Silver Spoon - Episode 9

The summer break is over, so it's back to Ezonoo for a new term to find that quite a lot has changed, although not all of it for the better...

As everyone tries to get back into the swing of things, it's Pork Bowl (the big, that is, not the dish) that pushes its way to the forefront of Hachiken's mind - the little fella has certainly grown to be not so little any more, but he's still the runt of the litter and the first to be pushed aside come feeding time, leaving him as a decidedly lower grade pig as the time to ship out the animals grows ever closer.

Rather than allow Pork Bowl to be branded as sub-par, he learns from a classmate about the possibility of liquid feed bulking up his favourite porcine critter, and thus undertakes the gruelling task of personally feeding him day and night alongside his usual lessons and duties.  All of this naturally takes its toll, especially when paired with Hachiken's continued reticence to even imagine Pork Bowl being slaughtered for food, which in turn leaves those around him a little worried about a friend who has become effectively the centrepiece of their group.  Still, a local festival at least offers a little respite, no matter how temporary, to such thoughts, even if the Ezonoo onsluaght is almost too much for the stall vendors on-hand.

Once again, I can't really say anything about this week's Silver Spoon that I haven't said before - its effortlessly entertaining with a simple vein of humour that produces plenty of belly laughs and a soft centre delivered comfortable in the knowledge that you feel like the main cast of characters are effectively your friends at this point.  Whether it's Hachiken, those around him, or even Pork Bowl, there's a real emotional resonance between viewer and cast that aids in any laughs, drama or provocation of thought, and it's the ease with which those relationships have been built that is Silver Spoon's real work of understated genius.