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Jan 01 2012

Categories: ben-to, episodic review, fate/zero
Tagged: ben-to, fate/zero

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“Glory lies beyond the horizon.”

Welcome to the 2012! Hope everyone had a great New Year’s. Today, we wrap up Fate/Zero and Ben-to… both shows exceeded my expectations for different reasons. I knew ufotable was going all out animation and music-wise for Fate/Zero and that Gen would bring the plot… but… who would have thunk that Iskandar would be this awesome? Six months ago, I would have thought Okarin would be a lock for gar of the year, but I don’t know anymore. Brokangar is making a serious case for himself, especially in this episode.

(Yes, he’s so awesome, he earned himself two overused memes in his name. Brokangar. Which is exactly what I named my Skyrim character.)

(Speaking of Skyrim, anyone who has anything else as their game of the year should have their opinions summarily dismissed. It’s like those bloggers who ranked Sola above Haruhi back in 2006.)

(And, yeah, loved Brokangar wanting to game with Waver. He is the big brother Waver never had.)

Ben-to wasn’t a bad comedy nor a bad action anime, but it really excelled at being a buddy anime. Friends being friends. I enjoyed the bento battles, and the whole nonsensical nature appealed to me. The copious amounts of fanservice helped too. The show didn’t take itself seriously and ended up being a fun show, which is all that really matters.

My summary of the servants in season one:

Saber: Little dog syndrome barking chihuahua. Lots of bark, no bite. Master can’t control.

Brokangar: Pitbull. Super loyal to his bro; will destroy his enemies. Runs kinda fast.

Assassin: Mutt. Everything but not anything.

Lancer: Pug. He looks so sad and pathetic all the time. Also not that smart to be tricked by Sola-Ui.

Gilgamesh: Golden Retriever. ‘Nuff said.

Caster: Pomeranian. Eater of kid’s fingers.

Berserker: Taiwanese mountain dog. A breed as rare as a Berserker appearance in Fate/Zero.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ash Catchem! I thought Hercules Combo was going to be quick attack, tail whip, and finishing off with thunderbolt.

(The best part of Hercules is that he thinks he is so bad ass he can punish anyone who steps out of line… well… why don’t people freeze him out like what he’s trying to do to Orthos? “Hey, asshole, don’t tell us what to do!” That would so happen if Ben-to took place in the Bronx.)

I think the moral in the end is that food tastes better amongst friends. And that’s the core of Ben-to… yes, it’s a ridiculous half-priced lunch box battlin’ anime, but it’s about a group of friends who come together and work out their differences. And have fun and joviality over food afterwards. Even cup of noodles taste great with friends.

(Best part of this ending scene is that Beauty by the Lake and the Brunette won bentos. They haven’t won any in a long time, so it’s good to see them come out on top over Orthos. Still, part of me believes Orthos let them win… those two use frickin’ shopping baskets! How do you stop frickin’ shopping baskets?)

(Andohbytheway, using their own definition of “wolves,” either Oshiroi nor Orthos should qualify since Oshiroi just thieves with her 100 sneak and 100 pickpocket skill… she’s more of a hyena than a wolf. Orthos is a dog since they are teaming up. Of course they should be strong– there’s two of them working in tandem. By the same token, Ice Witch and Sato co-operate a bit too much… they two should battle for honor seals instead of agreeing beforehand who gets what.)

While I’m glad they finally got back to the Caster story (only to leave us with a season-ending cliffhanger), the tentacle monster looks too much like the monster at the end of Nanoha A’s. Nanoha, Fate, and Vita-chan eventually beat back the monster with teamwork and their special attacks, so I figure the same will happen here, except with fewer lolis involved.

These two deserve each other so much. Their mutual banter about kami-sama was excellent if you picture kami-sama as this.

(The police is so incompetent in Fuyuki City that dozens if not hundreds of children are suddenly missing, and they have no leads or urgency? There’s a hotel bombing and dozens of kids missing, and the police are nowhere to be seen. I would expect Fuyuki City to be in lockdown with the JSDF called in for backup.)

These two deserve each other more than Brokangar and Waver.

(Pretty sure Gilles de Rais was a knight not a spellman. He should have been Saber or Berserker class. Though I can’t wait for Shakespeare to be Saber in the next series…)

The 2011/2012 equivalent of Waver looking up Iskan– Brokangar in the bookstore is creeping on some girl you’re interested in on Facebook. The funny thing about Fate/Zero is that it’s basically all the Facebook drama a group of friends would have except without the Facebook.

Orthos has quickly become my favorite character in this show. While Sato is the main character, he’s pretty generic. He has above average gar and that’s about it. Any typical male harem lead typically has high endurance and high perversion and high bad luck, which he is also loaded up with. Ice Witch is slightly more interesting, but she’s still fairly one dimensional. She’s like an unagi bento– great taste, but it’s the same taste. Orthos is more like the special random bento– they are bits and pieces of everything. They have a past, they have twincest, they have delicious thigh meat, they have a persona.

Sato’s hungry tummy plan was excellent for a dumb ass like him. It was simplistic and fit the show well, unlike random noble phantasms that seem to get pulled out of assholes.

(I think Ben-to is one of those shows that will be picked up and quickly find its way to the bargain bin. I was at Japantown the other day, and I was rooting through Japan Video’s anime bargin bin… it had Sister Princess, MKM (sadface), Gungrave, and Aria in it. Yep, this is why anime went boom to bust in the mid-2000s. Everything under the sun was being licensed, even if it might only sell 25 copies.)

“Believe in me who believes in you!”

Oh wait, he didn’t say that. He said something just as awesome. I liked how he used the dots on the map to show that it’s him and Waver against the whole frickin’ world and how great victory will taste because he’s with Waver. Gosh, we need to create a super team of anime heroes with Brokangar, Kamina, Okarin, Itsuki, and Hosaka. They would be a formidable force.

(As I brought up before, they’re all parent-child relationships. Iskandar is like the great male role model that Waver never had. Saber is the problem child that Emiya pawns off on his waifu. Lancer is the pawn child witnessing the split of his parents. Caster is the enabling parent who lets his kid do destructive things. Gilgamesh is the rich kid whose parents let him go overseas for college, but he ends up dropping out because he spends all his time womanizing, driving around fast cars, and gambling.)

At first I thought it was just Pocari Sweat, bananas, and condom wrappers. Why else would anyone chug Pocari Sweat and eat bananas than an all-nighter, if you know what I mean.

(While this year has been quite good for anime, it’s been a banner year for scripted, live action TV shows as well. As good as the political tension and production of Fate/Zero, it still doesn’t compare to Game of Thrones. Louis CK is at the top of his game. Skins and Downton Abbey have been excellent in their 2011 seasons as well. As great as Brokangar’s speech is to Waver, it pales to Grantham’s “You deserve a good man. A brave man.” speech to Mary. I thought of Kamina during it.)

tl;dr

1. Brokangar is awesome.

2. Unagi bentos are delicious.

3. Can’t wait for more Fate/Zero. I would like another serving of Ben-to.