The End of the World

[Categories: Anime Reviews]

Moyashimon end: don’t let schooling interfere with your education

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Moyashimon]

So said Mark Twain, allegedly. That was my overall impression of Moyashimon: while every other anime show seems to be set in a high school, there’s the occasional exception that looks ahead a bit - the point where you’re still in the daily grind of studying but you’re *supposedly* an adult. Speaking from my own experience, further education was the best of times and it was the worst of times; if nothing else it was the most interesting and, for better or for worse, it was the only time of life where I wouldn’t want to change a thing. As anyone else who’s lived away from home at college or uni will testify, the whole independent living thing often teaches you more outside the lecture theatres than it does inside them.

Just another opportunity to show how I think Muuto rocks

I’ve seen other bloggers talk of Moyashimon as educational, and I can’t help but agree; after all, how many of us can now nod knowledgably and say we know where sake comes from? Although the series does pick out some very obscure and unlikely nuggets of trivia for the viewers’ benefit the experiences that Sawaki, Kei and their friends go through offer much more. I’m inclined to agree with Mr Twain (real name Samuel Clemens…honestly!) in that you only start learning about yourself and the world around you when you leave the security and expectations of your family and start to branch out on your own.

In case you think I’m going off at a tangent here, what about the real reason why Sawaki was placed under Itsuki-sensei’s care? Blessed with the ability to see microbes as chibi brewers of pure win, he’s expected to use his skills to carry on the family tradition, but instead is directed towards an eccentric researcher with a hardcore approach to independent thinking. Maybe Sawaki will become a researcher for Itsuki, grow up to be a 1337 sake brewer with an A oryzae perched on each shoulder, or perhaps shacking up with a goth-loli trap…whatever he chooses, agricultural college has given him a lot of life-enriching experiences with which he can decide his future for himself.

A moment of reflection regarding the future…with the help of some microbial friends

I’ve taken a pretty serious approach to looking at the latter episodes of Moyashimon, but the spring fest episodes have their fair share of herbal aphrodisiacs, college ninjas, gratuitous undergraduate yuri action and playing on the toilet humour cards making it a very light and comedic piece. Despite almost choking with laughter at Itsuki’s stall, being on the edge of my seat for the assault on the front gate and scratching my head at the best-dressed trap evar, my favourite scene has to be when, after losing his ability to see the chibi microbes, Sawaki leaves a slice of bread on a table and goes to bed. The following morning, his name is spelled out in mould, as a message from the microbial companions who are still there for him.

I really appreciated the way in which serious issues regarding direction in life and whatnot were portrayed in such a light-hearted way - the spring fest episodes came across as filler-ish at the time, but set up the more dramatic conclusion that stops playing around and sets its sights on what might lie ahead. With all the science-speak, the series could have felt preachy or hard to get into; taking issues encompassing properly growing up and deciding your career, not to mention real science, Moyashimon wraps it all up in a digestible package that can strike a profound chord with the viewers while still being fun. Following all this with the epic hug scene with Hasegawa, it’s a great way to end the series.

I could say I approve but the implications are terrifying…what the hell. I APPROVE.

If the series hadn’t ended there, that is. Eleven episodes is a really strange number, and I can easily see another season building on what the first achieved. Everything that made this so fun and insightful could be carried for at least another eleven: the ‘life lessons’, those outside of the labs and lecture theatres, are steering the students towards a fascinating future so it feels almost cruel to end our time with them already. Laugh all you like about Kei’s new image, Hasegawa’s family issues or Sawaki’s indecision following his temporary loss of micro-vision but these ideas have plenty of mileage that these episodes didn’t explore. I can imagine Moyashimon carrying on, like the oft-compared college comedy-drama Honey and Clover, for thirty-eight episodes or so because the themes touched on here are but tantalising bites of a very wholesome slice of Life Pie. Hell, with characters like these I could stuff my face with a whole plateful.

and some profound closing words of wisdom from Itsuki-sensei, the Sake Professor, Microscope Man and font of all knowledge

[Filed under Anime Reviews]  [Tags: Moyashimon]

Follow comments with this post's RSS 2.0 feed, leave a comment or trackback from your own site