BEN-TO

DESCRIPTION

CAST

NOVEL ActionBen-To
SPECIAL ComedyBen-To Picture Drama

REVIEWS

• 

  biogundam

  61/100
  basic review about an ok time passer

  Waring this review may contain spoilers.

  First impressions, so we got harem show where people fight for half price bento's and there is some heram shit going down sounds fun enough.
  Side note a bento is a Japanese lunch box in case you didn't know that.

  Story, 6/10

  So bento is about the main character who goes to a shop to get himself some half price bento. But then gets his ass kicked by a girl when he try's to get one.
  After that he soon learns that one doesn't just simply get himself a half price bento one must earn it though honorable combat and blood shed. This contest of strength and willpower is known as the bento brawl where the wolfs get to fed and the dogs go home hungry.

  So to sunrise bento it pretty much about these group of people who beat the living shit out of each other for what is essentially half price food, and I thinking to myself man this is really stupid this will never work and to my amazement I find that this actually works.
  Now I am not saying that this best story ever made because it's extremely simplistic in both ideas and presentation. but I think what makes it work is that it takes the battle shounen mentality and compressed it into one of the most mundane of tasks which is shopping.

  This show also includes some harem/school life elements as well
  And your properly thinking that it's going to be one of those things where the main character a bata male and has all these badass girls protecting him well if you thought that then your wrong because it more like they kick his ass and then he kicks there ass and they become apart of his harem so it's like a reverse Kung fu harem and the school life parts are self explanatory.

  One thing I think is quite fun about this show is that
  For one the characters seem to take this whole bento brawl thing very seriously. For example you got characters having monologues about honor and way of the warrior type of shit.

  But a negative I got to say about it is that it really doesn't have any type of logic to it and that kind thing kind of bothered me a bit. So pretty much turn off your brain while watching this show.

  Characters, 6/10

  The main character can be pretty much be sum up as the normal high school student who is a bit of a pervert and likes old school games and is a bit bata male at first.
  but after a while he starts becoming a bit of a badass in his own way

  The side characters are pretty much two dimensional at the most.

  But they are quite the interesting bunch of ....... no interesting isn't really the word I would use probably I should use the word zany so the are a zany bunch of characters.

  They all have some personally even though it's really basic.

  Art, 7/10

  The animation was very well done it isn't at that God level of animation quality but it looks very nice.
  It also has very bright colors that is uses.

  It also has some very well done fight animation as well.

  It has a very genneric art style that you seen it once you seen it all.

  The characters designs are also generic as well.

  Sound, 6/10

  It has an ok op that fits the tone nicely.

  It's ost to me is pretty generic. nothing really stands out about the ost.

  Enjoyment, 7/10

  So this show some what blowed me away of how fun this show was.

  I like that it's got people fighting over stupid shit.

  I also liked the really cool steet fighting.

  I also found the characters to be fun as well.

  Overall, 6/10

  So overall if your looking a dumb fun anime then you will find bento to be one kick ass of a show. But if your the kind of person who like his shows a bit more serious and have logic behind then this show won't really be your cup of tea.

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• 

  FestivalsOfComf

  65/100
  Sega references. Fan-service. Food Battle Royale. & Fight Club.

  To set expectations correctly, this review is being written under a subjective lens and mainly enjoyment. If you come to expect opinions from a very critical sense, wrong place. A lot of people online come to expect reviews as such, this review ain’t gonna be like that. I just like to talk about anime I enjoy. And so this review is about such things. Sorry if this ain't what you're looking for.

  I’ll try to keep spoilers to a minimum!

  ---

  Ben-to or Bento, was an anime that aired in Fall 2011. Animated by Studio David Production - the studio most famous for animating Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure in 2012.

  Based on the cover art and summary description, this show is trash. It is literally almost everything that you can assume and expect from the anime.

  • Fan-service Heavy
  • Perverted/Raunchy Comedy
  • Tropey characters
  • Shallow story & world-building
  • Over-the-top reactions

  But... It's not bad because it’s sponsored by Sega. It’s genuinely funny to see the awkward references here and there. Jokes aside, it’s not bad if you can tolerate these aspects. If I would recommend this show, I would recommend setting expectations very low when going into it. When watching it, I was literally watching with others and shitposting at it the whole time. It’s a show that you can put on the background while you do other stuff in the meantime. This show is mainly for entertainment. And it’s able to deliver some entertainment.

  I was able to get a good chuckle at moments but there’ll be times where I’m bored and yawning. The only fun moments are the fight scenes in the supermarkets, some raunchy jokes, and the introduction of certain characters. It doesn’t do a cheap job with animating the movements and that is honestly really nice to witness when you see characters fight each other. There was also the soundtrack that is so wacky that really lifted the over-the-top scenes.

  VAs did their job and were able to land their line deliveries. Some were stronger than others depending on the episode. There were some adults in the show, so it’s refreshing to have a cast variety instead of a bunch of high schoolers. Well, there are but like you sometimes see an adult around and know that when they scream for an adult, someone is there for them. Thankfully, most of the high school setting is the clubrooms and not the high school life… though that is the same for many other shows.

  Is it the best of its category? Honestly, I’m sure there are other anime out there that can do a better job in hitting certain aspects. But as an overall piece, it’s okay entertainment. Not awful but not the greatest too.

  Watch this while drunk or shitposting because this is an anime that should never be taken seriously.

  Also, try to make a drinking game out of this. The amount of Sega sponsorships. The fanservice. The food references. Etc. I’m sure you can make something stupid out of this for entertainment for sure.

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• 

  WanderingSage

  74/100
  An Interesting Action Battle Shounen Focused on Packaged Meals

  We have a tendency to take mundane things for granted. We all have a lot on our minds and basic things like commuting and preparing meals rarely take up much of our headspace on an average day. Typical families and individuals don’t put much effort into choosing what goes on the dinner plate. There are many days where it’s such an afterthought for us, that we don’t know what we’re doing until we get home, change into comfortable clothes and check the fridge, hoping that there’s something we can throw together. Many of us would order some delivery at this point, or perhaps get some fast food or heat up some leftovers from yesterday depending on the situation. While grabbing some ready-made sandwich or a slice of pizza is always an option for many in the west, Japan has raised this quick takeout style food to something of a cultural point with their prepared meals known as Bentou.

  Bentou are wonderfully convenient and while they are typically made quickly, they are of a surprisingly high quality in most cases. Grabbing a bentou before heading off on a train, or getting a seasonal or locally made hand crafted or decorated bentou during holiday or special events can be a pretty nice experience. Because of the nature of the food, after a few hours, these ready-made hot meals need to be sold and the stores will generally begin marking them down in order to entice people to buy. It’s entirely possible to score a reasonably nutritious and tasty meal for a very decent price this way if you understand the scheduling of these lunches and the best times to show up. For those on a tight budget, or those looking to save some cash, it’s a great opportunity. In the anime Bentou, it’s also taken to a rather absurd conclusion of gang style wars for cheap eats. While the premise of this show is taking something seemingly mundane to comical levels, it takes the premise so seriously that it’s actually a compelling show to watch and a bit of a sleeper shounen title.

  With regards to the basic technical aspects of the show, the audio and visuals of the show are good. The themes are pretty catchy and fit the theme of the show well. The fights and animation are of reasonable quality. The music and sound effects work well and add to the generally very serious atmosphere of the supermarkets during the fights and take things into lighter territory when the show takes a break and tries to do something more lighthearted or needs to change the tone. The voice actors are pretty decent and ham up the shounen style of this show when needed and don’t detract from the experience in general. In fact, they do such as good job with things that they essentially sell us on the premise of brawling for discount lunchboxes. This deserves some praise as it couldn’t have been easy to do this given the subject matter.

  The basic plot synopsis of Bentou is that a high schooler stumbles his way into what is basically a fight club of sorts to grab these marked down meals. These knock down, dragged out fights for half-priced food are ridiculous when viewed objectively, but the participants take everything so seriously that we rarely find ourselves questioning why they’re expending so many calories just to win a cheap dinner. Because of the tone and the “discount bentou is serious business” vibe, it’s incredibly entertaining in spite of the somewhat silly premise. There’s even a lingo and etiquette system that was developed by the participants of these knock down brawls that they treat seriously, and as such, we do as well. The main characters who are successful even get their own aliases and are treated with a large measure of respect as well. The whole thing reminds me of how seriously children can take a game that they’ve made up or how a fandom itself ends up with its own system of customs and rules, even if what’s ultimately being followed or participated in doesn’t really deserve the same level of input.

  Another thing that ties Bentou together into a coherent system is that it feels like a real neighborhood with recurring people, stores, staff (gods of discount), school club activities, etc. This is a world we can easily envision being real because of all the attention to detail and recurring characters put into it. While it’s a bit absurd to take bentous so seriously, we can believe that they are serious business in this particular town based on the great city building they’ve done.

  Beyond the basic premise and execution, is there any great social commentary or deep message to all this? Any Evangelion tier philosophical wankery to be had? Not particularly I’d say. Anything can be serious business if we all believe that it’s serious business. I’ve seen people trample each other for cheap televisions on black Friday before. Is a 100-dollar television worth taking that seriously? Well, enough people believed it to injure each other. People aren’t always reasonable in their behavior. There may be some greater point about life at the edge where people struggle to make ends meet, but I don’t get much of that from this show honestly. The closest we get to any deeper message is a quick conversation about how people should be thankful for the food they’re able to eat. It’s a good message I’d say, but doesn’t become any kind of grand focus. The protagonist struggles with his budget, and these discount bentous really help him out, but not everyone seems to be motivated this way. Some major antagonists and participants are actually quite wealthy and appear to be doing this merely for kicks. Honestly, it’s best to just enjoy the fights and the world here I would say. A bentou is just a bentou here. Any social commentary or deeper meaning is likely incidental or self-interpreted here and I think we can safely move along.

  So, what about the characters? Well, they’re a bit of a mixed bag, ranging from generally good to occasionally substandard. The main character goes on a bit of a journey from newbie to contender as the show progresses and we learn through him and his participation in these fights. There’s nothing much to praise or complain about personality wise with him; he’s the typical young male anime protagonist with dreams of bentou and an adolescent hormonal focus on his female classmates’ figures. He also likes games. He could be tossed into any suburban high school in Japan or the West and basically blend in. His club members are generally ok. The cool collected senpai leader of the club who happens to be a powerhouse, and seems to enjoy these fights purely for the joy and struggle of it. His other club member who is soft-spoken and has a strategy of avoiding confrontation and an adolescent fascination with boy’s love stories make up the school club that he belongs to (the half-price bentou club) more or less. The other main recurring character would be the protag’s blonde haired blue eyed genki half-Italian cousin who also likes games and playfully teasing the protag with her body to get what she wants. As the protag is an adolescent ball of hormones, this generally works for her. While they’re related, at least they’re not brother and sister as is par for the course these days. She’s interesting as she represents a different section of the city and technically should be antagonistic to the protag’s club but works as a go between of sorts. There is a little missed opportunity in the writing here with their relationship and different turfs, but it still ends up working out decently with how they took the story.

  These characters I would say are pretty good, if cliched. The timid bentou club girl’s childhood friend who is on the school council is not a great character as she is violent towards people for silly reasons and has a habit of uncomfortably sexually harassing other females in ways that are frankly a bit difficult to watch in their overzealousness. She also does not participate in the bentou fighting in the anime, which makes her character rather superfluous. I’d rather not spoiler tag much of this, so it’s up to the viewer to decide how comfortable they are with all that. Because of the 12-episode nature of the show, there also isn’t much time to flesh out a lot of the minor characters and antagonists, so some of them aren’t as strong as they could be. This is especially noticeable as one set of antagonists takes up almost 4 episodes to the detriment of other potentially interesting storylines. These characters could be done better and are written a bit better in the light novel.

  This is a show that doesn’t shy away from the fan service either. As it is apparently from the protag’s viewpoint a majority of the time, we see closeup shots of legs, bouncing bosoms, and such during fights. One recurring female side character becomes somewhat of a running joke as we hardly ever see her face until a meaningful scene later on where the protagonist levels himself up so to speak (we find out she’s cute), but we do see her assets bouncing around during the fights as she acrobatically kicks and punches everyone in her way. There’s the obligatory beach episode and onsen scene too, which has all the fan service cliches as well. Although, even though the beach episode follows the fan service formula, there’s still a rather interesting and comical fight for bentous as well, which adds a bit of balance to it, so it’s not just eye candy. One episode where the show takes itself a bit more light-heartedly makes sense, and high schoolers in clubs are going to do something fun on occasion like that anyhow. However, the fan service with the creepy student council member is generally unnecessary and uncomfortable as it’s hard to justify her acting the way that she does. As mentioned, she a pretty terrible character in the animated version. Sensitive types may take issue with some of the service here, but it’s not the point of the show and all the characters, male and female have their service moments and are shown to kick ass, command proper respect as fighters, and not just be around for decoration so there are worse offenders of modern western sensibilities out there.

  Beyond those basics, my feeling is that the show is an entertaining romp through surburban Japanese discount bentou shopping done in a shounen style. That feels weird to type, and even stranger to say that I found it enjoyable. However, while watching, I always felt compelled to see what was going on in the next episode and found myself genuinely having a lot of fun with this. Not many shows do this for me, even some of the major shounen that I also like, so the formula struck the right chords here. I think that those who enjoy shounen style battle royale shows will find entertainment here. It’s also a novel enough spin on the genre to stand out a bit. If it was done a bit better at the time and had a bit more fleshing out, it would have made for a decent recurring show in my opinion, but while it was fun, it didn’t strike lightening like Food Wars did, and we have to enjoy what we got.

  I think there could have been an interesting subtext done where life at the edge of poverty could have made for some interesting story telling here, but that likely is too great a reach in the modern industry and things were kept much simpler to sell books. That’s understandable if a bit of a missed world building opportunity. I hope that studios and writers continue to do interesting takes on well-run genres like this and maybe we can get something great. Making the same cookie cutter rom-com, or isekai, may be safer for studios, but it is tiresome even if you enjoy the genres. Getting out of the comfort zone once in a while is a good thing in my opinion. Still, I recommend this one for most fans of the shounen genre looking for a different spin on things as it’s a great way to fill an afternoon or evening. I also recommend the light novel if the premise of the show leaves you interested and you can read Japanese. Have fun and be sure to watch your back if you’re out there bentou shopping.

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