Silver Spoon: Complete Series 1&2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Silver Spoon: Complete Series 1&2 Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Neil Lumbard March 13, 2023

Silver Spoon is a charming slice-of-life anime exploring life in the wild. The series is produced by Akitoshi Mori (Psycho- Pass, Samurai Flamenco) and Shunsuke Saito (anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Magi: The Kingdom of Magic). Created by Hiromu Arakawa, Silver Spoon is executive produced by Masuo Ueda (Black Butler, Space Brothers) and Tomonori Ochikoshi (Blue Exorcist, Sound of the Sky). The anime series features animation produced by A-1 Pictures (anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Fairy Tail).

A bustling city life isn’t for everyone. Yūgo Hachiken (Ryohei Kimura) decides to move from the city to a small town with a quiet environment. Deciding to try something new, Yūgo begins enrollment with the Ooezo Agricultural High School.

Now that Yūgo is putting aside his suburban beginnings for the small world of a agricultural community, he begins a new life journey surrounded by cows and other furry animals. Perhaps the country lifestyle can be the cure to city life Yūgo is looking for. As the tale unfolds, Yūgo also meets the kind-spirited Aki Mikage (Marie Miyake) and the two become friends within the agricultural community. Could there be more than friendship in store in the future?

Yūgo is a compelling protagonist for the production. The character is one that has a brash quality that is interesting. Sometimes Yūgo might lose his temper but he also has a quiet and sweet natured side as well. The character makes a compelling central protagonist and as Yūgo goes from city life to small community living, the saga of the character unfolds.

The character designs by Jun Nakai (GATE, The Sacred Blacksmith) are one of the most distinct and beautiful elements of the series. Silver Spoon has wonderful character designs that are perfectly suited for the production. These characters come to life through these designs. The end results are impressive and the design elements certainly help to enhance the entire production.

The animation is stunning. Under the art direction by Sawako Takagi (Hikaru no Go, Bleach) and the chief animation direction of Jun Nakai (Mardock Scramble: The First Compression, Tokyo Majin), Silver Spoon is a beautiful looking series. The animation style is robust and colorful. There are a lot of things to appreciate about the art style here and the manner in which the series animation brings these production elements to life is effective and compelling.

The cinematography by Toshiaki Aoshima (Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Eromanga Sensei) is lush and bright. Silver Spoon is a colorful and vivid looking series. The production shines with beautifully composed cinematography. Aoshima understands the slice-of-life genre well and what the series requires visually to make a strong impression.

The score composed by Shusei Murai (Psychic School Wars, Terraformars) is a charming score for the slice-of- life genre roots of the series. Murai handles the characters and the small town living element with a score that capably showcases the lifestyle of the characters who live in that kind of environment.

Written by Taku Kishimoto (Bunny Drop, Fruits Basket), Silver Spoon is a compelling tale about the unique journey from city living to quiet living in a small community. Kishhimoto did a solid job of exploring the concept. The dialogue is well done and enhances the experience.

Directed by Tomohiko Ito (Occult Academy, Sword Art Online), Silver Spoon has a wonderful sense of small-town scale and a quiet atmosphere. Fans of the slice-of-life genre will be most pleased by the production and the journey of the series. Silver Spoon isn’t for all anime fans (in fact, those who are more inclined towards action-adventure anime series exclusively will find the pace and scale of storytelling too slow for their own interests). However, audiences willing to go on a quiet and compelling dramatic journey will be rewarded with the quiet majesty of Silver Spoon.

It is nice to see a quiet slice of life anime series exploring small town living. Silver Spoon does a good job showcasing this kind of community. When I grew up in Washington state as a young child, I originally lived in an extremely small community – the kind that is so small most can’t even locate it on a map. (Technically, it is on a map – but could one locate it?)

Surrounded by the outdoors and only a few nearby locations, it was an extremely small community – with few residents and only a few places to even go to. (The local diner, video store, and a few other small businesses were all that my family had nearby growing up). I had my first introduction to anime visiting that local video store. My mother would rent for me the feature-film Little Nemo over and over and I would watch it countless times.

Now in a bustling city that grows in population by the year, Silver Spoon recalls my childhood in some respects – and brings me back to my memories of seeing Little Nemo for the first time on VHS. It is interesting to reflect on my years in Washington and my first memories of anime as a medium.

Silver Spoon: Complete Series 1&2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Anime Limited, Silver Spoon is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The series has a crisp, colorful, and dynamic presentation. The colorful animation looks bold and bright on the release. The detailed line art looks wonderful.

The animation is well reproduced on the release. The encoding capably handles the animation and the vivid landscape of the small-town life. The release is free from egregious compression woes and looks wonderful in high definition. Anime Limited did a solid job with the presentation.

Silver Spoon: Complete Series 1&2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in Japanese uncompressed PCM 2.0 (with English subtitles). No English dub option was provided for the release. The original Japanese audio will please purists seeking the most authentic presentation.

The stereo audio soundstage capably handles the series dialogue and score reproduction for the series. As a lossless audio sound mix, the presentation sounds crisper and more detailed in comparison to streaming options (which are often heavily compressed). With the lossless audio, you can hear the little details – such as a "moo!" from a cow.  A solid audio encode by Anime Limited.

Silver Spoon: Complete Series 1&2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The supplemental package is lackluster (so to speak). This is one of the only areas in which the release could have used some improvements. The release isn't barebones but what is included is average-at-best.

Disc 1:

Trailers (HD, 3:46)

Disc 2:

Commercial (HD, 00:30)

Clean Ending and Clean Opening (HD, 2:59)

Disc 3:

Trailers (HD, 1:32)

Disc 4:

Commercial (HD, 00:16)

Clean Ending and Clean Opening (HD, 3:01)

Silver Spoon: Complete Series 1&2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Silver Spoon is a colorful and engaging slice-of-life anime series with a compelling concept and a nice cast of characters. The journey of Yūgo Hachiken (Ryohei Kimura) from big town living to the quieter elements of a community make the series all the more compelling. The production benefits from a beautifully animated landscape. The animation is colorful and there are a lot of things to appreciate about the visuals.

The Blu-ray release features an excellent video and audio presentation. The release is also accompanied by a selection of bonus features. The release doesn't have much in the way of bonus features and this is one of the only real drawbacks to an otherwise impressive release (with a solid show accompanied by an excellent presentation). Recommended.