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 (沢木さわき 惣右衛門そうえもん 直ちょく保ほ, 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 (種たね麹屋こうじや, tane-kōji-ya). He is able to see and communicate with bacteria and other micro-organisms.

Kei Yūki (結城ゆうき 蛍ぼたる, 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 (樹き 慶けい蔵ぞう, 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 (長谷川はせがわ 遥はるか, 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 (及川おいかわ 葉月はづき, 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 (美里みさと 薫かおる, 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 (川浜かわはま 拓馬たくま, Kawahama Takuma)

Voiced by: Noriaki Sugiyama

Takuma Kawahama is a short, overweight sophomore and Kaoru's best friend.

Aoi Mutō (武藤むとう 葵まもる, 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

Micro-organisms as depicted in Moyashimon.

Acetobacter aceti (A.アセチ, A. asechi) A variety of acetic acid bacteria. Aspergillus awamori (A.アワモリ, A. awamori) Voiced by: Hisanori Yoshida 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) Aspergillus niger (A.ニガー, A. nigā) Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi, Noriaki Sugiyama Bacillus halodurans 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)

Hiochi Kin (火ひ落菌) Lactobacillus homohiochi, the "bad guy" of the series. A fructivoran which makes sake go bad. Lactobacillus bulgaricus Used to make yoghurt. Lactobacillus plantarum Lactobacillus yogurti (L.ヨグルティ, L. yoguruti) Voiced by: Miu Nakamura Used to make yoghurt. Penicillium chrysogenum (P.クリソゲヌム, P. kurisogenumu) A common green mould. 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. Streptococcus lactis (S.ラクチス, S. rakuchisu) Voiced by: Makiko Nabei Trichophyton rubrum (T.ルブラム, T. ruburamu) Voiced by: Saori Seto The cause of Hasegawa's athlete's foot.

Media

Moyashimon manga volume 1.

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 (農大のうだい物語ものがたり, Nōdai Monogatari), but was changed in the second chapter to Moyashimon: Tales of an Agricultural University (農大のうだい物語ものがたりもやしもん, 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

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#	Title	Original air date

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