silver spoon

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

It took a long time for Silver Spoon to draw to a close in the pages of Weekly Shonen Sunday. Chapters would come out 2 or 3 at a time and then the series would go on hiatus for another 6 months. Rumor had it that the author was dealing with personal issues (and she was also drawing The Heroic Legend of Arslan at the same time). That said, the announcement that the series would be ending came as a surprise to fans, who found the ending a bit rushed. Thankfully, it reads better in volume form, and it’s a good ending, although having paired up Hachiken and Mikage at last Arakawa is prepared to lean back on making fun of them, which she’s far more comfortable with – by the final chapter the two still aren’t married, even while others from the series have children already. Still, it was never really about the romance, it was about the farming, and there’s plenty of that here.

This assumes, of course, that Hachiken can pass his exams. As always with him, it’s not his actual intelligence that’s the issue but his hideous luck, which is even worse than usual – he’s hit by a car and breaks his leg, and the exams are in the deep snow. Fortunately, he does indeed pass and everyone gets to graduate, with several pages of the main cast spouting off where they’re headed next, ranging from college (Hachiken, Mikage) to taking over the family farms (most of the others) to unemployed, as Yoshino was not able to hook up a cheese-related job that wasn’t suspicious by graduation, so is simply moving to France for a while. We then flash forward a few years, showing everyone’s futures, and see Hachiken heading into Russia for his business, where he’ll be working with a very familiar face…

I enjoyed the fact that Komaba appears at the end here, and is still interested in baseball. His arc was so important for the development of Hachiken and Mikage, and also served to reinforce the idea that financial success in a business like farming is not remotely guaranteed. The other fates of the character range from amusing (Yoshino’s French boyfriend, Tokiwa being married with a kid) to a sort of happy stasis (Hachiken and Mikage, who want to wait till he has financial stability till they get married, so have essentially stayed exactly the same). And Hachiken’s future is also in pigs, and farms, and Silver Spoon, in the end, has been about modern farming and the ways to keep it going even as technology, economic crises, and other problems make the job of “farmer” more of an anachronism. I think Hachiken will make it eventually… though he’d better factor is luck into their business plan somewhere.

At last all of Silver Spoon is out in English, after years of me begging Viz to license it. It ended up with Yen Press instead, who did a good job with it – my constant tweets of “why is this not licensed – right, it’s a farming manga” proved wrong but also right. It has been licensed. And it’s an amazing farming manga.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

This isn’t the last volume of Silver Spoon – that’s the next one, and I’ll get into why that’s controversial when I review it – but let’s be honest, for most readers of this series who were not in it for just the extensive farming talk, this volume is the payoff. This is not to say there isn’t still extensive farming talk – in fact, there’s more of it than ever. Arakawa is determined to drill into readers’ heads what making a living as a farmer in 21st century Japan is like, and by now the readers are close to understanding it, though probably not enough to actually start a farm. As our heroes get closer to graduation, we see expanding businesses, more pizza sales (though they don’t break even – always talk to Tamako first), and how to see your career prospects threatened by an extremely sketchy company looking for indentured servants in all but name. That said, the big plot here is Mikage and her exams.

The cover might seem ominous, with Hachiken and Mikage once again separated from actual romantic contact. And the exams are not easy – indeed, Mikage’s exam partner, Aikawa, ends up not passing – with Mikage getting a particularly vicious interviewer who suggests that her love of animals is because she hates dealing with people. Of course, as we’ve seen in the past, he’s not far off, but the days of deflecting and stepford smiles are over for Mikage, who gives a nice, heartfelt answer that amounts to both “I fell in love with this guy” and also “I was inspired to better myself because of everything he did”. As for Hachiken, frankly, he’s so worried he ends up in bed with gastritis. However, not to spoil too much, but things work out. In both ways – the 121st chapter is, as I said above, the payoff, and after a LOT of events conspiring against them (even equestrian helmets!), Hachiken and Mikage are a couple.

Now, Silver Spoon was never just about whether these two would get together, so there’s more to come here. For one, the other students find out – which naturally leads to the two of them being separated for all romantic holidays from now until graduation, because the boys are lovable assholes. There’s even another couple getting together – to contrast with Hachiken and Mikage’s tortured courtship, Sakae and Maruyama’s pairing is as blase as they come, and the two of them still think like farmers, as they have to discuss how the family businesses would merge in the event of their getting married. (Sakae also has some great lines as the biggest Mikage/Hachiken shipper in the cast.) Mikage’s parents also find out, which goes exactly the way you would expect. Basically, as with previous volumes of this series, every super heartwarming moment is undercut by extreme silliness.

So we head towards graduation, and seeing what everyone does next. Will there be enough pages to fully flesh everything out? Aheh. We’ll talk about that next time. Till then, enjoy what everyone was waiting for.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

There’s always a careful balancing act that an author has to keep up when writing a character whose failures are hilarious. On the one hand, you can’t overegg the pudding – you need to contrast this hilarity with moments where they actually succeed. If done right, this can be extremely heartwarming. The first half of the manga deals with the equestrian competition, with Hachiken actually competing this time, and his “slow, steady and have fun” approach actually does pretty well, especially as it allows Mikage to dazzle. And of course the beauty of it is that it sets things up for the much larger stage where Hachiken again competes… and fails so badly that it turns into 20 pages of “lol”. You feel bad for him, but thinking as an author, the reason for this is obvious: Hachiken when he’s suffering is very, very funny. What’s more, there’s been less and less of that as he’s matured, so it’s nice to see he can still be a national laughingstock when appropriate.

Speaking of which, Hachiken, in his despair after doing so badly, wonders if Mikage won’t love him as he’s bad at horse racing. This is a callback to earlier in the book, when Mikage smiles as she recalls him saying he’ll ask her out after she passes her exams… then realizes that might mean if she fails, he won’t ask her out! Does he hate “stupid” girls? Now that the two of them have made it clear how they feel about each other, all that’s left is to actually get together. But it’s not as simple as that – they have goals to achieve first, Mikage’s father is watching Hachiken like a hawk, and his own father just seems to get in the way of any romantic resolution. What’s more, as the above jokes indicate, the two of them are still too insecure for a strong romantic relationship to happen. Mikage doesn’t need to pass her exams to date Hachiken – but it certainly would help her see herself as a success.

Elsewhere in the book, it’s pigs and pizza once again. I like the idea that the head of the school is willing to go the extra mile for these kids provided they can actually justify it as learning things and being educational. As a result – more pizza ovens! Which leads to a good competition where they try out various kinds of three-cheese pizza to see which one proves the most popular. Likewise, even in the midst of despair at his equestrian performance, he’s still able to do some pig research while in a different area of Japan (sadly, he finds that the pigs raised there would not do well in the northern climes of his school.) And, for once, there’s not even any long series of chapters devoted to butchering and slaughtering animals, so even the squeamish can enjoy this one.

We’re nearing the finish line for Silver Spoon, and I expect the next volume to mostly be about Mikage passing (or not) her exams. Will that also lead to romance? God, I hope so. I feel like Sakae – Just do it already!

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

You can tell that the new year is starting in Silver Spoon because there’s a new freshman, and she’s interested in horses. This despite being in the dairy program. Again, it’s great to see that even at an agricultural school like Ezo, you don’t have to necessarily be slotted into the drawer that your family farm and/or business puts you in. It also once again shows the value of trying even after failure (she tried to get in on the science track, failed, and tried again on the ‘general’ track), which is good, as Hachiken is also dealing with some repeated failures in his life as well. On the positive side, his father is reading his business proposals and taking them seriously. On the negative side, they’re still not good enough, and he’s still not investing any money in them. That could change as we see the start of something that seems obvious but was never thought of much before: Hachiken needs to earn money and invest in his own business.

Of course, sometimes taking that once-in-a-lifetime chance can also lead to failure in the end – there’s a two-week student program in France that’s offered to Hachiken but he passes it on to cheese-loving Yoshino, who jumps at it… and then finds that for the two weeks, she’s at a high school specializing in fish. And yet, even with this obvious punchline, she manages to eat lots of French cheese and has a better idea about the direction she wants to go in. Any experience is good experience if it can show you a better way forward. That also applies to Komaba, who9 still has everyone telling him not to simply give up and abandon all his dreams, including his own family, and Mikage – indeed, the scene between him and Mikage is possibly the best in the volume.

As for Hachiken, he’s sticking with what he knows best – which is to say, pigs. Pigs and pizza. The section of the book dealing with pasturing pigs, free-range style, is fascinating, as with most of the “here is how you do agriculture” stuff in this series. He’s also found a way to solve the problem of Ookawa’s ongoing awfulness – hire him as company president, as when he’s working he’s far more reliable. It’s a character development that makes sense and is hilarious. As for romance, well, it’s pretty much on the back burner until Mikage manages to get into college – though that’s not stopping others (Sakae) from trying to get them to “go all the way”. And there’s also a suggestion that more equestrian action may be in his future – this despite the fact that he’s not picked for the preliminaries. They’re saving him! Again, seeing Hachiken from Vol. 1 and comparing him to this Hachiken is like night and day.

I’m not sure what to add. Another very good volume in a stellar series. Read it.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

As promised, we get the Valentine’s Day arc in this volume. That said, it pretty much relies on the sort of thing that I talked about in the last review: everyone is sort of pissed off watching the happy not-yet-a-couple while they themselves are single. Indeed, we even get a breakup here from one of the minor characters, and it’s pointed out that “eldest son of a farmer” is not a big plus for women looking for a man. In fact, it’s the opposite. That said, there is hope on the horizon. Hachiken successfully conveys that he wants chocolate from Mikage. Despite enormous obstacles, she manages to give it to him. And even with an immediate mood-killer, it’s not destroyed like Hachiken’s phone was in the last book. The same applies to Mikage’s grades – they aren’t great, but they’re now good enough that she can see about getting a recommendation for her college. Steady progress is important – in fact, that’s the key to this whole volume.

Everyone is moving up a grade – and in many cases, that means moving out of the dorms. Hachiken decides that he wants a place of his own, and manages to barter with his parents to get it. Less successful is his attempt to explain to his dad that he wants to start a business and would like funding. He has the ideas and the fortitude – and his father is impressed that he actually stands up for himself – but he has no real plan beyond “stuff happens”, so is coldly rejected. Fortunately, he has the sense to ask Tamako for help, as she’s the economic genius of the bunch. Hachiken’s dad is not made magically nicer here, but we do start to see why he was so frustrated at Hachiken passively doing what others wanted before, and it’s Hachiken (and Mikage!) standing up to him that means that the door is not permanently shut. That said, Hachiken’s dad is still sort of a scary ass.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m not all that fond of “lovable idiot” characters like tokiwa and Ookawa. We get a lot of Ookawa in this book, as he’s finally forced to graduate (literally, they have to physically make him take the diploma) and face up to unemployment. There isn’t a job of “ruin Hachiken’s life”, sadly, which is a shame as he’s perfectly qualified for it. We also get a long, serious and heartwarming explanation of the Silver Spoon in the title from the headmaster, though again Arakawa can’t resist undercutting things by having the teacher point out it’s his “standard speech”. It still works, and by the end of the volume you get the sense that Hachiken is on the right path, using the resources of abandoned and half-finished projects that the school still has lying around for his own.

This seems to end the “Winter” arc, and the next arc, “Four Seasons”, is the final one (assuming the manga ever comes off of hiatus again). It remains essential reading for anyone who loves a great story and characters.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

It has to be said, the love story in Silver Spoon can sometimes be frustrating. Not so much on the Hachiken/Mikage end, as I’m perfectly content with these two to slowly make their way into a relationship. It’s more the reaction of the rest of the students. There are not any noticeable “beta couples” in this series, which is not primarily a romantic comedy in any case, so what you end up having is a bunch of teenage farm kids watching their friends be adorable AND oblivious at the same time. They want to be happy deep down, I’m sure. But in reality… they’re pissed. And you get the sense the author is as well. So for every cute, heartwarming moment, such as Mikage’s New Year’s text, you get the inevitable crushing of it – literally, in this case, as Hachiken’s phone is destroyed via horse and via the obnoxious Ookawa. Fortunately, the rest of the book devotes itself to Ookawa’s downfall (honestly, the series as a whole also does this).

One of Silver Spoon’s general themes is that this may be shonen manga but things are not always magically going to work out. Mikage is studying now, but her grades aren’t suddenly terrific. The kids make sausage (which takes up a third of the book – again, Silver Spoon is a farming manga) but a lot of it is misshapen and weird. And then there’s Komaba, who lurks around the edges of this volume. He’s not back at school, but he is doing about eight jobs a day in order to earn money to pay back debt. As a result, he runs into Hachiken over the holidays, and then is lured into showing up at the Winter Festival. Sometimes we can’t achieve our dreams, and reality ensues. That’s certainly what happened to Komaba, and it sucks. But when you don’t achieve your dreams, that does not really mean you give up and resolve to never have fun or see your old friends again ever. This lesson he still needs to learn.

Speaking of lessons, Hachiken and Mikage might want to look over at his brother, who met a Russian girl and married her almost immediately. As always, the brothers end up being completely different. We meet said wife, Alexandra, towards the end of the book. That said, their relationship is glossed over and we get a whole bunch of Russia jokes instead. A lot of these are well-researched and amusing, but it does sort of remind me of the old 80s sitcoms where Yakov Smirnoff was the guest star. The “Silver Spoon” joke in particular is hilarious but also tremendously cliched. Still, it’s nice to see that she likes Hachiken, and I’m glad we get to see an actual functional couple, even if Hachiken’s brother still can’t cook to save his life. (Or Ookawa’s life. RIP, death by borscht.)

The next volume promises to lean a bit harder on the romance, as it’s Valentine’s day. Will we get a kiss? Don’t count on it. But do expect more of these lovable and frustrating farming goofballs.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

What I said about farming last time goes double for this volume, as there’s a pile of new information here about pigs, horses and everything in between. The pigs are getting ready to be butchered, and this time the entire school pools its money together to buy three of them. Despite having raised them from little piglets, this time around Hachiken is going to see Bacon’s journey all the way through to… well, bacon. As such, we get a very detailed observation of a pig butchering, so a word of warning for those of you who are squeamish. It is quite interesting, though, and long exposure to the procedure shows all the kids bouncing ideas off each other at a very fast pace (for future selling, etc.) – something that the teachers credit Hachiken for, as his ignorance in farm matters but raging curiosity leads the other kids to think of things they may not have otherwise.

We’ve been watching Hachiken grow over the course of this series, and this volume is excellent at showing the reader how far he’s come and showing him how far he still needs to go. In order to help Mikage study, he breaks down and asks his brother for help, and finds out his study guide notes are his for the taking – provided he goes back home to get them, as he left them in his old room. (In the interim, Shingo has somehow gotten married to a Russian woman, on the spur of the moment, showing again how different he and Hachiken are.) Hachiken’s return at first impresses us – his old middle school classmates note his new abilities and relaxed countenance, even as they get fake angry when they hear there are girls he speaks to. Sadly, going home means another fight with his father, one where Hachiken for once does not back down and defends what he sees as his Dad berating his classmates. It’s a great scene, and leads to his mother journeying up to the school herself to see what Hachiken is doing there.

He’s also tutoring Mikage, and tutoring is all it is, much to the frustration of her friends and the joy of his. (The frustrating of teenage hormones is a constant refrain in this manga, usually used to make things more lighthearted.) Mikage is trying, but there’s no miracle cure – no matter how much Hachiken breaks it down into horse anecdotes, this is going to be hard for her. (I laughed when the group suggested he become a teacher, and Mikage correctly pointed out he would die trying to help each student at maximum power.) There’s no turning back now, though, especially since her parents are selling some of the horses to help pay for her to go to college. The need for money is a constant theme of this series, which is also why it’s so jarring when Hachiken asks his father about any debt they may have, and finds that he is far better off than everyone else – they’ve even saved for his college. His is not a farming family. (Hachiken is also savvy enough to realize that he needs a real accountant for their growing business translations, and turning to Tamako was very smart of him.)

Can Mikage get into college? Can she afford to? Can she and Hachiken admit their feelings to each other without their parents or male classmates killing him? Can Shingo survive telling his parents he has a new Russian bride? Can Valentine’s Day be the celebration that Christmas absolutely wasn’t? These questions and many others will be answered in the next volume of Silver Spoon.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

For years before this series got licensed, my joke was always “why is this popular work by the author of hit series Fullmetal Alchemist not licensed?” “IT’S A FARMING MANGA!”. And now that Silver Spoon *is* licensed and doing well (hopefully doing well – you are all buying it, right?), the joke is over but the point remains. Silver Spoon is indeed a coming of age story, and a sweet romance, but it is also, at heart, a farming manga. Arakawa is here to tell everyone exactly what it means to be a farmer in Japan. Sometimes that means taking pages and pages to learn how to make a certain kind of cheese. And sometimes it means taking a long, cold look at how difficult it can be to keep a farm going in modern Japan, as we find out what we suspected all along about Komaba – getting i9nto the Nationals was his last ditch shot, and now he has to drop out as his family’s farm is going bankrupt.

This affects Mikage as well. We’ve seen that she and Komaba have been commiserating about this (and politely telling Hachiken to butt out), and we find out why, as her family are guarantors for the Komaba debt, so this puts them in danger. Hachiken is once again told to butt out… but he refuses to, in one of the best scenes in the book. He can’t given anyone a solution, though he tries hard to find one, going over all the ideas that most of the adults have already thought of and discarded. (Crab!) But he can be moral support, and help Mikage, who is trying to keep up her fake cheer and failing. He can also be there for Komaba, watching as all their beloved cows get taken away to be sold. It’s a depressing scene, and is meant to be. This is something that happens sometimes when people try to keep a farm up0, and it’s never good.

That said, Hachiken’s moral supprt is far more useful in regards to Mikage, who is ready at this point to give up on her own dream just as Komaba has to give up on his. She doesn’t want to run a farm. She wants to work with horses. And, with Hachiken there as moral support, she tells her parents this. This is the other fantastic scene in the book, as it gives us everything we want from these characters. Hachiken’s impetuousness and resolve, Mikage finding it in her to stop repressing her own feelings, her family’s discussion of the big problems with this (her grades, mostly)… and of course there’s room for some humor as well, as the whole thing feels like they’re about to announce they’re engaged, which causes her father to flip out.

The volume ends with Hachiken starting to tutor Mikage, which once again shows off how good he is at teaching/studying, as he realizes that she’s hopeless about memorization unless it involves horses, so frames every Japanese history question in terms of cavalry and the like. It’s both funny AND brilliant, and I hope it pays off. In the meantime, I’d say this is the best volume of Silver Spoon yet, but that does a disservice to the great volumes before this. The whole series is fantastic.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

The middle of this volume has some cute, funny, and heartwarming moments, and thank God. I’m not sure how intentional it was, but if you enjoy having misery as the bread for your sandwich, then Silver Spoon 7 is absolutely for you. Now, to be fair, we knew the start was going to happen. Hachiken’s in the hospital, so of course his parents come to see him. Everything we’ve seen about his dad says this is not going to go well, and it doesn’t. Even the bacon, the one thing that Hachiken thought he’d made inroads on, was just his mother trying to be considerate of his feelings. Now, don’t get me wrong, I know what his dad means. He feels that Hachiken is wasting his intellect here, and is especially frustrated given the nature of his other son. But man, he’s such a bitter pill to swallow that I can’t feel any sympathy for him at all. And, unfortunately, the visit causes Hachiken to have a brief hissy fit at his mom as well.

This is important because, probably because he’s still upset about that, he donates his change to charity when he buys new glasses, and as a result has to walk back to the school… meaning he misses everything. Fortunately, he is blessed with classmates who a) really care about him, and b) will not take his shit, because he was all set to be a miserable “I don’t deserve to have any fun” type. Luckily, Mikage is there to remind him that the festival was a huge success because of his planning. And they wrote a book of memories he can read and then sob over. It’s really sweet. As for his date with Mikage… well, they try to have it. But it’s more going to a shrine. And of course it ends up being most everyone else as well. You can tell the cast is rooting for these two dorks (every other woman in Mikage’s class shows up to ensure she doesn’t get blocked at the last minute), but they’re still nowhere near a confession. That said, at least he can make fun of her accent, which he does. Repeatedly.

And then there are the baseball games. To an extent, this was also foreshadowed as well. We’ve seen that Mikage is a LOT more invested in Komaba’s team winning and going to the Nationals than the rest of the school, and Hachiken’s attempts to find out about it have gone badly for him. We’re still not quite sure why, but we can hazard a guess, because after they lose in the finals, he never returns to school. I have a sneaking suspicion this will be another lesson in how farming is hard and not everyone can succeed, but it’s a blow as Komaba, despite being so stoic, has been one of the more prominent characters to date, and you feel horrible for him. I suspect most of the next book will go into the aftermath and explain why he left school.

You probably don’t need me to tell you how good this series is by now, but I will anyway. Really good. I want more immediately.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

It’s going to be very hard to discuss this volume without talking about the final chapter that overshadows the rest of it, but I will do my best to save that for later. In the meantime, there is still festival prep, and horse races! The racing is a highlight of the book, mostly as, despite getting distracted by family, studies, and Mikage, Hachiken is finally learning how to ride. This is despite the fact that he almost falls off Chestnut 3/4 of the way through, creating a dramatic moment when everyone panics he’s going to fall and get trampled. But he survives, and ends up in fourth place! Which is interesting, because it’s really good for a newbie, but it still irritates him. He wants more. He’s getting competitive spirit. This is especially good news given that he’s fallen for Mikage, who gets third in her own race and actually agrees to go on a date with him during the festival (though she may not have realized that’s what it was).

It would be remiss of me not to mention Ayame, who is introduced in this volume and is FABULOUS, in all senses of the word. Trying her hardest to have wandered in from a Rose of Versailles manga, and consumed with an intense rivalry with Mikage (who merely sees her as a good childhood friend), Ayame is pure hilarity the moment she steps onto the page. She’s basically the “ohohohohohoho” laugh given human form. She rides slowly and perfectly through her race, not understanding or even really caring that she’d doing it wrong. And when Hachiken manages to get fourth in a race (and thus finish ahead of her), Ayame admits that she’s rivals with him as well. For all that I praise Silver Spoon for its depiction of agriculture and compelling characters, there’s also no doubt that Arakawa can make things incredibly funny.

…and then Hachiken collapses and is taken to hospital, right before the festival begins. Frankly, the astute reader should have guessed this was going to happen. He hasn’t been brought up on a farm, and he got goaded into taking charge of eighty different things. He was ridiculously exhausted, and now he’s paying. That doesn’t make this any less depressing, though. His look as he wakes up in the hospital is almost heartbreaking. And that cliffhanger, showing the arrival of his dad, promises that the next volume is not going to be starting with laughs either. Still, I like that we are shown the start of the festival anyway – the manga is not just Hachiken, and I’ll lay you even money that his incredibly detailed and easy to understand festival plan is going to be noticed by someone at some point (there’s even a shot of the notebook sitting there like Chekhov’s gun.)

So the festival looks to be a success, but will Hachiken get to see any of it? And will his dad demand he pull out of the school? Can his dad, in fact, find it in him to not be a complete dick this time? I cannot wait to find out, because Silver Spoon is still amazingly addicting.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

I am fortunate enough to say that I am not one of those people who is naturally good at organization and so ends up completely buried when everyone comes to them and asks them to help/supervise/do everything. However, I am the son of such a person, so I am very familiar with how it works. It seems like it will be OK to take on something, and then one thing leads to another, and you find yourself taking on five other things. This is the dilemma that Hachiken is dealing with here. He’s nice, and competent, and doesn’t know how to say no, and everyone is independently asking him for help and now realizing that he’s getting piled on. So far everything seems to be holding up, but judging by the narrative, we’re headed for a nasty fall soon. But we’re not there yet, so we can all also revel in the joys of preparing for a cultural festival, ag school style.

There’s a big highlight in this book, as Hachiken is still learning how to ride that horse that seems to have it in for him. He’s not used to animals, and doesn’t understand how to interact with them or see that they’re even more important than the rider is. He thinks of horses like you would a car. As such, there’s a number of great scenes in this volume showing how much love and trust Mikage and the other riders give to their animals, and it helps him to see what’s missing from how he treats Chestnut. This also ties in with his self-esteem, as we see him freaking otu as everyone but him is able to manage the jumps – he’s seeing this as falling behind in class, and it’s VERY UPSETTING. Fortunately, Mikage and the others are able to show him what he’s missing. (There’s some romantic tease, but at this point Silver spoon isn’t really about that.)

Mikage and Komaba are still dealing with their own issues, though fortunately things seem to be OK betwen them and Hachiken again. (That said, no one has figured out why it happened – lack of communication is still a major obstacle among the main cast. Komaba is pouring his struggles into baseball, which is terrific… provided the team continues to win. Mikage seems to simply be giving up and accepting she won’t achieve her dream, which is even ore depressing. Dreams are important, even for a group of kids whose goals – take over the family farm – seem to be set in stone from the moment they’re born. This is why Hachiken arriving at school is great for both him and the other kids, as it leads to new perspectives. And also pet dogs. Because, as you’d expect from the running theme of this volume, Hachiken can’t say no to ANYONE.

Will we get a successful festival next time? Will Hachiken end up stressing out about everything? Will he and Mikage ever really talk to each other and not at each other? Not sure, but I can’t wait to find out.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

Through the beginning of Silver Spoon, we’ve seen Hachiken interact with the other agricultural college students, and gradually learn wheat they do and how tough a job it is. He has a reputation, as is stated in this book, for being “stupidly honest”, but doesn’t quite have the life skills that are needed yet to wear that well – he just comes across as stressed most of the time. Still, he is slowly making an impact, and we see that the graduating third years know that he can use those skills if given the chance when they choose him to be vice-president. What’s more, his own ideas are starting to influence the others – we get the resolution of the “pig meat” arc here, and it shows off the way that he forces others to think of new ways to try things and new options to explore, as well as proving Hachiken is never going to become stoic about the slaughter of animals.

Of course, while Hachiken is the main character, there are others to think of. And not everyone wears their heart on their sleeve the way he does. We already know that Mikage is coping with needed to take over her family’s farm even when she’d rather be working with horses, and now it looks as if Komaba is having issues as well. Since they’re both farm kids who grew up together, it’s natural they’d confide in each other. Since they’re both very good at pretending everything is fine in front of other people, it’s natural they’re both unwilling to confide in Hachiken. Still, they both need social skills development, as the blunt “it’s nothing to do with you” they give him over and over pretty much eats into his heart. Unlike Hachiken, who is still a bit lovestruck, I don’t think that this means Mikage and Komaba are dating, I think it just means they’re not good at showing weakness. Which is why, in the end, Mikage ISN’T picked to vice-president of the club.

There are a lot of things going on in this series, and it seems planned out in advance quite well. The chapters do a good job alternating between character drama that advances the plot, learning about farming and agriculture, and goofy fun comedy. The goofy comedy this time around involves all the guys escaping so they can go to “Area 51” to see the amazing spectacle that only comes there at night. Yes, that’s right, it’s… not UFOs. It is, of course, something that would excite everyone except Hachiken (and Tamako, for an extra added punchline). At this point, Silver Spoon seems like a series brimming with its author’s self-confidence. Next time around it looks as if we’re getting the Ag School equivalent of a Culture Festival. Let’s hope Hachiken remembers to have fun. (Who am I kidding, he’ll be a wreck.) Every volume of this is a joy.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

Summer still takes up the first half of this book, but then it’s time to go back to school for the new semester. And Hachiken is still very much learning as he goes. He’s gotten used to the early hours and strength needed, and in fact (once again) has to be reminded to take it easy on occasion. But there’s still stuff he has to experience, like the taste of raw milk, as well as things he has to feel responsible for, like the loss of a lot of that raw milk due to a mistake he made. I use the phrase “overly serious” a lot when I’m talking about Hachiken, and while (as I said last time) he is a very realistic, well-rounded person, it is his most defining trait. In that sense, as you’d expect, he matches well with Mikage, who loves horses and wants a career in horses, but when you’re the farm’s sole heir that’s not really an option.

At the Mikage farm, we get more insight into cow births, and some wackiness involving the local prefecture’s cows getting mixed up with the farm’s. The main plot twist here, though, is the arrival of Hachiken’s brother. I love the fact that you can tell that Shingo and his brother are completely different and yet clearly were raised by the exact same family. They each deal with their father in different ways. Unfortunately for Hachiken (but fortunately for those who love Arakawa’s comedy), this means Shingo is a bit of a flake, having dropped out of Tokyo U once he got in to pursue his dreams of becoming a ramen chef. Except he’s terrible at cooking. Shingo’s presence basically serves to give us a bit more information about Hachiken’s home life without having to see him go back home, and it’s clear Shingo cares and worries about his brother in his own way.

When we get back to school, there’s an even better joke, as Tanako suffered from heat stroke over the summer and has come to school having lost all of her weight. The wonderful thing about the joke is that Tamako literally gives not one shit about this, and the first chance she gets she’s bulked right back up. Tamako knows her own gorgeousness. As for Hachiken, he’s still dealing with the piglet he named last time, who has now grown up to be a big pig – and is ready to be slaughtered. It’s impressive that everyone treats Hachiken’s angst about the pig seriously, and no one makes fun of it at all – they’ve all been there when they were younger. Hachiken’s solution, meanwhile, feels very much like something he would do. (There’s also another wacky subplot where the school things Hachiken has gotten Yoshino pregnant = which mostly serves to remind us that Tokiwa is the Mineta of this series.

I hate to keep banging the drum here (that’s a lie, I love to bang this particular drum), but every volume of Silver Spoon reminds me why we were begging for years for its license. Read this, you won’t regret it.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

It seems a bit startling for our hero and his classmates to be headed into summer break right at the start of the series, but that’s the Japanese education schedule for you, which begins in April. And summer break at an agricultural school means everyone goes back to their farms… except Hachiken, who has no farm but does have an intense desire not to go back home. So he takes up Mikage’s offer to go to her farm for the holiday. You’d think cute romance would ensue, but that’s pretty much still just in Hachiken’s head right now. Instead we get more examples of Hachiken as a fish out of water, and a lot of discussion of the various aspects of farm life, including butchering deer and watching a cow give birth. But before that, there are more important things to do. Things like pizza. Priorities, please.

One of the many things I love about Silver Spoon is the way that Arakawa portrays Hachiken, the male lead. It would be all too easy to turn him into your standard harem drip, a la Keitaro Urashima. But while Hachiken is inexperienced in the ways of farming life, and still having difficulty with the idea of “animals become food”, he’s smart as a whip and quick to understand things. Moreover, he’s a planner who sees ahead, which will become very important as the series goes on. For now it’s important because it allows him to see everything that needs to be done with the pizza oven, which ends up requiring the help of most of the school in order to repair it and procure ingredients to make the pizza. He’s also getting a little more buff, which is inevitable when you’re doing the daily farm routine he has to do. But most importantly, he feels realistic. He feels like an actual person. This is what Arakawa has always excelled at, and it goes doubly for this series.

I also love the attention to detail we see here. There’s discussion of what kinds of pizza cheese work best in Japan (gouda, not mozzarella), and we see three kinds of farms: Komaba’s small one where even the elementary school twins are pitching in constantly, Mikage’s medium-sized one (which she is expected to take over, something she clearly doesn’t want to do but is unwilling to open up about just yet), and Tamako’s huge industrial farm showing off the finest in modern advancements. When we kept joking that Silver Spoon was a farming manga back in the pre-licensed days, we weren’t kidding. This book is here to tell you what farming is really like, and that it requires a lot of labor, time, money, and care. No matter how big or how small your farm is, things need to be done constantly.

Aside from Mikage’s worries about her future and Hachiken avoiding his parents, there’s not really a lot of forward progress on a “plot” here per se. But the plot is a coming of age story, and in that sense we see Hachiken grow and change a lot in this volume. If you like Arakawa’s books, farms, or just good manga, Silver Spoon is essential.

By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan as “Gin no Saji” by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Yen Press. Translated by Amanda Haley.

It’s honestly hard not to get a bit choked up reading this first volume of Silver Spoon, one of the manga licensing holy grails of the last few years. Cries of “it’s a new series by the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist! What’s stopping them?” were met with the response of “It’s a FARMING manga”. But here we are, and finally, seven years after its debut, we have Silver Spoon, a farming manga, in our hot little hands. In fact, I was rather surprised to see that “from the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist” is nowhere on the covers. It’s possible, of course, that they did not want to give mistaken impressions – fans of the fantasy action movie that FMA was much of the time would likely be taken aback a bit by this slice-of-agricultural life series. But in the end I think that’s fine, as Silver Spoon stands out on its own without any help. It’s a truly refreshing series.

Our hero is Yuugo Hachiken, who has arrived at an agricultural high school up in Hokkaido, the only student in the school who doesn’t come from some kind of farming background or family. We don’t learn his circumstances right away, except to see that he doesn’t seem to have a purpose in life. The other students definitely all are goal oriented – they have to be, given the nature of the industry they’re all in. Hachiken is an excellent student, but he’s also far too serious and tends to suffer from “if I don’t get straight A’s and the 1st place in class I am a failure” syndrome. Here, though, he’s thrown head first into farming life, with the help of the cute girl who “rescues” him after he chases a runaway animal on his first day and gets lost, Aki Mikage. He’s immediately smitten, but romance is on the back burner here. The main thrust of the series is seeing Hachiken learn about animals, farms, and the cycle of life, and trying to come to terms with it.

Arakawa grew up on a farm, and it shows. The attention to detail here is fantastic, and even though there’s a lot of exposition you never feel bored. Hachiken too is a well thought out protagonist. He’s uptight, and seemingly the sort of person you’d expect to break after a few days of the grueling work the kids have to put in at the school, but while he whines a lot, he never thinks of giving up. (And the one time he tries to slack off he’s quickly put in his place.) Moreover he’s quite happy to tutor the other kids in things like math and the like, and already seems to be showing signs of “trying to do it all”. The rest of the cast is also introduced well – Mikage is sweet and upbeat, the baseball-playing Komaba is stoic and serious, etc. Fans of Fullmetal Alchemist may find the gym teacher a bit familiar as well. And the animals are fun as well, particularly the horses – though there are hints there may be piglet drama coming up soon.

After waiting so long for this series, I am so happy to report that it doesn’t disappoint. It’s a relaxing, easy read, and you’ll also learn a lot about animal care. I urge everyone to go and buy this, as I desperately want it to succeed. Highly recommended.