Gin no Saji

[Claies]

Gin no Saji
Hiromu Arakawa
Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-Life

Yup, it's her. A year after wrapping up the action series FMA and Juushinenbu, she started writing this completely different thing.

It's about a young teenager attending an agricultural school in Hokkaido, which has some reference to Arakawa's own upbringing. The usual hallmarks of Arakawa's style are all there - well-composed dialogue, whimsical twists in artistic style for comedy, and good character development. It's also a rare slice-of-life series to come in full 20-page, non-4koma format.

Right now it looks like she either doesn't quite have a goal for this series beyond slice-of-life or is fleshing it out behind the scenes.

[solomon]

I really like it, Arakawa-sensei being from rural hokkaido is knowledgable about this stuff so you can really see the thought and love she put into the story.

[solomon]

Dude am I the only one reading this? This manga is tits! Great slice of life story.

And it's nice to get away for the center of the known universe (I.E. Tokyo) for once.

[Shiroth]

I've just read the first chapter, and i'm rather impressed. Arakawa's life experiences really shine here, so i say it's about time she wrote such a story. At the moment i'm not bothered where this goes, i just hope for each chapter to be charming as the first.

Plus it has typical Fullmetal Alchemist humour, which i love so much.

[Grey]

I read it. But it's so laid-back there's not much to say.

[kuroishinigami]

This is one of my favorite weekly running series for now, but like the above poster said, there's not much to talk about. I mean, the only mystery worth discussing that's still going on in the series so far seems to be Hachiken's past.

[Shiroth]

I just wish we had more people reading Silver Spoon, especially the FMA fans who would really appreciate the writing and humour. Shame they're too busy bashing it because of it's setting and story.

[Irenicus]

^Eh, it's probably the same crowd that'll bash everything she produces that isn't an FMA continuation of some kind.

I agree with others here though, it's nice and all, but there's not much to discuss.

...I guess we could talk about pizza. I used to hate it you know, especially that horrible "pepperoni" fat and ketchup horror show Americans call pizza*. Then I once ate real, fresh Italian pizza, with tomato so fresh you'd think they just picked it off a garden, and I saw the light. Gods did I see the light.

So I was happy to see city boy cook up fresh, real pizza for everyone.

*real NYC pizza exempted*

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

^Eh, it's probably the same crowd that'll bash everything she produces that isn't an FMA continuation of some kind.

Pretty much. A few of them seem to give Silver Spoon a chance though.

I'm really excited to see what the new set-up will bring. Seriously need chapter 12.

[yongshun]

I did not know Armstrong is a member of the staff at this school. Wonder what class he teaches

[Nightengale]

I highly enjoy Silver Spoon. But really... as mentioned, there's nothing really much to discuss about it. Despite already having 11 chapters and what I would say... relatively decent character development in that short amount of chapters, it has really only scratched the surface of the character drama that Silver Spoon is heading towards.

If there was one complaint I have on Silver Spoon... it is that I really wish it could have more 'info-dumping' at times. Part of the charm of such a manga is absorbing all the new things you've only known as a general knowledge or as a textbook/wikipedia material in a 'day-by-days' livelihood fashion.

Just a little bit more though. Frankly, I'm also enjoying how naturalistic the pace of the story is, without forcing too much "AGRICULTURE FOR IDIOTS 101"...

So I'm as conflicted as the fact that pigs taste so good.

[yongshun]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

I highly enjoy Silver Spoon. But really... as mentioned, there's nothing really much to discuss about it. Despite already having 11 chapters and what I would say... relatively decent character development in that short amount of chapters, it has really only scratched the surface of the character drama that Silver Spoon is heading towards.

If there was one complaint I have on Silver Spoon... it is that I really wish it could have more 'info-dumping' at times. Part of the charm of such a manga is absorbing all the new things you've only known as a general knowledge or as a textbook/wikipedia material in a 'day-by-days' livelihood fashion.

Just a little bit more though. Frankly, I'm also enjoying how naturalistic the pace of the story is, without forcing too much "AGRICULTURE FOR IDIOTS 101"...

So I'm as conflicted as the fact that pigs taste so good.

I think manga has an assumption that average reader of this have really basic knowledge of where and how food gets to their plate/bowl

[Grey]

I love the callback to "None of the farms have decent cellphone reception". Cute joke setup.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

If there was one complaint I have on Silver Spoon... it is that I really wish it could have more 'info-dumping' at times. Part of the charm of such a manga is absorbing all the new things you've only known as a general knowledge or as a textbook/wikipedia material in a 'day-by-days' livelihood fashion.

Personally i think too much info-dumping would destroy the nice pace this story has going for it. Example would be if more was added to the creation of the pizza story. There was just enough to learn about it's background, and enjoy the build up of the pizza.

I hope this is one manga Arakawa-sensei plans to do for quite a while, because there's so much that could be done. It's pretty obvious how it will end, though the adventure to that point should be quality.

[Nightengale]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Personally i think too much info-dumping would destroy the nice pace this story has going for it. Example would be if more was added to the creation of the pizza story. There was just enough to learn about it's background, and enjoy the build up of the pizza.

I hope this is one manga Arakawa-sensei plans to do for quite a while, because there's so much that could be done. It's pretty obvious how it will end, though the adventure to that point should be quality.

That's the thing. I would like more info-dumping because I enjoy learning new things from the manga I read ( eg. Moyashimon, Bakuman ) but at the same time, it's paced rather nicely as it is at the moment.

That's why I said that with Silver Spoon, I'm as conflicted as Hachiken is on 'damn, why must pigs taste so good?' as I am conflicted with damn, I want more Agriculture 101... but why must the pacing be so good?

Though personally, it hasn't bothered me because being Chinese, pork is consumed regularly.

[Shiroth]

Chapter 12 was pretty good. Hachiken isn't used to seeing such a happy family set-up, so that was pretty nice. Yet another flashback to add to the growing collection. Do wonder how long it will be before we see a full flashback chapter.

Was i the only one that fell for the joke at the end with the mobile phone?

[Procrastinator_CA]

Chapter 14 was fun. Hachiken got to meet the Kobama family.

I have a feeling that Hachiken is about to snap and go butcherin'! Things may get really bloody and gory!

And I never knew you can hunt with a pick-up truck...using it as the weapon!

[yongshun]

Originally Posted by Procrastinator_CA

Chapter 14 was fun. Hachiken got to meet the Kobama family.

I have a feeling that Hachiken is about to snap and go butcherin'! Things may get really bloody and gory!

And I never knew you can hunt with a pick-up truck...using it as the weapon!

yeah you can it called the "I dont care if I need thousands of dollars to repair my vehicle" method.

[Procrastinator_CA]

Originally Posted by yongshun

yeah you can it called the "I dont care if I need thousands of dollars to repair my vehicle" method.

And I'd bet Mikage-ojiisan and Komaba would say:

"Why spend tens of thousands of yen when I can repair it myself?"

[Shiroth]

That deer had such a death flag when it first appeared. ;_____;