As someone who grew up on a farm and who loved Fullmetal Alchemist I was stoked when a show about an agricultural school written by FMAs mangaka Hiromu Arakawa began airing. And I was not disappointed. Lets get this out of the way: Fullmetal Alchemist is a brilliant fantasy series with cool magic great action and stakes that affect an entire world. Silver Spoon is none of those things. However despite the two genres being so diametrically opposed Arakawa is a masterful enough writer to pull it off. Silver Spoon Gin no Saji follows Yugo Hachiken as he enrolls in an agricultural high school in an attempt to distance himself from his family and in hopes that the academic course work would be easier. However he quickly finds that agriculture is not as simple as he had initially assumed. Perhaps the strongest thing Silver Spoon has going for it is how grounded in reality it is. Arakawa herself grew up in agricultural parts of Hokkaido and draws herself as a dairy cow did you spot the cameo in the first episode? so shes telling a story that means a lot to her personally. I can confirm from personal experience that this series is what farm life is about. The difficulties farmers face the ideals they hold the paradoxes of loving animals you know will be slaughtered for food...everything presented in the series is an accurate portrayal of life for all sorts of farmers. Thats not the only strength Silver Spoon has going for it though. Arakawa shines at writing characters. Hachiken has the most obvious character arc in the first season as he struggles to figure out just what it is he wants from life comes to realize that farm life is not what he thought it was and struggles with his attachment to a piglet runt he dubs Pork Bowl. The arc with Pork Bowl is given even more weight in the anime than in the manga and is better for it. While Pork Bowl was just a piglet Hachiken formed an attachment to in the manga the anime gives Hachiken scenes where hes actively trying to help Pork Bowl succeedknowing that success in this case means getting large enough to slaughter. Seeing Hachiken coming to grips with loving an animal but sending it off to become meat was for me the most powerful arc of the season and because I like Hachikens classmates have come to take that difficult process of letting go for granted there were multiple times I was smiling in happiness while simultaneously crying tears of sadness. There are plenty of other worthwhile characters as well though. Aki Mikage is the primary romantic interest but shes more than just that. She wants to work with horses but feels trapped by an obligation to carry on the family farm. Theres Shinnosuke Aikawa who wants to become a vet but fears he doesnt have the stomach to accomplish his goal. Theres Ichiro Komaba a member of the baseball team who dreams of going pro to help his ailing family farm. And theres Tamako Inada an incredibly ambitious young woman from a large farm who looks for profit in any cutthroat way she can. All have their quirks that lend themselves easily to lighthearted comedy but none of them are defined by their quirks making them all wellrounded characters. It may be my bias speaking but I cant really find many flaws in Silver Spoon. I loved every second of it and when the season was over I was left craving more. The biggest criticisms I can think of leveling against it are that its hard to understand just why Hachiken hates his family so much and that...well its sliceoflife. If youre looking for drama or action youre not going to find it here and youre certainly not going to get what you want if youre expecting it to be another Fullmetal Alchemist. Admittedly Silver Spoon isnt for everyone. If you dont like sliceoflife and have no interest in agriculture theres a good chance it wont be your thing. If youre big on animal rights and think that meat is murder Silver Spoon could very well offend you. But if you have any sort of connection to or interest in farm life youll love the series and if you like sliceoflife and great characters theres a good chance you should check it out. Even if the genre isnt usually your thing give it a shot. The first episodes are a good indicator of the series as a whole and if you dont like it initially you can drop it fairly quickly. Great writing great story wonderful depiction of life. Its likely to get overlooked due to its premisewhich is a tragedyand just as likely to get compared to Fullmetal Alchemist which is even worse because its like comparing apples to oranges. Give the series a shot and let it stand on its own. Four stars.