I want to shout in K-sounds in everyday life like Jan does

　Reading Iron Wok Jan!, I realized that what especially feels good is watching Jan happily let out those bizarre shrieks.

　Seeing a panel of him reveling in his villain-faced picaresque drama with a totally un-hero-like cry of “Kakakakakakaa!” makes me happy. Repeatedly shouting in K-sounds is usually something the villain side does, so every time the protagonist goes “Kekekee!” while plotting something devious through cooking, it makes me smile too.

　Our protagonist Akiyama, who gives us a cry like Atlantis—

not just as a human, but as the main character, no less.

　I’ve been secretly watching first-time viewers of this season’s anime react in shock to Jan’s cruelty expressed through cooking. Using hallucinogenic mushrooms in a cook-off, or enough sugar to put the second chef at a disadvantage... you really shouldn’t do that. In this manga, the audience’s very first line when the protagonist appears is, “Die!”

　And yet Jan works harder than anyone in training, and when he loses he gets so devastated it’s like he’s losing his mind, then keeps piling on more effort. Watching that makes you fall for him and think, yeah, he really is cool. Kukukuku...

　But then he immediately goes “Kakakaa! Kekekekekekee! Kikikikikii!” with more K-line shrieking. His basic strategy is things like “grab the first turn with momentum, destroy the judges’ taste buds, and make the later dish suffer.” Even so, readers are drawn in by Jan’s fierce sense of beauty, so greedy and consistent when it comes to “winning.” Well, it also helps that this world is full of people even more outrageously evil than Jan... they’ll straight-up break each other’s arms and stuff. Even rival characters put poison in the food (Jan does the same thing), so both sides end up collapsing. The way the author finely balances how likable or hateful the characters feel is really masterful. 

　Since we’re all going to keep standing out awkwardly in society anyway, maybe we should be shouting “Kekekee!” in daily life too. Even when you’re late to a Zoom meeting, instead of saying, “Sorry, I didn’t notice the schedule,” it would feel better for everyone if you joined boldly with, “Kakakakakaa! So you idiots lined up your dumb faces and obediently waited for me, huh!”

　I hope a society will come where everyone can roar “Kekekekekekee!” and even devil chojin can feel welcome.