YMMV / Silver Spoon

• Designated Monkey: Tokiwa normally doesn't do anything more heinous than being a giant idiot, but in later chapters especially he might as well be gum stuck to the bottom of the universe's shoe. Sure, the Hair-Trigger Temper Tsundere routinely beating up on him can be excused as her personality, but when Hachiken does it too...
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Chestnut, no pun intended.
  • Tamako is also getting her share of fans as well.
  • Goushi Mikage as well for being one of the most reasonable forms of antagonism in anime.
  • Nishikawa is also pretty popular.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In chapter 24/episode 9, the characters mention that the park where they're attending a summer festival has an ice festival in the winter. Komaba jokes that Tokiwa will probably have flunked out of school by then anyways. Then at the start of the winter arc, Komaba drops out of school.
  • Upon learning of the above plot twist, re-reading/watching the Autumn Arc just becomes gut-wrenching, such as the part where Aki told Yugo that they should just let Ichiro savour the moment working on building the racetrack, and not worry about him getting to exhausted.
• Iron Woobie: Komaba. Dear god, Komaba. There's just something so heartbreaking about being dealt the combo of losing in the baseball tournament and then being forced to drop out of school due to his family's bankruptcy. Nonetheless, he never stops to bemoan the situation he's put in, instead devoting himself to working instead.
• Nausea Fuel: None of the dirtier farmwork is overtly graphic, but this is not a series that can be easily recommended to anyone with a weak stomach or a fondness for farm animals. Of particular note: the butchering process in Chapter 77.
• Values Dissonance: A minor but notable case is the series' attitude towards meat-eating. The school bribes the students with Mongolian Barbecue whenever some big task needs doing, such as the baseball coach motivating the baseball team with meat dinners before important games. When Hachiken meets a friend from the city, said friend asks incredulously if he can eat as much meat as he likes, since he goes to an agricultural school. All this comes across as pretty strange to many readers in North America, where arable land is more plentiful and meat cheaper, but in Japan meat is fairly expensive and an occasional treat rather than a dietary staple for most people.
• The Woobie: Hachiken definitely becomes this when his family life is taken into account.
  • Tokiwa can invoke this at times when his Butt-Monkey status becomes a bit too much to bear.