(L+CR) Gin no Saji/Silver Spoon (Seasons 1 + 2)

[Allium]

Kind of forgot that Silver Spoon had been scheduled to end at 11 episodes until that little epilogue. Oh, bummer. At least they ended it nicely with the new batch of cute piglets.

I don't usually watch slice-of-life, but Silver Spoon was a humble yet fun, interesting gem of a show. Hachiken has to be one of the most endearing male protagonists in a while, and his character growth throughout the series was nice to watch. I'm definitely looking forward to the second season.

[Gan_HOPE326]

Originally Posted by 340.29

I don't see anything pretentious about what he's doing. On the contrary, I find him extremely sincere. What happened to Pork Bowl was a necessity for the show, and this should simply show that he has not fully accepted the outcome, so he's going to go through it again. The only irregularity I find is the fact that him eating Pork Bowl should have been enough of an indication that he's overcome that particular hurdle (which apparently he has not) and thus allow the advancement onto better things. Redoing the process is regressive in nature and seemingly unnecessary.

Well, I don't think season 2 is going to be all about the pigs yet again... it's more likely it's going to be about something different, with the pigs mentioned only as a background element now and then. After all, this could be Hachiken's way out of the issue. "Naming" the pigs and acknowledging them as living beings and not as meat to be, and therefore suffering a bit in their loss, could be the price he imposes to himself in order to eat meat. Kind of like the American natives who thanked the animal they hunted for the meat it was giving to them. It's a ritual. Considering this comes from the same author who invented the concept of "equivalent exchange", it seems very fitting.

[Dop]

Originally Posted by IllegalGoddess

Am I the only one who thinks it was kind of disgusting how he still pretends to care about piglets after all that?

I don't think there's any pretence and he does still care for the piglets despite full knowledge of their fate.

And that's not disgusting, it's a good thing. Farmers should care for their livestock, after all, their livestock represent their livelihood, and the better they care for them then the more they get out of them.

It's when farmers don't care for their livestock properly where you get things like BSE (mad cow disease) happening.

[HandofFate]

Hachiken's view with the piglets is much better than the regular people who pretend to ignore that the meat they get all wrapped in plastic they pick from a bin at the supermarket was once alive, and get mad when you bring it up.

Acknowledging the meat you consume was once alive and giving thanks for it for it being used as your sustenance is the biggest respect you can give to livestock.

[kuroishinigami]

a very nice adaptation. As a fan of the manga, I'm very satisfied with the Director Itou and A-1 Picture for faithful and nicely-paced adaptation. Also, the ending song is now one of my favourite anime OP/ED ever XD. I became a fan of Sukima Switch because of this

Can't wait for season 2.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by HandofFate

Hachiken's view with the piglets is much better than the regular people who pretend to ignore that the meat they get all wrapped in plastic they pick from a bin at the supermarket was once alive, and get mad when you bring it up.

Acknowledging the meat you consume was once alive and giving thanks for it for it being used as your sustenance is the biggest respect you can give to livestock.

Hachiken also said Pork Bowl wouldn't really care how he's eaten. He didn't want to get eaten at all.

I think maybe it's about taking the best care of them he can while they're alive.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by IllegalGoddess

Am I the only one who thinks it was kind of disgusting how he still pretends to care about piglets after all that?

You've completely missed the point of this show if that's what you took away from this episode.

So yeah, you might just be the only one...

[FrejaOne]

But that's precisely what makes it empty and pretentious.
They are going to end up as meat no matter what his feelings are, so if he is going to kill and eat them anyway, his feelings aren't worth anything.
It's like, I dunno, being against racism yet supporting a senator who is a member of KKK. Actions speak louder than words or sentiments.

[FrejaOne]

Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen

You've completely missed the point of this show if that's what you took away from this episode.

Actually it seems to me like the whole point of this show was "meat is precious, we'll give up anything to eat meat, every living thing needs to be killed and eaten, yay meat, please give us more meat."
And nope, I'm not even vegan. They are just obsessed.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by IllegalGoddess

But that's precisely what makes it empty and pretentious.
They are going to end up as meat no matter what his feelings are, so if he is going to kill and eat them anyway, his feelings aren't worth anything.
It's like, I dunno, being against racism yet supporting a senator who is a member of KKK. Actions speak louder than words or sentiments.

No, it's more like being against racism, thus treating everyone with respect, but not going on a crusade to punish all racists.

[FrejaOne]

Originally Posted by GDB

No, it's more like being against racism, thus treating everyone with respect, but not going on a crusade to punish all racists.

Yet refusing to hire a black person and being against mixed marriage, since you omitted the meat part. And that's the whole point. He's not just taking a peace sign and running with it. He's going with the flow.
Okay, maybe it's not the best analogy.

But it's easy to be all sad-eyed while conforming. That's what he does. It's like, okay I feel sorry for the kids being bullied, but since I'm one of the bullies and that's how they roll here, I'm going to keep bullying kids while feeling sorry for them.

You can't straddle a line like that without being called a hypocrite.

[FrejaOne]

Originally Posted by Dop

I don't think there's any pretence and he does still care for the piglets despite full knowledge of their fate.

And that's not disgusting, it's a good thing. Farmers should care for their livestock, after all, their livestock represent their livelihood, and the better they care for them then the more they get out of them.

It's when farmers don't care for their livestock properly where you get things like BSE (mad cow disease) happening.

But that's different. That's proper handling, a sort of respect for their lives.

What we have here is "oh I'm soooo sad, yet I'm gonna do nothing and enjoy the meat, ain't I a good guy?" So weak.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by IllegalGoddess

But that's different. That's proper handling, a sort of respect for their lives.

How is that different? It's exactly what he's doing. Exactly what he's doing.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by IllegalGoddess

But that's precisely what makes it empty and pretentious.
They are going to end up as meat no matter what his feelings are, so if he is going to kill and eat them anyway, his feelings aren't worth anything.
It's like, I dunno, being against racism yet supporting a senator who is a member of KKK. Actions speak louder than words or sentiments.

Originally Posted by IllegalGoddess

Actually it seems to me like the whole point of this show was "meat is precious, we'll give up anything to eat meat, every living thing needs to be killed and eaten, yay meat, please give us more meat."
And nope, I'm not even vegan. They are just obsessed.

You seem to have left out a few episodes of development.

Not everyone can live the life of a vegan- Hachiken admits to himself that he couldn't do it. Go back to the episode where he's visits the various farmers and see that even though they have to be cold when it comes to sending their animals to the slaughter, they still raise those animals with care. This is something that he needs to come to terms with himself.

He can't live the life of a vegan, but he also can't find it in himself to not connect to those animals that he helped raised. He loves meat, and he loves the animals, and he accepts that this is the circle of life. As he saw it with the other farmers, this is something that they all grown to accept.

As for his feelings... Look at how it affected the rest of the students; It got them thinking about the issue instead of just bushing it off like it's nothing because they're so used to it by now. Those emotions aren't for nothing- they help mature those kids around him.

[FrejaOne]

But at the end, the animals are still going to be killed and eaten, right?
It doesn't look like others were cruel people prone to animal abuse, they just took meat for granted and weren't sad. So there was no factual change at all.

In other words, did his feelings change anything for those animals, for his favorite Pork Bowl? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Someone said it earlier: Pork Bowl probably didn't want to die and become meat, and it makes no difference who ate him or what feelings the eaters had.

That's what I mean. Hachiken can either walk away from this or accept this and keep doing it, but he can't love his cake and eat it, not really. He has no right to claim that he cares. If he truly cared, he would have tried to save PB's life or he would have stopped eating meat and helping people who raise animals for meat.
Anything else is meaningless, because it doesn't bring any real change.

Originally Posted by GDB

How is that different? It's exactly what he's doing. Exactly what he's doing.

He's being teary-eyed and sentimental, mostly. And giving them pet names. Only to betray them at the end. It's personal.

Proper handling means proper care, making sure none of them suffers more than necessary, making sure their lives are as comfortable as possible. It's not any more personal than a good nurse's attitude. Kind, yes, but not personal.

[Chaos2Frozen]

That is false.

He can still love meat, and still care for those animals. It's not an easy path to choose, but it's what he has decided to do. And through this he has gain a better understanding of himself as well as the respect of his fellow students and teacher.

More importantly this brings about a realistic change- It's a change in the students and how they view this job. And that is more mature and productive than some crusade to stop all animals from being turned into meat just to satisfy oneself.

Originally Posted by IllegalGoddess

He's being teary-eyed and sentimental, mostly. And giving them pet names. Only to betray them at the end. It's personal.

Proper handling means proper care, making sure none of them suffers more than necessary, making sure their lives are as comfortable as possible. It's not any more personal than a good nurse's attitude. Kind, yes, but not personal.

You're only projecting your own feelings here, you have no idea what the animal would feel.

The feeling of Betrayal is a human emotion.

[Anh_Minh]

I can see his point. It doesn't matter what they dress it up with. Before Hachiken they raised animals and killed them for their meat. After him they raise animals and kill them for their meat.

And if you're going to say that thanks to Hachiken they won't neglect the animals or treat them badly, you're doing them an injustice. None of them are cruel. Of course they're going to be kind to the animals. Besides, it'd be bad for the end result if they cut corners.

Maybe they'll go the extra mile now. Like Yoshino and her whey-fed pigs. But I don't see Tamako change her mentality. She isn't cruel either. But she is rational.

[HandofFate]

Don't see what's wrong with loving the animals and eating them too. Just because he chooses to still eat meat, he's not allowed to feel any kind of feelings towards them and adopt consumer stance and pretend the meat magically appears wrapped in plastic?

Only way I see anyone having that conclusion is if they feel the act of eating meat is evil, which makes them the pretentious one.

Originally Posted by IllegalGoddess

But that's precisely what makes it empty and pretentious.
They are going to end up as meat no matter what his feelings are, so if he is going to kill and eat them anyway, his feelings aren't worth anything.

That's the point. They're going to end up as meat no matter what. So it would have been the easier path and be like everyone else and take the meat for granted.

Its about how he wants to deal with the conclusion himself as a person. If he never had this experience, he would just be living in the city buying a burger and eating it with no idea where it came from, or the work and labor involved in producing it.

By him thinking about it seriously, it also got the others in the industry that are already taking it as the norm to think about it.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I can see his point. It doesn't matter what they dress it up with. Before Hachiken they raised animals and killed them for their meat. After him they raise animals and kill them for their meat.

And if you're going to say that thanks to Hachiken they won't neglect the animals or treat them badly, you're doing them an injustice. None of them are cruel. Of course they're going to be kind to the animals. Besides, it'd be bad for the end result if they cut corners.

Maybe they'll go the extra mile now. Like Yoshino and her whey-fed pigs. But I don't see Tamako change her mentality. She isn't cruel either. But she is rational.

No, I wasn't going to say that.

I was going to point out again that it was never really about what happens to the animals so much as it's about the humans, the characters, coming to an understanding about themselves and each other and this life they have chosen.

[Anh_Minh]

So... why relearn the same lesson all over again by naming the next batch of piglets?