10 Second Anime - Silver Spoon S2 - Episode 6

Silver Spoon S2 - Episode 6

Hachiken collapses from exhaustion, and misses the whole festival while in the hospital. Ayame arrives to help, but thin Tamako upstages her. Hachiken appreciates the taste of rejected potatoes.

Hachiken wakes up in the hospital, and a nurse tells him he collapsed from exhaustion. None of his friends have come by to visit, but his homeroom teacher already has. The cultural festival must go on, so they don't have time to visit, but with Hachiken's detailed notes, the horse-jumping and the draft-horse exhibit are a success. Ayame, Aki's eternal rival, arrives to tease her friend, and Hachiken even, but without him there, Aki asks for her help. The slow-jumping Ayame puts on her usual show. The banba race is too much of a success. It's a race of horse against people, but with thin Tamako motivating the people, how could they lose?

I'm glad she was put to more use than parading dairy cows around a pen. But it's not all about the whip for Tamako. She's got carrots too. She promises 50 bucks worth of food tickets if the students beat the horse. And, she has other motivational charms...

The spectators can form their own teams too, but their prizes for beating the horse are Mr. Nakajima's secret stash of cheese. He gets wiped out...

The big drama of the episode, however, was Hachiken's father coming to visit. He certainly lives up to his reputation as a hard-ass. His stern nature also makes him choose the most uncharitable interpretation of the reasons Hachiken chose to go to an agricultural school, because he figured he would get the best test scores there. That's choosing to ignore the hard work done in lab practicals that you can't study for, and where Hachiken is at a disadvantage against the farm kids. He even has the audacity to ask where his so-called friends are, again choosing to ignore they have to take up the slack of the missing Hachiken, and put on successful events. Awkward conversation to hear for his roommate to listen in on. Hachiken still can't deal with his father, and after receiving an apology from his homeroom teacher for not catching Hachiken before he took on too much work, Mr. Hachiken leaves, letting Mrs. Hachiken take care of the rest.

Hachiken also has a little resentment towards his mother for the little lies she told him about how his father approved of the bacon he sent home. Her role seems to be the softener between the stern father and his children, but Hachiken would prefer the truth these days. After picking up new glasses, he walks back to school, having himself a little pity-party, and misses all of the festivities.

His equestrian club senior sees him first, and tells him he better get to the after party. Hachiken doesn't think he deserves to go after missing all his duties, and she gives him a big kick in the pants. "You just spent a night in the hospital because you worked too hard, get over yourself," is her sentiment. The senior also timed it just right, because the only one in the club room is Aki.

The little moments, whether it's drama, comedy, or emotional contact, is where this show excels, and we see that all here, with Hachiken and Aki. She's so happy to see he's alright, but too embarrassed to show her face. She also explains how they couldn't leave the festival during the day, and the hospital doesn't allow visitors at night, which is why they didn't go visit. And his detailed notes made it so they could deal with any issues that came up. And when Aki tells Hachiken how fun things were in her Hokkaido dialect, he gets to enjoy a little moment that only Aki can share with him. But the real emotions fly out of Hachiken when he sees the nice comments left in his notebook by the visitors to their events, and the mix of happiness that he was successful and sadness that he missed seeing it, plus some frustration that his father could never understand why this is important to him, makes a big rush of tears come out. All Aki can do is lend her shoulder for him to lean on as he composes himself.

We get to the after party, and we see the rejected potatoes become the metaphor for Hachiken's festival experience. The big good looking ones make it to market, but the small irregular ones taste just as good when deep fried. They have their own hidden charm, just like Hachiken, and just like learning different things at an agricultural school.