This issue concludes the three-issue long cooking competition, which has pushed the excitement and anticipation of this book to the edge for all three issues. I know, it sounds ridiculous... three graphic novels spent on a cooking competition, with the big question hanging in the balance being "Who will be the #1 chef?" But if you read Iron Wok Jan!, it's impossible not to be drawn into these questions, and whether you're a fan of cooking competition like Iron Chef or just a fan of comic-book conflicts ranging from sports to super-hero battles, you have to respect Saijyo's skill at pacing and drawing out the question of who will win, even when the answer seems obvious from an empirical standpoint. It's also interesting to note that despite lead character Jan Akiyama's arrogance and disdain for everyone, part of me wanted him to win, just as part of me was rooting for his sweet and talented rival Kiriko or the fiery outsider Celine. In Iron Wok Jan!, cooking is as important as life-and-death to the participants, and Saijyo brings that intensity and importance to the readers, making for a consistently entertaining and gripping read.
Anyone who has seen Iron Chef will tell you that half the fun of the show is the bizarre litany of ingredients and styles used in Japanese cooking. Sure, it's interesting from a non-gourmet point-of-view to see someone put together a really good pasta or casserole, but when the ingredients include those rarely used in American cuisine, such as brains, eggs or blood of animals that are not common, there's a sort of repulsion at the idea of what it must taste like that goes hand-in-hand with a deep curiosity about the whole thing. Saijyo takes that into account in his depiction of the desserts being made in this final round of cooking, presenting ingredients that stun even the more open-minded Chinese viewers of the competition. Jan's ingredients are shocking, and Celine's choice of unusual ingredients seems an odd choice for a dessert as well. The reader, as well as the fictional audience, is held spellbound, wondering how such seemingly disgusting ingredients could be combined into a flavorful dessert.
Of course, it's impossible for Saijyo to introduce flavor to his readers, but he does the second-best thing, giving the food a presentation that triggers the readers' sense-memories and using the judges' impressions to give a sense of what the food might taste like. After watching the judges hungrily devour one of the desserts, it's hard not to be curious about what they must taste like, even though the logical mind knows full well that the food doesn't even exist beyond Saijyo's imagination and the printed page. Likewise, the beautiful design-work on Kiriko's dish, combined with the hint of familiar flavor (most know what watermelon tastes like) gives the reader a sense of the taste, tempting us to imagine the sweet flavor and the skill required to cook it.
Iron Wok Jan! really isn't about food appreciation so much as it is competition, however, and that central theme is hit upon very hard in this issue. The frustration of food critic Nichido Otani, who has taken a dislike of Jan's personality as well as his skill, grows to an impressive boil here, and though Otani is insufferably arrogant and cruel, it's hard not to feel a little sympathy for him because of how Jan has so casually taken away everything that is important to him. Likewise, though Jan is arrogant in the extreme, the circumstances of his upbringing and his obvious skill and flair make it easy to root for him, even though we're all secretly hoping that the more pleasant and similarly-talented Kiriko will walk away with the prize.
Saijyo presents a seeming fait accompli in terms of Jan's dessert, and by the halfway point, it looks like he's already won the competition. All the judges, even the ones that hate him, are forced to admit that his dessert is delicious, and it begins to look as if the rest of the story will be an inexorable push to the obvious conclusion, that Jan has won this round and this contest. However, complications in the form of personal jealousy, manipulation, karmic payback and a little bit of luck keep the audience guessing until the very end. The cooking competition has been a compelling story, and I look forward to seeing these characters jump back into the kitchen now that we've seen what happened outside it.
