Snowy Satruday 2016: Food Fights, Fish, & Finding Yourself Snowbound!

Surprisingly, I haven't written anything in this blog for almost a year!  That's not to say that in the past year I haven't watched some amazing anime!  I've just been so busy, I guess I forgot to update the blog.  I'll blog about "Michiko & Hatchin" & "Good Luck Girl" another day.  Today's post is regarding anime I watched during the blizzard of 2016!  On this snowy Saturday (1/23/2016),  I watched "Ben-To," an anime about the ultimate food fight!

While innocently reaching for some half-priced bento, Yō Satō finds himself beaten up on the floor of a supermarket. He soon learns that getting half-priced bento is an all-out brawl between customers. Yō is invited to the Half-Priced Food Lovers Club by one of the top fighters, Sen Yarizui, in order to train to compete in these battles.

Bento brawls are big, all-out, free for all battles for half-priced bento boxes, where victors are decided by who claims the bento first. The brawls are governed by a set of unspoken rules among the brawlers, mainly to keep each brawl fair and even.

• Every brawler must wait away from the bento area until the God of Discounts, the ones who put the half-priced sticker on the bento boxes, put the sticker on the bento boxes and leave to the break room before beginning to battle. To take one beforehand and to harass the God of Discounts is disrespectful as the last thing they need at the end of their shift are people harassing them for their discount.
• If another brawler manages to get a bento for themselves, they cannot be attacked. If two or more brawlers get their hands on the same bento, then they fight among themselves until the other lets go of the bento.
• A brawler can only take one bento, to take another would be greedy and would spoil the victory for another.
• Brawlers should never do anything to cause a bento to spill, doing that would mean one less bento for someone to get.

Asides from that, whatever methods one can use in obtaining a bento can be used from simply brawling to using baskets and chopsticks as weapons, even running around avoiding fights altogether are valid strategies. Sometimes brawlers fight in groups, such as the Half-Priced Food Lovers Club (Yō, Sen and sometimes Hana) and the Orthros pair who will often fight with each other while going after separate bento or team up to take out a threat before brawling with each other.
Those that fight for bento boxes are often known as "wolves". Inexperienced bento brawlers are considered "dogs", usually considered as such when they do not understand the essence of bento brawls and use tactics that are looked down upon. Those that go against the rules and will selfishly go after bento and harass the staff are known "boars" and have no respect among brawlers. Bento brawlers will often do everything in their power to stop boars from obtaining bento as they go against everything brawlers stand for and thus do not deserve the bento. Strong and notable brawlers are often given titles (which are usually associated with personality or appearance), though how they get their title (and in the case of Yō, the title itself) are usually less than impressive.

A little more violent than my average anime diet, I found it amusing nevertheless.  I definitely think it's worth a second watch, although I do think the ending could've been better.  Then again, it's not the first time I've been disappointed in an anime ending.  For example, "Michiko & Hathin," which I watched last year, but never blogged about, was entertaining, but ended on a rushed, anticlimactic note.  But, as I previously stated, that's a story for another day!

Following "Ben-To," I found myself re-watching "Wolf Children," one of my favorite anime movies.  I remember the first time I watched it was a free 10-minute preview via my cable's OnDemand feature.  By the end of the preview, both Hubby Christopher Wanamaker and I were so hooked on "Wolf Children" that it was the first DVD we sought out at the next anime con we went to! 

I concluded my anime marathon with a movie from my favorite anime director, Hayao Miyazaki.  "Ponyo" is an anime movie loosely based on "The Little Mermaid."  However, seeing as I have previously blogged about it, to do so again would be redundant.  However, I will say that that animation quality is AMAZING!  The movie, if you have not seen it, is one I definitely recommend adding to your movie collection!

I am a little behind on my blogging, so look for one or 2 more updates before Katsucon weekend! (February 12-14, 2016).  I'm hoping to expand my anime collection at that con and also at MAGFest, which is the weekend following Katsucon this year!