Silver Spoon (Japanese:銀の匙,Hepburn:Gin no Saji) is a Japanesecoming-of-agemanga series written and illustrated byHiromu Arakawa. It was serialized inShogakukan'sshōnen manga magazineWeekly Shōnen Sunday from April 2011 to November 2019. The story is set in the fictional Ooezo Agricultural High School inHokkaido, and depicts the daily life of Yuugo Hachiken, a high school student fromSapporo who enrolled at Ooezo Agricultural High School fleeing from the demands of his strict father. However, he soon learns that life on an agricultural school is not as easy as he initially believed. Unlike his new classmates, he has no intention of following an agricultural career after graduating, although he envies them for already having set goals for their lives and the pursuit of their dreams.
Ananime television series adaptation produced byA-1 Pictures aired for two seasons between July and September 2013 and January and March 2014 onFuji TV'sNoitamina block. Alive-action film based on the manga produced byToho was released in March 2014.
By February 2020, the manga had over 17 million copies in circulation. It won the fifthManga Taishō in 2012, the 58thShogakukan Manga Award in theshōnen category and the Japan Food Culture Contents Award, both in 2013.
After failing to pass the entrance examinations for the high school he planned to attend, mild-mannered student Yuugo Hachiken moves away from his suburban home and enrolls at the rural Ooezo Agricultural High School (大蝦夷農業高等学校,Ōezo Nōgyō Kōtō Gakkō)—often abbreviated asEzonō (エゾノー; 'Ezo Ag')—in the countryside. His relationship with his family is strained at the start of the story, which influences his decision to attend a school far from home. He continues to worry about his future career over the course of the series. He soon finds himself slowly getting used to his new environment despite some initial struggles, and grows into an empathetic and compassionate individual as he struggles to understand the world of agriculture and how it affects the lives of his new friends.
A city boy fromSapporo. After failing to pass the entrance exams for the high school he plans to attend, Yuugo decided to enroll at Ezo, expecting an easier academic workload. However, he is proven wrong. Due to his strict upbringing by his father, he is unable to refuse when someone needs his help. Despite complaining when he feels that people abuse his generosity, Yuugo quickly earns the friendship and respect of his peers. Yuugo joins the Equestrian Club alongside his classmate Aki and rises to the position of Vice President of the club. Yuugo is usually anxious about his future as, unlike his classmates who already have their goals in life, he is still wondering about what career he should choose. Much of Yuugo's animosity towards his family is a result of being compared to his more successful older brother, Shingo, and the seemingly uncaring hostility of his father. He has a crush on Aki, and they officially start dating after Aki got accepted into university.
Aki is a first-year student who is also a member of the Equestrian Club. As the only child of her family, she entered Ezo to study so that she would inherit her family business—a cow and horse farm specializing in raisingBan'ei race horses. She is wary of Yuugo at first. At first, is friendly and seems easygoing. However, she keeps her desires bottled up and pushes people away from her problems. She has poor grades, though, according to Yuugo, better than Keiji's. Later, her family experiences financial difficulties and is forced to sell all their horses. After this event, Aki confesses her true desires for the future, and—encouraged by Yuugo—expresses her will to work with horses professionally instead of inheriting the farm. She then starts studying (partly because of her poor grades) to enter college with Yuugo as her personal tutor. She slowly develops feelings for Yuugo, and they officially start dating after she gets accepted into university.
One of Yuugo's close friends at Ezo and a skilled baseball player. Ichiro is Aki's childhood friend and neighbor which is initially a source of jealousy for Yuugo. Ichiro dreams of becoming a professional baseball player to earn money to improve his family's small dairy farm. However, his family goes bankrupt and their farm is sold to pay their debt. As a result, he is forced to quit Ezo and look for a job to make ends meet and support his mother and sisters.
Another close friend of Yuugo, Shinnosuke aims to become a veterinarian after graduation. His goal, however, is complicated by his tendency to faint at the sight of blood. He is a member of theHolstein Club.
A wealthy classmate of Yuugo whose family runs a huge industrial farm. She is usually an obese girl, but she hides under the extra fat a quite beautiful figure that reveals itself occasionally when she works too hard or goes on a quick diet. However, she has to regain her weight because she feels weak when she is thinner. Obsessed with money, Tamako's goal is to take over her family's farm (humorously depicted as a "hostile takeover" by her parents), and expand it and make it more profitable.
A close friend of Yuugo who has a talent of getting himself in trouble due to his difficulty studying (which has humorously become Yuugo's means of gauging Aki's and even his dog Vice President's learning abilities) and his habit of jumping to conclusions, much to his friends' chagrin--even putting Yuugo and Mayumi in the hot seat once. His family owns a chicken farm.
A close friend of Yuugo who is a hugeotaku. He is sensible and mature and often gives Yuugo good advice. He cares for his friends and is very intelligent, knowing a lot about the crops and their economic value, and technology. He hopes to attend a college of university in Tokyo, mainly because, as he claims, Tokyo is the land of otaku.
An aristocratic girl to a vast agriculture fortune and childhood rival to Aki Mikage. She often gets Hachiken's name wrong by replacing theHachi (8) part of his name with different numbers, calling him "Shichiken" (7) and "Jūhachiken" (18). In the anime, she came to Ezo late in the second season (to fill up the slot vacated by Ichiro), but she is in Ezo from the beginning in the movie.
A first year student and Yuugo's roommate. He will often help out Yuugo, such as the doing the chores he forgot about. He is in the Food Sciences program.
Yuugo's older brother who managed to get accepted to theUniversity of Tokyo, the most prestigious university in Japan. However, Shingo later quit once he realized his father's dream was to have one of his sons accepted there. He decides to pursue his own dream of becoming a great cook, and travels the country in hisunderbone bike to perfect his cooking skills, often with humorously questionable results. He often drops by Ezo unannounced to check on Yuugo, since Yuugo usually refuses to talk with his family. Shingo is carefree and outgoing which is often a source of animosity from Yuugo, but he becomes a little more responsible after marrying Alexandra, a young Russian girl he meets during his travels.
After the completion of her successful fantasy seriesFullmetal Alchemist, authorHiromu Arakawa and her publisherShogakukan agreed that she should begin the more realisticSilver Spoon as a way to challenge herself as a manga artist and recruit new readers.[5] Having grown up in arural setting, many elements of the manga are drawn from Arakawa's experiences in her youth. For instance, characters such as thepiggery teacher Ichiko Fuji and members of theHolstein fanclub are based on individuals she knew in her high school.[5] Though the story contains matters like the protagonist Yuugo Hachiken's ethical dilemma overanimal slaughter, Arakawa insistsSilver Spoon is not a "green" manga. She states that she simply wants to tell the story of a high schooler's maturation, similar to howFullmetal Alchemist focuses on the development of the main characterEdward Elric rather than promotingalchemy.[5]
Silver Spoon began its publication inWeekly Shōnen Sunday on April 6, 2011.[6] It was serialized regularly until August 2014 when Arakawa announced she would slow the pace of producing new chapters of the manga so that she could care for a family member in declining health.[7] After an eight-month hiatus, the manga briefly resumed in April 2015 until another short hiatus was announced the following month.[8][9] After the release of the manga's 13th volume, the author announced its "imminent" conclusion. She later explained that she had originally planned to depict Yuugo's first year at Ooezo in detail, followed by rushed second year and shortened third year, and his eventual life after graduation.[10] In 2016, new chapters were published from January to February and August to September.[11][12][13] The manga went on hiatus in July 2017, after three chapters were published.[14][15] Four chapters were published between May and June 2018.[16][17] The four last chapters were published from November 6–27, 2019.[18][19][20][21][22]
Influenced by Arakawa's own life experience, as she was raised in a dairy farm in Hokkaido,Silver Spoon started inShogakukan'sshōnen manga magazineWeekly Shōnen Sunday magazine on April 6, 2011. It became one of the magazine's main features not long after.[23] The manga finished on November 27, 2019.[20][21] Its individual chapters were collected in 15tankōbon volumes, released from July 15, 2011, to February 18, 2020.[24][25]
The manga has been licensed for English-language release in Singapore byShogakukan Asia,[26] while in North America,Yen Press announced the acquisition of the manga in July 2017 and published the volumes between February 27, 2018, and September 22, 2020.[27][28][29]
An anime television series produced byA-1 Pictures aired for eleven episodes from July 12 to September 20, 2013.[57][58][a]Tomohiko Itō directed the series with assistant director Kotomi Deai.Taku Kishimoto wrote the scripts, while Jun Nakai served as character designer and chief animation director, and Shusei Murai scored the music. A second season aired from January 10 to March 28, 2014.[60][61][62][63][b] For the first season, the opening theme is "Kiss you" byMiwa, while the ending theme is "Hello Especially" bySukima Switch.[65] For the second season, the opening theme is "Life" byFujifabric and the ending theme is "Oto no Naru Hō e" by Goose House.[66]
The anime has been licensed byAniplex of America for streaming and home video in North America. Aniplex of America released the first season on DVD on July 15, 2014,[67] and the second on December 16 of that same year.[68]
"Welcome to Ezo Ag" Transliteration: "Ezonō e, yōkoso" (Japanese:エゾノーへ、ようこそ)
Tomohiko Itō
July 12, 2013 (2013-07-12)
Running away from home, Yuugo Hachiken leaves the urban life at Sapporo to enroll at the Ooezo Agricultural High School and it does not take long for him to learn that adapting himself to his new environment will not be easy.
2
"Hachiken Rides a Horse" Transliteration: "Hachiken, uma ni noru" (Japanese:八軒、馬に乗る)
Ho Pyeon-gang
July 19, 2013 (2013-07-19)
Getting used to his new environment, Hachiken must enroll at one of the school clubs according to the curriculum, and encouraged by his classmate Aki Mikage, he ends up joining her at the equestrian club. However, he spends the day doing menial tasks like cleaning the stables and just when he is starting to regret his decision, he is invited to experience the joy of riding a horse for the first time.
3
"Hachiken Meets Pork Bowl" Transliteration: "Hachiken, butadon to deau" (Japanese:八軒、豚丼と出会う)
Kazuo Nogami
July 26, 2013 (2013-07-26)
With most of the students on leave at Golden Week, Hachiken, Mikage and their classmate Ichiro Komaba watch aBan'ei horse race together, and despite the horse bred at Mikage's farm do not win, she gets some relief learning that he gets well placed enough to have a chance of not being killed for livestock. After returning to the school, Hachiken pities a piglet that is the weakest and smallest among its siblings and, giving it the nickname "Pork-Bowl," decides to take care of it, just to later know that it will be sent to the slaughterhouse in three months.
4
"Hachiken Bakes Pizza" Transliteration: "Hachiken, piza o yaku" (Japanese:八軒、ピザを焼く)
Yasuo Muroi
August 2, 2013 (2013-08-02)
During the regular campus cleanup, Hachiken stumbles upon an abandoned brick oven (which was later revealed to be owned by the School Headmaster) and his classmates convince him to make pizza with it, as most of them never ate one before. As Hachiken and his friends gather the necessary supplies and ingredients throughout the campus, a teacher from his old school in Sapporo drops at Ezo to check on him.
The boys take heed of a certain special event to be held at night and come with a plan to slip past curfew to get a glimpse of it. Having no idea about what is it or why his classmates are so pumped up with it, Hachiken ends up dragged along in their scheme.
6
"Hachiken Stays with the Mikages" Transliteration: "Hachiken, Mikage-ke ni iku" (Japanese:八軒、御影家に行く)
Kotomi Deai
August 16, 2013 (2013-08-16)
Learning that the dorms will be closed for summer vacation but refusing to return home, Hachiken accepts Mikage's offer to work at her family's farm. However, once realizing that he has not notified his parents about it, he looks for a place with cellphone signal until he gets lost and is rescued by Komaba. In the events that followed, he got to dress his first deer as a result.
Hachiken and Mikage take a break from work and pay a visit to Giga Farm, a huge industrial farm that belongs to their classmate Tamako Inada's family. In the occasion, Hachiken learns about the rather harsh reality of the animals living there and realizes Mikage's worries about her family's expectations for her future.
8
"Hachiken Makes a Huge Mistake" Transliteration: "Hachiken, dai shittai o enjiru" (Japanese:八軒、大失態を演じる)
Kiyoshi Murayama
August 30, 2013 (2013-08-30)
Hachiken's older brother Shingo pays a visit at the Mikage farm to check on him, much to his young brother's chagrin. Just as his part-time job is about to finish, Hachiken's carelessness leads to damage to the farm. Wanting to take responsibility for the accident, he refuses to be paid for his work. However, he is convinced by the Mikages to accept payment as they consider that all the help he provided them during these three weeks were worth it, despite what happened.
9
"Hachiken Hesitates over Pork Bowl" Transliteration: "Hachiken, butadon ni mayou" (Japanese:八軒、豚丼に迷う)
Tomotaka Shibayama
September 6, 2013 (2013-09-06)
Back from summer break, Hachiken learns that Pork-Bowl has not grown as much as its peers and takes extra measures to ensure that it gains weight faster, even knowing that this will make things even more painful for him when the time comes to part with it.
10
"Hachiken Says Goodbye to Pork Bowl" Transliteration: "Hachiken, butadon to wakareru" (Japanese:八軒、豚丼と別れる)
Tomohiko Itō
September 13, 2013 (2013-09-13)
The time has come for Pork-Bowl to be sent to the slaughterhouse and Hachiken decides to make use of the money he earned during summer vacation to buy all its meat. After the meat is delivered to him, Hachiken's friends come with several ideas about what to do with it. He decided to turn 50 kilos of the meat into bacon.
11
"Take Off Running, Hachiken" Transliteration: "Hashiridase, Hachiken" (Japanese:走り出せ、八軒)
Kotomi Deai
September 20, 2013 (2013-09-20)
The bacon Hachiken prepared with Pork-Bowl's meat becomes a fad among the students and it does not take long for it to run out. As Komaba plays in the local baseball team aiming for the nationals, his friends come to the stadium to cheer for him and Hachiken realizes that six months has passed since he enrolled in Ezo Ag and, unlike his friends, he still has not decided what path he should take in life.
"Hachiken Becomes the Club Vice President" Transliteration: "Hachiken, fukubuchō ni naru" (Japanese:八軒、副部長になる)
Jun Soga
January 10, 2014 (2014-01-10)
The seniors from the Equestrian Club appoint Hachiken as the new vice-president against his will. Troubled about it, he later witnesses Mikage crying after having a serious conversation with Komaba and can't stop worrying about them as well, even after they tell him to forget about it.
2
"Hachiken Adopts Vice Prez" Transliteration: "Hachiken, fukubuchō o hirou" (Japanese:八軒、副ぶちょーを拾う)
Yasuhiro Geshi
January 17, 2014 (2014-01-17)
Hachiken finds an abandoned puppy during campus clean-up and decides to adopt it. However, taking care of his new pet is not an easy task, as he not only needs money for vaccines and registration, but has to train it (the food bill is thanks to a donation box Tokiwa attached to his collar). Yoshino and everyone in the Equestrian Club temporarily named the puppy "Fukubucho no Inu" ("The Vice President's Dog"), which, by the next day, was shortened to just "Fukubucho" ("Vice President"), with hilarious results for Hachiken, THE Equestrian Club vice-president. Also in this episode, Hachiken injures himself after trying to save Komaba from getting pinned by a cow that slipped on some manure.
The newbies from the Equestrian Club have their first jump class, but Hachiken is the only one who fails to have his horse jump an obstacle, bringing some unpleasant memories of his past to surface. Claiming that it needs more than words to have him figure out the reason why, Mikage takes him to a jumping competition.
Hachiken participates in his first official jumping competition, where he finished fourth in his category (with Maron). In the occasion he and Mikage have a short meeting with Ayame Minamikujō, Mikage's childhood friend and self-proclaimed rival, and is startled when meeting his brother again by surprise.
5
"Hachiken Has His Hands Full" Transliteration: "Hachiken, ōwarawa" (Japanese:八軒、大わらわ)
Hiroki Negishi
February 7, 2014 (2014-02-07)
With the Ezo Ag Festival fast approaching, the Equestrian Club begins work on Ban'ei horse racing track, despite Hachiken tasking himself with way too much work. Afterwards Hachiken takes initiative and asks Mikage out on a date and his feelings for her are revealed by her friends. However, on the morning of the festival, Hachiken suddenly collapses on the race track.
6
"Mikage Gives It Her All" Transliteration: "Mikage, funtō su" (Japanese:御影、奮闘す)
Yasuhito Nishikata
February 14, 2014 (2014-02-14)
Hachiken wakes up at the hospital and comes face to face with his father, who wastes no time blaming the Ezo Ag institution for Hachiken's fatigue. Meanwhile, Mikage and the Equestrian Club work their hardest to make the festival a success and praise Hachiken for all his hard work upon his return.
7
"Komaba Takes The Mound" Transliteration: "Komaba, maundo ni tatsu" (Japanese:駒場、マウンドに立つ)
Ken Andō
February 28, 2014 (2014-02-28)
The time has come for the Regional Baseball Championship and the students cheer for Ezo Ag's team, hoping for them to reach the National tournament, specially for Komaba who is one of the team's highlights.
Hachiken discovers that Komaba has lost not only the Championship, but the last chance for him to settle the debts of his farm and is forced to quit school and look for a job to help at home. Despite knowing that there is not anything he can do about it, Hachiken can't bear to accept the fact that Komaba was forced to give up on his ambitions before he could even get the chance to fight for them.
9
"The Last Milk" Transliteration: "Saigo no gyūnyū" (Japanese:最後の牛乳)
Shunsuke Machiya
March 14, 2014 (2014-03-14)
Despite knowing that there is nothing he could do for Komaba's sake, Hachiken claims to Mikage that it is fine for them to rely on him and they pay a visit at Komaba's farm to pay their respects as all their cows are seized to pay for their debt. However, with her father being a co-guarantor of the Komaba farm's loan, Mikage's farm is also in difficulties and when they are forced to sell all their horses, she comes with an important decision with Hachiken's support.
Determined to follow her dream of working with horses, Mikage is allowed to work under her uncle instead of inheriting her father's farm under the condition of making into college and Hachiken agrees to help her.
11
"Over and Over Again" Transliteration: "Nandodemo" (Japanese:何度でも)
Kotomi Deai
March 28, 2014 (2014-03-28)
Hachiken returns home to Sapporo to obtain his brother's study guides for Mikage and has a frustratingly insightful encounter with his father. Afterwards Hachiken's mother visits Ezo Ag to better understand the school he chose and leaves knowing that he is growing into a better person. Finally, as the winter season approaches, Hachiken and his friends begin planning their respective futures.
Alive-action film based on the manga was officially announced in the Nikkan Sports and Sports Nippon newspapers on August 7, 2013.Kento Nakajima played Yuugo Hachiken, withAlice Hirose as Aki Mikage and Tomohiro Ichikawa as Ichiro Komaba.[69] The film was directed byKeisuke Yoshida, with the production companiesTBS and Wilco and the distributorToho.[70] It premiered in Tokyo on March 7, 2014,[71] and was also shown at theJapan Film Festival of San Francisco on July 22, 2014.[72] The film's theme song is "Hidamari", performed byYuzu.[73][71] Iwasawa Koji wrote and composed the song for the movie.[71]
Since its first volume,Silver Spoon had been well received by readers. It became the fastest Shogakukan title at the time to reach the mark of one million first printing copies, a year and three months after the manga was launched.[74] According to Oricon, it was also the seventh best-selling manga in Japan in 2012.[75] By October 2013 it has sold 12 million copies in Japan.[76] By 2014 the series has sold over 15 million copies in Japan.[77] By July, 2017, the manga had over 16 million copies in print.[78] By February 2020, the manga had over 17 million copies in print.[79]
Silver Spoon ranked second on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics" by the Honya Club website in 2012.[80]Silver Spoon won the fifthManga Taishō Award's Grand Prize in 2012,[81] and the 58thShogakukan Manga Award (shōnen category) in 2013.[82] In 2013Silver Spoon won the first Japan Food Culture Contents Award.[83] It was one of nine nominees for the 19th annualTezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2015.[84]
Publishers Weekly concluded that the work is "a side of Japanese high school life seldom seen in manga, making for an irresistible series."[85]Barnes & Noble listedSilver Spoon on their list of "Our Favorite Manga of 2018".[86]
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