Silver Spoon Season 2 - Episode 8

Life is full of disappointments... and not all of them surround cheese as it turns out, at least according to this week's Silver Spoon.

Try telling that to Mr. Nakajima however, who re-emerges after some time away for "personal reasons" having seemingly powered up and become a man on a quest... a cheese-making quest.  Before they know it, both Mikage and Hachiken are roped into his little production factory, and what's more they find themselves quiet enjoying the entire experience.  It's yet another period full of learning and fulfillment, as Hachiken also gets to see one of the calves he gave birth to named while his group comments on how knowing about agriculture is a "silver spoon" to those with the right knowledge, guaranteeing a life free from starvation if nothing else.

That is, however, a rose-tinted view of farming, and we're soon granted a very up-close and personal view of the darker side of the industry with news breaking that Komaba will be dropping out of the school and his family's dairy going out of business.  It's a shock to many, but none more so than Hachiken who simply refuses to believe that nothing can be done about it - while other students ponder what this news could be construed as saying about their own family businesses he's left as something of an outsider, unable to persuade anyone to take on his point of view.  This includes Komaba himself, who returns to collect his possessions while explaining that his need to pay off his family's debt is at least partly due to the fact that they owe money to Aki's family.  So, is there really nothing that Hachiken can do to help those around him?  Perhaps not in financial terms, but that doesn't mean he's useless by any stretch...

All of this amounts to another brilliant episode of Silver Spoon - always capable when it comes to delivering its comedy, and increasingly confident in the power of its characters and their circumstances as this week's instalment delivered a heart-rending second half that was emotional to watch without ever having to force the viewer's hand to wring that emotion from them.  Cruelly though, we now have to wait until next week to see what comes next from Hachiken's attempt to help Mikage through things, and I'm really not sure I can wait that long.