Ben-to Review — B+

Satou joins the deadly fight for half-priced bento boxes.

Just from the premise, you know this is going to be crazy. And it is. In the best possible way. There’s something irresistible in watching nightly fights for half priced food. Everything is on the line: pride, hunger, and survival itself. After the fighting’s done, the warriors gather around the table to partake of the spoils or commiserate in their defeat. It’s so utterly ridiculous, and the creators treat it with a perfectly straight face. Ben-to is hilarious.

The characters certainly manage to keep things interesting. My personal favorite is Oshiroi, who has delusions about Satou and plasters his head onto the bodies of muscle men. I also liked Ume, who was obsessed with Oshiroi and abused Satou. All of the wolves were fun to watch.

This show also has some, shall we say… creative fan service. It’s not your usual falling on top of girls. Instead we have our male lead running around school naked, being abused, and getting attacked by nurses in the hospital. The fanservice isn’t just there for the heck of it, it’s an essential part of jokes.

Overall, I loved Ben-to. This is what a comedy ought to be like: fresh, funny, and creative.

  • Plot / Script – A – Hilarious.
  • Characters – B – Some crazy characters, although the two female leads were probably the least interesting.
  • Production – B – Looked decent. The music wasn’t great, but it was used to good comedic effect.
  • Overall – B+

RecommendationsKore wa Zombie Desu Ka?!, Softenni, Tantei Opera Milky Holmes

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16 thoughts on “Ben-to Review — B+

  1. I adored the music too!

    I thought the writing was great for the first 4 episodes or so, then it dipped, and then it finished strong. I guess B+ is a good grade for it.

    1. (To Marrow too) Maybe it’s just me with the music then. There was one tune I liked, the cheerful one that played in the last episode when they started fighting. Otherwise none of the music particularly stood out to me, but they did know when to use each part of the soundtrack to make it complement the action on the screen.

      1. David Production is a studio I will keep an eye on, just for the reason you just stated. There is something about the directing I really liked in Ben-To

        1. They made this, Level E, and Book of Bantorra… Definitely a studio to watch. Next season they’re making Inu x Boku SS.

  2. Ben-TO!!!!!

    This series came out of nowhere for me and became such an addictive series, great cast of unique characters and fantastic fight scenes.

    Best episode? The pool one! Damn I laughed so hard xD

    1. Yeah, that pool episode really was great. Especially since given the setting, I just expected it to be an obligatory throw-away fanservice episode. They managed to make it one of the best episodes though.

  3. Re the music I second the other commenters. The jazzy soundtrack was innovative but particularly the OP song I had on constant rotation for a while.

    From the characters I best liked the twins with their yuri touch. Ume looked great and was hilarious for she didn’t have any function for the plot whatsoever. The Ice Witch was also set for me for wearing tights and looking like Ayanami Rei.

    The parts I least enjoyed were actually the BL fangirl (same as in Haganai) and the penis jokes.

    In sum, it was another “throwaway” anime which turned into a favourite for me, albeit maybe for different reasons than for you!

    Oh, and the grilled eel in the last ep. looked so delicious that I would have fought for that myself!

    1. The twins were great, and you’re right, Ume really had nothing to do with the story. I bet that when the light novels continue she will end up having a quite interesting role though…

      I loved Oshiroi, but can perfectly understand why some people wouldn’t.

      That eel did look delicious!

  4. I really hated Ume, the slapstick comedy she was there for was mostly tasteless. Though I do like her lesbian scenes with Shaga and Oshiroi.

    I would’ve rated production higher though, the fight scenes were really well choreographed and animated really fluently.

    1. Tasteful and Ben-to are two words I would generally not include in the same sentence. The best comedies seem to always be tasteless, for example DMC and Milky Holmes.

      I’m honestly a terrible judge of animation quality. I have no artistic ability whatsoever (know a bit of music, but that’s it) so take my comments on the animation with a grain of salt.

  5. i have a brand new anime or manga featuring a 33 year old unemployed man named Adam lee he lives in Tokyo Japan he meets a wizard named Merlin he came from a different world called Elysium he is the headmaster of a private magical boarding school called saint Gabriel academy for both boys and girls it is very large like a city and it is also located on its own nation or country or state the largest school in the world of Elysium the country is called holy dragons fury kingdom ruled by a emperor and a empress plus nobility politicians and the clergy plus the magic council.

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