Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture
| Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture | |
| File:Moyashimon logo.jpg Moyashimon logo. | |
| Genre | Comedy, Educational |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Written by | Masayuki Ishikawa |
| Published by |  Kodansha |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Anime | |
| Directed by | Yūichirō Yano |
| Written by | Natsuko Takahashi |
| Studio | Shirogumi, Telecom Animation Film |
Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture (もやしもん, Moyashimon) is a Japanese manga series created by Masayuki Ishikawa. It has been serialized in Kodansha's seinen magazine Evening since August 2004. An anime television series adaptation, animated by Shirogumi and Telecom Animation Film, aired between October 12 2007 and December 21 2007 on Fuji TV's noitamina programming block containing eleven episodes. The series follows Tadayasu Sawaki, a first-year college student at an agricultural university, who has a unique ability to see and communicate with bacteria and other micro-organisms.
Plot
Moyashimon follows the life of Tadayasu Sawaki, a first-year college student at an agricultural university, who has the unique ability to see and communicate with micro-organisms and bacteria. Additionally, these organisms look much different to him, and much larger, than what can be see under a microscope by normal people. This ability has brought him a bit of fame as when he entered the university, Tadayasu discovered that one of the professors there, Keizō Itsuki, already knew about his gift via Tadayasu's father. Professor Itsuki's coworker Haruka Hasegawa has trouble believing what Tadayasu claims at first, but later comes to accept it. Tadayasu enters the university with his good friend Kei Yūki whose family runs a sake brewery. The Department of Agriculture building on the school's campus is a near identical replica of the real life University of Coimbra in Portugal. The flag at the top of the clock tower also has the same color scheme as the Portuguese flag.
Characters
- Tadayasu Souemon Sawaki (沢木 惣右衛門 直保, Sawaki Souemon Tadayasu)
- Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi
- Tadayasu Souemon Sawaki is the main protagonist of Moyashimon and attends an agricultural university in Tokyo as a freshman. His middle name is the yagō of his family home; it is usually omitted, and he is called "Tadayasu Sawaki". He is a childhood friend of Kei Yūki and his parents run a supplier of yeast starters (種麹屋, tane-kōji-ya). He is able to see and communicate with bacteria and other micro-organisms.
- Kei Yūki (結城 蛍, Yūki Kei)
- Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga
- Kei is a childhood friend of Sawaki and a freshmen like him. His parents run a sake brewery. It is revealed near the end of the series, after a brief disappearance by Kei from the main plot, that Kei is gender dysphoric, and that he has stronger feelings for Sawaki than initially let on.
- Keizō Itsuki (樹 慶蔵, Itsuki Keizō)
- Voiced by: Tomomichi Nishimura
- Keizō Itsuki is a professor at the university and an acquaintance of Sawaki's family who knows of his ability. His age is a mystery, but there are reports of his works back to World War II.
- Haruka Hasegawa (長谷川 遥, Hasegawa Haruka)
- Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara
- Haruka Hasegawa is a postgraduate student. She wears a lab coat over skimpy, bondage-style clothing. She is a violent, somewhat sadistic woman from a wealthy, over-protective family. She is not very good at communicating with people, and her harsh personality is used to mask this handicap.
- Hazuki Oikawa (及川 葉月, Oikawa Hazuki)
- Voiced by: Akemi Kanda
- Hazuki Oikawa is a freshman at the same agricultural university like Sawaki and Kei. She is a compulsive neat freak and always carries disinfectant tissues and antibacterial spray with her.
- Kaoru Misato (美里 薫, Misato Kaoru)
- Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi
- Kaoru Misato is a sophomore who tries to use his knowledge of bacteria to earn easy money, who becomes friends with Sawaki. He speaks in the Kansai dialect.
- Takuma Kawahama (川浜 拓馬, Kawahama Takuma)
- Voiced by: Noriaki Sugiyama
- Takuma Kawahama is a short, overweight sophomore and Kaoru's best friend.
- Aoi Mutō (武藤 葵, Mutō Aoi)
- Voiced by: Mamiko Noto
- Possessing the unofficial title of "Miss Agriculture" due to her beauty, Mutō is also an assistant to Itsuki and Hasegawa. She is also president of the UFO club.
Micro-organisms
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Media
Manga
Moyashimon began as a manga series written and illustrated by Masayuki Ishikawa which started serialization in Kodansha's seinen magazine Evening in August 2004. It began serialization as Tales of an Agricultural University (農大物語, Nōdai Monogatari), but was changed in the second chapter to Moyashimon: Tales of an Agricultural University (農大物語もやしもん, Nōdai Monogatari Moyashimon), then simply Moyashimon, before gaining the English subtitle Tales of Agriculture. As of February 22 2008, six bound volumes have been published. It was written on the first volume's obi strip that the volume was printed on 100% recycled paper, and the ink was derived from soybeans. Volume one contained chapters one through eleven, and volume two contained chapters twelve through twenty-three. Starting with volume three, which contained chapters twenty-four through thirty-seven, two versions of the volumes started to be printed with each release. Volume three had a regular edition, and a customized edition which not only had different cover art, but also slightly different contents. The fourth volume, which contained chapters thirty-eight through forty-eight, was sold in regular and limited editions, the latter of which came with six mobile phone charms of the bacteria. The fifth volume, which contained chapters forty-nine through sixty, was sold in regular and customized editions, the latter of which also came with phone charms. The sixth volume was sold in a regular edition and a limited edition which comes with a 40 cm (15.75") long figure of A. oryzae. Each volume also contains omake material.
Anime
An anime adaptation aired between October 11 2007 and December 20 2007, containing eleven episodes. The series was animated by Shirogumi and Telecom Animation Film, and produced by Asmik Ace Entertainment, Kodansha, Shirogumi, SKY Perfect Well Think, Sony Music Entertainment, Dentsu and Fuji TV. Two pieces of theme music are used for the series; one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Curriculum" (カリキュラム, Kurikyuramu) by Sarasa Ifu, and the ending theme is "Rocket" by Polysics. The opening theme was directed by noted film director Takashi Yamazaki. The anime's original soundtrack was released on November 28 2007.
Episodes
| # | Title | Original air date |
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External links
- Moyashimon official website Template:Jp icon
- Telecom Animation Film's official Moyashimon website Template:Jp icon
- Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
