Ben-to

Number of episodes: 12

What Wikipedia says: "Ben-To is a Japanese light novel series written by Asaura, with illustrations by Kaito Shibano. The first volume was published in February 2008, and 10 volumes have been released by Shueisha as of December 2011. A 12-episode anime TV series adaptation produced by David Production aired in Japan between October and December 2011. 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. "

What tTPO says: It is difficult to know where to start. Having been to Japan on more than one occasion and bought bento from convenience stores late at night I loved the idea for this. Goddam genius. The fact it took itself seriously (sort of) and treated the idea in a similar fashion to other fighting genre shows made for a very dry kind of humour.

The series started well, with high energy levels and an air of intrigue as the characters (no problems here) were introduced. Somewhere in the middle of the season though it just lost momentum and while picking up a little towards the end it was too little too late. I think part of the problem was the delayed introduction of 3 main characters (one about episode 4 and the other around 8), and the other was the mini-arc format of the show. There were hints there may be a bigger city-wide story to tell with some history but these ideas generally remained underdeveloped before thing would move onto the next somewhat underdeveloped mini-arc.
 
How about the music?: Nothing much to write home about here. The OP is a competent bit of J-rock and the ED a slower melodic peice but neither, for me at least, were particularly noteworthy. 

So how does it end? (Spoiler Free): Adequate but ultimately lacking in involvement. The final arc's conclusion revolves around a character we were only introduced to the previous episode, with a major character was sick in bed at home, and largely out of the story. Why bother developing these characters if they are just going to stay home! Aaaargh!

Overall Grade: C. I really wanted to like this series but it barely managed to snatch mediocrity from the jaws of brilliance. Disappointing. Would have been a D if not for the early part of the series.