History Manga / IronWokJan

%% * AntiHero: Jan.

%% * AlienLunch: Strange ingredients, either for a competition or just so Jan can be a jerk.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Jan himself. It is not enough for Jan to win; his opponents must ''lose''. The reason he behaves like a {{Jerkass}} and uses [[AlienLunch bizarre and disgusting ingredients]] is to savor the victory of people falling over themselves to eat his food anyway. He views cooking dishes that make what his opponent's cooking taste horrible despite itself as part of the game. At one point, Jan even follows a defeated contender in a contest all the way into the street to continue taunting him.

''Iron Wok Jan'' is a {{shonen|Demographic}} manga created by Shinji Saijyo, with technical advisor Keiko Oyama. It was serialized in ''Weekly Shonen Champion'' from 1995 to 2000.

A 27-volume manga created by Shinji Saijyo in 1995, with technical advisor Keiko Oyama.

After the original series ended in 2000, Saijyo started writing a {{revival}}, ''Iron Wok Jan! R - The Summit Operation'', in 2007. [=ComicsOne=] and [=DrMaster=] published the original manga in English from 2002 through 2007; there are no plans to publish ''R'' in English yet.

* NotSoDifferent: While Kiriko doesn't try to actively offend her audience, she takes her cooking as seriously as Jan, and she's almost as willing to use unusual flavors and ingredients.

%% * ShowerScene: Usually featuring the male characters, including [[BadassGrandpa Mutsuju]].

* AlienLunch: Strange ingredients, either for a competition or just so Jan can be a jerk.
* AntiHero: Jan.

* BattleButler: Karin Karii, for Suguru Yumizu.

* BigOlEyebrows: Jan.

* ButNotTooForeign: Celine Yang.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Jan's grandfather.

* GoodScarsEvilScars: Jan's "war wounds".
* HeirToTheDojo: Kiriko Gobancho.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Kaiichiro Akiyama and Mutsuju Gobancho, the grandfathers of Jan and Kiriko.

* HonorBeforeReason: Jan's grandfather committed suicide when he realized that his cancer had destroyed his taste buds, AFateWorseThanDeath for him. (This is the reason Jan was sent to the Gobancho in the first place.)
* InstantCosplaySurprise: The pig costumes in the arc before the second Young Chefs' Tournament.

* {{Jerkass}}: Jan.

* LoopholeAbuse: Just try to count the times that Jan should have been disqualified before the first round of a competition.

* NakedFirstImpression: Gender-flipped, with Kiriko accidentally walking in on Jan, several times.

%%* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou
* PsychoticSmirk: Practically ''everyone'' in the series wears one of these at one time or another.
* RapidFireFisticuffs: ''Really'' talented chefs make pot stickers this way.
* TheRival: Kiriko, adding Celine Yang and [[spoiler:Ransei Koh]] later in the series.

* ShowerScene: Usually featuring the male characters, including [[BadassGrandpa Mutsuju]].
* SickeninglySweethearts: Suguru Yumizu and his servant Karin Karii.

* SlasherSmile: Practically ''everyone'' in the series wears one of these at one time or another.

* TournamentArc: Two annual Young Chefs competitions.

* TroubledButCute: Jan. Well, if you overlook the BigOlEyebrows and permanent SlasherSmile.
* {{Tsundere}}:
** Kiriko (Type B).
** In a perhaps non-romantic variation, Ohtani's tsundere for Jan's cooking.

* BlueWithShock

* ButtMonkey: Takao Okonogi, a hapless chef trainee who seems to have no talent for the job whatsoever. He is, however, [[MoralityPet the one person Jan is remotely nice to]], perhaps because Okonogi presents no threat to him at all.
** More blatantly, Mochizuki, the adult supervision of the Gobancho's kitchen, who routinely humiliates himself trying to go against the young main cast -- or just trying to keep up.
* CombatCommentator
* CookingDuel: Pretty much constantly.

* DontYouDarePityMe: Jan.

* EvasiveFightThreadEpisode: Every time Jan and Kiriko "fight", something always interferes with the outcome; a biased judge with a tie vote, rampaging ostriches...
** Spoiler for the final volume:[[spoiler:Just when Jan and Kiriko's grandfather are finally about to do battle, he has a heart attack and dies.]]
* EvilChef

* TheLancer: Kiriko.

* MoralityPet: Okonogi.

* NotSoDifferent[=/=]BewareTheNiceOnes: While Kiriko doesn't try to actively offend her audience, she takes her cooking as seriously as Jan, and she's almost as willing to use unusual flavors and ingredients.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou
* PsychoticSmirk, SlasherSmile: Practically ''everyone'' in the series wears one of these at one time or another.

* SixthRanger: Celine Yang.

** TheSpartanWay[=/=]{{Tykebomb}}: Candidates for the title of Bai Lan Wang (like Koh) are trained literally from birth as expert chefs.

* {{Tsundere}}: Kiriko (Type B). In a [[NoYay hopefully non-romantic]] variation, Ohtani's tsundere for Jan's cooking.
* UnsportsmanlikeGloating

* DuringTheWar: Side stories in which Jan and Kiriko's grandfathers pursue their own training in China, mildly inconvenienced by the fact that WorldWarTwo is going on around them at the time.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/IronWokJan_TVT_Illustration.jpg
[[caption-width:308:Kiriko, Celine, Okonogi, Jan]]

* BizarroEpisode: The ''extra'' "finale", in which [[spoiler:Jan and Kiriko's grandfathers return from the grave as cyborg zombies.]]

* SerialEscalation: Maggots. [[ChainsawGood Chainsaws]]. Brains. Kicking [[EverythingIsEvenWorseWithSharks live sharks out of their tanks]]. {{Cymbal Banging Monkey}}s. What ingredients will Jan use? How will he cook them? And why will the judges be compelled to eat this time?

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Parodied in {{omake}} comics that show the technical advisor ordering the artist to actually go out to a Chinese restaurant so he can draw the food accurately; and the artist replying that if he could ''afford'' fine cuisine, he certainly wouldn't be dining on convenience store Bento (boxed meals) tonight.

** ADayAtTheBizarro: The ''extra'' "finale", in which [[spoiler:Jan and Kiriko's grandfathers return from the grave as cyborg zombies.]]

* IWasQuiteALooker: Otani was a CuteShotaroBoy back during the war, apparently.

* BeyondTheImpossible: Maggots. [[ChainsawGood Chainsaws]]. Brains. Kicking [[EverythingIsEvenWorseWithSharks live sharks out of their tanks]]. {{Cymbal Banging Monkey}}s. What ingredients will Jan use? How will he cook them? And why will the judges be compelled to eat this time?

* VictoryGloating