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Silver Spoon (TV)

Genres: comedy, slice of life
Themes: agriculture, animal welfarism, farmers, school

Plot Summary: Yugo Hachiken dreams of life separated from his family, so he takes the initiative by enrolling in an agriculture school. He thinks, with his talent in studying, no problems will arise no matter what kind of school he attends. He is proven wrong very quickly. Raised as a city boy, he is forced to uncover the inconvenient truth about agricultural life. Enjoy the story of Hachiken, as he tries to keep up with his new friends, farmers' heirs, who are already accustomed to the harsh world of farming. With no clear goals or understanding of farming life, how will Hachiken survive this new, cruel reality? The story of a sweat, tear, and mud-stained youth begins!
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Episode 1
I think this is a decent start. The OP song was lighthearted but wow, there are so many spoiler[cows] in the beginning! lol

Well, the theme of agriculture is definitely here with thespoiler[ chickens and egg. Speaking of which, someone sure is having some anxiety there at the cafeteria]. Regardless though, I like the themes so far. I haven't the read the manga yet but this has caught my interest.

Poor spoiler[chickens though ;.; I spotted some blood (+ censorship)]

So this is an agricultural/vet anime.
This is definitely something new.
Never seen an anime like this before.
The main character is a total spoiler[good-for-nothing moron].
spoiler[Aki] was rather nice, though.
At least this one offers a few laughs ^^"
I might actually watch this, it's certainly weird and fun enough.

Episode 1

He was a bit of a fool thinking an agricultural school would be easy, although it looks like he has an advantage in the actual studies area. But that was one hard day, before spoiler[even starting their activity they have to round up chickens] (something that usually provides the reward of an empty bottle), he comes to a realization about food, he finds out that his classmates have skewed knowledge, and after exhausted from group activity he has to spoiler[help protect a greenhouse]. And he finds out he will have to spoiler[join an athletics club].

All I can say is that their tuition has to be pretty low for a boarding school, but none of it really surprised me that much for some reason. Well I have watched a number of documentaries that tackled themes here. What a pansy for getting spoiler[turned off of eggs] that way, looks like he is they type that might become a vegetarian when he sees how cute animals are.

I also liked the mention that their is controversy in the west about those type of chicken coups, wasn't aware that the Japanese might have less of a problem with it.

Yeah the 'in the west' line was pretty interesting.

I agree about him being put off to eggs being kinda lame.

Also WTF was up with that "you might get diseases from the animals" thing at the end? I don't get the reason for a warning like that to exist.

Anyways I thought it was pretty funny, and I plan to continue for now. I don't really have that much to say at this point unfortunately, but we'll see where this goes.

The egg hangup was really puzzling.
Where they come from: you don't eat the shell. (though I would not eat them 'raw' in the manner portrayed).
What they are: Not addressed, a whole other can of worms.
Regardless, eggs are my favorite food, and chickens as a whole are truly amazing tasty creatures.

The only thing I can think of regarding the warning is that they don't want people to see this and then think they can just go lob in on an agricultural research institution and have a field day (so to speak). While some facilities may have quarantined areas for animal diseases that affect humans (SARS might be a concern in Asia, esp. since this episode focused so on poultry), a greater concern is humans carrying around diseases that could infect research livestock. Also even commercial facilities often have stringent sanitation procedures for going into animal areas (like having to change into coveralls and boots kept in a pathogen-free environment, in a sort of airlock kind of room between the outside and the animals, to keep people from bringing pathogens in from the outside).

Or...it could just be added as a scare tactic to keep crazy fanboys/girls away. Very Happy

@ Gewürtztraminer: asked in the review thread where you also brought it up, but why are eggs a whole other can of worms? You've been quite vague about it. Is it the factory farm conditions or feed additives that's bothering you? Cholesterol?

Unfertilized eggs are basically chicken menstrual fluid.

Clarste wrote:

Unfertilized eggs are basically chicken menstrual fluid.

That is the sort of information that I think that he would be glad not to know. And now I might be off eggs.

Don't be put off eggs, because that's not what chicken eggs are, fertilized or not. Smile

Yes they are. The body prepares for a child, it doesn't happen, and then it gets dumped. It contains all the nutrients necessary for the fetus. There are probably some technical differences in the biology of birds and mammals, but the basic idea is the same.

No, menstrual fluid does not contain all the nutrients necessary for the fetus. The lining of the uterus is a go-between for the fetus to connect to the mother's blood supply which supplies those nutrients. It's a nice cushy nest to attach to until the placenta can form. No fetus, no need to keep that lining around, so it's dumped, along with any unfertilized eggs.

A chicken egg is not disposed of because it wasn't fertilized, the way a human egg is. The chicken's body doesn't know if the egg is fertilized or not, but it treats it as if it is in case it is, (or will be - the egg starts its journey down the oviduct first, and part of the construction of an egg is getting it fertilized if there are sperm available from a previous mating, which might have occurred days or only a few hours prior), and sends it down the chute to get all the parts put together before adding the shell and sending it out to wait for more eggs to join it over the next week or two. Fertilized or not, it's a self-contained incubator with everything a chick needs (except warmth) for growth up to hatching.

A lot of people think the yolk is the ovum, but the ovum is the tiny white spot on the surface of that (not to be confused with the twisted albumen that keeps it all centered). The yolk is food. Because once the egg has a shell, nothing else is coming in to feed the chick until it hatches.

I still don't see how that makes them different. The menstrual material needs less nutrients since it only needs to act as a bridge. It's still the "preparation". The egg is a much more elaborate preparation since it needs to be able to grow outside the hen. This is obvious, isn't it? The unfertilized egg and the menstrual fluid both serve the same role, which is to say "nothing" because they were only prepared for something that never happened. Heck, even if the eggs have some other secondary purpose that's clearly secondary to their primary. What do you think unfertilized eggs are, if not unneeded remnants of an incomplete reproductive process?

I mean, bird shit is still shit even if bird biology mixes in bits that mammal shit doesn't have, such as urea.

And wow that would be a ridiculously huge ovum. Does anyone seriously believe that? I was told from childhood that the yolk was all the nutrients.

I very distinctly remember the Magic School bus eggs episode. I still remember the egg forming and laying animations in very specific visual detail.

Actually Magic School Bus was the first thing where I was aware of the difference between animation and live action.

I see where you're coming from as to the end result being the same, i.e., no reproductive value per se. But they don't serve the same role at all. They serve opposite roles.

Menstrual fluid is expelled because it's not needed that month (it's not menstrual fluid until it sloughs off the uterine wall). Eggs are expelled to make it possible to produce a chick. If the ovum (and that includes the yolk - ovulation does not occur until the yolk is formed in the ovary) is not sent into the oviduct, it cannot be fertilized even if sperm are available, and once it starts down the road it undergoes the exact same process even if not fertilized. The egg is exactly the same at the end either way, except the fertilized egg has diploid chromosomes. That is the only difference between a fertile egg and a non-fertile egg (whereas there is a huge difference between an intact endometrium with an embryo vs menstrual fluid with an unfertilized ovum). It won't even start to develop until the hen starts sitting on them, which she won't do until she's laid enough eggs to make her want to, and that can take a week and a half or more.

Furthermore, laying an egg makes fertilization of the next one more likely, so it's not just a failed attempt if the egg isn't fertile. The first egg a chicken lays will probably not be fertile even if the hen mated prior to ovulation. That's because they store the sperm in host glands up to two weeks, and after an egg is laid, they squeeze sperm into the oviduct to travel up to fertilize the next ovum that's ovulated.

That is...actually very interesting. Another huge difference between mammal menstrual fluid & bird eggs is blood. An unfertilized egg should have no blood in it, whereas menstrual fluid is mostly blood.

Excuse my ignorance, but while I always knew that the yolk provides nutrition for a chick, I'm actually not sure what the "white" is for, besides protecting a chick (and keeping it moist, I assume).

Silver Spoon is much more interesting than I thought it would be. I shouldn't have doubted Arakawa's (and by extension, the anime production team's) ability to pace a story and focus on the human elements and humor that enrich it. My favorite part was Hachiken's classmates starting an intense discussion about genetics and cloning right after he assumed that all the science and math classes would be easy.

I'm also curious as to *why* Hachiken wanted to go to a boarding school (which I doubt is cheap, considering how huge the campus is). Home problems? Arakawa's characters always have layers.

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