Iron Wok Jan! Episode 3: A Loser's Cry of Victory

It's both dark and relatable bc something like this could easily be happening irl too. Kaichiro's expectations with Jan was too stupid, the ego is crazy

I was worried at the first half being too filler-ish other than setting up that Jan can fail and setup a friendship. But the second half backstory pick things up and give us some much needed context for Jan's character as a whole, nice!

Pacing anime ini cepat sekali, ada tiga hidangan di episode ini. Ini pertama kalinya aku melihat Jan benar-benar mengalami kegagalan, tetapi proses bangkitnya juga berlangsung sangat cepat. Episode ini juga mengungkap masa lalu Jan bersama kakeknya, dan sangat mengejutkan. Kisah dia dan kakenya benar-benar mengejutkan dan memberi konteks yang lebih dalam terhadap karakter Jan.

Episode 3, this was the make or break episode for me. Previously, I was largely on the fence about sticking with this show. I felt that the main character, Jan, was too over the top of a character for me and did not feel real. He was an infallible character who always seemed to have a solution for everything - a setup for trouble. If the main character always has an answer, then there is no growth. This episode made me revise that thought - we finally get to see a problem stump Jan and we finally get to see him at his most vulnerable. He finally seems like a real person, someone you can relate to. And the cherry on top was his backstory, albeit a very unusual one given how crazy his grandfather was. We can now finally understand what is driving him and why he is an Akiyama. I hope to see more struggles and development from Jan and his relationships with his (hopefully) friends Kiriko and Okonogi.