Silver Spoon First Impression by Hitmage

Streaming Allegiance – Crunchyroll
Reconnaissance Report by – Hitmage
Progress – Episode 1


silverspoonHere we go again with another first impression! This time it’s Gin no Saji, or Silver Spoon. This one had me pretty interested just because of the premise itself, and I’m pretty intrigued by it. It’s about a boy who goes to an agricultural boarding school in rural Japan, something that you really don’t see too often. Along the way he makes new friends and has to prove that he really can be cut out for the hard work of country life, with plenty of laughs along the way.

Brief Synopsis: The episode starts with our protagonist, Yugo Hachiken, a first year high school student from Sapporo who decided to leave city life behind and go to school in Ezo. Already I find this interesting because it’s set in northern Japan, a place you don’t hear about too much. After an amusing encounter with a calf, meeting a girl on a horse, and getting his bearings, Yugo gets to discover some of the grim realities of farm life, and more importantly, food. This actually surprised me, I didn’t think they were going to go into a chicken being slaughtered, or where eggs come from. On top of that, it was followed by Yugo’s criticism of modern farming practices. With the humor aside, it was actually kind of refreshing to see some kind of commentary on the subject of the anime, as this piece of fiction does have some basis in the reality of agricultural production.

Characters: The characters in this one are pretty good. I like how absolutely out of place the “city boy” protagonist is, and one thing that helps contrast him is how his ambitions and goals don’t match the other students, who already have family ties to the agricultural industry. I’m curious to see how he interacts with the others, and how he develops in this new setting. His love interest seems pretty cute as well.

Art: The art is very bright and colorful, and I love how the animals are drawn, they’re my favorite part of it. The art is unique enough to have its own clearly defined style, but I really gotta emphasize the animals. They just really stood out to me. The backgrounds and scenery were lovely, with deep green grass and tall trees, and a bright blue sky. I really enjoyed it.

Overall: 7/10 I still gotta see where this one goes, but I think it’s gonna grow on me. I wonder if they’ll go more into the themes of modern farming or something, as that could get pretty good. It made a good first impression, let’s see if it can keep up.