Shopping Guide
How to reconcile a dream with reality
Hachiken and the rest of the first year students get hands-on training with raising piglets, and he gets a soft spot for a runt of a piglet who is the weakest of the bunch.
When he returns to his dorm, everyone is heading home for Golden Week to help their families with farm work. Being left behind in the dorm, Hachiken is invited by Mikage Aki to hang out and he goes to the ban’ei racetrack. There, he also meets up with Komaba Ichirō and feels dejected because he seems like a third wheel. However, he soon gets greatly excited and cheers on the race when a horse from Mikage’s family appears! However, after a long struggle, the horse barely manages to place third.
After the race, the three share a meal together and Hachiken in shocked to learn that horses who don’t perform well in the races are made into horse meat and eaten. Having different ethical standpoints, tension between Hachiken and Komaba reaches a boiling point. The two are then invited by Mikage to the stables. There, a horse funeral is being carried out, and Hachiken and Komaba are able to understand each other’s points of view and reconcile.
After school starts back up, the students once again have training with the piglets. Though he hears that the piglets are all fated to become meat in three month’s time, Hachiken decides to name the runt.
Hachiken: a boy without a dream for the future. Komaba: a boy who will help his family after he graduates from Ezono. They each have different points of view, and they both know that resolve is needed to make any dream a reality. Though Hachiken and the rest are learning many things, there is no doubt that one of the highlights of this work is portraying adults who have a firm grasp on reality.
–– Staff ––
Original work: Hiromu Arakawa (serialized in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday)
Director: Tomohiko Itō
Scriptwriter: Taku Kishimoto
Storyboard artist: Pyeon-Gang Ho
Chief animation director: Takahiro Chiba
Animation director: Naohiro Ōsugi, Kengo Matsumoto
© Hiromu Arakawa, Shogakukan Inc. / Ezono Festival Executive Committee
