Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture

Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture
Cover of volume 1 of Moyasimon, published by Kodansha.
もやしもん (Moyashimon)
Genre	Comedy, Educational
Manga
Written by	Masayuki Ishikawa
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	NA Del Rey Manga
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Evening
Original run	August 2004 – ongoing
Volumes	11
Anime television series
Directed by	Yūichirō Yano
Written by	Natsuko Takahashi
Studio	Shirogumi Telecom Animation Film
Network	Fuji TV (noitamina)
Original run	October 12, 2007 – December 21, 2007
Episodes	11
Television drama
Network	Fuji TV (noitamina)
Original run	July 8, 2010 – September 16, 2010
Episodes	11
Anime television series
Moyasimon Returns
Studio	Shirogumi Telecom Animation Film
Network	Fuji TV (noitamina)
Original run	July 5, 2012 – September 13, 2012
Episodes	11

Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture, known in Japan as Moyashimon (もやしもん), is a manga series created by Masayuki Ishikawa. It has been serialized in Kodansha's seinen magazine Evening since August 2004. It won the 2008 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for Grand Prize and the 2008 Kodansha Manga Award for general manga. Del Rey Manga licensed the manga, but only released two volumes in English in North America. An 11-episode anime television series adaptation, animated by Shirogumi and Telecom Animation Film, aired between October and December 2007 on Fuji TV's noitamina programming block. A second season titled Moyasimon Returns aired from July to September 2012. 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

Moyasimon 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 seen 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 grandfather. 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.

Characters

Tadayasu Souemon Sawaki (沢木 惣右衛門 直保, Sawaki Souemon Tadayasu)

Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi

Played by: Yūichi Nakamura

Tadayasu Souemon Sawaki is the main protagonist of Moyasimon 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 mold-starter producer (種麹屋, tane-kōji-ya). He is able to see and communicate with bacteria and other microorganisms.

Kei Yūki (結城 蛍, Yūki Kei)

Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga

Kei is a childhood friend of Sawaki and, like him, a freshman. His parents run a sake brewery (making them customers for the mold starter from Sawaki's parents). Kei disappears from the story soon after he and Sawaki enter college. He comes back cross-dressed in black Gothic Lolita clothing, and reveals 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 know 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

Played by: Natsuki Katō

Haruka Hasegawa is a postgraduate student. She wears a lab coat over revealing clothing. She is a violent, somewhat sadistic woman from a wealthy, over-protective family. Her family arranged a marriage for her, against her will. However, she does not have to marry him until she is finished with her studies at the university. This is the main reason why she decided to stay there until she receives her doctorate. Hasegawa is not very good at communicating with people, and her harsh personality is used to mask this handicap. She has known Itsuki since she was in middle school. Haruka is shown to have feelings for Misato in the manga.

Hazuki Oikawa (及川 葉月, Oikawa Hazuki)

Voiced by: Akemi Kanda

Hazuki Oikawa is a freshman at the same agricultural university. 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. He shares a run-down, dirty dorm room with his best friend, Kawahama. Misato is shown to have feelings for Haruka in the manga.

Takuma Kawahama (川浜 拓馬, Kawahama Takuma)

Voiced by: Noriaki Sugiyama

Takuma Kawahama is a short, overweight sophomore and Misato's best friend. He is a returnee from Mexico, which amounts to his knowledge of insects and pulque.

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, which she joined to escape reality.

Aya Hirooka (宏岡 亜矢, Hirooka Aya)

Voiced by: Chiaki Takahashi

Aya is a third year economics student at the university. She also works as a bartender at a local pub.

Yū Kaneshiro (金城 優, Kaneshiro Yū)

Yū is the keeper of Okinawa proving ground of the agricultural university. She is a look-alike to Kei, except she has dark skin.

Marie (マリー, Marī)

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro

Marie is a french girl Sawaki meets in France. She is born in an old family Burgundy Domaine specializing in wine brewery and speaks fluent Japanese. She wears white Lolita clothing, and is the second look-alike to Kei. She is knowledgeable about wine brewery but has some disagreements with her father, who is in charge of the winery business.

Hana Kanō (加納 はな, Kanō Hana)

Hana comes to meet Kei at the Hiyoshi Liquor Shop to sell beer she brews in her farm. She is short, wears glasses, and looks very young.

Micro-organisms

Micro-organisms as depicted in Moyasimon.

Acetobacter aceti (A.アセチ, A. asechi) A variety of acetic acid bacteria. Alternaria alternata (A.アルテルナータ, A. aruterunāta) Also known as "soot fungus." Aspergillus awamori (A.アワモリ, A. awamori) Voiced by: Hisanori Yoshida Used in the production of awamori. Aspergillus oryzae (A.オリゼー, A. orizē) Voiced by: Yumi Touma A. oryzae is the main character of the micro-organisms side. Aspergillus sojae (A.ソーエ, A. sōe) Used to make miso. Aspergillus niger (A.ニガー, A. nigā) Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi, Noriaki Sugiyama Used in the production of shōchū. Bacillus halodurans (B. ハロヂュランス, B. harodyuransu) Seen on hongeohoe by Tadayasu. Bacillus subtilis natto (B.ナットー, B. nattō) Used to make natto. Cladosporium trichoides (C.トリコイデス, C. torikoidesu) Voiced by: Moody Katsuyama Clostridium botulinum (C.ボツリナム, C. botsurinamu) Cordyceps sinensis (C. シネンシス, C. shinenshisu) A caterpillar fungus prized in Traditional Chinese medicine.

Hiochi Kin (火落菌) Lactobacillus homohiochi, the "bad guy" of the series. A fructivoran which makes sake go bad. Lactobacillus bifidum (L. ビフィダム, L. bifidamu) Used to make Western yoghurt. Lactobacillus brevis (L. ブレビス, L. burebisu) Found in fermented vegetables like kimchi and Japanese pickles. Streptococcus lactis (S.ラクチス, S. rakuchisu) Voiced by: Makiko Nabei Lactobacillus plantarum (L. プランタルム, L. purantarumu) Used to make sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables. Lactobacillus yogurti (L.ヨグルティ, L. yoguruti) Voiced by: Miu Nakamura Used to make Japanese yoghurt. Speaks in a very formal accent. Penicillium chrysogenum (P.クリソゲヌム, P. kurisogenumu) A common green mold used to produce antibiotics (most notably, penicillin) Pediococcus pentosaceus (P. ペントサセウス, P. pentosaseusu) Also seen on hongeohoe by Tadayasu. Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S.セレビシエ, S. serebishie) Voiced by: Misa Tamagawa Creates alcohol out of sugars. Hangs around Kei in the anime. Trichophyton rubrum (T.ルブラム, T. ruburamu) Voiced by: Saori Seto The cause of Hasegawa's athlete's foot.

Media

Manga

See also: List of Moyashimon chapters

Moyasimon 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 Moyasimon: Tales of an Agricultural University (農大物語もやしもん, Nōdai Monogatari Moyashimon), then simply Moyasimon, before gaining the English subtitle Tales of Agriculture. The first tankōbon volume was released on May 23, 2005, and 11 volumes have been released as of March 23, 2012. Del Rey Manga licensed the manga in September 2008, and released volume one in English in North America in November 2009, with volume two released on June 22, 2010. Further English volumes were discontinued after Kodansha USA took over the manga published by Del Rey Manga.

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

See also: List of Moyasimon episodes

An 11-episode anime adaptation aired between October 11 and December 20, 2007. 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. The opening theme is "Curriculum" (カリキュラム, Karikyuramu) by Sarasa Ifu and the ending theme is "Rocket" by Polysics. The opening theme video was directed by noted film director Takashi Yamazaki. The anime's original soundtrack was released on November 28, 2007. A second season titled Moyasimon Returns aired 11 episodes between July 5 and September 13, 2012. The opening theme is "Wake Up" by ClariS and the ending theme is "Saikin" (最近, Recently) by Hiiragi.

Live action TV series

See also: List of Moyasimon episodes#Live action series

Moyasimon has been adapted into a live action television series. It was also broadcast on the mainly anime-based programing block "noitaminA" that the anime aired on. The series aired on Fuji TV between July 8 and September 16, 2010. Funimation Entertainment announced a license to simulcast the series at their panel at Anime Expo 2010. As the series is the first non-anime series of "noitaminA" on Fuji TV, the second broadcaster of the series in Japan, Kansai TV, did not use the name of the timeslot "Anime Work!" during the air from July 13 to September 21, 2010.

External links

• Moyasimon official website (Japanese)
• Telecom Animation Film's official Moyasimon website (Japanese)
• Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture Funimation Channel on YouTube
• Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• ANN review