Silver Spoon - Episode 10

As Hachiken continues to look after Pork Bowl and company, a throwaway conversation with Yoshino suddenly sends the ever-grinding rumour mill into overdrive.

With talk of a "bump on the way" and Hachiken having to "take responsibility", it's not all that surprising that somebody might get the wrong end of the stick, although once teachers intervene any confusion is soon cleared up in short order, even if it does mean yet more punishment for Nishikawa.  Speaking of Pork Bowl however, the time has come for him to be shipped out to the slaughterhouse, meaning that Hachiken finally has to accept the reality of the once cute little piglet meeting its maker for meat.  Unsurprisingly, Hachiken's reaction isn't one of apathy, and instead he makes a snap judgment to buy Pork Bowl...

...for meat.  It's an odd decision, especially when it leaves you out of pocket and with 50 kilograms of meat (I love bacon as much as the next guy, but that's a lot of the stuff).  Although quieter than usual, Hachiken takes saying his goodbye to Pork Bowl better than might have been expected, and when this event coincides with the showing of a graphic video of the factory process of killing animals for meat Hachiken actually copes better than some of his comrades.  When the final cuts of meat arrive for him, it's time to decide what to do with it, leading to him learning about making bacon (literally not figuratively) and ultimately leading to another feast for the students.

I think the way this episode played out says quite a lot about Silver Spoon - if you were expecting floods of tears, weeping and introspection then think again, as this week's instalment depicted a largely grown-up and mature response to a tough situation on Hachiken's part.  Admittedly this makes it harder to empathise with his character in this situation than crying and bawling might have been, but it does get to the heart of the show's (and the industry it represents) thinking, and even with this serious matter at hand it still wasn't beyond providing a few big laughs as a further reminder of how this show can entertain as easily as it fascinates and (to an extent) educates.  Thank goodness next week's season finale is simply an au revoir, and not a goodbye.