Title: Silver Spoon Vol. 14
Author: Hiromu Arakawa
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 194
Genre: Slice of Life
Publication Date: April 28, 2020
The Story
Volume 14 of Silver Spoon brings us to exam day for Mikage as well as pizza day at the Ban’ei track for Hachiken. Hachiken has his first real taste of business (pun intended) but things don’t go as well as he had hoped. Ookawa tries to get them out of the red by placing a race bet and, luckily for them, they win just enough to get back into the black. Needless to say, it wasn’t all that much of a start to their business but they did take away some valuable lessons from it all!
Mikage’s exam and interview went about how you would expect it to. She waited for her results which came but I’ll let you read it for yourself. I’ll just say that if you have been following my reviews for this series, I loved making predictions about what would happen next. Let’s just say I was off by a bit when it came to those predictions. In fact, the events that transpire in this volume caused me to be WAY off!
One of the things that still remains a mystery is Komaba’s favor. That was the cliffhanger ending for Vol. 13 and all we know is that it had something to do with Hachiken’s brother. It seems that he is now being personally tutored by him but it’s never really stated for what reason! Another thing we were left with was the results of a surprise inspection by Hachiken’s father. We still don’t know whether or not he will back Hachiken’s company but with the silence we were given on the matter one could only assume. Then again, that’s also a sign of classic misdirection, too so who knows how that will turn out?
The volume has one of the biggest moments we’ve all been waiting for… a landmark moment for the story but I’ll also leave that up to you guys to read! The volume does end on an important note. Hachiken makes the decision to go to college and now he has the task of convincing his parents about his goals.
Wow… what a roller coaster this volume was. You wondered about how Hachiken’s business would go, how Mikage’s exams would go, you got nervous waiting for those results, you were taken to new heights with a pivotal moment, and then once again with the ending and how it makes you wonder what this means for Hachiken’s future! You can tell the series is heading towards its conclusion as this volume seems to be setting up that eventual ending! Everything seems to be falling into place with only a couple of puzzle pieces left to slot in!
Characters
Congratulations to Hachiken for becoming an uncle! His brother and his wife finally had the baby! Speaking of Hachiken… I love how he said that he got roped into helping people too often and he wasn’t going to do so this time around… and yet… he was roped into helping everyone anyway. I also found it hilarious that Hachiken was way more nervous than Mikage when it came to her exam results… so much so, he missed school due to a severe stomach ache! Then where was Hachiken learning about what he did wrong on his first venture as a business. He was definitely taken on a ride throughout this volume which makes you wonder what will come next for him… but at the same time, it’s pretty obvious that he will succeed thanks to a note Arakawa left on one of the pages. Let’s see if you can find it!
Komaba looking for tutoring from Hachiken’s brother was a surprise. This makes you wonder what it is for and how that is going to fit into things. I thought that Komaba might have called Hachiken to see if he could be a part of the company but I was completely off the mark on that one. Now it raises even more questions and does so in a way where I don’t really know what to expect at this point.
There is the biggest, most obvious thing to talk about but… ARGH! I don’t want to spoil it! Just let me know what you all think when you read it!
Final Thoughts
I absolutely LOVED this edition of Silver Spoon! A lot of things that have been built up for a while came to a conclusion here, leaving only the ending to resolve. Now we have a clearer picture of where things are headed but it doesn’t mean we have all the answers just yet. Things are definitely getting interesting, though and I can’t wait to see how things move forward. With Arakawa speeding up the pace with each and every volume, I expect our next events to just hit one after the other with time skips in between. Heck, it’s only been a few volumes, and yet, story-wise, it’s been two years since Komaba disappeared. That should give you some indication of just how fast the pacing has gotten in this series.
Still, it doesn’t feel that way at all. You’re still able to take in everything that has happened and digest it before moving onto the next. While it is a fast pace, Arakawa has found tremendous balance in it to where it doesn’t really seem that way. Still, things are happening fast but things do slow down when particular attention needs to be paid to it.
All in all, this was a volume that we all have been waiting for! So many pivotal moments happened here and it really shaped the foundation for which the ending will be built upon… even if it is in the early stages. If Hachiken goes to college… where will he go? What will he study? How will this affect Silver Spoon, Inc? So many questions left to answer… but I’m looking forward to those answers whenever they may come!
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