Silver Spoon - Episode 11 (Completed)

It seems that Hachiken has become rather popular as this first season of Silver Spoon comes to a close - all the girls want to talk to him (to ask him for bacon) and all of the guys want to give him whatever foodstuffs he may desire (in return for bacon).  In short, bacon is clearly the best way to make friends and influence people.

With his first year at Ezonoo coming to an end, so thoughts turn to the future - not just for Hachiken, but for many of the other students as they try to figure out their future paths.  At the centre of this is Komaba, who continues to pursue his dream, however unlikely it might be, of becoming a professional baseball player.

This isn't the kind of all-encompassing, do-or-die dream however - Komaba shrugs off a bad game while praising his team-mates for picking up the slack and helping them to a victory that takes them one step closer to Koshien in a way which fires up his agricultural cohorts.  While all of this is going on, Hachiken's influence is still keenly felt by those around him, something which the university's head notes as he talks with Hachiken and urges him to have more faith in himself and his own eloquence; an eloquence which might actually help those around him who are less adept at expressing their feelings.  We also see suggestions of Hachiken's own personal development as he chooses to send some of the bacon he produced to his family of a token of what he's capable of - then again, he clearly hasn't developed beyond naming the next batch of pigs to be bred at the establishment...

So ends one of the most flat-out enjoyable series of the summer, and thank goodness we'll be able to rejoin Hachiken and company for the winter after a short break as the show's characters have been an unending pleasure to "hang out" with.  For a series about farming, it's beyond impressive to see the way Silver Spoon has built up its characters and made them the centre of not just comedy, but also thought-provoking and emotional dilemmas that you don't have to be a wannabe farmer to recognise or understand.  Setting aside, this is a pretty dyed in the wool coming of age story, but one so wonderfully told that despite its strong sentiments you never feel like you're being educated or preached at, merely entertained while being plied with topics for consideration via osmosis.  It's a sneaky trick really, but this series is welcome to indoctrinate me any time it likes, and I'll be returning for more once its second season rolls around.