This series seems to mix in some ingredients from other shows. The main protagonist is nicknamed "hentai" as he often ends up naked or becomes otherwise illogically undressed in a similar fashion to Keita in Inukami, and the series throws in an over-sized portion of random jargon and terminology (as well as nicknames for everyone) similar in scale to that used in Hidan no Aria.
The almost mockingly ironic premise is hilariously implausible; pretty much just an excuse for lots of fighting and occasional ecchi. But if that's all you need to satisfy your hunger, then this fairly light series that goes nowhere might just be the right combo meal for you.
Animation:
The overall animation is fairly average for your run of the mill show, but some of the backgrounds are indeed eye candy. For instance, I was quite impressed by the level of detail in the supermarkets (all the products on the shelves...). The color palette is ever so slightly under saturated though hardly noticeable. Character styling isn't anything particularly special though I question whether some of the outfits are really what they ought to be wearing during fighting... I did find it quite hilarious that they had actual Virtua Fighter 2 sequences in the show as I wasted quite a bit of my youth in that game.
There is substantial blood at times, coupled with a magical, computer-game like recovery speed (considering that wolves fight nightly). There is substantial action though for the most part it's just a lot of punching with the occasional "shroud of darkness" where a special attack is so potent that the drawer apparently couldn't keep up. The battle scenes are nothing spectacular and are comparable with a lot of other harem-ish fighting series such as the fairly recent Majikoi. To be honest, most of the time it's just the protagonist getting beaten to a pulp or otherwise being abused by other characters. As for ecchi, clothes here aren't made from seaweed sheets so it's limited to intentional breast->face attacks and a lot of bouncy bits. The series focuses more on indirect ecchi such as a special bento box in the shape of two omlette rice portions with a bit of the stem and top of two red peppers to top it off. The only one really getting any "exposure" is the main character, reminds me way too much of Inukami.
Sound:
The OP is a typical, fitting rock-based song though the melody doesn't really whet my appetite. The ED is a more mellow melody that fits well with a food coma. The BGM varies from a Amazon theme for Shiraume to electric guitars for fighting wolves. It fits fine though some of the supermarket theme songs are quite hilarious as they try to brainwash unsuspecting shoppers.
VAs were fair overall with some having heartier roles than others. No one was a super standout in this series as there are way too many characters in general.
Story:
For a series with a harem's worth of girls and a supposed focus on action, they really could have done a lot better here. I felt like I was promised a grand meal and ended up with one of those diet 100-calorie chip packets.
The story follows our hopelessly hungry protagonist as he gets introduced as a "wolf" and joins his "parent", sempai Yarizui, as they "hunt" for their prey. It's divided into two meals/arcs, the first one about a dude from the other side of town trying to satisfy his ego and the second one about twins who have to come to grips with their past. Each of the two arcs feel more like plateaus with the intensity of eating plain konnyaku as there's so little back story that you really can't help but not care about what's going on. Perhaps it also is related to the illogical nature of the premise as I just couldn't take much of anything seriously (strength through hunger, right...).
Think of the plot as just a means to bring about additional battles and pointless beatings of the protagonist. I don't think they even bothered to give the series any form of conclusion either.
Character:
This is like an angry fruit salad. You have a sadistic yuri, a macho-loving writer, a masochistic dude that secretly worships the protagonist, busty European relatives, and a bunch of emotionally-stunted girls to name a few. Not only are there way too many ingredients in ben-to, but many of these are random side character dishes. There are at least a dozen characters introduced with a seemingly-important title that you can practically remove from the story with no impact whatsoever. Unfortunately, the series spends a lot of time on these supporting characters that actually don't support much at all, so much so that it detracts from learning about the important primary characters.
Or maybe the supporting characters are just there to give some flavoring to the main entree as all the primary characters here are completely static save the main character. And his only development is somehow gaining Saiyan powers and miraculously growing from a wimp to a person who can beat other "legendary" wolves within a matter of months (including many trips to the hospital- which obviously would have dented his insufficient funding even further).
This means that if you're looking for any relationships (other than virtual in the mind of Oshiroi) you ought to look elsewhere as they get further in even Majikoi than they do here.
Value:
To use a fitting metaphor, don't expect a full-service Sashimi dinner out of this one; it's only a bentou. While there is enough going on to keep you from falling asleep, it's not going to wow you into a second serving. Overall a fairly plain series, you can find better in this genre elsewhere. The primary value (or negative value) in this series is that it will make you fat/forever hungry as the characters talk incessantly about food. The secondary value in the series is the ridiculousness of the scenario. I'd pass this ben-to for a quicker cup noodle thank you very much.
