[Review] Ben-To

Yarizui Sen aka The Ice/Frozen Witch. (The Ice Witch has a nicer ring to it)
This is essentially what the Anime itself looks like. 

Let me start off with: It's like Asaura, the author Ben-To, thought, "let's have epic battles in a brand new place!" Then someone questioned him, "Like where?" Heck, I would, too! There isn't really any new places, but Asaura found one, "a supermarket!"
And so, that's how I imagine the plot being created!

Do not misunderstand, though. It's actually one pretty darn good story. Who would have thought that someone could create such a serious story revolving around supermarket sales for anything? For the record, I am aware there have been incidents/events in several Manga/Anime that make a somewhat big deal about supermarket sales; but to revolve an entire story around it? Good on you, Asaura!

This is a snapshot from their little commercial transition animation.
Am I the only one who immediately thinks: Super Smash Bros.?

• Season Count: 1
• Episode Count: 12
• Presentation/Appearance ─ 4.5/5
• The artwork is great. The animation is great. Not much else can be said. However, I did have one minor problem: the skirts are too short to not show anything. First, second, whatever-glance, you will always notice how short they are, yet nothing is shown. Personally, I hate all that fan-service crap when it's overdone (a good example of overdone fan-service: Manyuu Hiken-chou). Like I said, only a minor problem. Not enough for me to make me like this any less.
• Characters ─ 5/5
• The main character (You Satou, was it?) can and did actually fight and land a hit without taking 70% of the series! He wasn't a punk! Yay! Aside from him, I enjoyed the side characters. Of course, there were a few that could have and/or should have made more of an impression. One of which is named "Brunette," or even "The Wizard!" I also enjoyed the nicknames/titles many of the characters had. It was great (though, using their real names wouldn't hurt...).
• Plot/Story/Genre (Action and Comedy) ─ 5/5
• Plenty of non-mainstream/non-shounen Anime that fall under the Action genre tend to lack decent Action. But Ben-To? No, no. They got plenty of that. Not to mention, while it's more of a ha-ha kind to feeling to it, the characters are serious about getting that half-priced bento.
• Music/Sound ─ 4.5/5
• The opening theme song(s) got me. I usually don't like the opening theme enough to listen to it more than four times in one series (I listen/watch it for the first two and last two episodes for most series), but they got me. It's a good one. As for background music, it's pretty darn good. Each supermarket even has their own song! Other than that, midway through the series, they start to use one particular track, which reminds me strongly of "Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt." Of course, this is a good thing. Lastly, I'm not sure if this is applicable with the music, but they also adjusted the opening animation accordingly when new characters were added.
• Final Verdict ─ 5/5
• It's a final verdict that doesn't make sense. But remember, the final verdict's grade depends on how much I liked the Anime. I could somehow relate to this one more, so I definitely give it an A+ Honors. It's quite original, a bit tacky, but not so tacky to make it cliche and silly. Yeah.

No Anime is perfect, especially since "good" or "bad" all comes down to opinion. Of course, solely because every character going for the half-priced bento appeals to me; they allow me to relate, because I'm a cheapskate, and I would fight for half-priced meals like that, but I digress. Reviews are made as references to hear others' opinions, and mine for Ben-To is that it is definitely worth the watch. As a matter of fact, it's a must-watch.

I'll leave you with a line from one of the characters:

And a final note: there are a lot of crossovers with Bento images. I guess it's just that awesome.