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I’ll say it again: “Slice of Life” is misapplied to more series than I can count, but Gin no Saji is living up to the billing so far.
Apologies for a bit of a short post this week: I’m in the midst of traveling and to be honest, while this episode of Silver Spoon was great fun, I think it pretty much speaks for itself. This series has gotten great traction out of the cultural divide between Hachi-kun and his Ooezo classmates, but in truth it’s actually spent more time showing what unites them than what divides them. It’s not exactly a revolutionary message, but it’s an honest and positive one, and seems likely to power a lot of what we see over the rest of the series.
Basically, the plot this week was pretty simple – no matter their interests and no matter where they live, teenagers (especially boys) get into trouble for stupid reasons that are totally worth it. If the udders in the gravure mags belong to bovines and the vehicular pinups are self-driving harvesters instead of Bugati Veyrons, so what? The feelings are the same, and at least theoretically Hachiken can understand when his classmates get excited about stuff even if he doesn’t quite feel the thrill himself. But the sense so far is that Hachiken is a bit of a repressed kid, and whether it be idols or Holsteins, it doesn’t seem he’s allowed himself to participate much in the fellowship of teenage obsessions.
Fortunately Hachiken’s thinking is outside-the-box at Ooezo, and he’s a very bright kid to begin with. So when his pals take an idea and run with it he proves himself very useful, and this is doing wonders for his self-esteem. Last time it was pizza, this time it’s the great escape – fleeing the dormitory compound during evening study time in order to see… Well, to see just what Hachi-kun doesn’t know, but given that it involves crop circles and “Area 51” he’s convinced It might be cool. The escape itself is full of silly but funny moments, like Nishikawa’s miming of “taking a crap” to Tamako giving him her snacks to take on the mission and hanging onto her camcorder. It’s your basic schoolboy caper, seen a thousand times before, but executed unusually well.
That seems to be a repeating pattern with Silver Spoon so far – it’s showing a great ability to execute familiar material in a fresh and entertaining way. I’m still a little baffled at how staggeringly popular the manga is even with Arakawa writing it, given how few commercial buttons it seems to push, but gratified just the same. I haven’t seen anything revolutionary in five episodes but I have seen emotional accuracy, thoughtfulness and and a deft touch with character comedy, and all those things bode exceptionally well for the series’ future.
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Gary Cochran
August 9, 2013 at 6:17 pmThis episode was a blast to watch. Nothing earth shattering happened plot wise but it was still a fun way to spend 24 minutes.
ChesireBae
August 9, 2013 at 9:57 pmWhile unrealistic, the idea that they all inconspicuously kept implying they were going to see aliens to Hachiken was hilarious to watch. Poor guy was completely clueless.
I am curious to the creative reasoning behind the change of Tamako's role.
In the manga, she merely scoffed at them while they were becoming excited, and at the end of the chapter, it's revealed that her family ALREADY owns one and they could have asked to see it any time – Which is a much bigger slap in the face than what the episode showed.
Ronbb
August 9, 2013 at 10:30 pm"Men lose all reasons when gadgets are involved." Tamako totally cracked me up with her straight face. Well, I don't think that applies only to men. I also can't resist checking out the latest gadgets and almost go crazy with all the additional options. The only thing that holds me back — after spending all the time exploring — is that I really don't have the money for anything right now. I guess being less privileged financially can help me reason even when tempted, unlike Tamako's father. I find it also interesting that while the environment that we grew up in influences our interests, needs, goals, and desire, we are actually the same inside — we all like to be accepted and liked. I guess humans — regardless of race and age — are simply social beings, and I am glad to see that Hachiken — despite his differences — is accepted and liked by everyone around him.
ravenanne
August 10, 2013 at 4:38 amI feel like I'm Hachiken here. I really thought they went outside to capture the cause of the geometric circles. I thought they went out to seek the 'aliens'. It never occured to me that it's just the big harvester machine they were vying for. I had a good laugh nonetheless. 😉
Maxulous
August 10, 2013 at 11:33 pm"This series has gotten great traction out of the cultural divide between Hachi-kun and his Ooezo classmates, but in truth it's actually spent more time showing what unites them than what divides them."
That's great and all, but couldn't have Arakawa devised a more interesting way of doing that this week?
elianthos80
August 11, 2013 at 9:45 pmEhe this was indeed entertaining. And we got more pizza educational bits as we behold the power of its skilledly handled dough wooohoo. In spite of totally misunderstanding the real goal of their night mission Hachiken still managed to earn cool points with his peers. Eeeh 8D.
Funny moments aside their walk on the way back made me a bit nostalgic of similar countryside strolling in my childhood. A quiet road, good company, green fields all around and a glittering night sky above with little to no interference of artificial light. Good job capturing a bit of that on screen here.