12 Days of Christmas: Echoes of Reality in “Silver Spoon”

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What a series…Okay, Silver Spoon is definitely not a revolutionary anime, but it is a simple coming of age tale. A slice of life story that I would have definitely have enjoyed if I were 10+ years younger.

Hachiken finds himself burnt out by exams and makes a life altering decision to move to the boonies, where he attends an agricultural school. He becomes surrounded by classmates that basically are expected to inherit family agricultural businesses and farms.

Being an urban kid, this is definitely different, and his experiences of being thrown in as a new kid makes this one of my top anime for 2013. In my own life, I have learned that trying to gain employment in my chosen career field is difficult, with bittersweet temporary working periods. Knowing about Hachiken as he makes his life choices makes me feel like we are comrades. Hence my choice for this screencap, since he realizes that reality is not that easy, nor is it fun and games.

There is going to be a second season next year and as I wait, I know that I can relish memories of the first season, when there was a pizza party episode, his first road kill, curing Tonkatsu and watching little moments for his sparks of awareness.

Author: Linda

Linda is a life long fan of anime, and dabbles in a lot of things. She writes with a tentative neutral voice.. and as for that three year anime blogging mark, she tries to defy that as she is gaining a voice in other mediums ie: Twitter. Find her at other places online. "They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." -Terry Pratchett

2 thoughts on “12 Days of Christmas: Echoes of Reality in “Silver Spoon”

  1. Yes, I love this anime. This coincides with recent agriculture boom among Japanese youth. Urban youth is directly affect by post-bubble economy, lost decades syndrome, but I realized thru this anime that kids from remote Hokkaido farm land are different. Now I realize hikikomori, NEET, kimo-ota are urban phenomenon, also Akiba culture too. I was also thinking of moving away very far from Tokyo, but instead of Hokkaido, came to America, thousands miles far.
    Nichijo (日常) in farm school itself is hi-nichijo (非日常, non-ordinary life) to us. Yes, extraordinary, while to farm kids, it’s ordinary. And that culture shock was really fun. So, it was really a good anime.

  2. Living in the countryside is definitely not easy, especially for the boredom, but it can be a lot of fun. Sounds like an interesting watch.

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