Score: Very good
Rating: PG for violence
Shortly before closing time, the fresh lunchboxes on sale at various convenience stores are sold at half price. The point marks the start of a brutal fight as shoppers compete for the discounted prizes. You stumbles on this incredible scene, and is soon recruited into the Half Price Fellowship, where a girl known as the Frozen Witch explains the rules of the game. What started as a way to save money soon becomes a fight for his honour.
The genius of this series is to take a simple, everyday phenomenon and scale it up to an insane level. The action scenes are brutal, fast paced and ridiculous. They’re also amusingly Japanese – those who join this hidden world follow strict rules, such as “never bother the staff” and “once somebody has their hands on a lunchbox they cannot be attacked”. And when the fight is over, all animosity ends: competitors can be gouging each other’s eyes out one second, and sitting down in the park to enjoy food together the next.
It’s very silly and good fun.