Ben-To Anime Review

Ben-To

Genre: action, comedy, ecchi

Format: 12 episodes (24 min) based on light novels

 

Ben-To is a story about high school students who have brawls to secure half-priced bento meals.

It's a deadly serious affair with rank and pride on the line.

It is a strange plot and at one stage I thought that the intention was to parody melodramatic fighting anime by having the same sense of seriousness associated with such anime but in a entirely ludicrous scenario or that it's some grand metaphor for... something. It turns out that it really is what it appears to be.

There is a swimsuit episode and it's done quite well.

Convenience stores in the anime mark down unsold bento towards the end of the day. Hungry youth resort to physical and surprisingly well animated and choreographed fights to acquire the half-priced meals. The fight scenes are incredible and are accompanied by a thumping soundtrack which makes them thrilling to watch. 

Screencaps don't do the fight scenes justice.

When the characters are not fighting for food, the anime plays out like a standard slice of life show. There's a bit of humour (mainly in the form of running gags) and fan service here and there which is a nice break from the food fights. 

Plenty of Sega product placement and fan service. I'm okay with that!

Ben-To is as ridiculous as it sounds and despite the basic premise being different, the rest is stuff we've all seen before. The result is something which is just okay. A bit of something new - a lot of something old.