Gin no Saji - Review

In an effort to get as far away from his parent, Hachiken Yugo enrolls into a school for agriculture. He mistakingly thinks that it will be an easy school, but being unfamiliar with the strict nature of what is the farm life, he struggles to adjust. It will be a tough shift from his life in the city, but there is no turning back now.

Story

At the surface, Gin no Saji would seem like a pretty simple slice-of-life that revolves around farm life, but you would be a fool to think that it was only something that scratched the surface. Gin no Saji chose to be something a bit deeper, and yet still have the lighthearted nature that many slice-of-life are famously known for having.

Despite mixing two conflicting feeling -- that being the seriousness of character's issues, and the not-so-seriousness of the comedy -- Gin no Saji does a great job of working them together; almost to the point of being able to smoothly transition between the two.

And since the story is heavily reliant on it's characters, I would enter into spoiler land if I explained what most of the story was past it's surface. Lets just say that the main characters complement each others personalities, making for an interesting contrast of personalities and background. However, Gin no Saji didn't focus much on the more detailed parts of Hachiken and Mikage, but gave out enough hints to get what they were aiming for.

Art

There isn't much to be impressed by the art style of Gin no Saji. It is pretty simple, but I wouldn't say that is a bad thing; the simple nature of the art works well with the genre that it is in. It isn't overcompensating for a lacking story for stunning visuals. Rather, it feels more like it can keep the art very clean and simple, while making up for it with story and characters.

Characters

• Hachiken Yugo (voice: Kimura Ryouhei)
• Mikage Aki (voice: Miyake Marie)

Most of the side characters are simple, yet through their simplicity makes them easier to remember because of their very distinct traits. The characters overall work well together, and most the interactions are basically comedy act, but occasionally they can be very insightful.

Hachiken Yugo doesn't have the best relationship with his parent; so he chooses to enrolls into the farthest school he can find, and that was one focusing on agriculture. Hachiken isn't all that familiar with the agriculture, and all the information surrounding it, but he makes it his duty to get good grade purely out of pride for himself.

Hachiken isn't all that sure what he wants to be in the future, so he pushes himself in academics to try to figure out where his passion lies. Although they hint at most of Hachiken's problems with his parents, there wasn't much explored, and I see that as an opening for later.

I never got the impression that Mikage was a main character, but it makes more sense if you think of her as a counterbalance to Hachiken. So, Mikage Aki is a girl who loves horses, so naturally, she is member of the equestrian club at school

The thing that makes her a counterbalance to Hachiken is the fact that she knows what she wants to do in the future, only her parent expect her to take over the family farm. That conflict really is something interesting that didn't get much time devoted to.

Overall

I was a bit late in watching this anime, but it still managed to grab my attention and hold on to it for those seemingly short 11 episode. Gin no Saji is one of those anime where it made me think differently of an entire genre, in a good way. It felt like what an anime is suppose to be and it was all wrapped up in a nice package to watch.

Despite the lack of detail for the main cause of conflict, the character problems, Gin no Saji felt like it was the right length episode wise. They left enough loose ends to make me feel like I have to come back for season two, in order to see those details get resolved. And even with those loose end, the conclusion resolved enough of the front facing problems to feel satisfactory. I barely had any complaints to say about this anime, it was great fun to watch.

Orginally posted to the now shutdown sekijitsu.com: No Archive Found