Ben-To – 04 Impression
Episode 04
This week we are introduced to a new character – The Beauty by the Lake.
Sometimes I wonder how they come up with these names. =_=”
Impression
I had missed last week’s impression of the show simply because I was busy. =P To put it short, I found last week’s episode to have started out pretty strong in the comedy department but then it had lost it’s steam when the writers decided to do the whole “fighting to get your food makes it better” idea.
Random appearance, faceless brown girl from the Monk group. =P Did you spot her?
This week on the other hand felt totally random to me. It was not as entertaining as some of the other episodes and while there were some parts that I had liked, there were many scenes that felt like they did not glue together with one another. In other words, it had felt messy. =/
The whole OP was a tad odd since it had focused a great deal on Shaga Ayame, if it weren’t for the random food products I would have thought I was watching the wrong show. =P
What I did like in this episode, was the on-going joke between Shaga and Satou – the whole “Ne, how did we end up in the friend zone?” thing was funny despite it’s total randomness.
What was totally odd and disturbing was all the fan-service in this episode. It had felt like boundaries of fan-service was pushed to a new level in this episode. The whole groping the cousin thing did not sit well with me, also Shaga groping Oshiro and removing her bra was a tad full on. To top it off, we even had that bath scene between Shaga and Shiraume. Definitely a tad heavy-handed on the fan-service, but I am sure some of you are enjoying it =D
Another thing that I had found funny was Osiroi’s reaction to Satou borrowing her uniform. She had started to fantasize about Satou being an Uke! Lol! What disappointed me was that her novel was not as raunchy as I had expected it to be since her character had been giving off this super “fangirl” vibe the whole time.
Then came the supermarket scene. The fight between the Ice Witch and The Beauty was fun to watch, especially when Ayame had started using chopsticks in her battle. Sadly, Ben-To had to be Ben-To and throw in a line about food and respectable fighting.
My biggest question about all this fighting is who the heck is teaching Satou how to fight? =_=” He seems to be powering-up at a pretty rapid rate and we don’t actually get to see how that is the case. I assume the Ice Witch would training him if not what’s the point of the club, but we are never shown any training footage. =/
Episode Rating: 6.5/10
Overall, this was still a fun mindless episode but definitely not the strongest one thus far. It was good that we get to see a hint of a deeper plot brewing in the background of this series (as expected) and with new schools from other districts coming into play in this series, I can’t wait to see how all of this plays out.
-ra
Ra’s Question of the Day
Tofu. Love it? or Hate it?
Personally, I don’t dislike it with a vengence but I would much rather eat a whole bunch of other things before eating tofu. =P
Verdict: Hate it. =)
P.S: Answers like “don’t really care” are not excepted. =P If you are leaning more towards the darker side of not liking it then you should declare your hate! ^-^b
Posted on October 31, 2011, in Anime, Ben-To, Reviews and tagged anime review, Ben-To. Bookmark the permalink. 13 Comments.
kelfio
M0rg0th
Saranaufogus
tsubaki.seishuu
Otakuness Anime Reviews 
The ‘girls groping each other in the bath’ fan-service is old and overused already…
Since this is a gag show, Satou probably had his battle instinct awaken from fighting over half priced bento. LOL.Maybe he practiced boxing during middle school and then stopped? 😛
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“The ‘girls groping each other in the bath’ fan-service is old and overused already…”
I agree with you, definitely overused but =/ not unexpected. =P
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My biggest question about all this fighting is who the heck is teaching Satou how to fight?
His dad is from JSDF and often takes him to the base to have holiday “activities”
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“His dad is from JSDF and often takes him to the base to have holiday “activities””
Lol, well, that makes sense. =P Did they mention that in the show? Well, his progress is still a tad big fast to me but this is a show that one must watch without thinking so I shan’t dwell on that. =P
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Yes, a short glimpse in Sato’s intro in ep 1 (about mine field)
but they haven’t told it explicity
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I was wondering about how he leveled up so quickly too, from getting his ass handed to him twice before knowing what was happening in the first episode, to fighting off what looks like key players now. What I kinda wonder about now is why the show is giving itself a sort of conspiracy theory vibe over the ben-to fighters. Otherwise I didn’t mind this episode, seems like the can stay consistent with its running gags.
Bath scene was disturbing, agreed.
Tofu gets a pass in miso soup and I enjoy it, but otherwise it can get pretty unappealing ex, the “bizarre foods” episode in Taiwan, where the host, who eats everything from raw insects to animal balls along with the local culture, couldn’t handle his tofu. It may have been stinky tofu, fermented for weeks, but it was still tofu lol
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“What I kinda wonder about now is why the show is giving itself a sort of conspiracy theory vibe over the ben-to fighters.”
I kinda always thought that this show was going to elude to something darker happening behind the scenes… I am just hoping that it does not become tacky simply because they plan on introducing a secondary plot that might bring the whole thing back to reality.
“Tofu gets a pass in miso soup and I enjoy it, but otherwise it can get pretty unappealing ex, ”
The only Tofu that I like in Japanese food is probably Agedashi Tofu. Awesome stuff. Deep fried tofu covered in cornstarch (I am pretty sure it is cornstarch) surrounded by a sauce. Yummy.
“It may have been stinky tofu, fermented for weeks, but it was still tofu lol”
I have seen reactions to Stinky Tofu and have heard of it but have not actually tasted it. I want to try it. I am sure that it wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that I have put in my mouth.
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Satou leveled up last episod in the moment he desided not to be a dog. Simple like that it is, cause if it would follow the typical Materials arts ideas you must admit that the ultimate finishing for the real fighter is in his mind and in his heart. So in the moment Satou´s decision was made he gained automatically the strenght we see in this episode.
And I can not agree…
This episode did quite a good job, just with it´s yuri-show. Otherwise the would have taken the wrong turn to this typical harem/drama old childhood friend intermezzo. This would have been the end of the entertainment, as you know it. Cause I do not expect anything else than light amusement. And I hope they won´t waste a second on some serious stuff, there is nothing more implausible for this whole anime doing so.
I´m looking forward on this conspiracy and the last character.
Don´t get me wrong here I´m not a Shaga fan at all, but did you wasted any idea this OP and so on could be a piss take on the non existing importance of Shaga, she is still not No. 1, even if she´acting up.
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Hi Brutus, =)
Well, you are right about the whole Martial Arts thing being about the soul, but technique is important at the end of the day. But if he did have prior training then it might simply be him finally “waking up” and taking action.
“Cause I do not expect anything else than light amusement. ”
Well, that is definitely that truth. ^^
As for Shaga, I don’t hate her or anything, just thought it was so odd that she took up so much “space” in the OP. Her character is actually quite funny despite her disturbing actions towards others. =P
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“Well, you are right about the whole Martial Arts thing being about the soul, but technique is important at the end of the day. But if he did have prior training then it might simply be him finally “waking up” and taking action.”
Only to a certain point in this particular case. You don´t have to forget we do have a 12 episode series and therefor not enough time for that. It´s not like the “I´m going to be the warrior” thing is the main plot here, otherwise we would need a different build up.
You know all this stuff of sad history with some parts of payback to the evil guys and coming to the rescue. Well, then it would make sense to focus on the improvement of his fighting techniques and would end most probably seeing Satou standing on some timberthing in the sunset or sunrise reminding his sensei´s word´s of wisedom.
Uhm… Coming to think about it… Maybe a nice idea…^^
Just image him balance a box of half price bento on his nose and growling stomach…
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“You don´t have to forget we do have a 12 episode series and therefor not enough time for that. It´s not like the “I´m going to be the warrior” thing is the main plot here, otherwise we would need a different build up.”
I am just wondering if they plan on playing out the whole “secret organisation” within the timeframe of this series since it probably would do the show more harm than good if not executed well. There is a lack of time to develop it into something great, and the show simply does not really set itself up for any serious tones. =/ Shall see how all of this plays out I guess.
“would make sense to focus on the improvement of his fighting techniques and would end most probably seeing Satou standing on some timberthing in the sunset or sunrise reminding his sensei´s word´s of wisedom.
Uhm… Coming to think about it… Maybe a nice idea…^^”
LOL! That would be funny. Perhaps standing over a pile of empty Ben-To boxes and unconscious wolves?
I think the ultimate victory for Satou in this show would be to finally get the upper hand over Shiraume Ume. I swear, she has got to be the strongest amongst them all. =P Oh, the power of weird love. lol
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Agreed…
There’s just not enough time for serious plot.
That mafia don must be a small fry acting tough.
His subordinate lost a punching competition against Satou, too.
That special one-time OP is a waste, Shaga had her ass totally whooped by the frozen witch.
I just hope that they will animate Oshiroi’s novel for several minutes, rather than reading it out. 🙂
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Sorry for a sudden drop of reply however there is something that I want you to take attention too.
I can’t help to notice that you’ve watched [gg] fansub group release at the moment you wrote ‘What I did like in this episode, was the on-going joke between Shaga and Satou – the whole “Ne, how did we end up in the friend zone?” thing was funny despite it’s total randomness.’
[gg] pretty much made a major mistakes on this one, a much accurate translation would be “Ne, since when do we need a reason to meet each other?” or something similar like that. This is a pretty critical line since its basically the reason why she randomly showed up and using the lame excuse of playing video games to meet Satou, and most probably the main reason why she’s challenging the Ice Witch and focused on defeating her instead of aiming for the bento.
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