Forum - View topicBen-to (TV).
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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Ben-To (TV) Genres: action, comedy Themes: fanservice, fighting, harem, school, shoujo-ai Plot Summary: You Sato is a new high school student living in the dorms. While seeking cheap eats at the local market he finds himself beat up and semi-conscious with fleeting glimpses of a girl during the moments of his collapse. As his memories recover the next day, he discovers that trying to purchase half priced lunchboxes can be hazardous to his health as free-for-all fights with local students for the discounted food is the nightly routine. The girl from the night before, Sen Yarizui, is an upper classmate known as the Frozen Witch and is one of the local Wolves who dominates the area. She educates him on the rules of the game where Wolves eat well while Dogs settle for cup ramen. With fellow first year student Hana Oshiroi, a fetishistic germaphobe, You Sato sets out to discover if he too has what it takes to be a Wolf and taste the sweet victory of half priced boxed banquets or wallow in the bitter defeat of reconstituted noodles and salty broth in a styrofoam bowl. ----------------------------------
Episode Index: Episode 01 Episode 02 Episode 03 Episode 04 Episode 05 Episode 06 Episode 07 Episode 08 Episode 09 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 and Aftermath ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Episode 1 This was my most anticipated show, and by the Fall Preview Thread, I was the only one looking forward to it. Now that the pretty good first episode is out, word will spread, you will all feel silly for overlooking it, and will come here every week to discuss it. But yea, the first episode was what I thought it'd be: A funny show with a whacky premise and really nice fights. However, to my surprise it's not a zany, off-the-wall show like you'd expect from a show about people who beat the snot out of each other over half-price lunches. It's one of those shows where the comedy just happens and there aren't really many "jokes" to make you laugh like, say, Fumoffu or Ouran do. I guess the one exception would be Ume and her slap fits, but even that doesn't feel exaggerated because she stays calm the whole time and Satou doesn't overreact either. I think what I liked most is that it had a lot of opportunities to go downhill in a hurry, but it stayed even keeled. It dropped the "I think she said she loved me" thing really fast, not a lot jiggling, no panty shots despite girls kicking and flying, and Satou is neither a wuss (as he proves by jumping in the fight) nor very outwardly pervy. The no ecchi part is particularly astounding. I have nothing against ecchi, but it just doesn't work on me anymore, and so when it's taken out of the show to focus on other things, I really like that. I do think the other girl, Ayame Shaga, who hasn't shown up yet will change that, but I do look forward to see how they plan on using ecchi. Will it be dry and cliche, or will it be creative? I'm hoping for the latter. So yes, definitely looking forward to more of this. I think people wrote it off as stereotypical, but I feel (or at least hope) it'll be a little more than that. Not saying it's going to amazing, but better than others expected. Last edited by The King of Harts on Mon Dec 26, 2011 6:52 am; edited 10 times in total |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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I spent the begining of the episode wondering where the magical part has to do with getting a bento, then I realised that this is seriously a show about people fighting over half priced bentos. Well the Kuudere, gives off a bit of an ice style show, at least I asume she is a kuudere.
Any way episode 1 kind of went between nuts, and finding ways to punish the male lead. Personally the part I enjoyed the most was the strange glasses character, Hana Oshiroi, her eccentricities seemed kind of funny. She kind of reminded me of someone, perhaps Nori from Rozen Maiden, but with some sort of love of pain. I also thought the little preview at the end to watch next episode, not quite what most shows do, might be cool if they continue to experiment in future episodes. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3671 |
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I think those of us who were looking forward to this just knew better than to try to convince people why we were.
I loved the way they ran the first half of the episode as a mystery/thriller, even if it was about grabbing half-priced food. Because let's face it: If you enjoy anime, watching premises that make sense is not high on your list of priorities. |
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swienke
 Posts: 245 |
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Well, you have at least one convert here. 
I wanted to hear what other people thought about the show before I went and saw the first episode (especially after getting burned by Horizon), so when Key started recommending it over in the preview thread, I bit. And boy, am I glad I did. That episode was an absolute riot, and I haven't laughed this much since Kore Wa Zombie ended. The whole thing is just so tongue-in-cheek and aware of its own ridiculousness that I can't help but kind of love it. Add to that some surprisingly great fight scenes, smooth animation, and a bunch of wacky female characters who feel like they weren't designed solely for fanservice, but have actual personalities and quirks, and I'm sold. Last edited by swienke on Mon Oct 10, 2011 3:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3967 Location: New York state. |
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This series took me by surprise. I did take it as something archetypal judging from the series summary until I seen ANN giving the first episode high scores which prompted me to give Ben-To a look. The premise is ridiculous yet original in featuring brawls between those getting discounted bentos turning the typical premise of "high schooler living on his own" to an absurd level. I can effectively consider Ben-To to be my comedy title of choice for this season.
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WhiteHairGirls
 Posts: 4713 Location: New York City |
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I thought it would be a dumb show, but boy was I wrong. I love the whitehairgirl
 Its funny and unique with like no cliches.
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Eivion
Posts: 569 |
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Wasn't really all that impressed with the first episode, but I thought it was ok. It does seem like it has some potential so I think I will continue to watch.
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Nosferatu21
 Posts: 520 Location: Ohio |
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I enjoyed the first episode a lot. It has a lot more of a serious feel to it than I was expecting for a show with such a borderline silly premise. But I find Satou and the Ice Witch interesting and will definitely be sticking around for more. Totally agree with TKoH on the show staying even despite having the chance to go downhill.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Hated the first episode, dropped the show.
Despite the premise being par for the course in Anime, the execution was bloody awful. Physical violence is acceptable in fiction if it is cool or funny or to be realistic, but this was nothing like that. This was depicting characters going out of their way to inflict grievous bodily harm on innocent bystanders over half-priced foodstuffs. The employee even thinks it is natural, probably did it himself given the way he talked and acted. Heck, there's even a club just for people like that. Don't get me wrong, physical violence can be great; think of Kaname and Sousuke in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu. Here, it doesn't work. If the show aimed at being a comedy or "battle Anime" then I might have - nay, probably would have - enjoyed this. But by actually depicting it in a more serious light - such as people (including the girl who was only a bystander) being knocked unconscious - it cannot claim any refuge in "it's a comedy". Because it is not. The tone is clearly not. And if it actually is, then it utterly fails at being one because I didn't laugh or even smile the entire time. Another thing; what the hell was with the girl who kept on slapping and kicking the guy in class? Is that supposed to be funny? Or is that supposed to appeal to masochistic guys or Otaku who are so desperate for a woman to touch them that they wouldn't mind being assaulted by one? I don't know, but it seemed really, really stupid, and not in a good way. I was actually looking forward to this show, but this is the biggest let-down of the season (thus far). |
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ArsenicSteel
 Posts: 2370 |
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The only character that was unknowingly involved was the MC but ultimately he figured it out and became a willing participant.
That's mighty profound there guy. I don't see how a food fight club would work without physical violence.
*checks ANN* The only genre listed is comedy for this series. Maybe you mean it was unfunny to you and not that you are trying to reclassify the series from comedy to...whatever. |
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4630 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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IDK, it wasn't perfect but, unlike DTM, I think I prefer the set-up in a semi-realistic setting. We have a few people here that really love Ramen Fighter Miki, but I couldn't get past the first episode of that one because I couldn't take the "zaniness" of the show. But they're both examples of the same comedy staple, out-of-proportion exaggeration of a real thing, that's already silly, to an illogical degree.
Yes, people do fight over highly valued items of little actual value while shopping, it usually takes the form of one person swiping something from someone else and running off in a petulant little kid attitude of "mine! mine! you can't have it!" but here they beat the crap out of each other. And while I do get a little annoyed with the class rep beating on the MC I guess it has its place, it keeps things consistent- the grocery store is not the only place where extreme violence is a casual thing of cartoony extremes, I think the line about the guy's parents lets you take yourself out of the "Realistic" setting effectively to, The MC was beaten to unconsciousness, bloodied and given amnesia- but his parents basically tell him to "man up, ya wussy." And at least, by the end, he isn't forcing himself into the situation, he's not a whining milquetoast screaming things like "why me!?" with a crackling voice while a sadistic tsundere pushes him into a fray he has no interest in. I think it wouldn't be nearly as attractive to me if the show were played in other ways. -zany, like Ramen Fighter Miki -played exaggeratedly straight with villains and heroes like, this season's "Puzzles are a matter of life and death." Phi-Brain -or straight slice of life, no real fighting, just groups swiping the cheap food so the lead has to grumble and eat konbini ramen again with a weepy face. ...although, with that third option- I do wonder why he apparently doesn't think of dry ramen as an option, like every other poor student on a limited budget in anime does. |
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yamata no orochi
Posts: 137 |
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This was a lot better than it had to be.
I mean, the chopstick transitions, the soundtrack, the ridiculous fight sequences--you can tell that the creators are having a lot of fun with the material. This show might very well fall apart in the next few episodes, but it's nice to see that at least for now a crazy show about people fighting in supermarkets for half-priced bento landed in the hands of people who want to do more with it than just make a quick buck. So yeah, for Unambitious Light Novel Adaption #2563, this is surprisingly great! Let's see if they can keep it up. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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There is "physical violence" and then there is actual physical violence. I'll let you figure out which is which, but here's a hint; they are indeed different, with the key word being their "tone".
I think you should have finished reading my post because I addressed that exact issue in the following four sentences. As I previously stated, if it was supposed to be a Comedy then it failed for me because I didn't find it funny at all. Quite the opposite in fact. |
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ArsenicSteel
Posts: 2370 |
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Please elaborate [no personal attacks] without trying to lay that responsibility on me.
Correct you did. You also did precisely what I described by out right claiming that it is not comedy when all you meant was it was not funny to you. So how about lowering your [no personal attacks] and cease with the absurd "if it's a comedy" nonsense when all parties involved with assigning genres says that it is. |
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killmyself
 Posts: 168 |
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The violence wasn't in the form of a joke it is just there as part of the world that is being created. I watched this show high and didn't laugh. I will give it a few episodes to see what they are going to do with it since it wasn't awful but this looks like something I will drop. |
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