Sidekick’s First Impression
Of all the sequels coming out this Winter season, Silver Spoon’s one was the one I was most excited for. Season 1 had a surprisingly solid final episode (that made me tear up a bit) for a split-cour series, but there are so many plot threads the series still can resolve in this second season. So how did the first episode fare?
I gotta say, out of all the premiere episodes for the Winter season this was the best one so far. It’s still nothing absolutely mindblowing like say, Kill La Kill of course, but Silver Spoon isn’t that kind of series. It’s just a great take on a coming-of-age, fish out of water story done to death in anime. Like, a really great take.
This episode wastes no time and starts off with a sequence to give us a little refresher on Hachiken’s life at agriculture school, no recaps, just a short sequence on his life and schedule. And it delivered a tiny joke at the end. I laughed. Only then did I realise how much I missed this series, really :’-) Afterwards we see how he becomes appointed as the new vice-president of the Equestrian club as the third-years retire. It’s quite a surprise for Hachiken, since he expected Mikage who is far more skilled in horse-riding to be elected, but the third-years tell him that they trusted him the most, and that Mikage, while a nice girl, always distances herself from others.
This highlights one of the strong points of Silver Spoon – the characters. Hachiken in particular is a wonderful protagonist – he doesn’t know how special he is. He doesn’t know what he wants to be for others, and for himself. He just experiences everything about farm life, and his experiences and responses change him and the people around him. The seniors, too, said that they ‘trusted him’, and that he would be most capable when it came to getting others to talk about their problems and helping them feel better.
This brings us to the second part of this episode – the Mikage/Komaba drama. We all know Hachiken has a major crush on Mikage (the hilarious bra joke at the beginning of the episode just solidifies this), but despite being friends it seems that Mikage has never been truly open with Hachiken about herself, her feelings and all that. Hachiken was always just scratching at the surface. So when Hachiken sees Mikage and Komaba (the two close childhood friends) share a pretty serious secret issue of sorts (with Mikage in tears no less) and Hachiken only gets the “it doesn’t involve you” shtick it hurts. A lot. Especially after the seniors tell him that he is able to make people feel at ease to talk to him and trust him.
We also see how Hachiken is so ridiculously happy to know his Dad back home enjoyed the bacon he sent. The father/son relationship between these two has never been fantastic, and I’m almost certain this season will focus more on Hachiken’s family issues. His sibling rivalry of sorts with his older brother, and his father’s stern and cold relationship with Hachiken. I’m sure Hachiken’s continued development and finding of himself will eventually cross paths with this family plot thread.
The aesthetics of Silver Spoon remain unchanged from the first season. Music is alright, but nothing spectacular, same as the visuals. I have to admit I was hoping that with the change in director the series would at least have better art direction, but not getting that is alright. As long as the animation does its job I guess. The OP is fine too, but I especially enjoy the new ED, it’s really nice (although I think I enjoy S1’s more). Also, it could just be me, but I laughed way more than I normally do watching Silver Spoon. Is the comedic timing actually improving? Or are the jokes just getting better? Either way, the comedy in this first episode was pretty damn enjoyable, and the drama was well-written with great, natural dialogue as well. I think it’s safe to say Silver Spoon’s made a triumphant return. I’m glad it’s back!
Possibility of Watching: Definitely!
Possibility of Blogging: Yep, this is what I’ll be blogging, along with Samumenco. The 2 noitamina series of the season!
I’m with you on this, Silver Spoon S2’s premiere was much better than all the others, although it was more like a direct continuation than a new series, so they didn’t have to go through introductions etc. It got me engrossed right away – and man that bra joke at the beginning was brilliant (and so were Hachiken’s facial expressions). I had forgotten how much I loved this series, and how well it can present normal things in such an interesting way. For me, this is pretty much tying with KLK as favourite.
Yeah, I think I took it for granted when it first came out in Summer…this current season’s been pretty sparse with quality anime so having Silver Spoon back was a godsend. That bra joke tho. I didn’t think I’d laugh THAT hard.
(nothing can beat kill la kill for me though :p)