Silver Spoon vol. 12

It’s been a while since I’ve written about the exploits of Hachiken and company.  That hasn’t been because of any decline in the overall quality of this series, just that there have been other titles that have demanded my attention.  Vol. 12 marks the start of the title’s march towards its end (vol. 15 will be its last) with the start of the “Tale of Four Seasons” arc and Hachiken’s plans for the future.  He finally knows what he wants to do with the rest of his time at Ezo Ag: Start a business. Not just any business, one focused around growing (delicious) pigs to sell. The good news is that he’s got a starter pig and Mikage’s family is willing to rent him the land and give him the necessary materials to help raise it and others.  The bad news is that because he’s a student with limited resources, he needs to convince his dad to invest in his plan. While Hachiken’s dad is open to the idea, he’s rejected every plan his son has sent him so far. The ugly news is that the only person Hachiken has been able to bring on as a business partner is Ookawa, whose handiness and skills at hard work are balanced by his generally lazy and selfish personality.

These are only the parts of vol. 12 that are centric to its protagonist.  Mangaka Hiromu Arakawa also finds time to talk about Mikage’s academic struggles, the ongoing trials of Komaba and his family, and even Yoshino’s two-week study abroad in France.  There is A LOT going on in this volume and at times it can feel like the mangaka is simply rushing through things to get to the end. Most of the time it feels like she’s just cutting out the boring filler stuff and focusing on all of the actions that are central to “Silver Spoon’s” main story.  That being Hachiken’s struggles to grow as a person and become someone capable of standing on his own. In showing that, vol. 12 is a success. At the same time, it makes it clear that he’s got a lot more work ahead of him in the three volumes to come.