Iron Wok Jan 23

Once again, this volume has a pretty unique cover.  I don’t like it quite as much as the shark cover, but the fact it features the main character biting a live ostrich is pretty awesome all the same.  Also, Jan’s on the back cover with one of those wands with a streamer attached… except instead of a ribbon, it appears he’s drawing shapes with intestines.  Also, he’s drawn in a “chibi” style.  Excellent.

The outcome of Ransei Koh’s dish is shown at the beginning of the volume… and I liked that they addressed the factor of the everyman judges.  The points raised are legitimate, and I remember wondering about the point of contention myself when the dish was explained.

The final match will be an ostrich meat battle.  The entire volume is spent in pre-tournament preparation with all the characters researching ostrich meat.  Ostrich meat is apparently inedible except under very specific conditions, and most of the volume is spent cracking the mystery.  In the end, it turns out only Jan will have problems preparing the ostrich.  Because of his bloodlust.  Again, I love this series for having the most vicious hero on the planet.

For an example of what I’m talking about… one of the best scenes in the series is in this volume, actually.  Jan sneaks into an ostrich farm at night.  Then, when the ostriches start running away from him, he takes his meat cleaver (?) and literally hacks one apart and starts eating it raw.  When accosted by the owner of the ranch, he simply turns around and stares, with bloodshot eyes, raw meat hanging out of his mouth, and blood all over him, then says “This ostrich meat is terrible!”  The image is one of the best EVER.  But in case that wasn’t enough for you, Kiriko drops down right next to him with her own cleaver and begins hacking the meat apart herself and eating it raw in big chunks, blood running down her face, and comes to the same conclusion, the ranch owner looking on in horror.

See, that’s just how major plot revelations in Iron Wok Jan go.

It’s also worth noting that, for some reason, there were a few panels of fanservice in this volume.  As I’ve said, there is an astoundingly small amount here, given the fact that both Kiriko and Celine have breasts that are literally larger than their heads.  And the fanservice was relegated to two or three suggestive zooms.  That’s it.  It’s… weird.