Ben-To

The supermarket is an important building in any city, for they provide a convenient way to purchase a variety of food in a family-friendly, safe environment. However, these stores changes in the blink of an eye once the unsold bento boxes go on their nightly half-off sales! War breaks out and friends become foes as each person fights for honor, pride, and dinner. There are no longer any people in these supermarkets, only Wolves and Dogs⁠—winners and losers.

High schooler You Satou is painfully introduced to these battles after unknowingly stumbling into the war zone, but instead of choosing to avoid these nightly fights, he wants to join in. After seeing Satou's lack of fighting skills, upperclassman and Wolf Sen Yarizui invites him and Hana Oshiroi, a girl who enjoys spectating the brawls, to join her Half-Priced Food Lovers Club to show them the distinction between the Dogs and the Wolves. Together, they learn what it truly means to fight for your food.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yarizui, Sen Main

Ise, Mariya Japanese

Shaga, Ayame Main

Katou, Emiri Japanese

Satou, You Main

Shimono, Hiro Japanese

Oshiroi, Hana Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Inoue, Asebi Supporting

Taketatsu, Ayana Japanese

Shiraume, Ume Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Kaneshiro, Yuu Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Sawagi, Kyou Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Chapatsu Supporting

Nakamura, Eriko Japanese

Sawagi, Kyou Supporting

Horie, Yui Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Ishiguro, Tatsuya Producer

Kajita, Kouji Producer

Takano, Takashi Producer

Reviews

Jan 8, 2012

Yukariki

Recommended

Ben-To is philosophy. Ben-To is art. Ben-To is everything, but bad for your health.

How does a show deliver such greatness that cannot be matched by other action shows? The answer is simple: Ben-To knows its place as an over-the-top parody work. Most shows suffer from being blatant copies of each other and turn bland by the time the second episode pops up. However, every single episode of Ben-To is simmered, well-roasted, and served with refreshments.

The show’s main appeal is its dramatic fighting sequences and Production David does well. Do not fear the “absurd” premise. In shopping malls, it is a well-known fact that discounted goods ... are pretty much fought over; Ben-To just takes it into account and increases the fighting factor. The ridiculous over-the-top action scenes are rendered and always intense; not even a typical pool episode can hinder the awesomeness of punching people’s stomachs for the sake of an unagi don bento. Speed lines are used graciously and the action can be seen easily due to the presentation it is drawn, the OP being a great example.

Do not also be let down by the huge amount of cliches and archetypes; this is a parody of action shows. You have the Rei Ayanami clone, the perverted ordinary high school student, a perverted girl, and more. However, what Ben-To does is something spectacular: it plays with the tropes and archetypes and puts it into the most awesome setting of all, a supermarket. There is a lot of interesting twists into an archetype, trope, and setting that is admirable in creative standards; it is very rare to see a work so understanding and playful of its tropes and Ben-To does it well.

Yet, this work is tainted by the huge amount of fanservice. Most of the characters are females with noticeable cleavage and this can be distracting and sexist to many. I have trouble liking Oshiroi’s character sometimes as all she does is make sexual innuendos. It is problematic that the action clashes with the fanservice in many times.

The OPs are beautifully animated and highlight the show’s distinctive features. "Live for Life" is a catchy, irresistible theme song that I hum every time I remember Ben-To. The background music is pretty wacky and cool at times, showing the effort done in the sound department. All of the seiyuus sound about right, though there isn’t anyone who did a spectacular job.

The reasons that you may not watch this show become the reason you will watch the show. Its ingredient list can be skeptical at first, but it is godly. The show is more addictive than Dr. Pepper and tastier than Kettle potato chips.

Why are you waiting in line at the restaurant? Go to your nearest supermarket today and grab a bento.

Itadakimasu!

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 27, 2012

Archaeon

Mixed Feelings

Times are hard, and in these days of global economic crisis and recession more and more people have joined the hunt to find the best bargains. As with anything in life though, experience is what counts, and veterans in the ways of saving money will usually have the upper hand in the war of the aisles. While there are a few young hotshots who have a natural talent for finding a store's bargain products, the truth is that wherever there are discounted groceries, there will undoubtedly be kings and queens who rule over them.

Now it may sound as though that whole paragraph is nothing more ... than a flowery representation of Ben-Tou, Asuara's light novel series (and its anime and manga adaptations), about Satou You, a highschool student who unwittingly becomes embroiled in an all-out brawl between people wanting half-price ready meals, but that's actually incorrect. Surprisingly, it's more akin to the reality of discount shopping than most people think, but while there's generally a lot of shoving, actual combat is ... uncommon.

Ben-Tou has a relatively simple storyline that isn't encumbered with complex philosophical questions or existential uncertainties. The plot is straightforward, but very typically shounen in its repetitiveness and predictability, which may explain why there are attempts towards the end of the series to add a layer of depth to the narrative. Unfortunately it doesn't really work as the show spends too much time trying to be funny, justifying all out brawls in grocery stores (which never seem to attract the attention of the police), and servicing hormone crazed teenagers.

The sad thing is that Ben-Tou has potential as a concept, but when it comes to execution the author, and then everyone else, seem to have left their artistic sensibilities by the wayside. There are some genuinely good flashes of inspiration in the narrative that come about because of the fact that each territory is "ruled" by the strongest fighter (or "wolf"), in that area. Sadly these sparks of inspiration never really amount to anything, and the anime becomes little more than a parade of characters, brawls, inane comedy and pointless fanservice.

Given that this is supposed to be an action anime, one would assume that the emphasis would be on making the combat scenes look good, but unfortunately that isn't the case. The characters are decent enough, but the reliance on stereotypes can make some viewers think that the designers lacked imagination. In addition to that, the settings for many of the show's fight scenes are grocery stores, so it's remarkable that the post-battle shop floors remain unscathed. The animation quality is fairly reasonable, but it's not up to the standard that David Production are capable of (they made Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra), and the series can sometimes look like a rush job (which may explain the unusual postures and the odd jumps and glitches).

The opening sequence features the song "Live for Life: Ōkamitachi no Yoru" by Manami, an upbeat rock song set against a backdrop of character introductions, action and fanservice that make a surprisingly accurate presentation of the show's content. There's also an additional introduction for episode four that focuses on Shaga Ayame while "Treasure" by Kato Emiri plays out in the background. The melodic ballad used for the ending theme, "Egao no Housoku" by Ise Mariya, serves as a nice counterpoint to each episode, and the rather placid sequence fits well with the idea that it's a post-battle scene.

As for the rest of the music, although the series is well served in the variety of pieces on offer, the usage of particular tracks can seem a little repetitive.

Ben-Tou likes to wear its shounen heart on its sleeve, so the dialogue is filled with juvenile sentiment and lots of shouting. Like almost every other action/harem/comedy/fanservice anime out there, the script is a little too reliant on familiarity with the genre, but within that there are a few decent little deviations from the norm (mainly about fighting for discounted food). Unfortunately the acting is pretty much what one would expect from this type of show - lots of effort and not much actual skill, but maybe that's to be expected. The four leads have little experience with serious roles, which isn't an indictment of their abilities, but rather an observation about the anime industry's propensity for churning out mediocre titles that cater to the minority of fans.

Seriously, stop wasting talent. It's too hard to come by.

In true shounen fashion the characters are about as one-dimensional as they come, and there's very little in the way of refinement throughout the series. That said, the main focus of the story isn't to develop each person, but rather to put them in situations where the warrior mentality can be prominently displayed. Unfortunately it doesn't work out that way as Ben-Tou is a veritable who's who of stereotypes, and pretty much every trait and personality associated with genre are on display, especially the wishy-washy lead male - Satou You. The problem is that viewers may become too familiar with a character's behaviour outside of combat, so watching them fight can often raise several questions, the main one being why does someone who is supposedly capable keep getting slapped around by Shiraume Ume.

Like many harem lead males, Satou You seems to be a bit of a masochist.

As a concept, Ben-Tou has some merit, but somewhere along the way a decision was made to try and appeal to a specific fanbase, and that's what ultimately lets the show down. The addition of multiple love-interests, inane comedy, innuendo and fanservice seem tacky at best, and can often feel more like hasty additions to the plot. Although there is some entertainment value in the series, this is mainly due to the fact that audiences can watch this as though it was a half-decent action movie.

The truth is that Ben-Tou could have held up a mirror to the real-life tribulations of discount shopping, but sadly the show fails to realise its potential because it tries too hard to jump on the harem/comedy bandwagon, and this gets in the way of it being a true parody.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 28, 2016

LIQfilms

Not Recommended

Ben-to is a good example of a show with a lot of potential for a rule-of-cool anime with a lot of dumb over-the-top action sequences but ultimately fails in regards to lack of any interesting characters to root for while having, in what I believe, to be sub-par fighting choreography and animation. I honestly really wanted to like this show, I really did, but the lack of any fun characters or engagement dragged on through each and every episode as the anime tries its hardest to be silly and over-the-top without carrying over the same charm it had in the beginning. It feels like ... it wants to be over-the-top but suffers from serious tone problems which don't integrate all too well with the silly premise and story they throw us into. Allow me to elaborate:

Ben-to is a show in which people battle it out for the tastiest and the best bento boxes in numerous department stores around the city. Each part of the city is governed by a different gang and turf and the such with many people having unique nicknames based around their fighting styles and personality traits. I'd argue that one of the most interesting things about this show was precisely that - I found all of this to be incredibly fun and interesting in a stupid way. We learn that there are several customs and honours that each ben-to fighter must abide by and each character takes the art of beating the everlasting hell out of each so seriously it's comical in that sense. The insane rumours these fighters conjured up about special people, the insane nicknames given and the general stupidity of each turf war having their own insane laws and the such was a fun and dumb idea and this works very well for the first few episodes or so as we see our main character who learns the joy of beating the crap out of someone just for some cheaper ben-to.

But, while this idea does set-up a lot of possibilities into what is possible and how insane you can go with this idea, the anime suffers from two problems which I feel hold it back. The first being, as I've said, a lack of interesting characters to care for, all of which are annoying mind you, but the show's gimmick begins to wear off really quickly as they don't really do too much with this concept. Sure, there are new fighters that join which add some more history and depth about this strange fighting festival that takes place but as we travel along the show, the cool and over-the-top fights seem to take a back seat to boring character backstories which are equally generic as they're uninteresting. That's not to say that the anime doesn't have some cool looking fight scenes, it's just that many-a-time I found myself bored with the character interactions and a few times I felt kind of disappointed with a fight that had been building up for a while and had no payoff as we suddenly skip past it removing all of the dramatic tensions of the moment.

The anime suffers from the same problem I believe the currently airing Keijo does; the gimmick is so stupid at first that it's fun when you first start but the lack of interesting characters begins to drain on you the more you watch and by the end, the novelty has worn off entirely.

The biggest problem with this show is the comedy and the characters that go along with it. The main lead is kind of forgetful, as they typically are for these types of shows, and doesn't really do anything all too interesting. He develops a passion for ben-to fighting but doesn't feel like he changes throughout the story, aside from gaining some random strength despite no training and no experience in the art of fighting. Hana was a character simply defined for her love for BL, frequently writing stories involving our main character. She also has an insane lesbian stalker named Ume Shiraume who is the biggest bitch I've ever seen. She frequently beats down on the main character for no reason for the most mundane things. I expect the creators wished for me to laugh at this but all I kept wondering was why this guy kept receiving the horrible treatment that he does. He is hit, slapped and has hit clothes torn off numerous times which all felt completely unjustified as he had never done anything to warrant this treatment.

In fact, all of the characters treated him in this fashion and it just comes across as mean-spirited. As an audience, we enjoy seeing a character receive karma for something mean they've done and it feels satisfying as a result, but here, all it does is make me feel as if the characters are horrible people. There was one scene in which one of the characters threw out the guy's game console for no reason and upon attempting to rescue said console, ends up hurting himself and ends up in the hospital. Granted she does show some remorse, but not before putting him threw more agony for no reason.

The only other two characters worth mentioning is the annoying blond lead, mainly defined for her tits and the white-haired girl, only defined by her quietness. All of the characters in this show are all caricatures of anime stereotypes and none of them are unique enough to break away from this mould. When the show clearly wants us to root for one of these characters, I find it generally hard to do so as I found them all so uninteresting making the scenes in which the narrative stakes are high (as high as you can possibly get while fighting for products on Black Friday anyway) feel weak and kind of dull. As the anime ran on, this problem only got worse. To be fair, there is an attempt at character development and intrigue in regards to the Kyou sisters but it's kind of integrated half haphazardly into the plot without having too much time to fully develop.

The art style was generally appealing to the eyes and the character design as well as the colour design was pretty spot on. While in motion, the animation did suffer from some animation error and at times it could look kind of jarring but nothing to take me out of any scenes. The music was pretty forgetful as a whole with the exception of the opening theme which is catchy as hell. The main thing with Ben-to is that it feels as if it wants to be silly and the over-the-top but it never gets to that stage and instead feels kind of lukewarm which makes the anime feel kind of forgetful. Ben-to is not the worst series in the world but it does leave a lot to be desired which is unfortunate considering how fun the show could of been if the characters were more likeable and if it were more over-the-top.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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