Silver Spoon by Arakawa Hiromu

[MattC302]

Well that was quite a change from Fullmetal Alchemist. It's still kind of hard to tell exactly what this story is going to be about. I suppose it could just be a light comedy school-life set on an agricultural school.

The first chapter had it's funny moments, but I honestly wasn't "wowed" or anything. Here's hoping that Arakawa can bring it on a weekly basis and keep us interested. I am a huge FMA fan so I really want this new series to succeed.

[Finestela]

It's hard to tell what direction it'd be going by looking at the first chapter.

It can go the way of pure school comedy/gag (like Sket Dance?)
Or it can go to some sort of informative/educational comedy like Moyashimon.

Which ever path it chooses, I doubt it'll ever achieve the succsss of FMA... It can be successful, yes, but not wildly super popular like FMA.

[Jaymie]

It looks like it's going to be a slice-of-life, laugh-at-the-main-character's-misfortune manga like Zetsubou-Sensei. I hope Arakawa can keep things fresh so we don't get bored. I think she can do it!

There's a lot of characters for just one chapter though. I'm impressed. And the P.E. Teacher... just the P.E. Teacher...

[Finestela]

But don't we have Hayate for that in WSS already?

[Galactic Tomahawk]

Was alright, but not something I think I'd follow weekly yet.

Gonna keep on eye on it though to see how things turn out.

[Googlez_kun]

I liked it.It seems to be a nice slice-of-life and i'll definitly follow it weekly,as i'm a fan of this genre.Slice-of-life manga usually don't have exciting first chapters,so i'm looking forward to see what Arakawa will do next.

[saladesu]

This was a big change from Hagaren, to say the least Not in a bad way, but nothing much actually happened in this chapter, since it was spent introducing the characters and laying the groundwork. I can't wait to see what exactly the manga is about, what the overarching plot is, what the final goal is... If Arakawa-sensei is really the kind of mangaka she proved herself to be with Hagaren and that wasn't just a fluke/whatever, she should already have the end in mind.

The PE teacher... Armstrong ftw! Seeing how Arakawa-sensei used to drop easter eggs by randomly drawing the Curtis couple traveling the country and cameo-ing in random cities, I wonder if there might be little cameos of the Hagaren gang here and there in Gin no Saji, starting with this Armstrong PE teacher (though this isn't exactly a "cameo" per se)

So far, it's fairly interesting, the jokes funny, the artwork nostalgic... But it's not an instant winner yet. Crossing my fingers that Arakawa-sensei will turn it into gold (or silver?) from here on out.

[k-dom]

Seems like Armstrong has not completely disappeared. Well as a boy who used to lived in a rural area, I wonder how I will react to this manga. The big part about animal cloning was kinda out of place. I know it was in a middle of joke but it was a bit too sci-fi wrt the rest of the chapter

[Finestela]

It's not really Sci-Fi, since that's the direction the fishery and agriculture research is moving.

[k-dom]

It's not ready to hapen anytime soon. And cloning has no interest for animal like cows or sheeps in an agricultural point of view.
And I really don't think young agricultor are discussing about it like they do in this chapter

[Finestela]

Again, I said it's the "direction" the research is heading. Never did I say that it's happening now, nor the characters in the story.

They are actually talking about how cloning beef cattle is infeasible, and that there are more and more institute giving up on it. They then go deeper into the process of cloning animals, what the fundamental problems are, and how they should correct these problems in the protocols.

It's the same way physicists talk about faster than light speed travel. It's not happening anytime soon, but people would still talk about it.

[k-dom]

The thing is that 90% of the students are aiming to be farmers and this high research topic felt kinda out of place. Actually I don't really understand what kind of school it is. I don't know how it is elsewhere, but going to an agricultural high school is definitivly not the good way to become a vet or a biologist researcher

[Finestela]

The thing is that 90% of the students are aiming to be farmers and this high research topic felt kinda out of place. Actually I don't really understand what kind of school it is. I don't know how it is elsewhere, but going to an agricultural high school is definitivly not the good way to become a vet or a biologist researcher

Perhaps that's exactly Arakawa's intention?
On one hand, it serves as a comical effect by exaggerating the technobabble. On the other hand, it serves as a reminder to the readers that modern farming is as much of a science as anything else.

If you want to become a simple, traditional farmer, you wouldn't need to attend a agricultural school. While I'm sure not every single student who attends such a school is so well immersed in these advanced research, they are not your stereotypical Farmer Joes either.

[Jaymie]

Farmers don't sit around in overalls and chew on straw all day. These days, a surprising amount of farmers are also biologists and researchers.

[Zeltrax]

I think this will take some time for me to get used to, I don't really find the characters wowing me or the story impressing me so I think it'll take some time for me to decide whether it will become my favorite or not.
I mean, its just the first chapter!
The setting is unique and I never heard/saw a farming school with teenagers in it before so I wonder what kind of tale arakawa can spin?
For me farmers has always been the kind in harvest moon
Just kidding, I study geography so I know how hard it is to be one.

I wonder if there'll be awesome nature backgrounds to look forward to in this manga