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銀の匙 Silver Spoon [Gin no Saji Silver Spoon] #1
銀の匙 Silver Spoon 1 [Gin no Saji Silver Spoon 1]
超ヒット作『鋼の錬金術師』の荒川弘の最新作！大自然に囲まれた大蝦夷農業高校に入学した八軒勇吾。授業が始まるなり子牛を追いかけて迷子、実習ではニワトリが肛門から生まれると知って驚愕…などなど、都会育ちには想定外の事態が多すぎて戸惑いの青春真っ最中。仲間や家畜たちに支えられたりコケにされたりしながらも日々奮闘する、酪農青春グラフィティ！！
186 pages, Paperback
First published July 15, 2011
46 people are currently reading
1760 people want to read
About the author
Hiromu Arakawa
355 books2,869 followersHiromu Arakawa (author: 荒川弘) is a Japanese manga artist, best known for Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師 Hagane no renkinjutsushi).
Her real name is Hiromi Arakawa (荒川弘美).
Arakawa was born and raised on a dairy farm in Hokkaidō.
She thought of being a manga artist since she was little. After graduating high school, she took oil painting classes while working on her family's farm. During that time, she also created dōjinshi manga with her friends and drew yonkoma for a magazine. After eight years she moved to Tōkyō and started out as assistant writer for Hiroyuki Etō.
Her debut as manga artist is in 1999 with STRAY DOG. In 2001 she started working on her famous and award winning series Fullmetal Alchemist, that soon gets a successful anime adaptation.
Other works include Silver Spoon (銀の匙 Silver Spoon, Gin no saji Silver Spoon).
Her real name is Hiromi Arakawa (荒川弘美).
Arakawa was born and raised on a dairy farm in Hokkaidō.
She thought of being a manga artist since she was little. After graduating high school, she took oil painting classes while working on her family's farm. During that time, she also created dōjinshi manga with her friends and drew yonkoma for a magazine. After eight years she moved to Tōkyō and started out as assistant writer for Hiroyuki Etō.
Her debut as manga artist is in 1999 with STRAY DOG. In 2001 she started working on her famous and award winning series Fullmetal Alchemist, that soon gets a successful anime adaptation.
Other works include Silver Spoon (銀の匙 Silver Spoon, Gin no saji Silver Spoon).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 305 reviews
January 28, 2019
Delightful rather than melodramatically gripping. Slice-of-life about an urban high schooler who goes to a Japanese agricultural high school, mainly because dorm life will get him away from his unhappy city home and the cram-school grind. The carefully realized setting was an all-new treat for me in this medium so full of urban high schools, all looking alike, generally haunted by assorted supernatural phenomena. (But then, I don't read sports manga.) Protagonist Yuugo's first encounters with the cheerful brutality of farm realities were pretty hilarious, and it's fun to watch him grow into his new experiences.
My first (brief) paid job was mucking stalls at about age 12, and I grew up around Ohio State University ag science (my best friend's dad was an agricultural engineering prof) so the underlying gist wasn't alien to me, but modern Japanese farming education and life, plus the unusual Hokkaido setting, were new to my reading explorations. Quite a change from Tokyo!
This was recced to me because I'd liked Barakamon, also set in rural Japan, in that case the smaller southern islands. ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... ) Tho' Barakamon had for me the added draw of watching a young calligrapher struggling with his art, giving me a glimpse of a new-to-me art form while simultaneously giving me some personal grins at some familiar emotions; the slice-of-island-life was an extra, from my point of view. We'll see if the characters in Silver Spoon grow on me. I've only read through Vol. 2 so far, which usually just about gets to the end of the runway in longer manga.
Ta, L.
My first (brief) paid job was mucking stalls at about age 12, and I grew up around Ohio State University ag science (my best friend's dad was an agricultural engineering prof) so the underlying gist wasn't alien to me, but modern Japanese farming education and life, plus the unusual Hokkaido setting, were new to my reading explorations. Quite a change from Tokyo!
This was recced to me because I'd liked Barakamon, also set in rural Japan, in that case the smaller southern islands. ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... ) Tho' Barakamon had for me the added draw of watching a young calligrapher struggling with his art, giving me a glimpse of a new-to-me art form while simultaneously giving me some personal grins at some familiar emotions; the slice-of-island-life was an extra, from my point of view. We'll see if the characters in Silver Spoon grow on me. I've only read through Vol. 2 so far, which usually just about gets to the end of the runway in longer manga.
Ta, L.
June 17, 2015
Using her knowledge of chemistry, Arakawa Hiromi-sensei wrote the popular shounen manga Full Metal Alchemist. Now using the other big aspect of her life – dairy farming – she went on to write the slice-of-life manga called Silver Spoon.
Now how could something written by the same author as Full Metal Alchemist but so fundamentally different possibly be as good?
Because it is Arakawa Hiromi. Anything she writes will be good, no matter the genre. Silver Spoon is not only a good slice-of-life, it is different and interesting. And even though it differs in plot, theme, complexity, and genre to Full Metal Alchemist, it delivers the same level quality in humor, characters, emotion, and just all around fun in reading it.
Hachiken Yugo is a city-boy in Hokkaido who moves to a dorm in an agricultural high-school purely for the sake of getting as far away from his family as possible. He knows nothing about agriculture, but figures that it shouldn’t be too hard to get top grades since subjects like Math, English, Japanese, and History are very basic at this school and the students aren’t too smart in any area outside, well, farming. In any case, it doesn’t much matter to him, because he has no idea what he wants to do with his life.
Isn't he adorable?
I mean, that right there got me immediately interested in the story. Because I swear, Hachiken is just like me. He’s a great main character. He’s not just Edward Elric all over again with a new appearance, but someone different with his own personality and problems. He’s very relatable – he’s sick of his family, he’s sick of his father always raising his standards and then never praising him no matter how well he does, he’s sick of his mother basically not knowing a thing about him or what he does with his time, and beyond wanting to do the best he can do in whatever he does, he has no ultimate goal in life, and that depresses him. I think every person, particularly those of us who finish high school, reaches that stage where they just want to get away, and leave concerns of the future for the more distant future.
Now you’d think that, based on what I’ve said about the character, the basic plot of the story would be about Hachiken learning the value of physical work and family. But the thing is that he is already a hard worker. And even though he is nowhere near top physical shape, certainly not enough to do farm work, he always gives it his all despite how much he might not like it. That’s the way he was raised.
That’s no to say that he doesn’t learn anything through his experiences at Yezo Agricultural High School. He absorbs everything people say to him, and he keeps his past experiences in mind when confronting new ones. And Hachiken in turn has an effect on the people around him. His classmates all grow to respect him because they know how dependable he is. They get exasperated with his antics sometimes, in the way that he always takes certain situations more seriously than they’re worth and making things harder for himself, but no one brings him down and, in most cases, everyone gets enthusiastic with his ideas.
That’s probably all due to the fact that everyone at Yezo High is so friendly. I love this school, and I swear, I wish I could go there, even though I know as little about agriculture as Hachiken does. Like I said, I am a lot like Hachiken – I’m not an approachable person because I have a gloomy looking face and I just seriously don’t know how to make friends or talk to people – but seeing how well Hachiken does at this school and all the friends he makes, I think it would have a positive effect on me as well. Hachiken grows bolder, he learns how to smile, he becomes stronger both physically and mentally, and it’s all due to the support of his teachers and friends at the school. Aside from all that, though, Yezo High is full of edutainment; it gets you close-up and personal to the life of agriculture, taking care of livestock, food processing, marketing, and all the other things you don’t really think about in the city. There’s also quite a lot about horse-riding and horse-races in here that really make you want to take up horse-riding yourself. It is interesting and holds your attention. You can see that Hiromi-sensei was enthusiastic about sharing this world with other people, and even though at times it feels like there’s a bit too much of it, this is after all a school-life story, and it’s nice to see a school-life story that actually shows you what the classes are like rather than just focusing on student drama. They’re not math classes, at any rate.
Even though it’s an agricultural school, though, Yezo High is much like any other school, and Hiromi-sensei exploits the hilariousness of school and dorm-life every chance she gets, which is just great. There’s a scene where the boys try to break out of their dorms after hours that is crazy. There’s an inter-school competition where the boys act like monsters and the girls just act friendly and leisurely. There’s a scandalous (and phony) rumor that spreads about Hachiken and another girl behaving inappropriately that freaks the both of them out when they hear about it.
As in Full Metal Alchemist, Hiromi-sensei once again displays her skill at making characters that are not only distinguishable in design, but in personality. And again, nearly all of them are likeable. You have Mikage, horse-crazy and completely clueless about boys, Komaba, strong-and-silent-type baseball jock, Tokiwa, the childishly annoying class idiot, Nishikawa, the dead-pan otaku, Okawa-senpai, the senior who can’t find a job and derives his amusement from the misfortune of others, Aikawa, the squeamish veterinarian-wannabe, Tamako, the scheming business-woman with a magically transforming figure, and Hachiken’s own careless older brother Hachiken Shingo, who dropped out of Tokyo University to become a terrible chef. The strength in this manga really is in the characters.
Need I even mention Hiromi’s absolutely rib-busting art-style?
And if you do read this manga, prepare yourself to salivate endlessly over fresh delicious food.
Seriously there is so much food in this manga.
MELTED CHEESE!!
It even gets emotional in some parts as well. I cried in this scene. I won't explain the context, not because it really spoils something huge, but because you don't get the full emotional impact when it's just explained to you. When you get to this point you know Hachiken well enough by now to know why this affected him.
Silver Spoon is not overly plot-driven, just basically following the agricultural school career of Hachiken Yugo. But if you take away the fact that it's an agricultural farming school, it's a story that most of us are probably living, and it makes you hopeful and happy; it's thought-provoking, it has life-lessons, it has the ups and downs of school life like tests and clubs, and overall it's entertaining in the same way that Full Metal Alchemist is gripping. I would really really like for there to be a published English translation; I would buy every volume.
***
2015 Edit:
Got the English printed copy of volume one today! So happy! Although, it's not by VIZ Signature, so some of the word selection doesn't really fit a few of the characters, and there are typos and grammar mistakes everywhere.... But oh well. The material itself is so good it still shines through a not-quite-perfect translation.
Now how could something written by the same author as Full Metal Alchemist but so fundamentally different possibly be as good?
Because it is Arakawa Hiromi. Anything she writes will be good, no matter the genre. Silver Spoon is not only a good slice-of-life, it is different and interesting. And even though it differs in plot, theme, complexity, and genre to Full Metal Alchemist, it delivers the same level quality in humor, characters, emotion, and just all around fun in reading it.
Hachiken Yugo is a city-boy in Hokkaido who moves to a dorm in an agricultural high-school purely for the sake of getting as far away from his family as possible. He knows nothing about agriculture, but figures that it shouldn’t be too hard to get top grades since subjects like Math, English, Japanese, and History are very basic at this school and the students aren’t too smart in any area outside, well, farming. In any case, it doesn’t much matter to him, because he has no idea what he wants to do with his life.
Isn't he adorable?
I mean, that right there got me immediately interested in the story. Because I swear, Hachiken is just like me. He’s a great main character. He’s not just Edward Elric all over again with a new appearance, but someone different with his own personality and problems. He’s very relatable – he’s sick of his family, he’s sick of his father always raising his standards and then never praising him no matter how well he does, he’s sick of his mother basically not knowing a thing about him or what he does with his time, and beyond wanting to do the best he can do in whatever he does, he has no ultimate goal in life, and that depresses him. I think every person, particularly those of us who finish high school, reaches that stage where they just want to get away, and leave concerns of the future for the more distant future.
Now you’d think that, based on what I’ve said about the character, the basic plot of the story would be about Hachiken learning the value of physical work and family. But the thing is that he is already a hard worker. And even though he is nowhere near top physical shape, certainly not enough to do farm work, he always gives it his all despite how much he might not like it. That’s the way he was raised.
That’s no to say that he doesn’t learn anything through his experiences at Yezo Agricultural High School. He absorbs everything people say to him, and he keeps his past experiences in mind when confronting new ones. And Hachiken in turn has an effect on the people around him. His classmates all grow to respect him because they know how dependable he is. They get exasperated with his antics sometimes, in the way that he always takes certain situations more seriously than they’re worth and making things harder for himself, but no one brings him down and, in most cases, everyone gets enthusiastic with his ideas.
That’s probably all due to the fact that everyone at Yezo High is so friendly. I love this school, and I swear, I wish I could go there, even though I know as little about agriculture as Hachiken does. Like I said, I am a lot like Hachiken – I’m not an approachable person because I have a gloomy looking face and I just seriously don’t know how to make friends or talk to people – but seeing how well Hachiken does at this school and all the friends he makes, I think it would have a positive effect on me as well. Hachiken grows bolder, he learns how to smile, he becomes stronger both physically and mentally, and it’s all due to the support of his teachers and friends at the school. Aside from all that, though, Yezo High is full of edutainment; it gets you close-up and personal to the life of agriculture, taking care of livestock, food processing, marketing, and all the other things you don’t really think about in the city. There’s also quite a lot about horse-riding and horse-races in here that really make you want to take up horse-riding yourself. It is interesting and holds your attention. You can see that Hiromi-sensei was enthusiastic about sharing this world with other people, and even though at times it feels like there’s a bit too much of it, this is after all a school-life story, and it’s nice to see a school-life story that actually shows you what the classes are like rather than just focusing on student drama. They’re not math classes, at any rate.
Even though it’s an agricultural school, though, Yezo High is much like any other school, and Hiromi-sensei exploits the hilariousness of school and dorm-life every chance she gets, which is just great. There’s a scene where the boys try to break out of their dorms after hours that is crazy. There’s an inter-school competition where the boys act like monsters and the girls just act friendly and leisurely. There’s a scandalous (and phony) rumor that spreads about Hachiken and another girl behaving inappropriately that freaks the both of them out when they hear about it.
As in Full Metal Alchemist, Hiromi-sensei once again displays her skill at making characters that are not only distinguishable in design, but in personality. And again, nearly all of them are likeable. You have Mikage, horse-crazy and completely clueless about boys, Komaba, strong-and-silent-type baseball jock, Tokiwa, the childishly annoying class idiot, Nishikawa, the dead-pan otaku, Okawa-senpai, the senior who can’t find a job and derives his amusement from the misfortune of others, Aikawa, the squeamish veterinarian-wannabe, Tamako, the scheming business-woman with a magically transforming figure, and Hachiken’s own careless older brother Hachiken Shingo, who dropped out of Tokyo University to become a terrible chef. The strength in this manga really is in the characters.
Need I even mention Hiromi’s absolutely rib-busting art-style?
And if you do read this manga, prepare yourself to salivate endlessly over fresh delicious food.
Seriously there is so much food in this manga.
MELTED CHEESE!!
It even gets emotional in some parts as well. I cried in this scene. I won't explain the context, not because it really spoils something huge, but because you don't get the full emotional impact when it's just explained to you. When you get to this point you know Hachiken well enough by now to know why this affected him.
Silver Spoon is not overly plot-driven, just basically following the agricultural school career of Hachiken Yugo. But if you take away the fact that it's an agricultural farming school, it's a story that most of us are probably living, and it makes you hopeful and happy; it's thought-provoking, it has life-lessons, it has the ups and downs of school life like tests and clubs, and overall it's entertaining in the same way that Full Metal Alchemist is gripping. I would really really like for there to be a published English translation; I would buy every volume.
***
2015 Edit:
Got the English printed copy of volume one today! So happy! Although, it's not by VIZ Signature, so some of the word selection doesn't really fit a few of the characters, and there are typos and grammar mistakes everywhere.... But oh well. The material itself is so good it still shines through a not-quite-perfect translation.
April 23, 2025
This is the best manga I have ever read. Silver Spoons is written by Hiromu Arakawa who wrote Full Metal Alchemist. She is so versatile. This manga comes in 15 tomes. It does not have much humour. But humour in the romance aspect of the story enhances the latter so much. I recommend this a lot if you are reading my review.
August 3, 2019
Disappointed. The premise seems right up my alley, and for the most part was entertaining. The deal breaker was the treatment of the one fat character. Several instances of body shaming made me very uncomfortable. Don't do this.
Read
September 30, 2020Gin no Saji is one of those series which make you realize that manga is honestly much more than 'comics'. The only other work by Hiromu Arakawa that I am familiar with is her Fullmetal Alchemist series (although I've only watched it and haven't read the manga yet), and so this completely different subject - life in an agricultural school - piqued my interest.
I have somewhat romantic views on rural life so I looked forward to this manga but was happy to note that Ms. Arakawa doesn't stick to the sunshiny-golden-fields, down-home stereotype of agricultural life. From the very beginning, she drives home the point that like nature, it is both harsh and beautiful. So you have this wonderful scene where Hachiken experiences the wonder of a sunset as seen from atop a horse but you also see his shock at finding out how eggs are laid (suffice it to say that I don't blame him for losing his appetite).
The artwork is simple and pleasant. It's not wildly original but it's well-suited to the tone and subject of the story. I'm not sure about the design of the riding club teacher with his incongruous Buddha-inspired head but overall, the characters are distinct and likable.
Anyway, this is a series I will definitely be following in the future and I think it has all the makings of an honest and absorbing story.
I have somewhat romantic views on rural life so I looked forward to this manga but was happy to note that Ms. Arakawa doesn't stick to the sunshiny-golden-fields, down-home stereotype of agricultural life. From the very beginning, she drives home the point that like nature, it is both harsh and beautiful. So you have this wonderful scene where Hachiken experiences the wonder of a sunset as seen from atop a horse but you also see his shock at finding out how eggs are laid (suffice it to say that I don't blame him for losing his appetite).
The artwork is simple and pleasant. It's not wildly original but it's well-suited to the tone and subject of the story. I'm not sure about the design of the riding club teacher with his incongruous Buddha-inspired head but overall, the characters are distinct and likable.
Anyway, this is a series I will definitely be following in the future and I think it has all the makings of an honest and absorbing story.
April 24, 2022
More of a casual life documentation than a narrative heavy story, it's a work of fiction that displays what I can only assume to be a lot of interesting factual information (sadly, I am no farming and agriculture expert). It's a cute manga, but one that's a little too slow and lacking when it comes to any kind of personal investment and attachment. None of the characters are memorable, and there isn't much of a plot for them to sink their teeth into. Think of it more like a countryside living tv programme with some manga tropes sprinkled in. FMA is definitely more my speed, however, I'm glad I tried something else by Arakawa, even if it wasn't my cup of tea.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: fatphobic comments, animal cruelty
TRIGGER WARNINGS: fatphobic comments, animal cruelty
March 22, 2018
One of the things I love about manga is that they can cover almost any subject. Here's one set at an agricultural high school that introduces us to farming concepts and concerns. I was raised on a Wisconsin dairy farm, so I found lots to like here as the book milks a fish-out-of-water set-up by having a directionless city kid with a purely academic focus transfer to this hands-on technical school. The humor, drama and romance are pretty gentle, but this title could go in some interesting directions in future volumes.
April 9, 2022
Ah, that was VERY satisfying! I love the humour so much (though the fathers were comically strict, and Ookawa was quite... umm, unkind about his peers and underclassmen who were more fortunate in life and love than he was).
I was just very sad that the first year at Ooyezo / Oezo / the Agricultural school was so beautifully rendered and covered, only for the 2nd and 3rd years of Yugo Hachiken's life to be rushed so quickly (admittedly, due to external events beyond Hiromu Arakawa's control, and potential work overload because Arakawa-sensei was also working on "The Heroic Legend of Arslan" as the artist).
Still, this was a fantastic insight into the farming life, and what is involved in agriculture and animal husbandry.
I was just very sad that the first year at Ooyezo / Oezo / the Agricultural school was so beautifully rendered and covered, only for the 2nd and 3rd years of Yugo Hachiken's life to be rushed so quickly (admittedly, due to external events beyond Hiromu Arakawa's control, and potential work overload because Arakawa-sensei was also working on "The Heroic Legend of Arslan" as the artist).
Still, this was a fantastic insight into the farming life, and what is involved in agriculture and animal husbandry.
January 13, 2021
Ein richtig schöner Feel-Good-Manga aus dem Slice of Life Genre. Hauptfigur ist sympathisch, die agriculture school ist superspannend. Krass, wie viel man aus solchen Mangas noch lernt, bin jedes Mal begeistert. Die Figuren gefielen mir sehr, gerade der Humor (viel Situationskomik) toppt wirklich alles. Niemand nimmt sich zu ernst und trotzdem wird mit Themen wie Orientierungslosigkeit, Verlust, Tod und ähnlichem sehr sensibel umgegangen.
Freu mich sehr auf die folgenden Bände.
Freu mich sehr auf die folgenden Bände.
August 22, 2022
I love this very much a lot :)
February 17, 2018
LOVE this series. It makes me laugh and it makes me think. Doesn't get much better than that.
Read
July 9, 2024Thanks for the rec and the copy Baleb Bong
November 11, 2012
This is Hiromu Arakawa's new series about a boy who doesn't know much about farming and yet attends a school all about it. It's a brave turn from magic and action, which is what she is famous for with Full Metal Alchemist. Although I couldn't help but compare the two, I fell in love with Silver Spoon as I progressed.
Silver Spoon isn't really anything special. It's slice-of-life and doesn't have much of a plot. It's simple, unlike FMA. But Yugo, the main character, has a strange way of drawing me in. I can relate to him, being a city kid with barely any knowledge and experience in rural life, and he asks the questions I would have asked in his place. I didn't even know where the egg comes from until I read this. It came from the anus. Yeah. Silver Spoon is a fun way of knowing new things.
I'm also not the active, exercising type so I feel his pain upon seeing his classmates able to keep up with the back-breaking work of farming and yet be able to do other stuff that uses up a lot of energy. His lack of direction in life reminds me of my own and it's heartening to see him slowly find it (I have yet to find my direction...).
The setting is laid out well, the school is interesting in its own way, and the characters are great (some of them remarkably look like characters in FMA).
I'm still a new fan so I don't know whether it'll stay this way but so far I'm enjoying it.
In fact, I might take agriculture after my current course if my parents are okay with it thanks to this!
Silver Spoon isn't really anything special. It's slice-of-life and doesn't have much of a plot. It's simple, unlike FMA. But Yugo, the main character, has a strange way of drawing me in. I can relate to him, being a city kid with barely any knowledge and experience in rural life, and he asks the questions I would have asked in his place. I didn't even know where the egg comes from until I read this. It came from the anus. Yeah. Silver Spoon is a fun way of knowing new things.
I'm also not the active, exercising type so I feel his pain upon seeing his classmates able to keep up with the back-breaking work of farming and yet be able to do other stuff that uses up a lot of energy. His lack of direction in life reminds me of my own and it's heartening to see him slowly find it (I have yet to find my direction...).
The setting is laid out well, the school is interesting in its own way, and the characters are great (some of them remarkably look like characters in FMA).
I'm still a new fan so I don't know whether it'll stay this way but so far I'm enjoying it.
In fact, I might take agriculture after my current course if my parents are okay with it thanks to this!
September 5, 2016
20 Aug 2015 :
Klub Holstein! Butadon!! Daging!!!
Pesona sendok perak masih berlanjut~
__________
Edited 05 Sep 2016 :
Sudah sampai vol.11.., jadi semakin terbukti kalau nilai komik ini berada di level yang lebih tinggi ketimbang komik-2 shonen sepantarannya (^ ^)
Untuk segi gambar, ga ada keluhan. Karena walau bukan tipe gambar yang bikin "wow", tapi maksud dan kekocakannya sangat tersampaikan ヽ(*⌒▽⌒*)ﾉ
Ceritanya yang mengisahkan keseharian murid sekolah pertanian selalu terasa seru, selain karena aku-nya yang ga tau apa-apa soal sekolah pertanian, juga karena kebimbangan dan permasalahan yang dihadapi Hachiken mengenai masa depan dan jalan yang sedang dilaluinya bukan sekedar permasalahan anak sekolahan saja, tapi bisa juga dialami orang yang telah / sedang / akan membangun karir.
Belum lagi kekoplakan baik para murid maupun guru-guru yang bikin ceritanya yang sebenarnya serius ini jadi tersampaikan dengan gembira, bikin bacanya terhibur sekaligus tercerahkan (☆▽☆)
Klub Holstein! Butadon!! Daging!!!
Pesona sendok perak masih berlanjut~
__________
Edited 05 Sep 2016 :
Sudah sampai vol.11.., jadi semakin terbukti kalau nilai komik ini berada di level yang lebih tinggi ketimbang komik-2 shonen sepantarannya (^ ^)
Untuk segi gambar, ga ada keluhan. Karena walau bukan tipe gambar yang bikin "wow", tapi maksud dan kekocakannya sangat tersampaikan ヽ(*⌒▽⌒*)ﾉ
Ceritanya yang mengisahkan keseharian murid sekolah pertanian selalu terasa seru, selain karena aku-nya yang ga tau apa-apa soal sekolah pertanian, juga karena kebimbangan dan permasalahan yang dihadapi Hachiken mengenai masa depan dan jalan yang sedang dilaluinya bukan sekedar permasalahan anak sekolahan saja, tapi bisa juga dialami orang yang telah / sedang / akan membangun karir.
Belum lagi kekoplakan baik para murid maupun guru-guru yang bikin ceritanya yang sebenarnya serius ini jadi tersampaikan dengan gembira, bikin bacanya terhibur sekaligus tercerahkan (☆▽☆)
June 3, 2018
There's a beauty to simplicity.
Now, I don't mean that Silver Spoon lacks complexity. However, in a world where I often find myself reading stories with high stakes action and dramatic life-or-death action hero maneuvers, it's beautiful to sit back and read a story about the daily lives of students at an agricultural vocational high school. There's a refreshing and engaging "simplicity" to reading about Ban'ei horse track proceedings or what extracurricular activities exist at the school or how quickly piglets grow. Silver Spoon doesn't need "gargantuan" events to evoke a variety of emotions or pull readers deep into its world - and in fact there's much to be appreciated that this handles the day-to-day.
And while the plot works on more subtle points of conflict and weaves together the humdrum into engaging narrative growth, there is a lot of depth to offer in these pages.
There's a hoard of humor, to start with. I'm laughing uproariously every few pages. And the more you look at the pages, the funnier it gets. There's an entire story hidden in the few panels whereby the students collect trash from campus (the boxer shorts didn't start on the Colonel Sanders statue). Don't think that just because this is a story about an agricultural vocation school that there's no room for explosive humor. When I first picked up the book, despite being familiar with some of Arakawa's other works, I was wondering why it was rated "T." After chicken cloaca and pig castration jokes and boys making lewd-sounding comments about cow hips... I realized exactly why... and had an amazing time. Arakawa, as always, knows how to make people laugh hard.
Beyond the fun, there's cherishable heart, too, be it in the characters or their circumstances or the overall lessons within the story. I haven't attached to all the characters yet, but the protagonist Hachiken is fascinatingly set up and someone I could draw to immediately. His awkwardness and shock to the unfamiliar agricultural world provides infinite humor. His constant drive to perfection while sympathizing with the losers who work hard... it give hints at personal failings and ongoing struggle. His blocked-off past - and all the hints of what happened before he attended high school - is interesting and makes me itch to learn more about his backstory. He's got great complexity, from strengths to weaknesses to secrets we don't yet know... to the set-up of great character growth. There's a lot more to learn about him, a lot more to see from him. It's a promising start.
And we have already started to bring some more nuance to other characters. My favorite chapter compares and contrasts Hachiken with Ichirou. Hachiken we can tell feels uncomfortable with having no goals for his future, and thus is jealous of Ichirou's solid future working on the family farm. What he doesn't realize is that Through this chapter, we come to see other characters's struggles and positions like Ichirou, contrast them with Hachiken, and through that understand how everyone's problems exist but differ.
And everything in Silver Spoon is set up to work on ongoing themes. There's some deep stuff here already, with the central focus appearing to be how we reward effort. How should we handle effort - in a survival-of-the-fittest winner takes reward scenario, or should we provide rewards to effort even if it produces no profitable crop? It permeates the story, from Hachiken's central character conflict (where he wants to be first at everything, but sympathizes with hard-working "losers"), to the realities of farm life (where, for instance, chickens won't be kept if they don't produce enough eggs). I'm appreciating the nuance already, be it Hachiken and Ichirou's differences, or how Hachiken watches a piglet continue to pick the disadvantaged position even when it has the option to move forward.
Given as I'm someone who's already relating too much to Hachiken and his implied (but not yet revealed) backstory... given as I'm someone struggling through a life where I worked hard but still didn't win... I highly suspect that Arakawa's Silver Spoon is going to emotionally wreck me down the road.
Like Arakawa's other works, it's full of humor and heart and emotion and love. You can definitely tell it's from the same writer. She's someone I have adored ever since I got into Fullmetal Alchemist, and I suspect I'm going to adore her for this, too. And speaking of. Given as I surmise that many people who are curious about Silver Spoon came from Fullmetal Alchemist... I guess I'll say this much... there's a lot different between Silver Spoon and Fullmetal Alchemist. Fullmetal Alchemist has a fantastical action-packed story skirting death in a nation with a recent history of bloody genocide; you're not going to get that sort of high-stakes adventure with Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon you're going to get a page-sized illustration of piglets or a horse running through the forest. But there's the same heart, the same love, the same tight-woven narrative, the same intentionality, the same emotionality, that's poured into this story, and that's ultimately what makes Arakawa's works so powerful. I say go for it.
I haven't been reading chapter after chapter after chapter of Silver Spoon in a single sitting. While I can easily binge other works, it feels much better to take this a chapter at a time. Go with the easy pace. Soak in every page. Enjoy the words. Enjoy the thoughts. Enjoy the illustrations.
I'm looking forward to continuing this in Volume 2.
Now, I don't mean that Silver Spoon lacks complexity. However, in a world where I often find myself reading stories with high stakes action and dramatic life-or-death action hero maneuvers, it's beautiful to sit back and read a story about the daily lives of students at an agricultural vocational high school. There's a refreshing and engaging "simplicity" to reading about Ban'ei horse track proceedings or what extracurricular activities exist at the school or how quickly piglets grow. Silver Spoon doesn't need "gargantuan" events to evoke a variety of emotions or pull readers deep into its world - and in fact there's much to be appreciated that this handles the day-to-day.
And while the plot works on more subtle points of conflict and weaves together the humdrum into engaging narrative growth, there is a lot of depth to offer in these pages.
There's a hoard of humor, to start with. I'm laughing uproariously every few pages. And the more you look at the pages, the funnier it gets. There's an entire story hidden in the few panels whereby the students collect trash from campus (the boxer shorts didn't start on the Colonel Sanders statue). Don't think that just because this is a story about an agricultural vocation school that there's no room for explosive humor. When I first picked up the book, despite being familiar with some of Arakawa's other works, I was wondering why it was rated "T." After chicken cloaca and pig castration jokes and boys making lewd-sounding comments about cow hips... I realized exactly why... and had an amazing time. Arakawa, as always, knows how to make people laugh hard.
Beyond the fun, there's cherishable heart, too, be it in the characters or their circumstances or the overall lessons within the story. I haven't attached to all the characters yet, but the protagonist Hachiken is fascinatingly set up and someone I could draw to immediately. His awkwardness and shock to the unfamiliar agricultural world provides infinite humor. His constant drive to perfection while sympathizing with the losers who work hard... it give hints at personal failings and ongoing struggle. His blocked-off past - and all the hints of what happened before he attended high school - is interesting and makes me itch to learn more about his backstory. He's got great complexity, from strengths to weaknesses to secrets we don't yet know... to the set-up of great character growth. There's a lot more to learn about him, a lot more to see from him. It's a promising start.
And we have already started to bring some more nuance to other characters. My favorite chapter compares and contrasts Hachiken with Ichirou. Hachiken we can tell feels uncomfortable with having no goals for his future, and thus is jealous of Ichirou's solid future working on the family farm. What he doesn't realize is that Through this chapter, we come to see other characters's struggles and positions like Ichirou, contrast them with Hachiken, and through that understand how everyone's problems exist but differ.
And everything in Silver Spoon is set up to work on ongoing themes. There's some deep stuff here already, with the central focus appearing to be how we reward effort. How should we handle effort - in a survival-of-the-fittest winner takes reward scenario, or should we provide rewards to effort even if it produces no profitable crop? It permeates the story, from Hachiken's central character conflict (where he wants to be first at everything, but sympathizes with hard-working "losers"), to the realities of farm life (where, for instance, chickens won't be kept if they don't produce enough eggs). I'm appreciating the nuance already, be it Hachiken and Ichirou's differences, or how Hachiken watches a piglet continue to pick the disadvantaged position even when it has the option to move forward.
Given as I'm someone who's already relating too much to Hachiken and his implied (but not yet revealed) backstory... given as I'm someone struggling through a life where I worked hard but still didn't win... I highly suspect that Arakawa's Silver Spoon is going to emotionally wreck me down the road.
Like Arakawa's other works, it's full of humor and heart and emotion and love. You can definitely tell it's from the same writer. She's someone I have adored ever since I got into Fullmetal Alchemist, and I suspect I'm going to adore her for this, too. And speaking of. Given as I surmise that many people who are curious about Silver Spoon came from Fullmetal Alchemist... I guess I'll say this much... there's a lot different between Silver Spoon and Fullmetal Alchemist. Fullmetal Alchemist has a fantastical action-packed story skirting death in a nation with a recent history of bloody genocide; you're not going to get that sort of high-stakes adventure with Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon you're going to get a page-sized illustration of piglets or a horse running through the forest. But there's the same heart, the same love, the same tight-woven narrative, the same intentionality, the same emotionality, that's poured into this story, and that's ultimately what makes Arakawa's works so powerful. I say go for it.
I haven't been reading chapter after chapter after chapter of Silver Spoon in a single sitting. While I can easily binge other works, it feels much better to take this a chapter at a time. Go with the easy pace. Soak in every page. Enjoy the words. Enjoy the thoughts. Enjoy the illustrations.
I'm looking forward to continuing this in Volume 2.
May 3, 2022
I bought the first manga of this series out of curiousity and because I saw it here on Goodreads. Normally I don't read a lot of manga novels, but this one was just hilarious. It' set on an agricultural high school where a student, named Hachiken, goes for the first time, because he's tired of being at his school. He goes, without any dream or expectations, to the hands on school. It's sweet and also recognizable to see him struggle with making friends, fitting in and the struggle of always wanting to be the first at everything. Without a knowledge of animals or agriculture, Hachiken does his best to make the best of it. He's brave in making this decision and trying to succeed in it.
I loved the humour and the wise lessons in the book.
I loved the humour and the wise lessons in the book.
January 8, 2019
4.25 stars! This first volume is so pleasant to read, but it also doesn't shy away from the grit required when raising farm animals. It also made me laugh out loud multiple times - I really liked this and will be getting the next volume soon!
August 16, 2020
A really great start to a series. You can feel the themes, relationships and plot being laid out for future development. The manga does not shy away either from the bleak reality of animal exploitation. It will be really interesting to see where this goes.
November 23, 2020
7/10
The book is fun to read for its snappy dialogue and occasional heart warming moments. The art is also great.
I however am not a fan of stories set in school, I find it hard to get invested and having a protagonist I couldn’t bring myself to care about made it that much harder.
The book is fun to read for its snappy dialogue and occasional heart warming moments. The art is also great.
I however am not a fan of stories set in school, I find it hard to get invested and having a protagonist I couldn’t bring myself to care about made it that much harder.
September 18, 2023
Kinda funny but also interesting. I liked learning about farming.
June 18, 2019
This was so perfect. Can't help but see FMA cameos though - some character designs are veeery close :D
January 27, 2021
Pris au hasard sur les rayons mangas, je découvre en lisant d'autres commentaires goodreads que l'autrice de cette série est aussi derrière Full Metal Alchemist, un manga/anime que je n'ai pas encore réellement pris le temps de découvrir, mais dont on m'a mainte fois fait les éloges!
En tout cas: Silver Spoon, c'est drôle. Je n'ai lu que le premier tome, mais il est bien campé dans son milieu rural, avec ses personnages aux caractères, forces et faiblesses différentes -- le personnage principal est plutôt intello, en froid avec sa famille (on ne nous en donne encore que des miettes, le conflit sera probablement dévoilé au fur et à mesure), et ne sait pas encore quel rêve lui permettra d'avancer dans la vie. Dans une école technique où tout le monde est ancré dans le concret, dans les boulots agricoles de famille ou les rêves de découvertes scientifiques ou de carrière vétérinaire, ça détonne. Et c'est relatable, comme on dit.
Le côté agriculture-animaux est un univers à découvrir, et les tranches de quotidien, des chocs et surprises de Yuugo -- il y a matière à s'émerveiller, à reprendre contact avec quelque chose de moins anxiogène, mais aussi l'épuisement physique, et le côté plus froid -- la mort, la nécessité -- pas d'idéalisation, non. Toutefois, on trouve l'humour, la gaieté, la surprise, la camaraderie, et la beauté.
En tout et pour tout: il faudra que je mette bientôt la main sur le tome deux. En espérant qu'il me fasse rire aussi fort que ce premier numéro!
En tout cas: Silver Spoon, c'est drôle. Je n'ai lu que le premier tome, mais il est bien campé dans son milieu rural, avec ses personnages aux caractères, forces et faiblesses différentes -- le personnage principal est plutôt intello, en froid avec sa famille (on ne nous en donne encore que des miettes, le conflit sera probablement dévoilé au fur et à mesure), et ne sait pas encore quel rêve lui permettra d'avancer dans la vie. Dans une école technique où tout le monde est ancré dans le concret, dans les boulots agricoles de famille ou les rêves de découvertes scientifiques ou de carrière vétérinaire, ça détonne. Et c'est relatable, comme on dit.
Le côté agriculture-animaux est un univers à découvrir, et les tranches de quotidien, des chocs et surprises de Yuugo -- il y a matière à s'émerveiller, à reprendre contact avec quelque chose de moins anxiogène, mais aussi l'épuisement physique, et le côté plus froid -- la mort, la nécessité -- pas d'idéalisation, non. Toutefois, on trouve l'humour, la gaieté, la surprise, la camaraderie, et la beauté.
En tout et pour tout: il faudra que je mette bientôt la main sur le tome deux. En espérant qu'il me fasse rire aussi fort que ce premier numéro!
October 20, 2020
Each time I go to my public library, I check the manga section. Since my discovery of Orange, it has been really hard to find some I like.
This one is great, it's not the usual teen crash, but the story of a boy not really knowing what to do with his life and enrolling in an agricultural school, where he thinks it will be easy to be first. He thinks other are luck to know what they will do in life, basically working on their family farm. But life teaches him a few lessons.
I also discovered some things about animals (horses and pigs mostly).
At the very end, he discovers something mysterious, hat ay totally change the nature of next book. We'll see
This one is great, it's not the usual teen crash, but the story of a boy not really knowing what to do with his life and enrolling in an agricultural school, where he thinks it will be easy to be first. He thinks other are luck to know what they will do in life, basically working on their family farm. But life teaches him a few lessons.
I also discovered some things about animals (horses and pigs mostly).
At the very end, he discovers something mysterious, hat ay totally change the nature of next book. We'll see
June 8, 2020
I have never read a manga about agriculture before. I enjoyed it a lot, mostly because of the easy and relaxed (to a point) narrative.
You can tell that Arakawa really does her research on each manga series produced. The art is top notch, especially the animals and machinery.
My favorite part is the horse race! It was REALLY well done!!!
The main character’s attitude is the worst part about this, but I have a feeling that’s going to change drastically.
This does have a graphic depiction of a chicken laying an egg, but it’s super skippable.
Not for everyone, but give it a shot!
You can tell that Arakawa really does her research on each manga series produced. The art is top notch, especially the animals and machinery.
My favorite part is the horse race! It was REALLY well done!!!
The main character’s attitude is the worst part about this, but I have a feeling that’s going to change drastically.
This does have a graphic depiction of a chicken laying an egg, but it’s super skippable.
Not for everyone, but give it a shot!
April 4, 2014
Ahh Hachiken! This manga gives insight into Japan's agricultural sector through the eyes of a boy from the city. A lot of Hachiken's views are similar to mine when it comes to livestock and animals in general. I'd love to hear my father's views on the topics brought up in the manga as he grew up on a pig farm. If nothing else, this manga is entertaining and all the characters are relatable in one form or another.
February 18, 2019
I thought this would be adorable and refreshingly original: a city boy at ag school? And by Arakawa, no less? The art is nice, particularly the animals, but none of the characters really stand out and they fit such worn-out tropes such as "the cute love interest" whose club the main character joins to be near her. Also, there's at least three instances of fat shaming of a large girl who seems to be one of the smarter characters.
Nope.
Nope.
October 16, 2016
This had me laughing super hard. Hachiken is so over dramatic and I love it
May 19, 2019
I love these so much.
May 11, 2022
This was cute, and a lot more intensive than I was expecting, which is awesome! Slice-of-life at an agricultural school. Arakawa gets to draw allllll the critters :)
March 7, 2023
This is pretty funny
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