THIS REVIEW COVERS BOTH SEASONS OF GIN NO SAJI
Did you know that Fullmetal Alchemist is not Hiromu Arakawa's only work? Because it sure doesn't seem like it. So many people loved FMA but the thought of watching other anime adaptations from the same author's works never crossed their minds. Everything else she has made is so overshadowed it's not even funny. Well, in hopes of changing that, I'm going to tell you about Silver Spoon, which is based on her most recent manga with the same name.
Silver Spoon is the exact opposite of Fullmetal Alchemist, it is a slice of life comedy with elements of romance and a particular take on the school genre. This is because "Rather than writing another fantasy series like Fullmetal Alchemist, Arakawa wanted to challenge herself by trying a more realistic story with Silver Spoon" (From Hiromu Arakawa's Wikipedia page). Instead of sticking to a proven-to-work formula, Silver Spoon is the work of a passionate mangaka who is not afraid of experimenting with concepts she has never delved into before, resulting in a show that is clearly more than just the typical boring RomCom slice of life.
The story follows Yugo Hachiken, a teenager who was not able to score grades high enough to enroll in his parents' university of choice. His dad reacted extremely negatively to this, and Hachiken, tired of the constant pressure to have amazing grades, decides to join a school dedicated to agriculture and areas related to it. There he learns what it means to live in the world of agriculture.
Sounds boring, doesn't it? The reason for that is that there are very few stories that deal with normal, everyday life. It is, in fact, hard to make an interesting story out of such concepts, and most writers are not skilled enough to deal them, and so they add something to spice things up. However, this is not the case with Silver Spoon. There is no need for fanservice or flashy visuals. Instead, Silver Spoon's strength is in its characters. Yes, the show can be boring at times due to lack of cool action fights or complex sci fi worlds, but Silver Spoon is not about keeping the viewer on the edge of his seat all the time. Instead, it keeps us interested simply by having a setting that feels plausible, and characters that feel real. No heroes, villains, geniuses, psychopaths or any other archetypes. Just regular teenagers, living their normal life (though the quirkiness of an agricultural school limits the term "normal" a bit). But normal isn't always boring. Everyone living person has dreams and ambitions, as well as their own personal struggles. And the same can be said about most everyone in Silver Spoon. MOST everyone. Unfortunately, so many characters are introduced on the span of 22 episodes that it becomes near impossible to flesh out each of them. These underdeveloped characters are sadly what brings this show down. Silver Spoon could've beneffited drom introducing less characters, or from having double the episodes per season.
Moving onto the story, Silver Spoon is a strict slice of life, and focuses entirely on the everyday life of the people in the school. The first episodes are interesting and different enough from other slice of life to grab your interest. During the introduction, the show does a good job with presenting many of the students, each of them have different reasons for joining that school and have interest in a specific area of the agricultural life. This gives them a distinct personality as well as opportunities to interact and talk to Hachiken, while explaining how the school works.
As the show progresses, we are presented with a lot of situations that make Hachiken, and even the viewer, question their way of seeing things. He is faced with the problems like the killing of farm animals for mankind's convenience. He also has to deal with his own personal struggles, like his relationship with his parents, and even later on in the second season he ends up falling in love with a girl he is friends with. Although shown in a light fashion, these themes are a good addition to the show, and help Hachiken grow as a person.
Not a lot can be said about the ending of the anime, since the manga is still ongoing, but there are various unresolved conflicts that deserve exploration, hinting that a third season might be on the works. My only problems with the story by the end of the second season were that some arcs felt like a bit of a waste of time, especially during the episodes the blond snob girl is introduced. Time that could've been used to flesh out previously introduced characters.
For an anime that aired during 2013/2014, the visuals are pretty good, which is to be expected from A-1 Pictures. The animation is fluid, and didn't have any noticeable quality drops. The farm animals and the backgrounds in particular looked very detailed.
Sound-wise, they did a decent job with the voice actors, they fit the characters they played for the most part, and again, special attention was paid to the animals, they sounded very realistic. Soundtrack, for the most part, fit the setting of the anime, and the intro and outro songs in particular will still be enjoyable well after finishing the show.
Overall, despite having some weak characters and not always being consistent with the plot, Silver Spoon was made with passion, which is noticeable throughout its duration of 22 episodes. It has a strong cast to which you can relate to, charming visuals, and due to its unusual setting, it deals with themes relating to the agricultural world that are not often found anywhere else. It is highly recommended for people who like slice of life anime and are interested in checking out other works from the writer of Fullmetal Alchemist.
