Moyashimon

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Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture
もやしもん (Moyashimon)
Genre	Comedy, Science
Manga
Author	Masayuki Ishikawa
Publisher	Kodansha
English lang edn.	(US) Del Rey Manga
Serialized in	Evening
Original run	August 2004 – (ongoing)
No. of volumes	6
TV anime
Directed by	Yūichirō Yano
Studio	Shirogumi, Telecom Animation Film
Network	Fuji TV (noitamina)
Original run	12 October – 21 December 2007
No. of episodes	11
OP Curriculum (カリキュラム) by Sarasa Ifu ED Rocket by Polysics

Moyashimon: Tales of Agriculture (もやしもん, Moyashimon) is a Japanese manga and anime 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 will be releasing it in English in North America. An 11 episode anime television series adaptation, animated by Shirogumi and Telecom Animation Film, aired in Autumn 2007 on Fuji TV's noitamina programming block.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Characters 3 Micro-organisms 3.1 Good Guys 3.2 Bad Guys 4 Manga 5 Anime 5.1 Episodes 6 Trivia 7 References 8 External links

[edit] 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 such as bacteria and fungi. These organisms look to him like cute little chibi creatures (typically about 2cm in size), which talk to him. The notoriety of this ability has preceded his arrival at the university, where Tadayasu discovers that his professor, Keizō Itsuki, already knows about his gift from Tadayasu's grandfather. One of Professor Itsuki's postgraduate students, Haruka Hasegawa, has trouble believing in Tadayasu's ability at first, but is forced to accept the evidence when he infallibly identifies one organism after another. Tadayasu enters the university with his good friend Kei Yūki whose family runs a sake brewery.

[edit] Characters

Tadayasu Souemon Sawaki (沢木 惣右衛門 直保, 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 (種麹屋, tane-kōji-ya). He is able to see and communicate with fungi (most famously the rice mould A.Oryzae which is used to make sake), bacteria and other micro-organisms.

Kei Yūki (結城 蛍, 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 慶蔵, 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 遥, Hasegawa Haruka)

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara

Haruka Hasegawa is a postgraduate student. She wears her lab coat over skimpy, dominatrix-style clothing. She is an aggressive, somewhat sadistic woman from a wealthy, over-protective family. Her family arranged a marriage for her to a much older looking man. However, she does not have to marry the man until she is finished 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 Professor 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 like Sawaki and Kei. She is a compulsive cleanliness 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 second year who tries to use his knowledge of bacteria to earn easy money to pay off his debts, 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 second year 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 as an escape from reality.

[edit] Micro-organisms

During the series, each micro-organism is introduced on-screen by its scientific (Latin) name, and its real-life attributes typically become an integral part of the plot, often with Prof. Itsuki explaining its nature and uses to his students. All of the science in the series appears to be accurate.^[2]

[edit] Good Guys

These are typically used to make fermented foods or drinks.

Aspergillus oryzae (A.オリゼー, A. orizē)

Voiced by: Yumi Touma

A.Oryzae (pictured right) is rice mould, a filamentous fungus, and is the main micro-organism character of the series. It turns rice starch into sugar which in turn can be turned into alcohol by yeast. a bunch of A.Oryzae accompany Sawaki everywhere since his family run a kouji(麹) business, producing yeast starter for use by brewers and other businesses involved in fermented foodstuffs. In episode 1, some A.Oryzae shown to Sawaki in a food sample actually recognise him and call out to him by name. This alerts him to the fact that they must have come from his family business, to the astonishment of Hasegawa who can't understand how he could possibly tell the origin of a microbe just by looking at it! (She, of course, can neither hear them nor see them without a microscope.)

Acetobacter aceti (A.アセチ, A. asechi)

A variety of acetic acid bacteria, it turns alcohol into vinegar.

Alternaria alternata (A.アルテルナータ, A. aruterunāta)

Also known as "soot fungus", turns some plastics black. Featured in the microbe theatre at the end of ep.2, where it is mentioned it can contaminate contact lens solutions.

Aspergillus awamori (A.アワモリ, A. awamori)

Voiced by: Hisanori Yoshida

a relative of Aspergillus niger (q.v.), it is used in place of A.Oryzae for turning rice starch into sugar when making the Okinawan rice spirit awamori. It appears in ep.3.

Aspergillus niger (A.ニガー, A. nigā)

Voiced by: Daisuke Sakaguchi , Noriaki Sugiyama

A common black yeast mould found on food. However it is also used in the production of the mild (25% alcohol) spirit, shōchū. It shows up in ep.2.

Aspergillus sojae (A.ソーエ, A. sōe)

Used to make the soy sauce and the fermented soy paste, miso, it shows up in ep.3.

Bacillus halodurans (B. ハロヂュランス, B. harodyuransu)

Seen on the Korean fermented dish hongeohoe by Tadayasu.

Bacillus subtilis natto (B.ナットー, B. nattō)

Used to make natto, a Japanese equivalent to Marmite made from fermented beans.

Candida albicans, Candida

Normally all animals and humans carry this without problem, but sometimes it can make you ill. Appears in ep.2.

Cladosporium trichoides (C.トリコイデス, C. torikoidesu)

Voiced by: Moody Katsuyama

A poisonous black fungus which grows on spoiled meat and plants and also wet surfaces such as bathroom tiles. It features in the the microbe theatre at the end of ep.2.

Cordyceps sinensis (C. シネンシス, C. shinenshisu)

A caterpillar fungus prized in Traditional Chinese medicine, where it was thought to grant immortality. It appears in ep.2.

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 Japanese pickles and the ubiquitous Korean sidedish kimchi.

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.

Penicillium chrysogenum (P.クリソゲヌム, P. kurisogenumu)

A common green mould found on bread etc. It also makes the antibiotic penicillin to keep bacteria at bay and is famed as the original source of this drug.

Pediococcus pentosaceus (P. ペントサセウス, P. pentosaseusu)

A lactic acid bacteria which shows up in ep.3, commonly found in the Korean fermented dish kimchi, it is a vegetable lactobaccilus with a unique taste. Also seen on hongeohoe by Tadayasu.

Physarum polycephalum, P.Porisefarumu

More commonly known as slime mold, this is an amazing mould that can form a multicell body to move about. It is the source of endless fascination for the 2nd year students Misato and Kawahama who have it navigating mazes (for example in ep.6).

Rhizopus japonicus, R.Japponikusu

Spiderweb fungus. Used by Chinese people to make chinese spirit, it shows up in ep.2.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S.セレビシエ, S. serebishie)

Voiced by: Misa Tamagawa

This is a common form of yeast, it turns sugar into alcohol. In the anime we learn how it teams up with A.Oryzae to make sake. Hangs around Kei in the anime, as his family own a brewery.

Streptococcus lactis (S.ラクチス, S. rakuchisu)

Voiced by: Makiko Nabei

[edit] Bad Guys

These make food go off or cause food poisoning or other ailments.

Hiochi Kin (火落菌)

The main "bad guy" of the series. A fructivoran which makes sake go bad, and thus a mortal enemy of Kei's family who are brewers. In episide two we learn they caused the owner of Kei's family brewery to hang himself after all their sake went bad. Sawaki notices a mass of it drifting in the air at the end of episode 1, which leads them to the 2nd year students' illicit sake brewing vat, whose contents unbenownst to them have been ruined by the hiochi. Note: the name hiochi kin is actually a general term used by brewers to refer to several organisms that spoil alcohol.

Trichophyton rubrum (T.ルブラム, T. ruburamu)

Voiced by: Saori Seto

The cause of Hasegawa's Athlete's Foot: Sawaki notices it on her toes in episode 1, and in return she threatens to kill him if he tells anyone.

Fusarium vasinfectum (F.バシンフェクタム, F.Bashinfecutamu)

A fungal plant pathogen which appears in ep.9.

Geotrichum, Jioturikumu

A genus of fungus that spoils milk, it shows up in ep.2

Influenza

A virus that has killed millions over the years, described by Prof. Isuki as "mankind's first and strongest enemy". In episode 6, Mutou's UFO society friends turn out to have gone down with influenza (the specific strain isn't identified), and worse are keeping both pigs and chickens which could result in a bridging virus between bird flu and human flu, since pigs can catch either type. Sawaki thinks he is safe beause he was wearing a cloth face mask, but Hasegawa points out that since viruses are much smaller than bacteria, the mask will have had little effect. Fortunately, the humidity in the mask seems to have slowed the arid-loving viruses down.

Mucor mucedo, M.Musedo

A poisonous fungus growing on spoiled fruits and vegetables, it shows up in ep.2.

Rhinovirus

A virus that causes colds, found around the neck or in a runny nose, it turns up in ep.3

Clostridium botulinum (C.ボツリナム, C. botsurinamu)

Botulism, one of the five great food poisons.

[edit] 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 (農大物語, Nōdai Monogatari), but was changed in the second chapter to Moyashimon: 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 22 February 2008, six bound volumes have been published in Japan. Del Rey Manga licensed the manga in September 2008, and will be releasing it in English in North America.^[3]

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 straps 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 40cm figure of A. oryzae. Each volume also contains omake material.

[edit] Anime

An anime adaptation aired between 11 October and 20 December 2007, containing eleven episodes. The series was animated by Shirogumi and Telecom Animation Film. The opening sequence was directed by noted CGI director Takashi Yamazaki. Unlike the anime story itself it consists of CGI versions of the microbes which have been convincingly integrated into live action footage of a university campus and laboratory. The anime's original soundtrack was released on 28 November 2007.

[edit] Episodes

01: Epic Agricultural Microbes Story

(農大菌物語, Nōdai Kin Monogatari)
broadcast: 12 October 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

(三億円の農大生, Sanoku En no Nōdaisei)
broadcast: 19 October 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!

(菌でかもすぞ, Kin de Kamosuzo)
broadcast: 26 October 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

(あちこち菌祭り, Achikochi Kin Matsuri)
broadcast: 2 November 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

(怪奇! 菌オバケ, Kaiki! Kin Obake)
broadcast: 9 November 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 serves rare and delicious sake in an illicit bar at the back of the shop. At the end of the episode, Aoi Mutō appears and her rucsac full of fermented food explodes.

06: Enchanting! Miss Agriculture!

(悩殺! ミス農大, Nōsatsu! Misu Nōdai)
broadcast: 16 November 2007

Aoi Mutō has returned from a long trip bringing fermented meat. She also brings Vibrio Parahaemolyticus, El Tor, Shigella Dysenteriae (Dysentry), 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 the influenza virus with pigs and chickens.

07: Raise the Curtains! The Spring Agricultural Festival

(開幕! 農大春祭, Kaimaku! Nōdai Harusai)
broadcast: 23 November 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

(農大正門攻略戦, Nōdai Seimon Kōryakusen)
broadcast: 30 November 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

(柔肌にとりつけ, Yawahada ni Toritsuke)
broadcast: 7 December 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, a Scandinavian food which ferments in the tin. 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

(ゴスロリキッス, Gosurori Kissu)
broadcast: 14 December 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

(輝く菌未来, Kagayaku Kin Mirai)
broadcast: 21 December 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.

[edit] Trivia

In the anime, 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.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Moyashimon official website
• Telecom Animation Film's official Moyashimon website
• Moyashimon (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

Note that although this article is based on the one at Wikipedia, it as been substantially rewritten and expanded, and now contains 50% more bacteria and other pathogens!

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