Arakawa Hiromu | Silver spoon

Japanese: 銀の匙 Silver Spoon
Type: Manga
Volumes: 13 +
Chapters: Unknown
Status: Publishing
Published: Mar 30, 2011 to ?
Genres: Comedy, Drama, School, Shounen
Mangaka: Arakawa Hiromu (Story & Art)
Serialization: Shounen Sunday

Synopsis: Yuugo Hachiken dreams of life separated from his family, so he takes the initiative by enrolling in an agriculture school. He thinks, with his talent in studying, no problems will arise no matter what kind of school he attends. He is proven wrong very quickly. Raised as a city boy, he is forced to uncover the inconvenient truth about agricultural life. Enjoy the story of Hachiken, as he tries to keep up with his new friends, farmers' heirs, who are already accustomed to the harsh world of farming. With no clear goals or understanding of farming life, how will Hachiken survive this new, cruel reality? The story of a sweat, tear, and mud-stained youth begins!

Background:

Gin no Saji has been published in English as Silver Spoon by Shogakukan Asia since December 5, 2014.

The manga won the 5th Manga Taishō Award's Grand Prize and the 58th Shogakukan Manga Award (Shōnen category) in 2012. It also won the first Japan Food Culture Contents Award in 2013. Nominated for the 19th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2015.

Related Manga

Side story: 3.11 wo Wasurenai Tame ni Heroes Comeback

Adaptation: Gin no Saji 2nd Season, Gin no Saji

No promotional video.

Anime 1st season op theme:

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Source: MAL Manga info, Baka updates

Yuugo Hachiken (八軒 勇吾)

When first introduced, Hachiken reveals he's an intellectual introvert; he's often timid, shy, shrewd, and silently competitive against others in academic achievement. Raised in an atmosphere where his father demanded excellence and was bullied by others, he shows fear of social disapproval for his own thoughts and feelings; he was cowardly to stand up for his ideals and either ran away and/or found a place to hide to be at peace. At first, he was not popular and was considered an anomaly to others as he's the one of the rarest few students to attend Yezo High School without any career interest in agriculture nor an heir to a farm. However, he quickly earned recognition amongst his peers as one of the top performing students, despite having no agriculture background.

Through his own feelings about raising livestock and working on projects like a campus brick-oven pizza party, making bacon, and organizing various events, he became a popular student amongst his peers as someone to refer to for tutoring, knowledge, and helping others in their time of need (champion for underdogs). Hachiken is unknowingly a trend setter, as his work became the prelude to starting a fad in homemade oven brick-fired pizzas and the student body buying the pork they raised to create their own bacon and sausages. Unfortunately, his popularity also became a strain as people began taking advantage of his kindness and thought of him as a "yes-man," however, he eventually corrected that after he decided to help tutor Aki Mikage (his love interest) to boost her grades; he has since grown more confident and able to stand up for his ideals without apologies.

Aki Mikage (御影 アキ)

Aki is a kind but non-intellectual type; she is poor in both sensing what others around her are feeling and in academics (especially history), but as she loves horses, she shows great focus and aptitude in horseback riding and horse-related subjects. Because of her dense nature, she's unaware that several boys are interested in her, including Hachiken. As the only child of the Mikage family, she was being groomed by her family to inherit their family farm, though in reality wanted to explore a horse-related career. Before Hachiken's intervention, Aki resigned her aspirations in the interest of the family farm; however, after Hachiken helped Aki reveal her true feelings, the family reluctantly agreed to support her to study about horses, on the condition that she graduate through college. Since Hachiken was partly responsible for letting out the truth and disappointed the Mikage family, he promised to be Aki's active tutor until she made it into Yezo Agricultural College.

Source: Silverspoon.wikia, pictures MAL