to savor it to full effect. At its core, this dish presents how various flavors of the theme shaped the man known as Lelouch. One who is not familiar with the base ingredient would be unable to truly appreciate the final bitter taste at the core of this dish.
Readability: 19
Theme: 20
Details: 14
Plot: 15
Opinion: 18
Total: 86
Final Judging: For all that this type of dish may disagree with me, you've certainly done a grand job of making it palatable. Somehow, the potato chip still gets the highest overall score, and my favorite piece gets the lowest. I suppose I'd hate you for that, Cornuthaum, if you didn't make your dishes so damn tasty.
***
Never Surrender, by Professional Cynic [Star Wars]
The start is very abrupt, with very choppy sentences that initially make this dish appear disagreeable. Thankfully a bit of punch adds some quick flavoring to the dish, giving it a chance to try and shine. It never really does so, and I admittedly don't like military exercises in the written form, I just find it a bit boring, but while this piece doesn't really shine anywhere, it doesn't fall for any of the traps the other pieces fall into. I certainly won't call it my favorite, I'll actually admit I liked it the least of the five, hence why it scored a bit lower in the Opinion category, but it was a solidly written piece.
Readability: 17
Theme: 17
Details: 17
Plot: 17
Opinion: 15
Total: 83
Final Judging: It's not the best in any particular category to the other dishes presented to this judge, but it's pretty good in all of them.
***
Down is up, by Left Shoe [Original]
As with Twin Blade's dish, there was something really attractive about this dish, and it certainly was easier to get into. It's just so damning that with the contest time limit, you were forced to produce an incomplete dish, and it really does come across that way. Perhaps because of this, it comes the weakest in terms of theme, even though you nicely closed the plot in the time available so it does give something of an impression of being complete. It's only in judging it for that theme that its incompleteness becomes obvious (although you were certainly upfront about it as well).
I really enjoyed the details, it was very easy to immerse myself in this dish and savor what was available. The theme doesn't quite come across though. What was the big loss? The drugs? The dad? The chance to reconciliate with him? All of it, maybe?
Readability: 19
Theme: 12
Details: 19
Plot: 16
Opinion: 18
Total: 85
Final Judging: An incomplete dish, that I regret did not get the full time it needed to really shine. I could easily have seen this scoring much higher, and making it into the 90s range for my scoring criteria. And you caused the potato chip to get the highest score. So...
*K.H. stuffs a lot of oatmeal cookies down Left Shoe's throat.
***
Total Ranks:
83: Takerial
80: Twin Blade
86: Cornuthaum
83: Professional Cynic
85: Left Shoe
I'm not entirely sure how my scores resulted in my favorite fic getting lowest score, and the one with the format I am hard pressed to call a fanfic getting the highest score, but there you go.
BAM! Day 1 judging, bitches!
