Ben-To - Episode 2

One missed call?

Episode Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)

A flurry of nicknames, hinted yuri and quite a lot of chest staring in this episode courtesy of Hana, Ume and You, respectively. I enjoyed the fight scenes, despite them being a bit 'fake' (how can You withstand being beat up every single day without dying?), and the overused idea of 'united we stand, divided we fall' really worked well. On top of Sen being a mysterious character, we now have the Wizard, a third-year at the school by the name of Kaneshiro Yuu, who is apparently one of the top Wolves around. The story is shaping up quite nicely now. The questions now is: Will the producers be able to finish off what they started, or will the show end up with the large collection of 'started-off-well-but-failed-to-finish-with-impact' anime that came before it?

So after stepping into the clubroom of the Half-Pricers Association and taking a seat, You is then immediately forced to sign a club application form by Sen, who tactically presses her breasts against his back in order to lessen his resistance. With Hana suffering a similar fate, the club now welcomes its two new members, bringing to total to three. As the day draws to an end, a quick briefing by the experienced Sen is followed by You and Hana venturing out to the Houki Mart once again, in order to get some half-priced bento. After the stickers have been placed and the so-called “half-pricing god” had left, it was time for the action to start. During the scramble for the bento, flashbacks of Sen explaining the rule to the two newcomers appear, contrasted with the images of the action. In the end, however, You and Hana emerge empty-handed and decide to head to their second destination: Tokiwa Supermarket. There they meet up with a bald guy, nicknamed “Monk” by Hana. As the store’s half-pricing god, an old man this time, begins to place the stickers, Monk (yeah, I’ll go by their nicknames) hears the troubling sound of the Big Boar’s (another nickname, I think) cart coming near. Another man, nicknamed “Goatee” by Hana, who is seemingly Monk’s friend, appears beside the three, prepared to stop the Big Boar’s rampage. Unfortunately, the attempts of the two men, and the brunette girl seen in the last episode, were useless as the Big Boar easily pushes them aside and takes all the bento, demanding the half-pricing god to put stickers on all of them. And because of all this, everyone who was patiently waiting to fight for the bento fairly had to settle for some full-priced leftovers.

After some random timeskip, You finds himself cornered by Ume who demands to know about his relationship with Hana. Confused at her questions, he ends up getting physically abused; it’s becoming this anime’s running gag. Despite all the beatings he has been getting recently, You still decides to go to the Tokiwa Supermarket that night (without Hana this time since she got kidnapped by Ume earlier). However, when the Tempest (a group of tough-looking rugby players), Big Boar and Wizard (some bishounen on a motorcycle) show up, Monk, Goatee and Brunette, who were also there, decided to avoid the chaos that was bound to arise. You, on the other hand, decides to stay and ends up having a nice little chat with the Wizard. With a newfound passion to become a Wolf, You jumps into the fray and attempts to stop the Big Boar from doing what she did yesterday. However, he fails and gets sent flying by the force of the Big Boar’s shopping cart. But the Wizard showed why the other three from before were wary of him as he easily disposes of the Big Boar just by dodging her attack. Despite one threat being eliminated, the Tempest still remained. During the scramble, the Wizard dominated the members of the Tempest with ease with You, Monk, Goatee and Brunette assisting. And with a Wolf’s pride, the allies valiantly fought with each other in the end, with You managing to obtain his first victory.

Back at the school, You was just about to head back to the clubroom in order to retrieve his bag when he receive some not-so-pleasant phone calls from Ume. Nonetheless, he continues on and, upon opening the door the clubroom, sees Sen waiting for him. Seeing that he had gotten his first win, she is surprised to see that it was also a “wreathed one” – a bento that was hand-picked by the half-pricing god of the store, denoting it as the ultimate prize of the day. At the mention of the Wizard, Sen reveals that he is a third-year at the school, named Kaneshiro Yuu. It turns out that the Wizard had gotten many wreathed ones before, each one having been recorded in a book kept in the clubroom. And now, You is now a part of the elite group of two (Yuu and Sen) within the school who have gotten wreathed bento. To end off the episode, You and Sen enjoy their loot together, basking in the moonlight shining through the club window.