Reviews

Mar 28, 2014
The Silver Spoon is real, and even now yours for the taking.

If there's something to be said about Gin no Saji (trans. Silver Spoon), we can probably boil it down to three core ingredients: Food, Agriculture, and Life. Those are no small matters, but Arakawa Hiromu has masterfully blended these hefty issues into an easily digestible, comforting, and befittingy resonant, intimate work.

A coming-of-age slice-of-life school drama taking place in the remoteness of Hokkaido, Japan, this anime harvests its bounty from the wealth of its source material, but in the move from manga to anime, it augments and adapts it perfectly, adding garnish and spice to the completed dish.

As a second season, expectations and method have already been pre-set, familiar to the returnee viewer, but in this second series Gin no Saji (GnS) advances beyond those previously well-laid foundations. Once again, viewers are treated to those necessary daily hardships and mundane chores of farming life, but also its joys, pleasures, and novelties (oh food, so sacred!). Through that familiar trial of school-life, the varied cast of boarders share with us a glimpse of the agricultural world: the nuanced considerations of livestock-raising, the delicate handling of the horse by its rider, and that telling contradiction of love and necessity with which all live-stock animals are treated within the industry. The farming life and related rural community is lovingly portrayed, yet also, as one of Gin no Saji's good virtues, it is very much grounded in reality, and when events turn against our protagonists, there too, is meaningful realism.

Our hero, Hachiken is a wonderful expy for the viewer. Now familiar (as we are) with the farming hours and various chores, he continues to learn through experience, mistake, and labour, of this huge-world, an industry and life so pertinent to the world-at-large, yet so taken for granted, its hardships forgotten. In his studies and adventure, Hachiken grows so very much, and this is the key to the genuinity and excellence of GnS: the fantastically crafted characters.
Each character brings a necessary layer to the show, and while not all are developed as fully as our main characters, they each have something to add with their unique designs and endearingly comedic traits.
But, ultimately, this is a show centred on Hachiken and his youthful negotiation through hardship, friendship, and expectation; it is here that we get Arakawa's sincere portrayal of the complexities of education, family, economic reality, and all the never-ending steps we take towards our future. Most gratifyingly, Hachiken is a character who battles his insecurities, and bull-headedly rises to those challenges.

Visually, Gin no Saji requires fairly little portrayal of movement, but the animation team has done a great job in adapting the manga stills while maintaining the perception of action and dynamic change. This is most obviously combined with the quick-transfers and exaggerated character 'reactions', delivering both effective gag-comedy, and visual interest.

Voice actor Kimura Ryouhei has done a suiting job as the worry-wart, yet hardy Hachiken, and his acting elevates the show, aided by the superb supporting cast. The soundtrack is fitting, if not too stand-out as expected of an easygoing drama, and the Opening/Ending themes are also properly welcoming and warm.

In conclusion, Gin no Saji is a pertinent story, reminding us of the choices, indecision, and complexities of youth. The agricultural aspect gives a much-needed flavour, educating (never preachily), adorable, and scrumptious. There's drama, but never needlessly heavy, but fittingly serious and real. There are no cure-all solutions, there's nothing here outside the common experience, only a lifestyle unfamiliar to us. This is no stellar visual artwork, as its device is to adapt a brilliant story from paper to screen, and it does so flawlessly.
The Silver Spoon that we all possess, that inheritance, that overlooked richness, or even literal wealth. It takes on countless meanings, and yet reminds us of our worth, our past, and what we are, that is, a coming future. All this contrast can be found in Arakawa's clever title and furthermore in this exellent adaptation.

In watching this anime, you will find laughs, youth, the simple adversities, and also worldy realities. Like the myriad of animals in this world: companion, livestock, worker; this show will be a worthy support as you discover a new and different, yet charmingly familiar world.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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