[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Moyashimon 2 and 3: the science of sake
This show reminds me of two things. Firstly, student life sometimes quite literally stinks. I’ve actually seen student flats/houses that look every bit as bad as what was on offer here (”Have a whiskey glass of coffee…sorry, I’ve run out of clean mugs.” or “Yeah, feel free to crash on a patch of carpet you can actually see.”) although my OCD leanings prevented my own places getting quite as bad. Make no mistake though: agricultural or not, life at college or uni is financially demanding and pretty messy. The portrayal of this in Moyashimon is shockingly realistic in that sense, save seeing the various types of moulds floating around in plain view and at times helpfully labelled that are all thanks to Sawaki’s ability.
Just your average student flat…
Secondly, science can be interesting and even fun. As I type this I’m taking a procrastination session break from revising for a practical bacterialology exam (EDIT: it didn’t go badly but a stray Staphylococcus knocked three marks off my score as ‘contamination’) but my own experience of microbes isn’t nearly as picturesque as the adorable oryzae squeaking “Let’s brew sake!” and giving us the full run-down of the process. WHY ARE SCIENCE CLASSES NEVER THIS MUCH FUN? Seriously, this would make a better educational video than the dull, dated tripe I sat through as a kid! Moyashimon is a really educational show but scientific interest aside, the enthusiasm for learning How Stuff Works is, ahem, infectious. I had the processes of beer, bread and wine production hammered into me in biology classes at school (all in theory, sadly) but as is so often the case, the Japanese way is a bit different so it’s interesting to see how their own national beverage is made.
As much as I enjoy a nice hot cup of sake, the more…how shall I say, traditional manner of brewing it sounds like something of an acquired taste (although not so much as fermented skate. Boy, the Koreans are hardcore) - it sure makes you wonder how the process was discovered in the first place. I’m not sure my appreciation of the stuff could stretch quite as far as Kuchikami - it certainly didn’t for Haruka! That said, a flattering pic of a cute shrine maiden on the bottle labels might help with the sales figures but the finer details of her job decription may be better off left in the small print…
Fermented skate…delicious!
The dedication for the cause isn’t lost on good ol’ Itsuki-sensei though, whose estimation of the two enterprising brewers is heightened considerably (especially after they made such a spectacular job of wrecking one of the downstairs rooms!). I absolutely loved the ‘cookery lesson’ segment, complete with the microbes’ own contributions; not to mention the fact that the good Professor found a loophole by claiming that the sake he was planning on brewing was for Educational Purposes. Yep, this booze is all in the name of science. SCIENCE! Thinking about it, even the most illustrious and revered professors such as Itsuki-sensei were students themselves once, so we can only guess what he used to get up to in the interests of ‘research’.
So far Moyashimon is proving to be tremendous fun, not only for the cute marshmallow-y microbes (cheers, Xerox and Epic Win) but for the colourful human characters - the scenes in which Sawaki sits alone with the chattering moulds and bacteria swirling around him were really quite touching too. And of course there are the explanations as to how the science of sake can be pure win. Kampai!
Posted on November 29th, 2007 @ 2:20 am
In future episodes though, there’s barely any education but a lot more focus on college life.
Posted on November 29th, 2007 @ 5:02 am
I haven’t yet read anything that makes me want to watch this series. If it does start to focus more on college life, as tj_han stated, I may become a bit more interested.
On another note, I’ve got college dorm stories that would make a sailor blush. I’ll refrain from sullying your blog, as it would require much fowl language and often disturbing imagery. =)
Posted on November 29th, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
I knew a student who claimed that he and his housemates had kept an egregiously large and fast-growing mould as a pet. I suppose you know you’re dealing with straightened budgets when you keep an unwanted growth for companionship.
EDIT: Is this neat editing function for our comments new or have I just failed to notice it before? Either way, pretty snazzy.
Posted on November 29th, 2007 @ 6:17 pm
tj_han: maybe that’s not such a bad thing - the students are an interesting bunch and I’d hate to see the ‘talking microbes’ idea go stale. Even the best jokes wear thin when they’re over-used!
j.valdez: I’m intrigued… ¬_¬
IKnight: Yep, I’ve added one or two new plugins recently. The ‘edit comment’ was especially appealing so I’m glad you’ve found it useful too!
Posted on December 3rd, 2007 @ 3:42 am
[...] is not about the microbes. There are technical terms and details but the draw is not in how many of these can be thrown at [...]