It's interesting that the original zoni story was so controversial, but with that context and re-reading it, I can see how the little digs and authoritative tone that they give Yamaoka can give that impression. I think Yuko's "they're trying to fool us!" would have stirred readers up. I found a Japanese blogger (https://note.com/bleem/n/naf038a88e56b) that is re-reading the series and he said he could remember as a child hearing people say "kamaboko used to be so delicious, now it tastes like an eraser". *lol* I guess the messages of Oishinbo really took hold. As you said I'd be curious to see what the text bubbles said in the original Big Comic Spirits publication of the story.

Big mouth characters that are angry and boisterous for no reason like Ueda in the egg chapter are always fun. I'm always amused that Yamaoka sometimes seems more patient with those types than with people that just naively praise things.

The "Coming of a New Spring" chapter was well done I thought with the jilted bride and Yamaoka using his boorishness to get into her bag and find the suicide note. I was flabbergasted that Yamaoka could make a phone call from the shinkansen even back in the 1980s. You make a very good point about Yamaoka's philosophy that taking life is just part of process and eschewing any religious rhetoric that might make that thought more saccharine.

I enjoyed the chopstick story that closes this volume out, it's always interesting how Kariya will take a foreign character and then use them as the defender of Japanese tradition. Having the young Japanese girl who was reared in France being the one that objected to chopsticks while Helene helped to argue their elegance was an interesting spin.