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éć®å Silver Spoon
131
15
Finished
Apr 6, 2011 to Nov 27, 2019
8.7/10
Average Review Score
86%
Recommend It
7
Reviews Worldwide
Silver Spoon was a manga written by Hiromu Arakawa (most famously known for creating the international sensation known as Fullmetal Alchemist), that surrounds itself around agriculture, farming and personal growth - which does feel already pretty personal knowing Arakawa's background, as she was born and raised around a massive farming background of her own. Whilst I've always been a city boy, shifting country to country to live in the urban areas where take out for food is easy, and everything is convenient from internet, to meeting up to partake in various kinds of fun activities in places like malls, parks, game centers, etc, I was verylacking and uninformed in the other side of the spectrum. I never really gave a thought to how a lot of food, a lot of the activities that I enjoyed, a lot of the culture that I enjoy nowadays, how much it was because of the other side (the rural side surrounding farming), that makes me feel more blessed with what I have now. And this manga does a brilliant job in showcasing the beauty of farming, agriculture with maintaining its roots and realism with tons of detail, passion, and charisma too. Story & Writing (9.99/10) If Arakawa-sensei was healthier/her family was in a healthier situation, and she was able to write more to flesh out the ending sequences even more, I would have given this a 10. But regardless, the actual content of Silver Spoon is phenomenal for me, since it presents something I have a lack of awareness of, in a very interesting, humble, charming, and even introspective way. Arakawa manages to create a compelling story about a boy who is lost in the world with no aspirations, escaping to a completely different environment to try and enjoy doing something in his life with no shackles of pressure and depression to hold him down (that was caused mainly by his family's expectations and his own lack of self-worth as he constantly pushed himself away from everyone by trying to study and not enjoy life whatsoever that it became too much of a burden on him). It's very real, and the way he develops over time with a natural flow of storytelling is very nice to see. Arakawa-sensei utilizes her childhood experiences with farming and presents her own ideologies about how the realities of farming is, with there being bitter undertones to them (like with the treatment of animals and growing them up to turn them into food/products to sell). She chooses a clear side, of what's the way she would go with when it comes to farming, but presents both sides of the spectrum really well when comes to questioning the ethical nature of the farmers' actions at the school through Hachiken. Since he was brand new to farming, he wasn't sure of what was right or wrong but rather than being too preachy, he naturally understands both sides and tries his best to adapt to how farming works in Arakawa's head but still showing tons of respect to the animals involved to make their sacrifices worth it in an ethical fashion by treating them very well consistently. I love how this question of what's right or wrong, not only presents interesting arguments to both sides, but also characterizes many people incredibly well, and builds fascinating conversations and hearty chemistry between everyone. Seeing Hachiken grow and adapt as a person, seeing how farming is incredibly fascinating to learn about from a non-rural resident's perspective, seeing how harsh realities can be but also seeing how beautiful it can also be when it gives fruit to so many great aspects of life from tangible to intangible ones, Silver Spoon is a rollercoaster of emotions with its narrative. Ends nicely too with solid build for its romance too. Characters (10/10) Heavily described what the appeal was for the characters in the last section, but I'll just say Hachiken is one of my favorite protagonists in all of manga and anime. A guy who's very relatable to me, in terms of not knowing what the hell to do for his future and having high expectations of everyone else to succeed, to escape and drag his life out in a completely new environment to see his real self-worth. And seeing him grow over time with his charming personality, with bonding with tons of people from varieties of farming culture (like with cattle, pigs, cheese, vegetables, etc) was astounding. The side characters come from various backgrounds and due to that, all play very good roles in creating tons of entertaining dynamics between characters. And when they come together for events like festivals, or pizza parties, it creates such a heartwarming storyline full of passion and love that I rarely feel from other casts in anime or manga. Real bonds right here. Other than how fantastic Hachiken's characterization was, Arakawa-sensei also did wonders with Mikage and Komaba's characterization as they go through their own personal struggles and try their damn best to overcome them and succeed with their aspirations (even with some unpredictable events in life trying to shackle them down). Hachiken's influences on those two, and everyone else, and everyone else's influences on him were so goddamn great to see from an outsider's perspective. Seeing people like them give me hope in a way to find my dream with the right people. Art (9/10) It's not the most brilliant looking manga out there, but it oozes simplicity and charm. Love the designs, love the detail and it really fits the setting well too. Great looking covers especially for the volumes, with lovely artwork present. Enjoyment (11/10) It's really one of the heartiest, most compassionate and emotional rollercoasters I've been on when reading this. It doesn't have explosive shounen-esque battles, or the most dramatic scenes in the world, but there is a lot of aspects that made me feel so happy (pizza party), made me feel sad (the end of the festival and some dreams being shackled), and gave me hope in a way with life with seeing the evolution of all these characters. Gin no Saji/Silver Spoon is one of my favorite manga and anime of all time. I wish Arakawa-sensei could have fleshed out the ending portion a bit more but regardless, the amount of growth, development, and emotional rushes I got through watching and reading it was too much for me to not include it in my top 5 manga list. Exceptional work from her, and I even like this a lot more than her Fullmetal Alchemist manga. And my god, it's made me appreciate the agriculture and farming culture so much more than I ever gave it credit for before. I really sincerely thank all farmers out there for providing tons of great quality ingredients and other materials for us to enjoy our lives with. They're all truly a blessing. Score 10/10
Yuugo Hachiken has spent every waking moment of his life studying in order to achieve the highest grades in school. Finally cracking under the pressure of his parents' expectations for success, Yuugo decides to leave his city life and enroll in the rural Ooezo Agricultural High School. However, he has absolutely no experience with farming! Attempting to utilize the skills he has built through studying, Yuugo begins to pursue the true meaning of having a dream and perhaps discover his own along the way. But life is not as simple as it seems to be, and Yuugo must learn that hardship may appear when you least expect it. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
I browsed on the internet for about a whole day just looking for some feel good, slice of life manga, and I somehow got to Silver Spoon. I heard of this title earlier in my life, but I just never got to reading it, but with this.. ahem.. interesting year, I decided to finally read it. Donāt know why. Just did. I probably should say that this is my first ever review, but this manga hit me so hard, I just felt compelled to say something about Silver Spoon. Also, there will probably be some spoilers, I donāt know how to do spoiler free reviewswell yet, but Iāll try and keep it to the minimum and to ones that arenāt plot changing (Iāll say if I do give a spoiler). For those who donāt know, Gin no Saji, also known by the English title of Silver Spoon, is a manga written and drawn by the author of the Fullmetal Alchemist series, Hiromu Arakawa. It follows the story of Hachiken YÅ«go, a high school student from Sapporo who has no direction and dreams for his life and a strained relationship with his parents. With this in mind, he was recommended/informed by his teacher of Ooezo Agricultural High School, also known as Ezo Ag in the Hokkaido countryside. Expecting to breeze by in school, the manga follows the story of initial struggles of fitting in, everlasting friendships, the persistence and results of hard work, and learning the ins and outs of Hachikenās new world: agriculture. I think one of the most important things to me that stood out were the little things and details that Arakawa-san brought out from this story. One was about how much you could learn about agriculture. Itās like a watered down version of an agricultural class; I donāt actually know if it is, because Iām just a high schooler who likes anime, but I feel like you can learn a good percent about agriculture. You can hear bits and pieces of the way bacon is made, milk is produced, among others I probably forgot. You get to see the side of agriculture we donāt get to see often. We see the finished product. We just buy it. But so much time, sweat, and effort is put into getting these items to the selves. Like for example (SPOILERS), Hachiken put in so much effort just to make some pizza. āPizza? Easy, just need cheese, pepperoni, batter, etc..ā Is it actually easy? We tend to just put frozen pizzas in an oven or buy it. We donāt need to make it from scratch. Another thing that this manga made me realize is that we forget where we get our food. How much sacrifices people make to bring food to our tables. Hachikenās reluctance to kill animals really struck a chord with me too. I tend to forget that the meat we eat comes from animals slaughtered, taken from their mothers, never living a full life. While it wonāt fully affect me, there were reactions from Hachiken that really resembled how I felt, and made me realize that farmers shouldnāt, more like canāt, be attached to them. In a way, they have to be ācold heartedā and put their emotions behind their line of work. There is also the idea of dreams and goals. Hachiken didnāt have a dream, didnāt have a goal. His hard working, competitive spirit made him into a person that helped everyone, even if he didnāt have the energy and dropped dead, and tried to excel them to become the best. A running gag is him trying to help his classmates in core subjects like math and english. Letās just say 9 times out of 10, their tests donāt go well. (SPOILERS for the rest of the paragraph) But itās through his kind hearted nature that he finds his own dream, itās through these trials and tribulations that he realizes that starting a business is his way forward. He built bridges and carved new paths for people, another way of helping. Another form of the theme of dreams comes through the form of Komba Ichiro. While Hachiken found his dream, Komba, in a way, couldnāt follow it. His dream of being a baseball player was crushed when his team couldnāt win regional qualifiers for Koshien, Japanās premier HS baseball tournament. Koshien was a means to get scouted, to get signed, to get money to help his familyās struggling business which was in a lot of debt. His loss meant he had to focus on the business more now. Something that struck me was the importance of simple phrases like good work and thank you. Itās subtle, and it may just be me, but I think itās something Arakawa-san put in on purpose. We always use these words, but do we truly mean it? Has the essence of simple gratitude phrases lost its meaning because of the constant repetitive use of it? Of course, itās not limited to these simple phrases; itās also other compliments and encouraging words. On a normal basis, I feel as though we use words like thank you because itās expected of us, but with a half hearted feel to it. In Gin no Saji, these words are used when you truly deserve it, as a means to bring oneās spirit up, because they truly deserve praise for the hard work they did. The only fault I can think of is really just the epilogue. It felt rushed, but from what Iāve heard, with Arakawa-sanās health and long hiatus, I really canāt complain haha, at least it was satisfying. Even though there is so much depth in the plot and underlying themes in the story, Arakawa-san does very well of developing the whole cast. Hachiken, the main character of the story, character development is arguably the best in the series. From a boy with no direction, he found his footing, in an environment without experience nonetheless, not without a lot of help! At Ezo Ag, he met many people along his journey, from Mikage Aki, the horse-riding lover, easygoing, amiable love interest of Hachiken, to the rough and honest, baseball loving Komba Ichiro, to the carefree, yet hardworking cheese lover Yoshino Mayumi. There are some many characters you can fall in love with, and these three are just three of my favorites among everyone I like, which is... the whole cast... yea. In a compact 131 chapters of amazingness, Arakawa-san went through Hachikenās struggles and dreams, growth and change, but also had other short, and even story long, side character plots. We go through Mikage and Kombaās stories, their struggles, their battles, their growth. We have shorter plot stories, like (SPOILERS) Aikawa Shinnosuke, Hachikenās friend, going through his struggle of not liking to work with blood, yet having his dream of being a veterinarian. (Oh, the horses also had different personalities, which is a 10/10 in it of itself) I donāt completely know how to judge and grade art, but I loved the art here. There were moments of madness and it was conveyed nicely. I donāt really have a preference for an art style, I do still have standards :(, but this art was down my alley. I do love myself some simple art, and I donāt know if youād count this as simple, but itās very clean and detailed. Facial expressions, character drawings, background art all had a certain charm to them. The art style definitely complimented the feel good, slice of life feel to the story. Iām gladly happy that every character and every shot was drawn nicely, considering how many characters there were and so many things happening. Overall, there was a great balance of character development, plot, emotions, drama, art, among many. The characters were lovable and I can relate to some of them. I can probably say so much more about the plot and themes of the manga, this freaking review is reaching two pages on docs, letās not add more. I havenāt read so many manga, but this has easily hit my top 3 manga, maybe even 1. While I think this isnāt everyoneās bread and butter, this manga is a manga Iād definitely try and recommend. For me, easy 10/10.
It was a very good manga , as it said about agriculture and Coming of age story . First time saw the anime 3 years ago and now finally read all the manga with the ending ! Yes somewhere half way get a bit boring but then take off again. The ending was a bit hurried but at least gave as a closure , and of coure hope some day(like in 2021 or 2022) for a new manga chapters even a few. *Hope some day like in 1,5 year to read it again in japanese (if have time) .... Gin no Saji or Silver Spoon is a manga by HiromuArakawa , the author of FMA too !
Gin no Saji created by Hiromu Arakawa is a very good manga that hasn't reach its full potential or more like not given a chance. It is more like the pace at the late part that feels like some things got change along the way. it makes me feels sad to think that it is probably not popular enough because of having 131 chapters only. Although I am only speculating here, there is a chance that it might have get discontinued because it got an end immediately making feel empty inside like there are still things that need to be explored. Like for example thatsideline business was supposed to be the only foundation and not really the final goal. it also got time skips that makes me feel like I skip a chapter. it still got a proper ending of course but not the way it is supposed to end All in all it is still good to read because it is all about farming and finding a new goal. I just really hope I got to see reach all their goal because it is my first time to feel empty inside despite reading so many manga. it is also my first time giving a review because I really like this story and its whole bunch of characters.
tl;dr: A manga that has good character development and makes agriculture interesting, but drags on too long and meanders into its ending. This manga is about a boy named Hachiken who due to having a mental breakdown due to the pressure of trying to keep up academically, abruptly decides to attend Ooezo Agricultural High School. The thing is, having lived in a city all his life, itās an entirely new world to him. Thus, he very much feels like a fish out of water, finding everything that comes across his path as surprising and having to get used to everything. However, heās also āthe man thatcanāt say noā so despite how hesitant he is, even fearful at times, he still ends up being pulled into various things and due to his serious personality, he gives everything he does his all. He forms a lot of bonds, casual acquaintances, deep friendships, and even a romantic relationship. In doing all this he goes through tremendous character growth. He starts off the series with a very narrow view of the world, unsure of what he wants to do with his life, and unsure of what he could even do. And furthermore, he has a complex about being so unsure about things and just directionlessly doing whatever he gets pulled into, which compounds on itself for an even stronger feeling of pressure. But over the course of the series, he overcomes that, coming to view his lack of a dream as the presence of endless opportunity. He comes to view his inability to refuse getting involved with things as a major asset and proactively tries to broaden his horizons. And eventually that leads to him finding what he too wants to do with his life and pursuing it at full throttle. Furthermore, while this is a story of major character growth, even at the start of the series Hachiken is far from a lame protagonist. Heās pretty unique in his class due to the fact that heās attending despite not having a background in farming, that results in him having skills that others donāt and bringing a fresh perspective. He has moments where he does things that no one else is capable of doing and where he definitely shines. And just as much as others bring about character growth in him, heās a key part in the stories of those around him as well. Thereās an assortment of very unique characters that surround Hachiken. Most donāt really get much in terms of character development, though are still pretty likable and feel worth getting invested in due to the general group dynamics. But a couple, Mikage and Komaba, have very strong development during stories of their own. The agriculture aspect was also very interesting. Itās not a topic that I have a lot of knowledge about, with the anime adaptation of this being my first introduction to pretty much all the subject matter. Itās also not a topic Iām particularly fond of as, to be frank, I kind of hate nature in general and am a city slicker through and through. Despite that the writing in this was very appealing, written in a way that avoided getting too textbooky while also providing a lot of information. Hachiken being a newcomer to everything but immensely curious and very expressive about everything he learned helped tremendously with that. It was also well paced going through things fast enough that they didnāt get boring but slow enough they were easy to understand. And of course, the constant comedy sprinkled throughout was also definitely a plus. The manga also tackled various controversial farming related topics, such as factory farming or international trade, through a pretty realistic lens, wherein it presented a reasonable take on the different sides of the issue without getting preachy about anything but still allowing Hachiken to have his own opinions. My main problem with the series is that all of this applies to the first two thirds of the manga, the first year of high school. The last third, which went through the next two years with an epilogue carrying beyond that, was nowhere near as good to the point Iād say it was bad even. The first issue is that it essentially felt like everything was pretty much decided by the end of Hachikenās first year. Character arcs were still going to a degree, but they had already passed through all the core parts so the trajectory was clear for the rest and in the last third it pretty much just follows through with what was already established in the first two thirds. As such, itās not able to hit emotional highs anywhere near as strong the first two thirds. It kind of felt like it was just going through the motions of showing the characters as they continued to live their lives without actually trying to tell much of a story with them. The second issue is that Hachiken isnāt really much of an outsider past his first year, so there just isnāt anywhere near as strong a sense of curiosity or discovery, and it starts getting somewhat repetitive. The agricultural subject matter it delves into I also found to be far less interesting, being less general and more focused on narrow business uses without really tying all that well into character arcs. It also spends a lot of time focusing on things completely unrelated to agriculture, like college exams, which are pretty generic and werenāt written particularly well here so they were pretty dull. The third issue is the pacing, which was all over the place. It goes through time skips to go through the following two years within half the time it went through the first so it feels rushed in a broader sense, but in doing so it also feels like it often lacks a sense of direction or focus and thus at times it felt like it was moving too slowly. Because of the final stretch not being very good, the ending and epilogue, while really solid in and of itself, just donāt carry much impact and thus it kind of feels like the manga just fizzled out really slowly. Personally, I think it would have been better to have crammed a bit more into the final stretch of Hachikenās first year and then gone straight from there into the time skip epilogue. The art I wasnāt much of a fan of. I suppose how it tackled the more technical aspects was somewhat impressive. But the character designs and art style in general were too simplistic and not all that high quality, and with the premise also being one where whatās being portrayed doesnāt stand out visually and is very grounded it very rarely had art that stood out.
