Ben-To – 02 Impression
Sure could have fooled me
Episode 02
Okay, so the second episode of this shows pretty much proves that this series is nonsense that is meant to entertain.
Although the last part of the episode did help me with understanding the merit with regards to food being more meaningful and tastier when you put some effort into obtaining it, everything else is best ignored and enjoyed without using your brain.
Impression
The notions of Pride, Strength etc are forced upon the setting of fighting over bentos and none of it felt natural to me. The writers had tried to integrate the generic morals of fighting into the setting of fighting over food and having pride in a fight but because of the whole concept, it felt cheap and questionable instead. Everything was simply a “what the hell” sort of thing for me.
The show is of course plague with fan-service and whilst I am not a fan of having boobs trust into my view, this is probably one of the better fan-service shows of this season since this series is at the very least entertaining to watch.
The episode does well in introducing a larger group of people outside the 3 main people in the Half-Priced Food Lovers Club and it is looking like there would be more of a team base fighting scenario in the near future.
Everything about the situations that happened in this show were either nonsensical or random (like with Shiraume’s stalker tendencies) but it was slightly comical to watch since I am the kind of person who can appreciate random things.
You know a show focuses on fan-service when all we know about the girl is that she had brown hair and all we see are her “assets”.
What I could not stand was the overuse of the whole Wolf thing. “Become a wolf”. OMG, that part was a tad bit too much for me and way too pretentious for my taste. But like I had said above, the show is pretty much nonsense that one should watch with their brains turned off.
My favourite character is Wizard. He is the typical bi-shounen character that is powerful, insightful and goodlooking. Hey, if guys can have have their fan service, then the females are at least entitled to a slightly decent character.
Overall, Episode 2 proves to me that this show is watchable, intesresting and definitely different, and one would simply have to hold off all brain functions while watching the show in order to enjoy it (which shouldn’t be too hard for me anyway).
Episode Rating: 6/10
-ra
3rd Review of the day. Woot! (and I even got locked out of my apartment for an hour.) Not bad if I might say so myself.
Posted on October 16, 2011, in Anime, Ben-To, Reviews and tagged anime review, Ben-To. Bookmark the permalink. 12 Comments.
kelfio
M0rg0th
Saranaufogus
tsubaki.seishuu
Otakuness Anime Reviews 
Yeah, this is definitely a turn-your-brain-off kind of show. I was laughing so hard at the fat lady bit. XD
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“I was laughing so hard at the fat lady bit. XD”
Same here. But I was also so shocked at the same time cos I can understand where the fat lady is coming from when it came to getting food *nods head*. I won’t fight but I would definitely shove. =P
I think my issue with that part was that they just could not help themselves and had to add in the damn “pride” part into that scene. =-=”
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Totally did not notice by the end that that girl was just boobs and hair, I noticed it the first time they panned by her, but didn’t process that by the end of the ep she still had no face. Way to break away from stereotypes lol.
That aside I agree, this is actually pretty enjoyable once you accept that the show doesn’t want to take itself seriously and neither should the viewer. Its like ‘Beelzebub’ airing now also, its hilarious at face value, and only gets bogged down if you try to analyze it. Speaking of Beelzebub, =P I defy you to find a cuter ending sequence than “Papepipu” that they added in a few episodes ago lol
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“Way to break away from stereotypes lol. ”
Lol, totally. But I had fun laughing at that part.
“I defy you to find a cuter ending sequence than “Papepipu” that they added in a few episodes ago lol”
I shall go and start my search now. =P
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I totally agree with Viishous the new Beelzebub ending sequence. (Oh Hilda, the things you do for that demonic baby lord :O).
Am looking forward to this series. Seems to be the first and only mindless entertainment one of the new season. Do any others come to mind, series that do not require me to research on wiki and forums to fully comprehend what’s going on ‘under the surface’?
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“I totally agree with Viishous the new Beelzebub ending sequence.”
It is such an odd (yet funny) ED…. *still searching*.
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lol, a cuter ending cannot be found its an impossible task.
@drake
I started watching Hitman Reborn a few weeks ago, up to ep 14 it definitely has some mindless fun going on, but some gags are a bit overdone, and part of the comedy is in them pointing out how pathetic the main character generally is, which is making the series drag I think. Then again its at like 200 episodes currently so it must get better or have a crazy devoted fanbase. Beezlebub is hands down at a faster pace and more action oriented, and Reborn was really slow to start in my opinion, but I think the comedy style is comparable.
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“I started watching Hitman Reborn a few weeks ago, up to ep 14 it definitely has some mindless fun going on, but some gags are a bit overdone, and part of the comedy is in them pointing out how pathetic the main character generally is, which is making the series drag I think. ”
I had given up on Hitman the first time I saw it because of how painful I had found the comedy to be due to it’s repetitive nature. But the second time I had watched it (and endured the painful comical moments), I manage to get through the whole series and actually really like it. (Stayed home and watched it for a week or however long it was) The typical Shounen action kicks in (thank god they decided not to be like the manga and do a super long comedy start) and it gets good despite it obvious flaws of being very predictable.
I suggest you either push through the comedy and get to the main plot regarding the family or simply skip that whole comedy part and just watch the actual plot. (I would like to call the comedy eps fillers, but they were part of the manga so… =/)
“lol, a cuter ending cannot be found its an impossible task.”
Never say never! I shall make it my mission in life to find a cuter ED. (Can’t you see how exciting my life is from this?)
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lol, this is actually my second time watching it too, granted I only lasted 4 eps the first time, and I would watch them off my ipod using crunchyroll, (technical computer difficulties) and after coming home tipsy at like 3am.
I started watching again now because of hulu+, typically I shy away from such long animes because I’ll end up marathoning it even when I don’t have the time. Right now though, I’m trying to catch up on available series on nights that no current series stream. I was still kinda wishy washy about this series, but the zoo date episode just killed me when they show the boxer psyching himself up to fight a bear, and then it cuts to them playing a street fighter style game.
lol anyway I’ll push through on your recommendation, and I’ll be waiting for an ending to trump http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqKJpWbuYcY
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