== A little something about *Ben-To*

*Ben-To* didn't even make my [[initial list of shows to watch this
season Fall2011Brief]]; I only looked at a couple of episodes when
I saw a passing mention of it somewhere as the most GAR show of the
season and thought that was interesting enough to take a look at it
(at the time I was bored with most of my other options).

(To me, 'GAR' connotes a kind of more or less deliberate over the top
nature in the spirit of *Gurenn Lagann*. This is probably not how most
people use the term.)

The description is right, at least for my version of GAR. *Ben-To* has
been plain fun (although I could have done without some of its attempts
at sex-based humour involving Satou, the lead character). While it
follows standard tropes of shonen action that may grate on some, I'd
describe it as earnest but not serious; to put it one way, it has a
light touch. I think it helps that the premise of 'people fight over
half-price bento' is inherently hard to take seriously.

(Another thing I like is that *Ben-To*'s willing to be subtle and not
completely spell things out.)

*Ben-To* is not really about the fighting, either. It spends almost
no time on the actual fights or on shonen fighting tropes like the
characters powering up (there are a few fights that get animated but not
in any real detail). Instead it focuses on the things around the fights,
especially the characters, and the characters are interesting enough
(sometimes in an over the top way) to sustain my interest.

In a pleasant change it had relatively little fanservice and what
fanservice it did have was generally confined to specific scenes instead
of being thrown in your face every so often. (In short, no panty shots
despite a fair number of girls fighting in skirts. It kind of makes me
sad that this is an unusual thing.)

(I will admit that I was probably always predisposed to like *Ben-To*
because it has that rarity in anime, strong female characters that
kick ass.)

Its conclusion is satisfying (in a predictably heartwarming way) but
isn't an ending. *Ben-To* is not the kind of show that has an ending
that way. I don't think it needs any more episodes; it's said everything
that it really needs to say.

Liked: yes, definitely. \\
Rewatch: possibly but probably not. However, I'm going to have fond
memories of it.