Series Review – Ben-to

Ben-to (ベン・トー)

In my season preview for the Fall season, I initially dismissed Ben-to because of it’s absurd-sounding premise. I mean, a show about fighting over half-priced bento lunchboxes? How good could that be? Well, I do vaguely remember that somebody told me to not underestimate the craziness of the fights over half-price bento, and you know what? Whoever said that was very much correct.

If there was one word that would describe Ben-to as a series, it would be “bold”. Bento was a refreshing, bold and ambitious take on the traditional fanservice comedy genre. Ben-to wasn’t afraid to go all out with it’s battles, with some ridiculous over-the-top fights producing some intense, high-adrenaline fight scenes. It also wasn’t afraid to push forward fanservice, only mix it in with gags involving some genuinely honest and likable characters, which made each gag loads of fun time and time again. And all of this was competently made by a good production crew, which managed to use some very creative camera angles and a fitting soundtrack to create some impressive action sequences, and integrate the comedy with the action as well.

In no way does this series back down from daring to be ridiculous, and it’s the sheer level of energy that comes as a result that made Ben-to a really fun show to follow.

Even with the ridiculousness, though, the actual plot progression and buildup to this series is actually quite good. The series builds up a very likable cast, and then proceeds to gradually throw them into really messy situations. The characters are acted out really well, which made their conflicts all the more compelling to watch as they unfold. And of course, you come to cheer for the cast as they enter battle, and feel sympathy for each character when they are defeated. The cast is a crucial part to this show, and the buildup itself had a good balance of over-the-top antics and more restrained buildup.

There is also a surprising lack of filler, or if there was filler, it very much fit in with the overall feeling that this series had. Sometimes the pacing did falter, more so during filler fanservice moments, but a vast majority of Ben-to’s story was without excess.

In the end, I’d have to say that this was one of the best comedies out of this year. Ben-to was a refreshing comedy that threw out many of the conventions I had come to expect out of fanservice comedy shows, and really got you pumped up. Now if only there was a season 2 announcement…

Animation/Art: 8.5/10

Music: 8.5/10

Setting: 8.0/10

Characters: 8.5/10

Story: 8.0/10

Overall Enjoyment: 8.3/10

Quick Impressions – Ben-to – 12 (Final)

Episode 12 Final –

And in this final episode Bento wraps up in a manner much along the lines that I had hoped for. Mainly, the Hercules threat didn’t have a huge impact on what I thought were the more important characters to focus on; the two Orthros twins. The food fight wasn’t as epic as the Orthros’ debut that we saw a few weeks back, but it was still a fitting way to wrap the show up.

If anything, I think this episode did an excellent job at showing a very honest representation of the main characters and their personalities, in particular for Sato. The chemistry between the main cast has always been great, but this episode really went above and beyond in showing us exactly why each and every characters is charming in their own unique ways.

Actually, it’s always been the great characters that have made this show really enjoyable to follow, where their very genuine personalities really shine through in each episode. The gags might not have always been the most unique, but they were great because of the goofy antics of Sato, Oshiroi, and so forth.

With that being said, I have to say that I’m actually rather saddened that this show is drawing to a close. Ben-to completely surprised me with it’s over the top antics, and turned out to be one of my favorite comedies of this season. It’s mix of crazy bento battles and gags provided some great entertainment, so seeing this show pass by is a bit of a shame.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Ben-to – 11

Episode 11 –

Considering all that happened last week, Yarizui’s lack of a strong reaction to her defeat against Orthros came as a surprise to me. Then again, I guess she is the type to maintain her cool in situations for the most part, though her fever certainly isn’t helping much in that regard. If anything, this episode was all about exposing that the famous Ice Queen is also a mere human being, and that she too has a very delicate, cute side that others might not have expected of her. Satou certainly didn’t expect it, and the curveball got his imagination running in high gear (lol). I was laughing particularly hard at Satou’s indecisiveness over whether to get suppositories or not, which would be the epitome of Satou’s perverted fantasies so far. As much as Satou had his perverted fantasies of Yarizui, he quite obviously deeply cares for her.

Unfortunately, this also meant that there were no real major food fights (or at least, on screen), which is a shame. After last week’s excellent battle, I was hoping the situation might escalate a bit. But instead, the show is trying to flesh out the twins in a positive manner, which is working to some degree. I’m not exactly a huge fan of the twins, but I don’t exactly hate them either.

What I am not liking, though, is how this episode was setting up next week’s finale so that the big final boss will be “Heracles”. I’ll be perfectly honest, and say that I was very much looking forward to Satou and Yarizui exact revenge upon the twins. The idea that Satou and Yarizui might end up helping the twins against a different enemy just doesn’t sit well with me. But heck, I guess in the end we’re in for a huge food fight next week’s final episode. If there’s one thing this series has caught my attention with, it’s the usage of very interesting camera angles and footwork during the bento fight scenes, which made each scene really intense and dramatic. The characters are also fleshed out quite well, and have turned out to be very likable. Kudos to the production staff for making such a surprisingly enjoyable show.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Ben-to – 10

Episode 10 –

Heck yea, I’ve been waiting for the bento battles to come back, and this time around it came back in style. In the past few weeks of Bento, there has been a noticeable absence of  the over-the-top food fights that pretty much define this series. However, the new fight this time around (with the two basket-wielding girls) was awesome, mainly because of just how adrenaline-heavy they were. The crazy camera angles and constantly changing perspective contributed a lot to this episode’s food fight, with the usage of the baskets making for some even more interesting battle sequences.

Surprisingly enough, I found myself cheering on Sato and Ms. Ice queen, and was actually a bit disappointed that the duo lost to the newly introduced duo. Normally I’m not the biggest fan of the main protagonists in battle because they have a general tendency to win. It’s almost like a golden rule to anime in some ways; the main characters will pull off a victory when on the brink of defeat. The fact that I still cared about the characters to such an extent, I feel, is proof that this show has built it’s cast extremely well. Their personalities and quirks have proved to be very memorable and easy to sympathize with, and a solid cast is key to making good jokes. This episode also did a pretty good job at developing the two gray-haired opponents; or at least, I’m much more appreciative of their role as the antagonists this time around.

But basket-wielding? Dang, and here I thought Shaga’s Chopstick wielding was absurd.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Bento – 09

Episode 09 –

You know, I’m starting to miss the Bento food fights. The past few episodes haven’t really had that, and instead have had fanservice. Not that the fanservice was particularly bad; I actually had a lot of fun with these past few weeks of Bento. It’s just that the over-the-top bento action was what made this series such a fun watch.

Anyways, aside from that, the episode’s focus on Ume turned out unexpectedly hilarious. I mean, we did see a bit too much Saito-abuse here, but the way in which the gags unfolded was great. The unexpected gag with the ridiculous tasting bento was even more unexpected, considering how the “bad cooking” gags usually end in like 3-5 seconds, with the main character fallen over unconscious.

As a comedy, Ben-to has managed to be surprisingly fun. But I am wondering how this series plans on wrapping itself up. After all, I do believe there are only a few more episodes left. Will we get another serious arc with a monarch-style antagonist? I guess we’ll see.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Bento – 08

Episode 08 –

Hrm, wasn’t quite expecting such a fanservicey episode. What was disappointing here, though, was how the episode focused on the typical fanservice we see in most anime. Most of the fanservice in Bento up until this point has been more unconventional, and it’s the odd fanservice that made those episodes fun. Having regular fanservice is ok I guess, but it lacks the punch that the gags until now have had.

Not that this was a particularly bad episode, seeing Saito go batshit crazy over the nurse girls got a ton of laughs out of me, especially when he didn’t realize the “girl” were actually a set of twins swapping out with each other. The new characters themselves are… interesting, though I don’t see how they’ll contribute to this show yet. I didn’t quite expect that bad luck girl to pop up again though, lol.

Oh, and the delusional fanfiction girl is starting to get on my nerves a bit. Or at least, the gags involving her are becoming far too predictable.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Ben-to – 07

Episode 07 –

Hrm, well, for a fanservice episode this was quite entertaining. It wasn’t overtly blatant with the fanservice, and instead, Bento opted to use the fanservice to futher some outrageously over-the-top bento action. It honestly held together much better than I expected, and the jokes were more unique than simply “oogling at boobs” like almost all other fanservice episodes tend to do.

I mean, seeing the Ice Queen and the former East Wolf champion in swimsuits was nice eyecandy and all, but what really made this episode lots of fun was how they used the fanservice in the actually battles for the Bento. Saito’s method of coping with his raging hormones, and using it to get a bento, was pretty out there. But heck, that’s what made it loads of fun. Shaga’s use of her assets as an offensive weapon certainly added more to the mischief here, lol.

In the end though, this episode did feel kind of filler-ish. After the end of the arc from last week, having a break is nice and all, but I do wonder where this show can go from here. All I do know is that those two briefly introduced new characters from this episode will probably play a bigger role in the future. How, I have no idea. Perhaps they’ll interfere in a potentially brooding romantic relationship between the Ice Queen and Saito….?

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Bento – 06

Episode 06 –

Well, I have to say, this is probably the first time I’ve had to take an episode of this series seriously. And honestly, I can’t say it was anything exceptional. The episode was still wildly over the top, but unlike previous episodes, the silly humor wasn’t really present. Not that it really mattered here, where the cast pulled off the expected win against the haughty “Monarch” that was trying to claim the title of his predecessor. Long story short, the main characters won.

And yet, even though they won the battle, we’ve come to know the characters well enough to see that they were quite genuine throughout the fights. While they were spouting cliched lines left and right, at the same time the dialogue was very fitting for each person, which says a lot about how well the cast has been fleshed out. None of the lines felt forced when it came to the main cast. The dialogue between the Monarch and his minions felt a bit more lackluster, but considering how they were the typical villains, I wasn’t expecting too much out of them anyways.

All of this does solidify the main characters as a group of good friends, emphasizing how they care for each other. Aside from that though, this episode was fairly normal with nothing exceptional worth noting. I guess all of this boils down to is that Bento tried to go outside of it’s comfort zone (comedy/gags), and it wasn’t terribly successful. But hey, it still managed to be fun to watch.

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Bento – 05

Episode 05 –

Hahaha, I have to admit that this episode was pretty hilarious. Everything was just so ridiculously over the top here, and even the fanservice was handled in a decent way. If there’s a key point to take into account when watching this show, it’s to not take anything about it seriously, or else you’ll run into some very annoying issues. Stuff like the West wolves’ plan to take over the East wolves’ bento stores. Who the heck would go through the trouble of creating an organized bento gang/yakuza that plans for taking over these half price bento sales? It’s the sheer ridiculousness here that keeps things fun, and not taking these absurd ideas seriously does make for some great laughs.

That being said, this episode does have a shade of seriousness to it, especially with regards to Shaga (the blonde girl). It feels almost as if she’s being blackmailed or something, which makes the entire situation with her a bit awkward. Fun to watch, but awkward.

But yea, I had a ton of fun with this episode, especially when they didn’t change Saito out of his crossdressing for the vast majority of the episode. Usually stuff like the crossdressing is limited to one really short gag, and then removed for later scenes. The creators keeping in the crossdressing for the entire episode was a pleasant (and slightly disturbing) surprise. It did make for some funny reactions though 😛

Screenshots are later in the post.

Quick Impressions – Bento – 04

Episode 04 –

Hrm, well I’m not quite as sure what to say for this episode. The humor was much more outrageous this episode, with the “Beauty of the Lake” making a ton of advances on Saito. She’s a pretty outrageous character in general, which does keep things fun for the most part. Didn’t quite expect her to have a brawl with the Ice queen, but it was cool I guess.

The characters have already been explored rather thoroughly at this point, which is why I’m seeing the comedy lose some steam. The new character added a new dimension to her relationship with Saito, but Saito himself didn’t change all too much. Neither did the Ice Queen, though I have to say that she is a rather genuine in character. The Lake Beauty was surprisingly genuine too, where by the end of the episode it’s quite obvious she’s very much in love with Saito, but can’t bring herself to break the normal relationship she already has with him.

This show likes to mix up a bunch of outrageous Bento antics with some more serious, sometimes surprising, character developments. While I didn’t find this episode as entertaining as previous ones, it did a good job at introducing Ms. Beauty of the Lake. And of course, all the outrageous sexualized humor here didn’t quite hurt.

Now if only I could remember everybody’s real names, as opposed to their nicknames. I don’t know why, but the nicknames just stick around in my head more… >.>;