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Oct 24 2011

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

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“I knew something is amiss.”

“I am Iskandar!”

My favorite scene of this episode. One, it has Iskandar doing Iskandar things. Always a plus. Two, it has Waver being horrified once again. He’s like the dad who keeps finding out how big of a slut his daughter is via her Facebook wall. “Wait, she was nicknamed ‘finger cuffs’ by phi slamma jamma?” Three, too bad for cockblocking by Guilty Crown, it was Waver’s emo facial distortion crown to lose. Four, it has both Saber and Lancer making, “WTF?!” faces. The only thing that would have been better is if Iskandar offered everyone a Whopper Jr.

(Doesn’t Iskandar remind you of the King from Burger King commercials? I feel like if he spoke less, he would be a cross between the King and the Kool-Aid guy. Ooooh yeah! And bursts through a wall.)

“Irisviel, heal me!”

I was expecting a sex tape between Miss Trinidad and Miss Japan to break out. Damn.

“Heal me!”

“I’m trying! It’s not working!”

I wanted to scream, “Try harder! Ohana would have made her sparkle!”

I felt like Emiya should have taken Archibald out when he had the chance. Why drag it out? Even a bro playing Modern Warfare would have taken the shot.

(I noticed that in Gen Urobuchi’s interview, he said that he invented Irisviel because of the limitation that Emiya could only talk to Saber three times as said in Fate/Stay Night. I hate this kind of forced plot in prequels. I wish they had a better way of dealing with it like, “Emiya just sent orders to Saber via beeper” or “There were actually two Sabers.” Sigh. I was just hoping Irisviel was created for yuri action.)

(Also, Emiya is voiced by Rikiya Koyama. Kogarashi. How can I not root for him now? Just want him to put Saber through some special training where she fights against a bear.)

“It’s a trap!”

I loved the fight between Saber and Lancer. Not often in anime do we have actual tension, and here we go. It’s not at the level of Kenshin seasons 1-2 and OVA, but still very good. Very well paced and done by ufotable. The animation is also excellent as well. I give it a 15 out of 10.

Lancer’s fighting style is a bit unbelievable as it’s hard to get that sort of power leverage with a single hand on a lance versus somehow wielding a two handed sword. You’re just using fundamentally different tendons… one, you’re using mostly wrists, the other arms and shoulder. More importantly, why doesn’t Saber have a shield? I feel like she should have one.

(Mmm… other fictional candidates for Servants. Definitely, Balsa as Lancer. Jaime Lannister as Saber. Think about it. Jaime Lannister or even gender-swapped Jaime Lannister as Saber. Do it, Type Moon.)

(Also starting to think Fate/zero should have been a table top RPG. The conventions and elements are complicated enough, and it would be awesome ruleset for a DND 4th edition-styled RPG. The dungeon master would instead be the judge, and you can build your own servant hero from selected historical greats. I feel like this could work. You could even build an NC17 version featuring sexual pairings for increased mana. Someone should get on this. Nao!)

Ben-to just has those moments where you can’t help but laugh. Sen deadpanning her lines with such seriousness is great. I felt like she would be a natural for the overwrought exposition of the Holy Grail War. Too bad thigh knight slash ice queen is not a valid class.

“Looks like tonight’s meal will be delicious again.”

Speaking of thigh knight slash ice queen, we haven’t seen her in action for the past two episodes. Sigh. Instead, we have poor Satou throwing random punches and shoving random people… the weakest part of Ben-to is the fighting. Watching the battle royale for bentos after Fate/zero is like trying to follow RayJ and Reggie Bush with Kris Humphries.

It’s the 1990s. Beepers are everywhere, and cell phones have begun to be widely available. Obviously, people in anime have not figured this out, despite the fact Emiya was using a high tech laptop and tweeting in the first episode.

(Other anime tropes that have not aged well? Pr0n mags under mattresses. Who the fuck does this anymore? If you’re going to keep using the trope, at least update it for 2011… poor Satou gets caught with streaming pr0n sites in his Chrome history because he forgot to use incognito mode.)

(I can definitely imagine myself writing, “Pr0n mags under mattresses. Who the fuck does this anymore? If you’re going to keep using the trope, at least update it for 2031… poor Kirei gets caught with a data card entitling him to one free holographic lap dance. Oh definitely we’ll still be dealing with pr0n mags under mattresses in 2031. Even though no none will know what a magazine is by then.)

Her sword is… gone… with the wind!

Does Sega have some sort of economic investment in Ben-to? Virtua Fighter and Sonic the Hedgehog in the same episode? Pffft. Rather see some Panzer Dragoon and Shining Force.

“Pants are stupid.”

My favorite scene from this week’s Ben-to. Hilarious. Poor Satou… sexually harassed like a loser from Great Teacher Onizuka or a second footmen from Downton Abbey.

“I’ll only take five or so!”

Again, Satou is so totally sexually harassed. He would be the poster child of an anti-online bullying campaign.

(This episode had him decide whether or not to join the Hounds, which is led by someone who looks too much like K1 Maebara. In no uncertain terms, Satou made the right choice in not joining him. Nothing good ever comes from paling around with K1 Maebara. You need to GTFO once you hear your first, “Nipaa~”.)

Fight tons of big breasted and big thighed high school girls for half-priced bentos or fight six mythical heroes for the Holy Grail War or fight three crazy insane women for the penguindrum. Mmm… I don’t like the odds for any of them.

tl;dr

1. Fate/zero is action done right.
2. Ben-to is sexual harassment gone horribly wrong.
3. No one in either anime has obtained the penguindrum yet.