Iron Wok Jan!

A cross between The Iron Chef and Fist of the North Star, this energetic tale of rival teenaged chefs in Tokyo's top Chinese restaurant breaks from popular manga plots of teenaged fantasies and romantic entanglements. Kiriko Gobancho is the owner's granddaughter, a cook-in-training who's mastered the difficult ""golden fried rice"" made with only scallions and eggs. Once Jan Akiyama appears, his dramatic entrance worthy of James Dean, Kiriko learns how to really cook up a storm. An intense rivalry between snotty Kiriko and angry, brooding Jan ensues, with cooking contests unfolding like battles. All sorts of obscure food information peppers the story. When Kiriko amazes the kitchen staff by preparing pork intestine without any smell, Jan one-ups her by cooking pork liver. Another episode finds Jan putting an egomaniacal food critic in his place by preparing soup from an ingredient the critic can't recognize: sheep's brain. Saijyo draws the cooking scenes like fight scenes, as cleavers chop, woks sizzle and cooks reach high levels of intensity. The dialog is funny yet informative, with lines like, ""You can't make fried rice like that! What the hell is he doing?"" Like Iron Chef, Saijyo and Oyama's work is so far out, it succeeds on its own loopy level and adds a level of drama-such as Jan's relationship with his grandfather, another top chef-that is actually moving. It might even win over readers who aren't interested in typical manga fare.