Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture

Moyasimon: Tales of Agriculture
Moyashimon logo.
もやしもん (Moyashimon)
Genre	Comedy, Educational
Manga
Written by	Masayuki Ishikawa
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	Del Rey Manga
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Evening
Original run	August 2004 – ongoing
Volumes	10 (List of volumes)
TV anime
Directed by	Yūichirō Yano
Written by	Natsuko Takahashi
Studio	Shirogumi, Tele-Com Animation
Network	Fuji TV (noitamina)
Original run	October 12, 2007 – December 21, 2007
Episodes	11
TV drama
Network	Fuji TV (noitamina)
Original run	July 8, 2010 – September 16, 2010
Episodes	11
Anime and Manga Portal

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.^[1] Del Rey Manga licensed the manga and released volume one in English in North America in 2009. 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

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.

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.

Takuma Kawahama (川浜 拓馬, Kawahama Takuma^?)

Voiced by: Noriaki Sugiyama

Takuma Kawahama is a short, overweight sophomore and Misato'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, which she joined to escape reality.

Aya Hirōka (宏岡 亜矢, Hirōka 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 Nodai. She is a look-alike to Kei, except she has dark skin.

Marie (マリー, Marī^?)

Marie is a french girl Sawaki meets in France. She is the daughter of an old wine brewery, and speaks fluent Japanese. She wears white Lolita clothing, and is the second look-alike to Kei.

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 Moyashimon.

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

Moyashimon manga volume 1.

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 Moyashimon, before gaining the English subtitle Tales of Agriculture. As of July 6, 2010, nine bound volumes have been published in Japan.^[2] 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.^[3]

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. 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 was directed by noted film director Takashi Yamazaki. The anime's original soundtrack was released on November 28, 2007.

Episodes

#	Title	Original air date
01	"Epic Agricultural Microbes Story" "Nōdai Kin Monogatari" (農大菌物語)	October 12, 2007
It is the first day of Tadayasu and Kei's university life. Tadayasu shows off his ability to Professor Itsuki and Haruka. The talent show is cut short when Tadayasu spots fructivorans in the air.
02	"Three Hundred Million Yen Agriculture Student" "Sanoku En no Nōdaisei" (三億円の農大生)	October 19, 2007
Tadayasu and Kei follow the fructivorans and find a spilled tank of spoiled sake. They meet the perpetrators, Kaoru and Takuma, who invite them to their dorm room.
03	"Let's Brew with Microbes!" "Kin de Kamosuzo" (菌でかもすぞ)	October 26, 2007
Hazuki Oikawa is introduced. She comes to Kaoru and Takuma's dorm room and kills the bacteria they were planning to cultivate. Everyone is summoned back to the lab where Professor Itsuki and Haruka show them how to make sake for educational purposes.
04	"Everywhere is Microbe Celebration" "Achikochi Kin Matsuri" (あちこち菌祭り)	November 2, 2007
The first years are invited on a tour around the campus and a picnic. Tadayasu spots harmful bacteria in the food and saves everyone from E. coli food poisoning.
05	"Bizarre! Microbe Monster" "Kaiki! Kin Obake" (怪奇! 菌オバケ)	November 9, 2007
Tadayasu becomes disgusted when he sees a man covered in microbes. Professor Itsuki asks everyone to buy liquor at Hiyoshi Liquor Store near the school. Tadayasu discovers the owner is the microbe monster who brews delicious sake.
06	"Enchanting! Miss Agriculture!" "Nōsatsu! Misu Nōdai" (悩殺! ミス農大)	November 16, 2007
Aoi Mutō returns from a long trip bringing fermented meat. She also brings vibrio parahaemolyticus, El Tor, shigella dysenteriae, salmonella enterica, and plesiomonas shigelloides. After getting disinfected, Aoi brings Tadayasu to the UFO club room where all the members are sick and unintentionally breeding new forms of influenza with pigs and chickens.
07	"Raise the Curtains! The Spring Agricultural Festival" "Kaimaku! Nōdai Harusai" (開幕! 農大春祭)	November 23, 2007
The spring agricultural festival has started, and that means that during this time, the campus is closed and students have to exchange real money for school money, but when the festival ends the school money is worthless and cannot be exchanged back for real money. There are also many special rules related to the event that students have to find out on their own.
08	"The Epic Agricultural Front Gate Capture Game" "Nōdai Seimon Kōryakusen" (農大正門攻略戦)	November 30, 2007
It is the third day of the spring agricultural festival, and the students are forming a resistance in order to end the festival. At 4:00 PM, the students charge towards the front gate to engage in a battle, and during this time, Kaoru, Takuma, and Tadayasu work together to take down the robot in front of the gate and effectively end the festival. In return, they get 100,000 school yen which they use to get Professor Itsuki's aphrodisiac, they try to get one of the girls to take one but Haruka foils their plan by using all of them on herself, seemingly immune to their effects. Oikawa and Mutō get some from the professor themselves and sleep with each other as a result.
09	"Fitting for Soft Skin" "Yawahada ni Toritsuke" (柔肌にとりつけ)	December 7, 2007
Professor Itsuki holds a celebration for Kaoru and Takuma getting part-time jobs, and during this party introduces everyone to the foul-smelling surströmming. Later, Haruka is summoned to a private dinner with her father and fiancé, but gets Kaoru and Takuma, who had actually been working at the restaurant before getting fired by Haruka minutes before, to think of something to get her out of the dinner. They call Tadayasu who brings a can of surströmming; once the can is opened, Kaoru and Takuma take Haruka out in the confusion and go to a bar.
10	"Gothic Lolita Kiss" "Gosurori Kissu" (ゴスロリキッス)	December 14, 2007
After not seeing Kei for a while, Tadayasu discovers that he is working at Hiyoshi's liquor store, and on top of that is cross-dressing as a Gothic Lolita. Unexpectedly, Kei kisses Tadayasu, and afterwards Tadayasu discovers that he cannot see microbes anymore. This has happened before, but Haruka finds out and confronts him about the loss of his ability.
11	"Dazzling Microbe Future" "Kagayaku Kin Mirai" (輝く菌未来)	December 21, 2007
Haruka thinks that without his ability to see microbes, there is not much reason for him to be at the university anymore, though Kaoru and Takuma stick up for him. Tadayasu seeks advice from Kei, and in the process finds out that despite Kei getting mad in the past for being called feminine, he decided that deep down he was not being entirely honest with himself about his gender identity. Haruka reconciles with Tadayasu later, and at that time Tadayasu regains the ability to see microbes once more.

Live action TV series

Moyasimon has been adapted into a live action television series.^[4] 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.^[5] Funimation Entertainment announced a license to simulcast the series at their panel at Anime Expo 2010.^[6] 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.

Episodes

#	Title	Original air date
01	"Entering College" (入学)	July 8, 2010
02	"Ability" (能力)	July 15, 2010
03	"UFO Club" (UFO研)	July 22, 2010
04	"Kuchikami Sake" (口噛み酒)	July 29, 2010
05	"Love Potion" (惚れ薬)	August 5, 2010
06	"Disclosures" (発覚)	August 12, 2010
07	"Mending the Fence" (仲直り)	August 19, 2010
08	"Parting" (別れ)	August 26, 2010
09	"Harvest Festival" (収穫祭)	September 2, 2010
10	"Miss Agri-U" (ミス農大)	September 9, 2010
11	"Rescue" (奪還)	September 16, 2010

References

1. ^ "32nd Annual Kodansha Manga Awards Announced". Anime News Network. 2008-05-13. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-05-13/32nd-annual-kodansha-manga-awards-announced. Retrieved 2008-05-14. 
2. ^ "もやしもん（９）" (in Japanese). Kodansha. http://kc.kodansha.co.jp/product/top.php/1234608751. Retrieved July 10, 2010. 
3. ^ "Del Rey Gets Moyashimon, Amefurashi, Maid War Chronicles". Anime News Network. 2008-09-27. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-09-27/del-rey-gets-moyashimon-amefurashi-maid-war-chronicles. Retrieved 2008-09-27. 
4. ^ "Moyashimon Manga Gets 2010 Live-Action Drama Green-Lit". Anime News Network. December 7, 2009. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-12-07/moyashimon-manga-gets-2010-live-action-drama-green-lit. Retrieved July 2, 2010. 
5. ^ "Gackt Stars in Shiki, Noitamina Anime Details Confirmed". Anime News Network. February 21, 2010. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-02-21/gackt-stars-in-shiki-noitamina-anime-details-confirmed. Retrieved July 2, 2010. 
6. ^ "Funi Adds Moyashimon, Shiki, Black Butler 2, Sekirei 2, More". Anime News Network. July 2, 2010. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-07-02/funi-adds-live-action-moyashimon. Retrieved July 2, 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