Ben-To

Ben-To, taking "fighting over food" to the next level.

Ben-To an anime about fighting for discounted bentos. Those who successfully get a bento is allowed to eat the bento, and those who failed to get a bento must forfeit and scram with their cup noodles. There are many factions, and individuals who stand out more than the others are given titles such as "The Wizard" or "The Ice Witch".

To be frank, I was actually taken by surprise by this anime. It was unexpectedly entertaining to watch. Although the abstraction of overreacting concerning discounted bentos may seem ludicrous, it was actually fun to see something ... as unique as this in display.

The story of Ben-To is quite simple with barely any good plots. Still, the show was very fun to watch overall. It's like watching Durarara with bentos.

Only problem with this show are the fighting scenes. They feel too bland most of the time and sometimes fast-paced so I couldn't get the full experience of joy I wanted. Other than the fact that some characters are overly retarded, I think this show was fine.

Recommended to those who are bored and want to watch something nice.

Just like there is junk food, there is also junk anime, and Ben Tou is a fine example. Anime regarding food usually have to do with cooking contests. How to gather the proper ingredients, how to cook them properly, and how to amaze the judges. On a basic level these shows are motivational, as they tell you about the beauty of gastronomy and how cool it is to be a chef. Ben Tou though has nothing to do with cooking, although it is about food. Instead of trying to show or say something, it is just about fighting for whom gets to buy canned food ... and prepared meals from the grocery in half price. So basically, you have a bunch of guys and gals kicking the crap out of each other on a daily basis, just so they pay half as much for their dinner.

So you will now be probably wondering if this is a fighting tournament show, with food discounts being the prize. Again, you are wrong because the fighting in the show is comical and definitely not exciting. They are kicking and punching simplistically without any choreography, and with violence always being bloodless and wounds magically healing in a few minutes. Which is a good thing, because if they weren’t the money they would need to pay for bandages and doctors would cost a thousand times more than a half-priced prepared lunch.

The most interesting thing about the battles is the way the girls fight, as they do all sorts of motions than make their boobs bounce and their legs spreading and revealing stuff. So you will now imagine this is some sort of heavy on fan service anime with fighting chicks, in the likes of Ikki Tousen or Queen’s Blade. And again you are wrong, because there isn’t much fighting or nude. Most of the fan service revolves around zooming on dressed boobs and legs but you hardly ever see an actually naked girl. Most of the duration is about the protagonist trying to get his hands on the discount obentos and having his ass kicked repeatedly by chicks. In fact, he is the only one getting striped all the time for pitiful reasons. Yes, he is another one of those wimp worthless protagonists who want to come off as normal. He is constantly beaten and yet he is surrounded by pretty chicks. So this is a harem, right? You’d now think there are a dozen chicks who love him and constantly try to get in his pants. NO! They just kick the crap out of him and strip him while looking for food. That is not sexy at all and it is definitely not a show aimed at girls.

So… is this a show about, I don’t know, the economic crisis? The fact that they go through all this trouble just to get a discount can only mean that they are in a very bad financial state and the whole thing could be a metaphor for the extremes poverty forces you to head for. And again NO IT ISN’T; none of the characters seems to show the least concern for money. They even appear to have a fine time spending most of their money on videogames, clothes, and just hanging out in fancy places. They don’t even MENTION they have financial problems. They are typical anime teenagers with endless magical money.

Maybe it is about the beauty of struggling for your food. It tastes better when you need to fight for it than just buy it. SERIOUSLY? How about growing it? It will be even tastier this way AND motivate the viewer to be a farmer or a gardener. At best, this show is telling you it is all about the money. YOU FIGHT FOR DISCOUNTS WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS! I guess it’s aiming at Twitter socialists.

Aha, I got it, it is a fighting shounen parody. It makes fun of fighting by making everybody going crazy about something as pitiful as a discount. At which case IT IS NOT FUNNY! I grew bored of the idea in just 10 minutes. You can’t stretch a single joke to last for more than a couple of episodes; you need to flavor it with more jokes. Yet this whole anime is based solely on making fun of a SINGLE THING!

So after all this deduction process you realize that this show is about NOTHING! It is a retarded screwball school comedy with a concept you get bored of in a few episodes. The production values are also nothing amazing, soundtrack and voice acting are passable, character figures are generic, and character personalities are stereotypes. I find no value in this show, and very little enjoyment if you are a seasoned viewer.

The strong shall live and the weak shall surely uh..... starve of hunger. This over the top anime is filled with everything for your amusement. Crazy enjoyable fight scenes, mistakenly called a pervert and the best part is you'll lose your composure with laughter while watching this as the main protagonist fight alongside his senpai and club members for half priced lunches.
Just as the title suggests ben-to is about the satisfaction of their favorite Japanese meal with a major twist they must defeated their opponent in combat. The rules of the jungle apply and it starts at the top of the food chain. Those ... that choose to fight are called wolves and if you don't, you shouldn't even consider heading over to the half priced section without getting punched gender doesn't apply btw. This by far was my most enjoyable anime to end this year and move on to the next

story - is like non other they are FIGHTING FOR FOOD of crying out loud and I hid pride and
watched it with full enjoyment.

Art - good and characters where animated really smooth

Sound-both the intro and outro where great and the soundtrack for the fights was amazing I
honestly wanted to see alot of fighting just so I can listen to that beat.

Overall-watch this anime unless you have a problem with comedy, fighting, ecchi or just
enjoyment of that nature. Everything fits just perfectly.

I think in some ways this anime depicts the hardship one faces in a declining economy. That being said, it also sheds light on how humorous certain situations can be. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing less serious than fighting over your favorite food(s).

If you are considering watching this anime, be forewarned--- you will laugh. As you progress through the episodes, more and more characters will pile up, each with their own "nom-de-guerre". Although some of the pseudonyms are dramatic and even historic names, Satou ends up with the most unsavory alias out of the bunch. In case you ... haven't read the synopsis, Satou You is the main protagonist, along with the Ice Witch (Yarizui) and a few others that are best left out for spoiler's sake.

Now for the numbers game---
Story: 8

The story is really hard to grasp when you begin the anime. You might think, "Are these people actually FIGHTING over half-priced bentos?" Yes, they are. I bet you would join in if you saw the structure and rules behind the story in this show. I know what else you are thinking, "Wow, school uniforms, this is one of THOSE anime isn't it?" Well yeah, sort of. Ben-to really doesn't capitalize on the high school thing TOO much, but the overused setting is still there. However, the refreshing atmosphere of the grocery aisles are more than enough to keep you coming back.

Art: 8
Surprisingly good for a comedy based anime, though definitely not the best animation I have seen so far. The characters aren't cartoony and overly colorful like certain dramas, though the distinct hair differences of key characters are present. I will discuss why the detailed artwork isn't necessary later.

Sound: 7
The voice actors are great and all, but the OP didn't really drag me in like some other anime do. I think the main theme for an anime is really something that gets stuck in someone's head and reminds them to tune in every week. With that aside, the animation in the OP fits the song perfectly. It is nice that the song was actually crafted for this anime particularly.

Character: 8
Satou or Saito, is voiced by Shimono Hiro, who was really able to bring that humorously sarcastic undertone that made certain moments unbearably funny . The other characters were hit and miss, they each had their mysteriousness and past stories that will play out as watch. I think as a whole, they were able to band together as "wolves" to make a cohesive comedy.

Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 8
I lumped these together because they essentially compliment each other. The big thing for me that I left out until the end of this review is THE FIGHT SCENES. Who would have thought that each one of the wolves would be so talented in martial arts? The fight scenes are really exciting and are played up each episode. With respect to animation, this makes up for the smaller details you may have missed out on. Who needs to tell how many fingernails one has while an outstretch leg is rocketing towards your face? Not this guy. You will see some special abilities as well as special enemies who try to shark the half-priced bentos without following the way of the pack.

Overall, this anime was worth watching. I brought away some pretty good laughs and ultimately learned a thing or two about the seriousness of low-priced food.

Ben-To is a show that has been fun to watch from beginning to end. Making little sense to my picture of British shopping, Ben-To is a welcome breath of fresh air and has won my heart and stomachs. The plot is relatively easy to follow and can be viewed casually and even though character relations can range from frustrating to the questionable and even queasy.

This show was hard to watch because I'm a Student (Student's will all understand when I say this). With such a variety of tasty looking food and the comedy to follow this show has made it's way into my personal favourites ... because it leaves a feeling when it ends that you want the show to go on but at the same time you know that it might get ruined and as such better not risk ruining such a good show.

All in all the show pretty much nailed it when it comes to what it set out to be. The only downfall is that the show abruptly ends when you've just bonded with the characters which I would view as a shame but none the less, great fun to watch. Here's a Recommendation!

Ben-to
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Story/Plot:The story & plot is pretty simple but its the way they did it & if you seen the anime you will know what i mean that the plot is nothing special not like Naruto, Bleach, One piece where there all got super powers & desire one wish its just a comedy,fighting,action anime
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Art:The art is beautiful I did not find any characters that i believe were badly drawn all the scenes are beautiful weather there in the shop,outside or at home anywhere it still be beautiful the fighting still scenes where drawn perfectly.
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Sound:There's not much to say about the sound but the part's where there are music there well suited for the scenes & the main theme song is great too always listened to it when I started new episode.
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Characters: I have five top favourite characters & they are

1st:Sen Yarizu/Skill/& something about her
2nd:Ayame Shaga/Funny/Skill
3rd:Yō Satō/-No comment
4th:Hana Oshiroi/Funny/how she takes the food without anyone noticing
5th:Ume Shiraume/Funny/How she appears randomly taking Hana

they all have something about them that makes them special, they all have something you like about something special like me i like Sen Yarizu because of her skill & its just something about her if you seen the anime you know what i mean.
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Enjoyment:Ive enjoyed this anime so much i watched it 2 times & planing on watching it 3rd time because as you watch it more you understand & not just that it's just fun to watch the anime no matter if you seen it it will always be interesting to watch it another time.
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Overall: Overall this anime will always be on my TOP 5 best anime list it will never change because this is my favourite anime of all time along with a couple of others it deserves the Perfect 10/10 since this anime is so incredible.

I found this on some of the "anime that surprised us" lists.

After seeing cover art and few screenshots I was very sure I"m about to see another fanservice ecchi harem anime (but hey, I like to Love Ru, so why not?). I was very surprised to find something very different.

The main issue is that this anime tries to be too many things at once. Some of those "things" are mediocre or even bad, but other scenes are brilliant.

The Bad:
1. The main heroine is a walking anime stereotype. Lightly colored short-haired girl with red eyes something half-way between kuudere and a "strong girl" archetype. I could ... swear she reminds me of at least seven different characters, but the problem is I can't tell who exactly. She reminds me of Yakumo from "School Rumble", Nozomi from Kanokon, and even transformed Moka Akashiya from Rosaria to Vampire along with army of other white haired red eyed characters I saw elsewhere. having said that, occasionally heroine snaps out of it, and starts interacting with others in interesting way, but her personality is barely displayed.
2. Attempts at fanservice. Main character occasionally starts having some sort of sexy delusions (meaning he misheards something and starts imagining stuff, like a girl suddenly being into him for no reason), and occasionally anime attempts fanservice. Now, I don't mind fanservice (as I said, I liked To Love Ru), but here it looks like those scenes were written by someone completely clueless. It isn't cringe-worthy, it looks VERY awkward most of the time.

Good:
1. Shirayume. She is a side character, but for some reason she absolutely shines in the series, and is present in most of the amazing scenes. On some occasions her presence creates some sort of bizzare or even surreal atmosphere, and some of those scenes in the beginning effortlessly match top moments of titles like azumanga or yuyushiki. There aren't a lot of them, unfortunately.
2. Comedy. Occasionally characters start just talking to each other, and it clicks and starts looking amazing, becomes interesting to watch and is geniuenily entertaining and even funny. Those interesting dialogues happen once per two or three episodes, meaning frequently enough.
3. Main character is not a wimp, while he's at school age, the story doesn't feel like it is revolving around school (classroom is rarely portrayed, and there is n't even one "kirits' ... rei!" scene), and the anime avoids the situation when "all girls fall in love with main character for no reason whatseover". This doesn't happen. Interactions between characters feel believable enough, even though a lot of characters are cliched.

Basically, quality of the series jump all over the place, from mediocriicty to brilliance. There are were moments that made the whole season worth watching, although final episode was a bit of a letdown for me.

Now... MORE details below.

Story:
The premise is quite ridiculous (people fighitng over half-priced bentoes in some sort of a fight club), but it is mostly used as an excuse to start character interactions. I.e. there is a story, but the structure is similar to yuyushiki - meaning characters doing things. There's an overarching story to all this (meaning things happen in order), but it is not that important and is not heavily emphasized.

Art:
The art is slightly above average. It is not a cookie cutter designs, like in, say. "Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei", but amount of details is a bit low. Not bad, but nothing outstanidng.

Sound:
Some nice music here, but nothing incredibly memorable to the point where it would take your breath away. It complements atmosphere very well, but doesn't capture your heart and you won't remember it once the anime is over.

Characters:
There are a lot of cliched characters in the series. However, during its moments of brilliance anime break some of the cliches rather creatively. Shirayume is definitely the most memorable character in the series, with her bizzare behavior, and main male protagonist does a great job not devolving into "wimp" stereotype. Characters don't evolve much, but their interactions are often enjoyable, funny and don't feel awkward or forced. Relationship of the two main characters looks believable, and even somewhat sweet.... although main character's "delusions" feel off and awkward. Main female character is a quite flawed (which is outlined), but in the moments when she snaps out of it, she becomes quite believable and interesting.

Enjoyment/overall:
I enjoyed it. It wasn't a "harem ecchi comedy" I expected, but it was unexpected and entertaining. It could've been better, for example, if its attempts at fanservice/ecchi weren't so awkward.

I definitely recommend watching it. The quality of the story is all over the place, but overall it is good, and moments of brilliance are definitely worth seeing.

This is by far the best anime i have EVER seen. Honest to god this anime is,for me,one of the best of the bestest. Pick whateva you want.Story?Magnificent.Animation?Eye waternigly good. In fact i'm struggling to find something wrong with it for 2 days now..But since this is a review i had to,even if it's nitpicking.

Beware though i do freakin swear a lot and if you're the oversensitive kind of chap or girl take a hike cause i'll slap you silly,make you cry your eyes out and off to years of psychotherapy.

With that begins my review of this glorious anime called Ben-To...And i have to say ... what a great name for an anime..The pun is out of this world cause as it so happens our MC's name is Ben...Well no it isn't it's actually You Satou which to me sounds like the name of a Viking God or something equally great and eternal.This lad puts David Hasselhoff to shame. Little curly David is a little whiny bitch compared to Satou. Satou can take a punch in the nuts by Goku even and he won't feel a thing.That's how badass our MC is. He takes what he wants,when he wants it. He wants a silver haired bitch on her knees? He slaps her perky ass and gives her some D and leaves her crying and then goes to a bar for a fight. What more can you possibly want from an MC?

The story is also great. It's basically the creator's version of the apocalypse. The humanity has plunged into the darkness of war and we follow some high school kids who fight in order to survive. There's mayhem and death everywhere you look. So what does Satou do? He takes under his pretty wings 2 bitches,two prostitutes who sold their bodies to fat,disgusting middle aged men......But only to satisfy his sadistic urges.

Can you now tell me that this premise isn't interesting?One thing though..

This is some shit i just came up with.Ben-To has absolutely no relation whatsoever with any apocalyptic bitchslapping. Slapping it has,just not the one i described. So i fucked with ya enough,so let's cut the crap and see what this piece of shit is all about.

I take it you're not allergic to reading the synopsis so i won't bother with the premise. It's there for all to see. Now you must be thinking "what a fucking stupid anime"..And boy you'd be right. Now stupid isn't necessarily always a bad thing. Cause even a stupid premise can sometimes make for a good anime if you make an effort. And at first i thought that this might be the case with this one. I thought it was gonna be a parody or something of the fighting animes. Well sort of no. Cause after 1 or eps it's all downhill. Satou at the beginning was a somewhat nice lad. Mind you we have seen his kind over and over in animes..Yarizui on the other hand was the "airhead" with a knack for action and kicking the shit out of everyone. But as the series progress we are unfortunately introduced to some other characters.And that was it,that was my line in the sand.

Let me explain. I can forgive the show's idiotic premise. What i cannot forgive is wasting my time with characters who are as useless as a watch that has both hands missing. And if useless was their only prob that would be ok too..But they're also obnoxious to the point of meltdown. Take Ume for example. The only thing i recall her doing the most was kicking the shit out of Satou. Now i'm ok with slapstick comedy IF it's able tobring out some actual laughter. This wasn't funny,it was just idiotic and out of place. It's as if you're sitting now in your living room and i come over and punch you in the fez cause a dog was barking in fucking Alaska. The other annoying as hell trait of hers is that she's an absolute psycholesbian. So when Satou goes near Hana she goes berserk and almost kills him. And not in a funny way. In fact she abuses most of the cast and goes home with a tiara for it. Then there are the Kyo sisters who are just as annoying with a splash of in your face arrogance.

So you might be thinking now,it's not too bad,it's just them that ruin a small portion of the show,you're overeacting as usual. Firstly i hope your dick turns into a dead husk and it's not a small portion of the show. And it's not just them.If you take off the series half of the cast it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. They bear no weight whatsoever to the flow of the story. Even characters who are supposed to be part of the main thing are pushed to the side,doing absolutely nothing. The writers didn't make any effort at all to develop them,make them part of the show.

Animation and sound dept was bad. Bad bad bad. The overall animation was ok it had it good points here and there. It was when a "battle" ensued that things got all wobbly. The songs and VA were good. Just good nothing more nothing less.

All in all i think this was as bad as catching gonorrhea. It's not as interesting as it sounds and it sticks with you no matter what spoiling the relationship. It tried too hard to be silly and over the top that it lost it's way and became outright stupid to the point of destruction. I cannot possibly recommend it to anyone. Or at least anyone i like. And if you think it can't be all that bad,go ahead,be my guest.

There are a lot of anime where characters use their powers to fight. And then there's Ben-to, where all you need is a grumbling stomach and 300 yen! So what makes this anime so good?

At first glance, it might look like a typical comedy anime, which is not bad. But this anime just had to add ecchi in the middle of the series. It would've been fine as a simple action comedy, but no. They had to add fanservice just 'cause. But hey, to each their own, right?

Plotwise, I think the story's stable. It had tension in every arc, and it had me anticipating what ... would happen next. I also liked the idea of dividing the city into "west" and "east", depicting a humorous presentation of violent groups who are crazy for half-priced bento.

If there's one thing I liked about this series, it's the music. It fits the atmosphere it sets in. For example, the bgm for the fight scenes really had me all pumped up and wanted to join in on the battle as well. Kudos to that.

Being an action-packed anime (kinda), the art really fit into the category.

I also liked the characters, specifically because they weren't all falling for the MC. I'm just glad that it didn't become a harem, else it would've ruined the mood of the anime. The girls were simply girls with big appetite and small cash.

I recommend this anime, especially while you're eating your lunch box. That way, you can feel how exciting it is to be in the world of ben-to!

I’m not really sure what attracted me Ben-to. I think I noticed an advert on my Facebook from Manga UK. The premise sounded pretty ridiculous but for some reason I was interested to see how it would turn out.
Ben-to is basically a group of high school students battle for half priced Ben-to. Driven by hunger and the desire to acquire the best Ben-to of the day they fight out every night in the supermarket. That's about as deep as it gets in terms of story. In fairness Ben-to never tries to be anything more that all out crazy action.

We are introduced to the main ... character Sato Yo a boy who loves Sega and lives on a tight budget. This forces him to go to the supermarket one night where he spots a man putting half price stickers on Ben-to. As soon as he tries to get one all hell breaks loose and he is knock out by a girl known as the Ice Witch. She is the president of the Half Priced Food club and eventually he decides to join.
From this point on he becomes a ‘Wolf’ and competes with other wolves for half priced food. We are introduced to other character such as the ‘Beauty by the lake’ and even gets his own nickname ‘The Freak’ (due to several unfortunate incidents).

The story is wafer thin and usually revolved around turf wars in certain areas of the city east & west. The main character is your typical male anime lead, who seems to spend most of his time getting slapped silly by the class president or playing SEGA when he’s not fighting for Ben-to.

Despite the one dimensional characters most episodes manage to hold you attention to some fantastic fight scenes. These are made even more exciting by a great soundtrack which really give extra energy to fight. The animation is great and flows well during fight scenes. The characters are fairly standard and are a bill on the plain side. There is a bit of fan service but it usually involves the class president sexually harassing other girls. I don’t mind fan service as a whole but it just feels like they have added it for the sake of it.

I found Ben-to quite entertaining but at the same time it’s quite a shallow experience. There is little in the way of character development and at times it’s hard to believe the lengths people will go to get half priced food. Ben-to is difficult to rate much higher that a six, but don’t be too put off. If you disengage your brain it’s perfectly enjoyable.

Whoa! Booming impacts, wind and sweat(I think) lashing about! There's a guy getting wrecked by some unknown force within bright lights, then collpases upon the ground with a battered body! And-wait...
Is that guy that got beat up our main charater?
Oooh.... it's gonna be one of those anime... but you know what?
I loved it.




Story:

The poor fella who just got his ayuss' whooped in the first seconds of the anime is our main character, Satou You. After traveling with his father who's in the military, he comes to town to attend highschool. While in town, Satou gets hungry and visits a near ... by corner store in search of something to eat.
While in the store, Satou broswes meals he simply cannot afford at present... until he goes toward the far back of the store where the refridgerated goods are held for sell. Satou was nearly brought to tears at the sight of several boxed lunches (Bento) being labeled with half price stickers!

As Satou frolics toward the boxed lunches and the managar (or God of Discounts) who labeled them leaves, Satou is introduced to the area's culuture...
The moment the mangager leaves, EVERYONE FIGHTS OVER BOXED LUNCHES!!!

Enjoy.

Ok, maybe the anime's story dosen't end there, but that's the jest of it.
You see, everyone who fights over the boxed lunches "with respect" are called "Wolves". And later on the best Wolf in the area, who's name is Yarizui Sen, takes Satou under her wing and teaches him what it means to be a wolf and earn those half priced boxed lunches.

As the anime progresses, it shows that wolves don't just have other wolves to worry about. Oh no, the wolf has natural enemies such as fat people (boars), jocks (tempest/The Storm), hunting dogs (guys who avoid fighting by teaming up and barricading), politics and land grabs!!!

Needless to say: if you like stories that involve an over the top premise, main characters training in order to be the motivating stalwart everyone looks up to, "fight the power" showers, and unrequited love from your hot blonde cousin, then you're gonna love this anime~

I enjoyed the story a lot. And it didn't need to be complex for me to look forward to what happens, or the final fight and conclusion of the series.




Art:

The animation got the job done in this action comedy. There's no martial arts or anything like that. Just brawls, acrobatic duels, but no known styles of fighting. At least the styles used aren't known to me. Even still, I loved the attention put in the fights. The stunts the characters did, how moves weren't really recycled and used in scene after scene, it was all fun to watch.

But the scenes that showed the cityscape and country side were the best. I feel a lot of thought was put here, and the first episode set the tone for the rest of the anime pretty darn well! Though areas, like in the corner store, expands (making the store seem as big as a gym), I think this is pretty normal for anime that wants to flaunt over the top action.

If you're a stickler for animation, you may not like the drops in frames when outside of fights and the opening theme's animation, but that's shouldn't worry you too much.

The opening did great in getting me pumped and informed about what kind of anime i'll be watching, but to me seemed like Satou was portrayed poorly. While he is striving and still learning throughout the anime, he isn't as weak at the opening made him seem to me. At least he wasn't that weak all the time, like the opening suggests. I would have liked to see him have more triumphant appearances in the opening.

You might also dislike how the characters might seem like they're floating or bouncing up in down when walking, or how in the dubbed version animations seemed to not really match up with the English dubbed version, but these things are pretty minor and didn't take away from my enjoyment of the anime.


All and all, solid stuff here.




Sound:

Solid work here too. Awesome opening and ending theme that portrayed the anime in a perfect light. The changes in opening and ending them hinted that the makers were probably having fun making the series. It's like, after the fighting and testing of souls, we come back to the club room to relax and eat~ Great theme choices!

The ambiance or background sounds and music were great.

The voice acting for the Japanese, and surprisingly the the English version, seemed spot on. Though the character's in the English dubbed sounded older, everyone made fine characters.

The sound effects during fights are amazing, brutal, and realistic.

What seems common in anime, though a small gripe, is how in the English version the voices seemed sped up in order to fit into the animation. I wish that in the future this is toned down a bit so it doesn't break immersion or enjoyment.



Overall, good stuff. The comedy and how believable the characters and environment are is there.




Character:

Thanks to the voice acting, the characters are brought to life in amazing ways. Though some are annoying, I wouldn't change anything except for the changes in dialogue between characters.

Satou may be our delusional, and tries to come off as our average melancholic, main character but he's pretty damn cool. Both subbed and dubbed versions of him are great! It's fun to see his change in dialogue between the versions.

Yarizui is more stoic and battle hardened int he subbed version, while the dubbed version makes her come off as a bit meaner and like she has to actually put effort into her stunts, but she's still a pretty cool character.

While Oshiroi is timid and bullied freshman when she's not thinking about man-on-man loving (which turns her into a drooling blushing mess), she might be the character that annoys you. While the dubbed version seemed to give her a little more backbone in her dialogue, I found her hilarious in how she draws inspiration for her yaoi fanfics from the characters in the story. And my god are her fanfics graphic.

Shaga Ayame, the hot blonde cousin, is lively and goofy. No matter what the version or change in dialogue between the sub and dub serious.



I'm not gonna spoil the other characters for you, but just know that with everyone doing there parts, the anime is a gem.




Enjoyment:

This anime is one of my favorites. It's as if all its oddities, like a story about highschooler's fighting over and making groups over box lunches, make the anime charming. The humor, the struggles, all during a modern day setting! It's awesome!

Perhaps it's the sheer ridiculousness, and how serious the anime takes itself that makes it fun to watch. It's almost motivating.

I'm sure if you find anyone willing to put with cartoons, and enjoy over the top action or and comedy, they'll like it too.

It's anime like this, that I enjoy reviewing. I get to share or bring attention to my favorite shows. Sure people might not like it if they're looking for a less ridiculous tone, but for the rest of us: we'll be waiting for works just like this one!

Heck, i'm rewatching the anime now! To make sure i'm covering my bases and to enjoy it all over again!

The Subbed and Dubbed versions seem to have a change in dialogue. While subbed is insane fun, the dubbed is a little more practical or aligned with other anime based on what they say. Like being aware of the Main Character's pervy delusions.




Overall:

The final score for Bento/Ben-to,

is a 8 out of 10.

It is one of my favorite anime that I will compare future anime that want to take a crack at ridiculousness.

It holds itself up not by trying to be by the book, but trying to have personality. Be it's on tale of Trials, Tribulations, and Box Lunches!!!

This is a series i'd be willing to support, just to show my appreciation to the makers.

I can't wait to see what else they've made.




Until then, I'll see you guys on my next view!

Have you ever watched a show that was far more epic than it had any right to actually be? Well, that's how I felt while watching Ben-To. The whole premise of this anime is so absurd and yet it just... works. The moment I started watching it I just couldn't take my eyes off of it. The art was just beautiful, the music adrenaline inducing, the characters lovable, it was just all around great.

This anime isn't your typical underdog anime where the protagonist spends the whole series trying to become top dog, or in this case, wolf. No, by episode 3 he has already joined ... the upper echelons of the wolves. And that is what makes this show so enjoyable. The protagonist fights against other equally strong Bento Brawlers. It's a fight to see who can claim the half-priced Bento boxes. Even the strongest of wolves can be defeated which makes it clearer that this show doesn't intend for Sato to become the strongest. He just wants to brawl for Bento and that is exactly what he does.

Just by watching this show, it isn't hard to tell that the fights are the real spectacle. A good chunk of the shows budget went into the fights themselves which are fast, fluid, and just plain beautiful. And of course, any good fight needs a beautiful prize to make it worth all that hassle, and the Bento boxes are drawn with such artistic beauty that it makes my mouth water every time I see one. It also makes me wish Bento brawls really existed and that they were in the US because I would totally participate even though I'm not that strong.

And of course, no good anime is complete without a pulse-pounding soundtrack. I haven't been able to find the actual names of the some of my favorite tracks which is disappointing, but its enough to just hear them in the series proper. My favorite song of course is pretty much the Bento Brawl main theme. It starts off really nice, peaceful, and then it kicks up into a heart racing pace and before you know it, all of the characters are beating the crud out of each other just for some half-priced Bento.

Of course, Ben-To has a story. It's split into multiple two to three episode story arcs. I can't say that they're the greatest story arcs, but things get better by the end. The two best arcs are the Monarch Arc and the Orthros Arc. I'll let you figure out exactly why.

All in all, this series was just plain amazing and the English dub was almost perfect. So kudos to Funimation and Bang Zoom! I'm pretty sure I'm gonna end up watching this series a couple of times just for the fights alone. And don't forget to thank the god of discounts.

Ben-To! is about a bunch of high school kids from Japan that go to stores every night and brawl over half price bento. When I saw brawl I mean they are BRUTAL! I think that this story is really interesting and I love the idea. It was very well put together. There were times where I absolutely loved how seriously the characters all took bento brawling. They made it their lives and it was very comical. Great story with an original concept and it is very well put together.

The story follows Yoh Satou; A perverted high school boy, Sen Yarizui; a member of the ... half priced food lovers club, and Hana Oshiroi; a girl who follows Satou and writes perverted novels about him. While I did like these characters and how they all contrasted with eachother and other side characters, I found a lack of development in all of them except Satou, and even then, I thought he wasn't very dynamic. After he learned to fight, nothing more changed. Yarizui did lighten up to Satou but that was a small thing.

I did like this animation a lot. It was very vibrant and pleasing to look at. The soundtrack was nice but not very exciting. It's not bad, but it's just kinda meh. Overall I gave this series a 9/10 because it was very enjoyable and the story was written greatly.

Check out the full review at
https://youtu.be/TR6HPh7xwGs

We all know of at least one anime that stands out among the rest, one that's original and got something unique about it...Let me tell you this, you'll never see an anime like Ben-To in your life. I say this in a good way of course, who wouldn't enjoy watching a show about a group of kids who meet up at induvidual food markets every night to brawl in order to get their hands on a simple half priced bento box? Like I said..you'll never see anything like that. While the premise may seem highly interesting it was slightly disappointing to see a story that ... was pretty average. Personally I think if the show was 22-24 episodes it could have faired much better, because at times it felt like the show attempted to cram too much into such a short span of episodes. I would've loved to see more in-depth characterization, more bento brawls, and more short little arcs for this sort of episodic anime. The story never got to go into full bloom because it was simply too short, and as a result the ending felt slightly under whelming. That said, there aren't many other cons I can think of for this overall very enjoyable anime. I can't say i'm going to watch it again anytime soon, and it's not going to go down as one of my all time favorites..but Ben-To is an all around solid and enjoyable show. One of the things that stands out the most i'd say would have to be the soundtrack. Brawling for something as trivial as a food product seems like it's all fun and games right? You're wrong if you said yes. The OST which includes the intro as well, got me hyped for every action sequence, even the songs they played during downtime sounded very nice and added alot to the show's quality. This is a soundtrack I highly recommend downloading if you like instrumentals. The animation was as good as it could have been for when the show was released, but the action scenes are what stood out. When the brawls happened, they looked fantastic..not just some lazy thrown together one-and-done little altercation...each fight was dynamic and had it's own style, each of the characters fought differently as well. The "Ice Witch" aka Sen Yaruzui prefered using kicks, and the one known as "The Wizard" was just a badass who sadly was also in the show for a few episodes despite being made out to be this important character and we never see him again which was very disappointing. The protagonist was pretty likeable, at first I didn't care much for him but as the show progressed my liking of him increaced because he was fairly relatable. Two characters were introduced into the show a little more than halfway through, and they were actually my favorite charcaters however they hardly got enough screentime even though their character arc was finished by episode 12 (the show's end). The only reason I say I want the show to be longer, is because I want to see more of these characters together interacting. They had great chemistry, and there was a love intrest that was hinted at several times but never really was expanded upon. I'd want to see more brawls and more funny moments in the show as well, Ben-To is also a comedy..a funny one at that, the first brawl was hilarious to me because it was so bizarre, as well as some other funny moments that happened in the early episodes. The main character Saito, is also a pervert..so take what you want from that, just another thing that adds to the comedy. There's also fan service and ALOT of ecchi so if that's not your thing i'd pass on this show because it might bother you. Overall, Ben-To is a gutbustingly funny ecchi action show which can occupy your anime craving for about a week. 12 episodes is a little short for a show that made me like its characters and world building but I don't feel like they did a total disservice by making the show short, I simply would have preferred more of it. The characters don't stand out as being incredibly ambitious or unique, but their chemistry makes the show all on its own. The Ben-To brawls are jaw dropping at times and definitely worth watching for. Just a solid, enjoyable anime with few cons...again I ask, what more could you want?

If you liked/agreed with my review please give it a thumbs up! Thanks (:

While the concept of the show was something iv'e never heard before, i found the whole thing to be rather mediocre.
The story was typical of a shonen, nothing that special. It's the setting that really makes this show stand out. The ludicrousness of people beating each other up for half-priced lunches was quite enjoyable. I especially liked how the characters took it so seriously. Unfortunantly, the characters were nothing special. They were all basic archetypes. I felt they might've been trying to make fun of the common anime archetypes but i fail to see where they ... put any satire in.
The art style was nothing special but i enjoyed the animation quite a bit. It was nicely colored and very fluid. The fights were beautifully animated and easy to follow! Very nice on the eyes! The music i found a bit lacking. When it wasn't the standard J-pop it was this weird auto-tuned stuff that really did not appeal to me. However, it did a good job at setting the mood and i can forgive a lot for that.
There were a few things in this show that rubbed me the wrong way. The fact that the only lesbian character is portrayed as a cold, heartless molester defiantly is no good. There are scenes where characters are clearly being touched in ways that they do not like and these scenes are framed in a funny or sexy manner. This is not okay and it really just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
However, despite its flaws the show can be quite enjoyable in parts. If you're into silly shonens with boobies bouncing all over the place, i'd say give it a watch.

When I first seen Ben-to, I got quite hooked on the show special thanks to its nutty premise of struggling high schoolers brawling over discounted bento meals at local supermarkets. What made the premise fun for me was that these characters took the brawls quite seriously and we got to see some colorful characters with their own methods of getting the meals they want from a team of school athletes ambushing the efforts of the local "wolves" to ensure their team gets the victory to a fat lady shopper trying to butt in the fights with her shopping cart to a pair of twins who ... brawl using shopping baskets. One fun episode in particular decided to subvert the typical pool episode as characters had a pool brawl over food being served to them at the resort they were staying at. For the most part, the visual presentation to Ben-to was solid with a good amount of detail put into the design of settings, especially at the supermarkets. In addition, the various Ben-to brawls were fluidly animated in many instances and there weren't too many occasions I noticed shortcuts.

The series does carry some major flaws for me though. The series makes a running gag of male lead Yo getting humiliated in nearly each episode of the series, in some episodes to the point where he gets stripped of nearly or entirely of his clothes. While this was okay the first couple times when Yo was unfamiliar with the Ben-to fights, it got quite annoying to see this so-called top fighter getting humbled in enough embarrassing predicaments for a cheap gag. Ume, as a character, was very unappealing to me as her regular thrashing of Yo for the slightest repercussions and her obsessive lesbian interest in Hana was bad enough to the point where it was bordering on criminal. Two later episodes of the series were also less focused on the bento brawls and more on focusing on the two mentioned flaws I hated with the show as one episode is focused on Yo getting humiliated enough and the other on how far Ume is willing to go to satisfy her lesbianism on Hana. There were also points where Ben-to decided to push the envelope a bit on sexual content with innuendo, fan service, Hana's yaoi writing and Ume's lesbianism, which seemed done just to appeal to the otaku fanbase.

Overall, I enjoyed seeing Ben-to when it resorted to what it was doing best and that was its focus on the crazy brawls for bento and the colorful characters that took part in them. However, I didn't enjoy the show's occasional pandering to otaku with its sexual content, Ume's character in general and the repetitive gag of Yo being humiliated. It is a decent comedy title to check out, provided you are okay with its flaws.

With such a silly premise, can Ben-To deliver consistent, appetizing results? For the most part, I would say yes. This anime has three main dishes to it: the fighting, the comedy, and the characters- in that order.

The fighting in this anime is extremely exciting and well animated. Both the choreography and detailed animation, always left me hungry for more. When the episodes sometimes didn't have fights or only showed the result of a fight, I found myself deprived of my nightly Ben-To meal. However, when the fights did happen, they were the highlight of the show, often-times shown at the end as a ... climax, and often left me satisfied but desiring seconds.

The best thing, I liked about Ben-To's fights was the refreshing taste of not having to watch the main protagonist struggle for episode upon episode, learning new moves or skills or techniques, and then getting tons of side commentary from side-characters so that the fights last three episodes to six episodes long. These fights may last a few minutes at most but are intense, full of flavor, and rich in detail. The fights may not do anything new or unique but what they animated they animated well. I enjoyed the pacing of comedy with intense good fighting sequences.

If you got a taste for hilarious slap-stick comedy, you'll find this anime has heaps of second helpings. Ranging from the usual over-active guy's imagination to the exotic Bento food, you'll find some laughs in the common places and even in some unexpected ones. In my opinion, the unexpected ones were the best.

Like a well-planned 7-course meal, this anime has some extremely good timing on the jokes, with just enough length that the ingredients in the first course become even funnier in the fourth or fifth in combination with the other previous courses. In one particular take on the classic pool-side episode I found myself laughing for pretty much the entire episode. The humor style runs the gamut of flavors, you have your sexual perversion, crude humor, over-active imagination, hilarious situations, exaggerated beat-downs, and extreme cuteness. Overall, I believe the humor was pretty consistent and just enough that they didn't taste over-used. My only dislike was what seemed like the excessively violent nature of Ume though on closer inspection I think it was never un-justifed, just repetitive and almost evil. However, I don't hold this against the anime since each person has their tastes.

Most of the laughs from this anime come from the characters, and the characters this anime are diverse and ranging in tastes. Some may find themselves loving one characters and hating another. I believe this richness in the anime does have its benefits, and also results in some really good comedy when timed just right. In some respects, I'd say the intensiveness of the laughs are just as intense as the fights. Just because the range of characters, and the jumping between characters, are meant to create the chaotic and hilarious atmosphere this anime centers around- intense and seemingly random fights at the supermarket.

The only downside to this anime I'd say would be the inconsistent results. Sometimes with the anime trying to give every flavor to appeal to such a wide audience, you'll enjoy some parts of the anime and get bored of other parts. People watching it for the fights like me, may be discouraged from the lapse in fighting or the pure epicness of every fight. People that enjoy certain characters may find those characters not shown or highlighted as much as they'd like. If like me you were looking for really great laughs in-between the great fights, the re-arrangement of the ingredients that make the show entertaining resulted in some great episodes and some lagging or filler episodes, depending on what you enjoyed most about the show. However, I think this show delivered on the balance, never spending too much on the fights, too much on one-character, too much on the same gag, and would continue to push the story forward. Most likely though, if you like one particular emphasis such as a character, or fights or even romance, you'll find it lacking since Ben-To never just focuses or develops too in depth on one thing.

I would say, that despite its inconsistency, Ben-to delivers great entertainment- good food and the occasional awesome dessert, that will whet the appetite of any comedy or action lover due to its attempt to try everything. You gotta respect an anime that tries to mix the standard contemporary animes up a bit, and you sometimes get great dishes and you sometimes get ok dishes. Specializing in just the same formula over and over again, would probably please one particular audience a lot but after awhile get them tired of the same dish over and over again. Maybe not- some people can eat Pizza or Spaghetti for life. xD But for the average person, I think Ben-To will fill that spot in your stomach without giving you the same thing so much you forget what makes this anime fun and entertaining to watch.

Don't get me wrong -- I wasn't going into Ben-To expecting a masterpiece. But based on other reviews I was expecting it to be a comedy. I mean, it is, to some extent. The premise is entirely absurd, and the show is very self-aware, so there is something comedic to the whole thing in that sense. But I thought there would be actual ha-ha-ha, laugh-out-loud funny gags in it; there weren't.

Well, OK, to be fair, there is *ONE* scene in episode 8 -- BOKU NO SATURN!!!!!! -- that actually made me chuckle, but by and large I spent the entire series waiting for the show ... to get funny and it never did. None of the characters lean quite far enough into their tropes for it to be parody, so everything mostly falls flat.

There are some not-bad fight scenes (episode 10 comes to mind) and some bento descriptions that did make my mouth water, but really nothing to take note of. I'm not even sure I would classify it as mindless entertainment at this point. I didn't really hate it and I wasn't really super bored, so I'm not gonna say it was bad, but I think there's plenty of other anime I would rank above Ben-To as far as mindless entertainment or stupid comedy goes. I recommend skipping it unless you're really into the character design.

I must admit that I had thought about watching Ben-to a few times but was not fully convinced by the description that it would be worth my time. Lets face it, there are so many anime series you can watch, so why watch one that doesn't grab you with the description? Well, I finally was at a point where 'i felt like giving Ben-to a chance and I am glad I took the time to watch it.

Overall: 7/10

Story: 7 - Ben-to features a plot that is pretty unique. Its about the brave students that gather at the supermarket late at night when the store discounts ... their Ben-to box meals 50% off, and the battles they have to determine who will walk away with delicious half priced bento and who will have to settle for cup noodles and instant ramen. The dramatic battles that unfold in these markets are epic, and some of the best competitors becomes legends whose names strike fear in the hearts of others seeking the prize. Its sort of like Highlander, only with bento boxes.

Art: 7 - Its nothing too strong, but for the most part the animation is fluid and the characters stay on design. Backgrounds are pretty damn average, but nothing in the art is bad in any way.

Sound: 6 - Sound is definitely used to help heighten the drama around the mad grab for the bento's, but is really nothing special.

Character: 7 - Some of the names that the fighters (called wolves in the series) earn are pretty funny. There's the Ice Queen, Beauty of the Lake, Club of Heracles, Pervert, Monk, and the Half Price Gods who add the 50% off labels prior to battles commencing.

Enjoyment: 7 - That's why you should give this a go, because it is definitely enjoyable to watch. I would suggest streaming rather than buying the series, as I feel it will have minimal rewatch value. While I wouldn't want to rewatch this series, I enjoyed the time spent watching it and have no regrets.


TL;DR - Watch bento for an enjoyable experience and a unique story line.

If you're hungry for a quick, no-frills meal of ecchi-based action, look no further than this 12-course filler. In the world of ben-to, inflation has apparently gone so high that normal students can no longer afford meals (bento boxes). However, craving the delectable combination that each succulent box contains, the students lurk nightly in grocery chains awaiting each store's half-price god. However, as supply is much shorter than the demand at that rate, a fair means must be used to ensure that everyone have a shot at the boxes. Thus, the honorable system used by "wolves" (fighting) is employed by bookworms, jocks, and vixens to ... all brawl (in the store) for the chance to walk away with a tasty victory.

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.