Manga Review: Iron Wok Jan! 2 by Shinji Saijyo, with supervisor Keiko Oyama
Jan Akiyama’s grandfather Kaiichiro was one of the two greatest chefs of Chinese cuisine in Japan. He took Jan into the mountains for years to train him in the culinary arts. But Kaiichiro Akiyama died, and his final instructions were for Jan to travel to Tokyo, and the Gobancho restaurant, owned by the other master of Chinese cooking, Mutsuji Gobancho. Raised to believe that “cooking is about winning”, Jan introduced himself by insulting the restaurant’s fried rice and demonstrating his superiority over the employee who made it.
This did not sit well with Kiriko Gobancho, the granddaughter of the owner, and a rising young chef in her own right. But Jan’s skills are undeniable, and he continues his training while working at the Gobancho. He and Kiriko both make an enemy of notorious food critic Nichido Otani by serving him delicious dishes he can’t immediately identify. Otani vows to destroy them, but especially Jan.
This cooking manga ran for 27 volumes starting in 1995, and was brought to America by ComicsOne (but not the sequel Iron Wok Jan R.) Keiko Oyama was the expert in Chinese food who acted as technical advisor; the dishes are theoretically real, but many of them include ingredients that are rare and expensive to the point no ordinary chef would have them to hand, and the cooks often perform near-superhuman feats of strength or dexterity.
Volume 2 is the one to hand. It opens with Jan and hapless trainee Takao Okonogi camping in the mountains and trying a wild game dish. Okonogi is the comic relief character of the series, being hopelessly inept at anything associated with cooking (we never find out why he chose this career), but he’s also the one person Jan seems to actually like.
This is followed by a two-parter in which Otani brings in a chef-buster nicknamed “Xo Sauce Ryu” after his special ingredient. Turns out Jan has at least three Xo sauces prepared to be the best fit for different ingredients.
A Kiriko chapter follows, in which she learns how to make radish roses, since food sculpting is a valuable skill for finer Chinese restaurants.
The remainder of the volume is the start of the first tournament arc of the series. (Wouldn’t be a shounen battle manga without a tournament arc!) Otani proposes it to the Chinese Cuisine Union of Japan as a showcase for promising young chefs, but his real motivation is to rig the contest to publicly humiliate Jan.
We’re introduced to several minor characters who are going to be stepping stones for our protagonists, but the one to watch is the mysterious unnamed female chef. After using magic mushrooms to pass the first level of the contest, Jan is up against a handsome and fire-loving fellow in a battle of beef!
Jan is a fun protagonist, he’s a jackass, he’s unapologetic about it, and he’d be out on the street in seconds if he weren’t just that good at cooking. He may someday be recognized as the greatest Chinese cuisine chef in the world, but he’s never going to have his own restaurant; Kiriko is clearly superior at people skills.
Speaking of which, I like the treatment of Kiriko in this series. Too many shounen manga have the chapter one female rival turn into the male protagonist’s love interest, or have her almost immediately fall behind as more powerful rivals appear. But Kiriko never manages more than a grudging respect for Jan’s skills (and vice versa), and remains competitive with him throughout the series. (Mind, that’s in large part because every time they go head to head there’s some sort of nonsense that makes the true winner unclear.)
There’s enough variety in chef opponents and kinds of cooking battles to keep up interest.
On the other hand, the female characters are drawn with enormous chest bumps, and Jan could wear quickly on people who don’t like jackasses.
Content note: Jan kills animals himself on page. While it’s not in this volume, Jan’s background involves physical and verbal abuse.
Overall: A fun series for fans of the Iron Chef franchise.
Anyone want some fried rice?
