Going into Ben-To, I was expecting a light-hearted and ridiculous series, and that's exactly what I got. It does what it says on the tin. They were several aspects that made this a very enjoyable anime to watch, but it was also let down on a few things - one in particular. So I'll go through three key points (from best to worst) and try to explain the 6/10 rating I've given it as best I can.
1. Characters - easily the strongest force in this series. I wouldn't describe any of the characters as 'deep' or 'wholesome', but they don't need to be. They're not
...
complicated by anything superfluous, and any/all past history is directly relevant to the absurd present-day pursuit of half-price bento. Oshiroi is a great new riff on a classic (but overdone) stereotype, with some of her outbursts genuinely funny (I'll get to the dub later). The Ice Witch immediately had me groaning, until it became clear that her title has nothing to do with any kind of frosty traits, and that she was just a normal person. She wasn't Tsundre, because her coldness literally lasted one episode, and I found this really refreshing. And Sato is your average regular teenage male protagonist, but somehow more likeable that many. Perhaps it's because whenever he's called a 'pervert', it's because there is some real truth in the matter, but the proportions to which each situation is blown out of context is both hilariously over the top, and really not his fault at all.
2. The Dub - I generally take Dub over Sub, because I like to do things like drawing and messaging while watching shows, so I prefer not to have to read the screen constantly. My immediate thoughts for Ben-To's dub were: "This voice-acting is awful" and "This does not translate well enough to dub". But a few episodes in, and I'd completely forgotten all my concerns. This is to the character's credit more than anything - as I said before, Oshiroi provides many comedic moments, and it's the perfect combination Felecia Angelle's searingly annoying tone and some expertly adapted dialogue that makes this so. Sometimes annoying characters can be forgiven if they are funny enough, and this is definitely such a case. The clunkiness of Sato's dialogue soon disappears as you get used to the ridiculous shenanigans that this series is filled with, and surprisingly, there's not a lot that goes over the head of a western audience member.
3. The Story. Oh, the story. This is where Ben-To really disappoints, I'm afraid. Before I started watching, I was thinking "I know it's only 12 episodes, but how can you sustain an anime about fighting over Ben-To to more than a 4-parter?" The initial introductory story was enjoyable, but it found itself with nowhere to go, so onto a new, completely left-field story... which lasted two episodes. And the rest was surrounded by two new characters, embedded in mystery, and the pay off was just so underwhelming. Honestly, it became thoroughly tedious to watch these boring twins go about their business, when there was no sign of their actual motives until the penultimate episode, and everything they did seemed such a farce. They were the worst characters, because they came so late in a cast of strong individuals. It was SO difficult to care what happened with them, and it was painful that the whole second half of the series seemed to somehow revolve around them. Their storyline's ending was fair enough, but it could have been resolved in half the time with a quarter of the discombobulation their deployment caused.
Which brings us onto the ending. Which took place with one of the main characters completely out of action. Which not only ended the series, but also the boring and overly long final storyline involving those awful aforementioned twins. A series like Ben-To, especially being the size it is, really needed to go out with a BANG! And it didn't. The ending felt like a perfect way to end a mid-series arc, and was a great way of adding a little extra to characters we feel we know pretty well at this point... but to end the series? No, it left me quite dissatisfied. And the worst part is that I could see it coming. As this final storyline last 6 episodes out of 12, I could tell that the pacing was off, and that it was going to leave me underwhelmed. Ben-To's biggest weakness is that it was innately short on ways to sustain a story, and it was a problem that wasn't troubleshooted well at all.
So, all-in-all, I gave Ben-To a 6/10. Every element except for the story had it set up to be an 8 or a 9, but unfortunately it's just one of those things.
Nov 8, 2016
Going into Ben-To, I was expecting a light-hearted and ridiculous series, and that's exactly what I got. It does what it says on the tin. They were several aspects that made this a very enjoyable anime to watch, but it was also let down on a few things - one in particular. So I'll go through three key points (from best to worst) and try to explain the 6/10 rating I've given it as best I can.
1. Characters - easily the strongest force in this series. I wouldn't describe any of the characters as 'deep' or 'wholesome', but they don't need to be. They're not ... |
