Review: Gin no Saji

"Please don't eat my hand. Please don't eat my hand.Please don't eat my hand. Please don't eat my hand."

3ET: Gin no Saji

Review Scale

Warning: the following review contains SPOILERS and farm waste. More specifically, horse shit.


I'm going to take a moment to explain why this is a review for all of Gin no Saji (Silver Spoon), even though most web sites split the series into separate shows. Their reasoning makes sense, there was a break in between the two seasons, therefore the two seasons are different shows. In my mind, though, it's two parts of the same show. My reasoning is that the production team know back when they were making part one for Summer 2013 that they would be making a part two for Winter 2014. Therefore, it's should be treated like one show. It's the same reasoning I have for other split-cour shows like Fate/Zero or Kakumeiki Valvrave. Sequels that start production after the first season of a show is completed (that is, most sequels) get treated as separate shows. And so ends my little explanation, and now on to the actual review of Gin no Saji.

When I picked up this show last summer, it was because I felt it would be a good investment of time into a show based on a work a great manga artist (Arakawa Hiromu of FullMetal Alchemist fame). The story of Hachiken Yugo going to an agricultural high school to escape is family grabbed my attention. I felt his journey of trying to find himself among a bunch of farm kids and animals had a lot of dramatic potential. And, in my personal opinion, I think it delivered. It has its rough spots, but it effectively tells its story, and that's more that a lot of shows can say.

Don't be a bitch, man. That roadkill deer ain't gonna skin itself.

The first half of Gin no Saji takes place as the main character, Yugo, learns all about farming. The farming education for Yugo (and hence the audience) is the strongest part of this half of the show. Arakawa's knowledge of farming, almost certainly coming from her growing up on a dairy farm, translates well from the source material to the screen. Not only do the characters get to enjoy the fresh food (to the point that it is practically an ad campaign for your local fresh produce market), but the show takes a matter-of-fact approach to meat production. Yugo's relationship with a pig he raises from piglet, which he names "Butadon (Pork Bowl)", is the best part of the season. It's a strong statement that those who raise animals on small farms for meat still love and care for the animals. And that sentiment goes for the chickens who lay eggs and the cows who produce milk. It's almost certainly an idealized form of food production, but it's an ideal that I'd feel comfortable trying to achieve [insert 10,000 word rant about corporate food conglomorates here].

The second half though, has the real meat of the story. Because, the farm life drama takes a back seat to real life drama. And it's not just the main characters, but the side characters who get some development as well. My favorite is Komaba, a talented pitcher who dreams of being scouted by a professional team so he can take care of his family. When his team comes up short of the Japanese Nationals, he is forced to leave school to take a job to pay the family's debts, and to get his younger sisters into college. In the best scene, after the cows on his family's farm have been sold, Yugo and Aki, who were there to help the final cleanup of the farm, drink the last of the milk that would ever be produced on his farm. It was a simple scene, but it was really sad, as it seemed to mark the end of his dreams.

For the record, I would watch a sequel spinoff where Komaba tries to join
a Japanese baseball team from their equivalent of a beer league.

My main concern for Gin no Saji was that Aki, the main female in the show, wouldn't have that much development. Thankfully, I was wrong. Throughout the show, Aki is shown to have a love for horses, and yet she is being forced onto a track where she takes up her family's farm after high school. She is finally able to stand up for herself near the end of the series, telling her family that she is going to find a job where she can work with horses, as that is her passion and what she wants to do with her life. She is only able to do this with the help of Yugo, is is there with her. I liked this arc because it brought Aki and Yugo closer in a natural way, and the resolution makes it almost a certainty that the two will become an item. And the rest of the cast agrees with me, which counts for something. I think.

Then there is our main character, Yugo. Most of the time, he's pretty cool. He uses his knack for studying to help his friends, who in turn teach him about the world of farming. His friends also provide a good ... for him, as they know what they will be doing with their lives, and he has no idea. It's a good example of showing what adolescence is like for a lot of people. However, when he gets all angsty towards his family, I got annoyed with him. I understand the animosity towards his stern father, who doesn't see Yugo as anything unless he meets some standard of "success". I can even see how his brother's decision to go off on his own makes him jealous to the point of not wanting to have any contact with him. But, seriously Yugo, don't be a dick to your mom. Especially when she is trying to support you after passing out from exhaustion due to helping everyone out with everything all of the time. That makes you look like a petulant child, and makes me kind of hate you.

Yeah, you heard me. You acted like a petulant child.

Thankfully, all of the family drama gets resolved at the end. Yugo is helping Aki study for college entrance exams, so he goes home to pick up some of his brother's study materials. He runs into his parents at the house, and ends up having a meal with them. After his father says some of his usual crap that finally sets Yugo off, he storms out of the house, after finally standing up to his father (complete with the Japanese equivalent of dropping the mic, clearing his dishes from the table). Then his mother comes out to the school, and they finally make up. She apologizes for lying to him about his father liking the smoked remains of Butadon that Yugo sent to him. And he forgives her. The other thing about this trip that is really effective is when he runs into some friends from middle school. As he tells them about his life at his school, they are shocked at what Yugo is doing (riding horses, driving tractors, etc), which says how the old Yugo wouldn't have done those things. Moments like this, in addition to him actually saying no to someone so he can help Aki study, help illustrate his development over the course of the show. Even if both of those scenes ended with attempts at comedy that only sort of hit for me.

And Gin no Saji's repeated attempts at comedy are the only thing that consistently brought the show down for me. For a show that is so rooted in reality, the violent slapstick gags were really jarring, especially when the didn't hit. And they didn't hit that often. There was also a completely useless and annoying character introduced in the second half. I'm not interested in looking up her name, but she was the blonde girl with drill hair who existed just to laugh obnoxiously and prance around on her horse. Thank for that, guys, that was totally worth your time.

No. Just go away.

But, other than those things, this was a good show. Looking back, everything was written to lead up to this ending, a sign that someone knew what they were doing. The ending resolves some major issues and leaves the characters in a place where they have some idea of where they are going. At the same time, things aren't wrapped up in a bow, and the characters still have long way to go on their journey to reach their goals. I'd be happy to return to their story at some point, but if that doesn't happen, I'm fine where it leaves off. And besides, there's always the manga. Now, I just need to learn how to read.

Final Score: 7/10