A new season is upon us! While the first set of shows has already aired, there are still plenty more to come. The authors of Anime Audiolog of put together a Winter season preview podcast. While nothing really stands out, there are a few gems that we think you should watch! What are they? Come listen and find out!
To follow along with the shows we’re reviewing, you can use the chart at Neregate.
As always, you can stream the podcast here, or download it using the link below.
Suffice to say that this series surprised me and half the damn blogosphere. A wake up call via shock therapy if you ask me, and one that was needed.
It’s not hard to see that many of us weren’t expecting much from Kotoura-san. It’s an adaptation of 4-koma (AKA 4 cell) manga that was supposed to be about school romance and comedy. Notice I say supposed because the first half of the episode came out of nowhere. Nevertheless, it was never really an underdog. Director Masahiko Ohta has directed acclaimed comedies Yuru Yuri, Mitsudomoe and Minami-ke‘s first season (supposedly the best one). Throw in AIC, who do some good work, and you actually have something to be excited about.
With a good staff behind it, the story was all that’s left. So how was it?
The drama, whilst over-the-top, benefited the series because of the shock factor it provided. I’ll admit that the drama itself wasn’t necessarily great but the continuous pile up was something else. By the end of it I was questioning whether this series was really about comedy. Even looking at the poster, I became more confused – all those cute designs and no laughs? I was actually scared to continue watching it out of fear of clinically depressing myself but, luckily, the first half ended and kickstarted the comedy.
I particularly loved how Manabe’s character introduction started off the light and fun half of the episode. He’s a fun male lead to have around; not going to be original in any way but his perversion and strange thoughts will definitely add something to comedy. Of course the ensuing moe OP brightened up the series even further, but Manabe had a hand in making the second half fun to watch.
Ignoring the drama and shock for a second, this first episode basically served to establish a relationship between Manabe and Kotoura. With the way Manabe acts, the romance was joked about which leaves it as a question mark for now. If the drama was to pop up in the future, the tone of the romantic development might be completely different from what I expect.
Finally, I have to say, there’s a charm to this series. It has the potential to be heart-warming and comedic, which is never a bad thing. The drama could either add or detract from the quality of the series, and we’ll have to see about it. For me the drama wasn’t too much but as long as the comedy picks up in the next few episodes, I don’t see how many could complain.
Kotoura-san may just be the dark horse of this season, so give it a go.
[Maoyuu Maou Yuusha Episode 1]
What really drew me in when I first started reading Maoyuu was its broad look at the physical and social sciences. It looks into politics, agriculture, economics. There is a real intent in the series to teach fundamentals, and the engineer in me loves it. So with this episode, a single minute is devoted to a very important concept in agriculture: Crop Rotation. With this concept, The Demon King will set in motion her plan to change the human world. But why is crop rotation so important? Let me explain.
A critical element to plant growth in earth’s biosphere is nitrogen. The Nitrogen Cycle is “the process by which nitrogen is converted between its various chemical forms”. Nitrogen transformation can be carried out through both biological and physical processes. The majority of Earth’s atmosphere is nitrogen, however, atmospheric nitrogen cannot easily be converted for use by plants. nitrogen (and it’s derivatives that we’ll talk about later) can be depleted from the soil quickly if certain biological process do not take place. Farming techniques developed by humans can also deplete the soil of the necessary chemicals for proper plant growth. A diagram of the Nitrogen Cycle is shown below.
As noted in the diagram, many factor influence the migration and transformation of nitrogen in the soil. Most plants draw nitrogen derivatives from the soil, like Ammonia and Nitrates. Bacteria and fungi provide an essential role of producing these derivatives as a part of their biological process or decomposition. Some plants are nitrogen fixing; they store nitrogen in their root system returning some of the atmospheric nitrogen to the soil. Animal manure is also a great source for material that fungi and bacteria can feed off, returning necessary chemicals back to the soil.
If you’ve ever owned a house, you done a little nitrogen improvement for your yard from time to time. If you’ve ever put fertilizer in your yard, you’ve done something to contribute to the Nitrogen Cycle. There are three (3) values listed on the common bag of fertilizer. The values represent the percentage the product contains by volume of nitrogen (chemical symbol N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). By selecting the right percentage, you can restore lost elements necessary to maintaining the Nitrogen Cycle and keeping your lawn green. A common fertilizer, commonly call “Triple 16”, contains an even 16% by volume of each of these elements.
If you’ve ever wondered why your dog leaves spots in your yard, here’s why: urine, when produced as a waste product in animals, contains a high level of nitrogen. You’ll have a dead spot (extreme nitrogen in the grass killing it) surrounded by a ring of green grass (above normal nitrogen, leading to rapid growth).
So what does this have to do with crop rotation? Different plants can play different roles within the Nitrogen Cycle. By playing into the different strengths of plants, you can improve their chances for growth. Crop Rotation is “the practice of growing a series of dissimilar/different types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons.” Rotating crops can replenish nitrogen in the soil, and help prevents the build-up of pathogens and pests that often occur when one plant or crop is continuously planted.
Crop Rotation has been used in farming almost since farming first started. Ancient farmers found growing the same crops in the same position caused a buildup of pests and a reduction in fertility. So the solution was to grow a winter crop, and then summer crop, and finally leave the ground for one growing season to recover. This three-year system was commonly used in Europe until the 16th Century. And this is the system we find present in Maoyuu. Her solution is to change this to a four (4) crop rotation, which will fundamentally change what this tiny region can produce. The system she proposes was made popular by the British agriculturist Charles Townshend in the 18th century. The system (wheat, turnips, barley and clover), creates staples necessary for livestock to be bred year-round. The four-field crop rotation was a key development in the British Agricultural Revolution.
Each crop not only provides food for a consumer (livestock or human), but also plays a role in the crop rotation and Nitrogen Cycle:
As one last improvement to the crop-cycle, she has pigs grazing in the clover fields. The manure left by pigs provides a big boost in nitrogen and other chemicals to the soil. It also improves water retention when tilled in. And as the Demon King mentions, it provides ample feed, improving the size of the pig the butcher-able meat.
But what happens when a proper crop rotation is not maintained? In the 1930′s in North America, an event now known as the Dust Bowl occurred. The Dust Bowl “was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands in the 1930s, particularly in 1934 and 1936. The phenomenon was caused by severe drought combined with farming methods that did not include crop rotation, fallow fields, cover crops, soil terracing and wind-breaking trees to prevent wind erosion”. During an already tumultuous economic time, this devastated the agriculture community, making the Great Depression all that much worse.
Back to the anime. In the cold weather climate that the Demon King has chosen to set up her agricultural revolution, this rotation is nearly perfect. It provides a food source for livestock and farmer, and can be easily accomplished in the available land and climate. An improvement in pest and weed control could be used, but for the technology of the era, this might be beyond the scope. As we’ll soon see, these changes, along with next week’s hinted surprise, will lead to widespread changes. But I won’t spoil the surprise for the rest of you.
The winter season is fast upon us. The first episodes of the season have launched, giving us early impressions of what we’ll like or not. And with that, comes choices in blogging. So, without further delay, these are the plans for the staff of Anime Audiolog.
For the winter season, we’ll be bringing you five episodic posts:
Kotoura-san will be blogged by Azeriraz, posting every Friday. This romantic comedy should bring us lots of laughs, along with some subtle points on being different from everyone else.
Vivid Red Operation will be blogged by Numberss, posting every Saturday. This mix of magical girl sequences and sci-fi battle suits should be quite the crowd-pleaser.
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha will be blogged by JoeAnimated, posting every Sunday. A social studies education mixed into a fantasy setting with an unusual love story will provide for some interesting dialogue.
Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu yo will be blogged by Sabas, posting every Monday.The bunny girl has already made quite the impression, and will make for ample comedy.
Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru will be a special group post by all the authors. This harem comedy has provided for a some fun group watches among us, so we will all be chipping in on our thoughts.
Our signature show, Anime Talk airs LIVE every Tuesday at 11 pm American Eastern Standard Time. Hosted by JoeAnimated and Aeroblip, the conversation follow current topics and interests in anime and other Japanese media. The podcast will come out every Thursday, and is available for download straight from the site, or in your favorite podcast app (see the side bar).
On The Clock returns as well. Featuring Kevo and Akira, this show is a fast paced look at range of topics on Japanese entertainment and news. As with Anime Talk, you can download directly from the release, or with a podcast app.
As we expand our reach, we will also new shows coming this season, so stay tuned as we get them ready for your enjoyment. These shows will be a lot of fun, and informative as well. Past favorites, like Pixiv Picks, will continue, with plenty of goodness to look at. And we’ll be bringing guests in for more special reviews, debates, and comparisons. The community is full of great minds, and we like to bring them to you.
Thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget to keep coming back as we bring you new and exciting things!
As depressing as Kotoura-san may be, it’s extremely adorable.
Without a doubt this series has become a surprise hit with me. After three episodes, the comedy continues to be as entertaining and moe as ever. Though for me, it’s the romantic and personal development involving Kotoura. It’s a very sad story so far, but it’s very moving at the same time.
Manabe and Kotoura’s budding romances is blossoming rather quickly. I for one get frustrated with slow-moving romances, so this is very much to my liking. What does differentiate the romance in this series, are its greater ties to Kotoura’s personal development. A tie that creates very heavy moments, like at the end of this episode.
I find it very adorable and enjoyable how the romance is being handled. The over-the-top comedy moments with the mind reading, coupled with the serious moments just works. You essentially get your moe romcom and that serious shojo-esque development. They don’t actually work in symbiosis for me, though they somehow work off each other. Manabe might be the glue that holds everything together, for now. His loveable idiot character makes it hard for me not to like him. Admiration for any character who continues to have a funny running gag. Kotoura could be the one to take the centre stage in the next few episodes. Her karaoke scene proves she can be in spotlight for comedy.
As we see, Kotoura has a past to overcome. We can assume the central theme of Kotoura-san will be around her overcoming her past. All of her hardships involving friends and family. It makes it that much more heart-breaking when she sacrifices herself for Manabe’s sake. Just because of this, Kotoura continues to improve as a character for me. Her past makes this decision unsurprising, but in a good way.
In the background of the series, the other members of the ESP club and Moritani are building up their own stories. We got a glimpse of both Moritani and Yuriko’s lives in the past two episodes. What’s left is to see their own story come out of the woodwork. I suspect more character development involving Kotoura to push this a long. In this episode, I don’t know what to make of Moritani’s move. It didn’t do anything for me. A little bland. No worry, since I’m most interested in Daichi‘s part in the story. Something tells me it’ll be quite amusing – he’s a little cruel, isn’t he?
There’s plenty to look forward to in Kotoura-san. Employing the three episode rule, it stays. And for me, it stays towards the top of the season’s offerings. It’ll be nice to see Kotoura’s development in the upcoming episodes.
In my opinion, it wouldn’t be a romantic comedy without a swimsuit episode. Even for the more humour-driven Kotoura-san.
With comedies it’s often hard to say precisely why they’re funny or not. Putting the reason you laughed into words is about as unsatisfying as explaining why a joke is funny. Even so, I feel compelled to give it a shot whenever there is an episode like this.
First of all, I’m glad that Kotoura’s grandpa is more likeable character the second time round. His first appearance didn’t do much for me. All I remember was him perving on his own granddaughter and saying nothing else. This time round, his over-the-top energy was better used as he made great after joke, mostly at the expense of Moritani. Of course my favourite moment involving grandpa was his bro-like attitude as he and Manabe indulged in some yuri shipping fun.
Grandpa aside, the other male cast members are terrific. Manabe is likeable, yes, but it’s Shimono Hiro’s Muroto that continues to be the understated star. That otaku attitude, very reminiscent of Keima, is just a blast of hilarious moments. More-so since Mifune’s reactions compliment the comedy so much.
The female cast continues to be as adorable and funny as ever. One thing I will say, is that they don’t seem to shine as much for me as the male cast does. Exluding Kotoura, who’s the main character, the other two disappear at times. Given the amount of screen time given to Kotoura and her romance – no complaints here – I can understand that. Still, Mifune and Moritani have much less presence in this episode. Especially Mifune, whose sole contribution was “jiggle.”
With most comedy scenarios related to the summer vacation covered, Kotoura-san tied it all up with the emotional. A sliver of drama wedged to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That might have been to do with the impending melodrama, as hinted by the last few seconds of the episode.
Looks like Kotoura-san may be returning to some emotionally heavy waters. With the comedy being the central focus these past two episode, I don’t mind returning to the more serious. Brace yourselves. This could go overly dramatic.
Final Thoughts – That new ED (and last week’s) are pure gold.
You have no idea how tempting it’s been to forego doing a proper review and to just upload a bundle of screen caps with the words “moe” or “kawaii” as the captions.
As usual it’s hard to sum up my feelings about an episode of Kotoura-san. Lately it’s made me laugh out loud more than usual, which I’m more than happy about. The initial shock and confusion of melodrama has fizzled out within the series and now all that’s left is a barrage of random and adorable comedy.
This episodes comedy……..Let me just try to sum it up:
I can safely state, most of the above had me laughing pretty hard. One of the better moments for me was the scene when Kotoura tried squeeze her breasts up against Manabe’s arm – it just summed up the romantic comedy in the series. It was a flood of comedy that essentially drowned out the ever declining drama in the series.
Looking at this episode, the drama was almost non-existent. A sigh of relief followed this realisation, as the series side-stepped one of the bigger landmine’s it could have stepped on. I was never against the drama in Kotoura-san but I feared bringing back the mother would trigger something akin to the first episode. Luckily we avoided anything depressing and simply got a quick cameo.
I suspect that Kotoura’s mother still has an appearance or two left. She did say, “We’d only hurt each other” which leaves some sort of chance at redemption to be seized. At the very least she accepts a part of the responsibility and a character in situation did have a difficult time. She’s still the villain in many ways, but there’s hope for her to do something right – maybe like the mother in Usagi Drop?
Whilst that was the drama that caught my attention, it wasn’t the only offering from the episode. What did take me by surprise was the romance drama involving Mifune and Muroto. It was a brief moment, but a serious one. The unrequited love (I’m guessing) between the two is often joked about, but putting it in a more serious light really brings more to the romance in the series. Especially since it went so well with Kotoura and Manabe’s romantic part of the episode.
The romance is always hilarious to watch, but I was glad to see something so adorable and heart-warming between the two. It may not be the best romantic development, although I can’t fault Kotoura-san for it. That’s just the style of series and it works so well.
All around another good episode.
I have to say, Kotoura-san is at least not half-assing the drama. Going full throttle this episode.
In my previous post, I expressed my fears regarding the transition from comedy to drama. We’ve know Kotoura-san had a lot drama just from the first episode, yet there was something off-putting about more drama to come. To go back to my first line: at least their doing it with no regrets.
Granted this would be a point where many viewers might get annoyed or simply drop the series, but for me it remains quite enjoyable. Not to say that I’m more of fond of the drama, just that I don’t have a problem with it when it comes to Kotoura-san. Also the lack of surprise makes it easier to accept the drama. Still. There is something a little unpleasant about these dramatic developments.
Yukino’s involvement has finally started to come out, and that causes me discomfort. I always did think when the focus would get to her, there would be some pretty over-the-top plot to accompany background story. Just as I suspected, she’s becoming the main actor in this arc as her past is revisited as the source of the main drama. The silver lining of this particular development comes in the form of Muroto. He continues to be a great minor character by simply being there. His relationship with Mifune is definitely one of the more enjoyable focuses on her character, even when it comes to the drama picking up.
Amidst all of this, Kotoura emerges as a stronger character. Her volunteering to find the culprit whilst knowing Mifune’s motives just go to show her development and her continued burden. Even though we had the display of friendship in the previous episode, Kotoura still feels unworthy of her friends. I do have to wonder, how far Mifune will take this considering that Manabe has walked away and left the romance unresolved for the time being.
As for the mystery attacker, it seems obvious. My money is on the female detective and I’m willing to bet it was never supposed to be a secret. This is just the plot to tie together the main story with the foreshadowing of Mifune’s dramatic past. With just two episodes remaining, there isn’t that much that could surprise us. Nevertheless, I’m sure Kotoura-san will do a decent job in finishing of the arc and the series.
Yes you did just watch a rather bad episode of Kotoura-san.
Well, after being able to get by for 10 episodes without anything extremely silly, Kotoura-san went where I hoped it wouldn’t. As it ventured into the land of excessive (and not very good) drama, a fury of face-palms ensued.
In short, the drama was bad. Plot-wise I was questioning almost every detail of the episode that involved Kotoura and the detective culprit. Putting aside that it was obvious since the last episode who the attacker was, the scenes with her and Kotoura did not make sense. What high schooler just forgets about their phone? Split-personality to explain the attacks? A resolution that simple and cheesy? We did witness all of those things. Just going through them was a little painful.
Since I don’t like to dwell too much on the negative, I’ll move onto the positive. Yes there was indeed something good about this episode and it happened to involve everyone but Kotoura. It was in fact all the romantic moments we had, that made the episode far better than it could have been.
Maybe it’s because I’m still angry at the latest episode of Haganai – rage against Kodaka – but I really enjoyed the Manabe-Moritani and Muroto-Yuriko scenes in this episode. It was a matter of time before Moritani was officially reject by Manabe, and we had it in writing that he really does love Kotoura. Luckily, Manabe continued his streak as a good male lead and dealt with it honestly and in a straight-forward manner. As for Moritani, she’s suffered enough so I didn’t mind feeling a little sorry for her.
Whilst the Manabe-Moritani scenario was inevitable, the Muroto-Yuriko scene was something of an unexpected treat. I never did expected much to come in terms of romance, from this pairing and that made it a little sad. The scene itself may not have been a concrete confession, nevertheless it was enough to make for a lovely romantic moment and possibly enough to end the series with.
Now that Kotoura-san has finished this arc, we are left with just one episode. Presumably the series will return to a lighter tone to end with, given all the development Kotoura herself. Not to mention, there’s still the question of her and Manabe getting together officially and that part is non-negotiable as far as I’m concerned. Let’s hope the series end things on a better note than this episode.
After 12 weeks of extreme drama & comedy, we say our farewells to Kotoura-san. Not before getting some conclusions and giving us a little closure.
It’s been a bumpy ride to say the least. Kotoura-san has had it’s fair share of ups and downs – more than most series this season – leaving mixed expectations before the airing of its last episode. Luckily the last episode turned out be good for the most part. The series’ strength has always been the comedy, and not the drama.
Whilst the drama may have captured our attention at the beginning, it ended working against the series towards the end. For this, getting back to comedy – more or less – for the final episode was a good choice. We didn’t exactly avoid all the drama. since Yuriko and Kotoura’s mother took up a fair share of the episode itself.
If anything, at least Kotoura received closure from both of these women. From Yuriko it was an apology for causing all the trouble, though it didn’t really matter when you had Kotoura’s mother next up on the chopping block. At least here it made complete sense to dedicate screen time for Kotoura and her mother, so they could clear the air and bring an end to all the drama. With the highlight of this confrontation being Kotoura’s long overdue retaliation – hardly satisfying to see her punish mother with a pillow – it was nothing more than a way to tie up loose ends within the story.
Not counting the comedy, which was as good as usual, arguably the best part of the episode was the ending. We finally got the Kotoura x Manabe romantic conclusion we’ve been waiting for and it was just as adorable as one might have hoped. I can see some being disappointed by the absence of the kiss, however for me it wasn’t all that necessary. At least we had the confessions, to bring about the romantic conclusion.
As I’ve already mentioned, it’s been a bumpy ride with Kotoura-san. The series stood out at the beginning of a dreary winter season, only to succumb to its flaws later on and cause some unneeded developments. I don’t know how much of this was the source material, and how much was original but I am still impressed with how the series made me laugh for a good portion of its episodes. Turning a 4-koma into a full-length one cour series is hard enough as it is, and whilst Kotoura-san fell apart at times, it did fare better than quite a few series with the same types of source material.
I won’t say it’ll be missed, but it wasn’t bad while it lasted.
A new season is upon us! While the first set of shows has already aired, there are still plenty more to come. The authors of Anime Audiolog of put together a Winter season preview podcast. While nothing really stands out, there are a few gems that we think you should watch! What are they? Come listen and find out!
To follow along with the shows we’re reviewing, you can use the chart at Neregate.
As always, you can stream the podcast here, or download it using the link below.
[Maoyuu Maou Yuusha Episode 1]
What really drew me in when I first started reading Maoyuu was its broad look at the physical and social sciences. It looks into politics, agriculture, economics. There is a real intent in the series to teach fundamentals, and the engineer in me loves it. So with this episode, a single minute is devoted to a very important concept in agriculture: Crop Rotation. With this concept, The Demon King will set in motion her plan to change the human world. But why is crop rotation so important? Let me explain.
A critical element to plant growth in earth’s biosphere is nitrogen. The Nitrogen Cycle is “the process by which nitrogen is converted between its various chemical forms”. Nitrogen transformation can be carried out through both biological and physical processes. The majority of Earth’s atmosphere is nitrogen, however, atmospheric nitrogen cannot easily be converted for use by plants. nitrogen (and it’s derivatives that we’ll talk about later) can be depleted from the soil quickly if certain biological process do not take place. Farming techniques developed by humans can also deplete the soil of the necessary chemicals for proper plant growth. A diagram of the Nitrogen Cycle is shown below.
As noted in the diagram, many factor influence the migration and transformation of nitrogen in the soil. Most plants draw nitrogen derivatives from the soil, like Ammonia and Nitrates. Bacteria and fungi provide an essential role of producing these derivatives as a part of their biological process or decomposition. Some plants are nitrogen fixing; they store nitrogen in their root system returning some of the atmospheric nitrogen to the soil. Animal manure is also a great source for material that fungi and bacteria can feed off, returning necessary chemicals back to the soil.
If you’ve ever owned a house, you done a little nitrogen improvement for your yard from time to time. If you’ve ever put fertilizer in your yard, you’ve done something to contribute to the Nitrogen Cycle. There are three (3) values listed on the common bag of fertilizer. The values represent the percentage the product contains by volume of nitrogen (chemical symbol N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). By selecting the right percentage, you can restore lost elements necessary to maintaining the Nitrogen Cycle and keeping your lawn green. A common fertilizer, commonly call “Triple 16”, contains an even 16% by volume of each of these elements.
If you’ve ever wondered why your dog leaves spots in your yard, here’s why: urine, when produced as a waste product in animals, contains a high level of nitrogen. You’ll have a dead spot (extreme nitrogen in the grass killing it) surrounded by a ring of green grass (above normal nitrogen, leading to rapid growth).
So what does this have to do with crop rotation? Different plants can play different roles within the Nitrogen Cycle. By playing into the different strengths of plants, you can improve their chances for growth. Crop Rotation is “the practice of growing a series of dissimilar/different types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons.” Rotating crops can replenish nitrogen in the soil, and help prevents the build-up of pathogens and pests that often occur when one plant or crop is continuously planted.
Crop Rotation has been used in farming almost since farming first started. Ancient farmers found growing the same crops in the same position caused a buildup of pests and a reduction in fertility. So the solution was to grow a winter crop, and then summer crop, and finally leave the ground for one growing season to recover. This three-year system was commonly used in Europe until the 16th Century. And this is the system we find present in Maoyuu. Her solution is to change this to a four (4) crop rotation, which will fundamentally change what this tiny region can produce. The system she proposes was made popular by the British agriculturist Charles Townshend in the 18th century. The system (wheat, turnips, barley and clover), creates staples necessary for livestock to be bred year-round. The four-field crop rotation was a key development in the British Agricultural Revolution.
Each crop not only provides food for a consumer (livestock or human), but also plays a role in the crop rotation and Nitrogen Cycle:
As one last improvement to the crop-cycle, she has pigs grazing in the clover fields. The manure left by pigs provides a big boost in nitrogen and other chemicals to the soil. It also improves water retention when tilled in. And as the Demon King mentions, it provides ample feed, improving the size of the pig the butcher-able meat.
But what happens when a proper crop rotation is not maintained? In the 1930’s in North America, an event now known as the Dust Bowl occurred. The Dust Bowl “was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands in the 1930s, particularly in 1934 and 1936. The phenomenon was caused by severe drought combined with farming methods that did not include crop rotation, fallow fields, cover crops, soil terracing and wind-breaking trees to prevent wind erosion”. During an already tumultuous economic time, this devastated the agriculture community, making the Great Depression all that much worse.
Back to the anime. In the cold weather climate that the Demon King has chosen to set up her agricultural revolution, this rotation is nearly perfect. It provides a food source for livestock and farmer, and can be easily accomplished in the available land and climate. An improvement in pest and weed control could be used, but for the technology of the era, this might be beyond the scope. As we’ll soon see, these changes, along with next week’s hinted surprise, will lead to widespread changes. But I won’t spoil the surprise for the rest of you.
