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Iron
Wok Jan!
Vol.2
2002
Publisher: Comicsone
Writer: Shinji Saijyo
Artwork: Shinji Saijyo
Translation: Sahe Kawahara
Supervisor: Keiko Oyama
Price: $9.95 US/R86.00 SA
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Shinji Saijyo returns with the second book in his
wildly kooky and highly readable series, Iron Wok Jan!
Jan has joined the ranks as a trainee chef at Gobancho but on his
way up he has made some enemies with his arrogant personality and
abusive cooking style. The food critic Otani plans
to take Jan down with a young master of the legendary XO! sauce.
After this plan fails he decides to publicly humiliate Jan by creating
a cooking contest in which he plans for Jan to fail on live TV in
front of all of Japan.
This second volume is based more around the supporting/secondary
characters than the first volume was and in addition to the main
storyline, as explained above, there are chapters that focus on
the other characters in the cast that make this book all the more
charmingly interesting.
The first chapter tells the short story of Jan and Okonogi going
away to the mountains to hunt and cook together in the wilds. Then
halfway through the book another chapter shows how Kiriko learns
the art of Food Sculpting and just how she became a cook. It’s
in these ‘side’ chapters that we learn so much more
about the secondary characters as well as more about Jan himself
via their collective voice.
Talking about characters, this book has a ton of them. Saijyo
expands his cast exponentially and in doing so shows us just how
good he is at character design. The different young chefs
who attend the cooking contest are both varied and interesting.
From the sixteen year old Jun who relies on four hundred years of
family history in cooking to the hot headed Wildman Kumagen who
specialises in cooking Bear Meat. In a strange way Saijyo takes
the Pokemon style match up and ‘Big Battle’
feel of such Anime and throws it into the world of cooking. Sound
stupid? Trust me it’s not as it’ll have you riveted
to each and every single page.
Iron Wok Jan is a great book and continues what it started in this
second volume. Saijyo shows his knack for creating awesome characters
and continues his gripping educational and emotional ride through
the world of Chinese Cuisine.
Score 10/10
Reviewed By:Iain Duncan
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Comic Reviews
