10 Second Anime: Silver Spoon Episode 10

Silver Spoon Episode 10

RIP Pork Bowl. Your meat is bittersweet.

It's almost time for the pigs to be sent to slaughter, but we have to have a bit of comedy before then. Yoshino talks with Hachiken about how he's been honestly open about his mixed feelings with taking care of animals only to eat them later. Yoshino says that Hachiken "better take responsibility" if she loses her appetite for pork. Tokiwa overhears the end of this conversation from far away, and the phrase "taking responsibility" has other connotations in Japan, specifically, marrying a pregnant woman. Rumors fly, the animal husbandry teacher awkwardly counsels them about being "in heat, er, puberty," and ultimately gets resolved with Tokiwa getting even more detention.

But the heart of Silver Spoon approaches, Hachiken's relationship with the runt of a pig litter, and what he'll do with Pork Bowl before the slaughter. He chooses the middle path. It's not responsible to raise a pig as a pet at a farming school, and he can't just let him go to slaughter as a mere animal, so he buys Pork Bowl's meat with his money from his summer job with the Mikages.

And then, like a boss, he makes bacon out of Pork Bowl by himself. On the day of the smoking, when the meat has been cured long enough, he and his friends have their own little funeral for Pork Bowl outside the smokehouse, by having a feast of roasted pork bowls. Hachiken says the meat, "tastes bittersweet!"

This episode was quite emotional, especially when the pigs were crying from not being fed right before slaughter. And we know, that even if Hachiken has his heart broken every time, he knows how to raise pigs right. Aww, sniff. Pork Bowl, your life was short, but it was filled with care and warmth.