Beastars

Authors note: Below are images and story spoilers. Everything within these writings are my own personal opinions.

When Netflix and studio Orange said they would be doubling down on the furry propaganda for their platform. Honestly, I didn’t think much of it. Then, at the request of a friend, I watched Beastart and honestly, WHAT THE

FUCK?

So, let’s get this straight. There are somethings that should not be this good. Azur Lane, for example. A gacha game based on big titty warships, or maybe even Fate, the one where I learned about Atilla as waifu of the year.

But here we are, the games are fantastic, the show for Fate as well. (you really dropped the ball Azur) but every great once in a while you get a wolf wanting to fuck a rabbit. And that somehow devolves into a chaotic mess of real world issues mixed with coming of age, strong personalities, and the simple need to be happy.

Beastars, started off as a shiny piece of coal, but quickly became a diamond. You follow main Legoshi, a grey wolf who lives as a predator in a none prey world. He comes off as down, a pessimists in every sense but seems to be genuinely nice. He goes through the days working for the “art” (drama) club as a stage worker and seems to be fine with the status quo.

Oh I guess I should say what the status quo is. The predators and prey live by each other hand in hand. There is no meat in any meals, and eating a herbivore is quite frowned upon.

So like I was saying Legoshi seemed pretty alright with this until one night. While standing guard in front of the theater while his drama buddies do some late night practice. He gets a whiff of something, or should I say someone? Like I actually don’t know cause what he smells is a rabbit named Haru.

Haru is a dwarfed white hair rabbit who is a senior and the only member of the gardening club. When the show kicks off it is kinda hard to place her, she gets picked on quite a bit from her classmates, you later discover it is because Haru was making out with her boyfriend. Then that leads down the path of every herbivore in school has bedded Haru ATLEAST once. Due to that there is a stigma around her, and for the most part people avoid her unless they’re boys looking for her for this reason. When I first seen this bit about her it actually made me quite sad due to the fact that when this occurs its usually someone trying to find some form of acceptance, which I was right. Being so small most of her life she was pitied, and everyone kinda talked down to her, until one day some, well, I believe to be some sort of rabbit pedo groomed her. As she reflects back on it, it is the only time anyone has ever looked at her as an equal, and due to that it stuck with her. So she developed this form of bonding which is NOT toxic whatsoever and definitely not lead to one hating ones self.

Wait where was I? Oh yeah, Legoshi. After he smells Haru something seems to happen that may possible never happened before, his primal predator nature kicked in. Under the cover of darkness and a light fog, without any self control Legoshi attacks, but being a prey herself and having excellent hearing Haru dashes, knowing what is happening. What follows is a very sad self dialogue of Haru talking about how little she cares if she dies or not before she gets tackled to the ground by Legoshi. What follows is a tense but (oddly romantic looking) back hug in which Legoshi has his own self dialogue of how he should indeed not eat the rabbit and let her go. Only doing so when his club friends leave the auditorm, saying his name, and distracting him enough for Haru to run, not unharmed however as his claws do a number on her arm.

This event sets the rest of the season as Legoshi begins to struggle with what happened, and his place in this world. As well as the fear that it could happen again. Fast forward to the next day and Legoshi is tasked to get flowers for the play, and naturally runs into the only garden club member, quickly realizing it was her and hoping she had no idea who he was. Seeming not to notice him she helps him out, and at one point when they are alone together in her little garden house, she assumes he is there for the same reason every guy is and makes a move taking off her clothes. Which naturally gets awkward ass Legoshi all stammering around but in a last ditch effort he simply wraps a blanket over her shoulders and leaves.

It was at this point a complex but extremely cute emotional banter start between the two. A banter that is about breaking norms and even primal urges. They, in no sense could ever be together, it makes no sense. But Haru for the first time possible in her life she is seen as an equal without the physical contact, it’s emotional. While for Legoshi, he is feeling this emotion for the first time, timid its just a perverse feeling of her being his prey.

Outside of those two there are two other characters that really stood out to me, one more surprisingly then the other.

Louis is a deer, class icon, thirst machine, set to be next Beastar, master actor, and arguably the most damaged in the whole show. Being plucked out of the worst situation one could be in then put into a less but still quite traumatic home environment. The idea that he has to succeed no matter what and at the cost of whoever was hammered into him from the start. Leaving an outwardly cool, yet stern class leader but inwardly he cares about others about the same amount as any American billionaire does. Oh and Haru loves him, he is one of her regulars.

But since he is the one that has to succeed, most of the class mates and teachers treat him in a different sense. The officials of the city tell him like it is, what you can and can’t do and what needs to be done in order for him to stay in power. In a nut shell he is ruling class. What the show does very well near the end of the first season however it is shows that no matter how much he believes in himself and others in him. He is still a kid, and there is a breaking point.

The fourth that really stood out to me was Juno. A female grey wolf who is a freshman and sweet on Legoshi after he helped her out with some bullies. This genuinely surprised me. The first time you see her she is getting picked one, gets saved by boy, crushes on boy. Never really goes beyond that, it’s a basic boring trope that has been in every anime since the start. But that’s the kicker, she didn’t just stay that character. Seeming to flip a switch she becomes this awe-inspiring powerful female voice within the school. Even challenging the likes of Louis declaring that she would be the next Beastar and nothing he could do would stop her. She also declares that Legoshi will be hers, but doesn’t quite understand why he is so distance with her until he finds him and Haru, immediately noticing how he acted towards her. This leads to a second declaration to Haru herself, Legoshi would be Juno’s and hers alone. What really caught me off guard is how popular she got and how quickly. She has a lot of the same whipping ability Louis shows but genuinely seems to care about the others around her and wants to help. And in my opinion I think she knows Louis is quite indifferent as long as he succeeds and strongly dislikes that type of person.

Looking at another point of the show that was done very well would have to be the world building. If the character development was fantastic it usually makes the world not lacking, but rather vanilla. (Think of Your Lie in April) But as I said Beastars is a world where animals live side by side, it is far from vanilla to start with. Outside of the generic they go to school thing the world in the show was terrifying but exciting. Showing the dark underbelly that exist in a world where no meat can legally be had. Slave trading, kidnapping, mob bosses. A cut throat world was out there for predators and prey a like. I wasn’t expecting it to take such a dark turn both emotionally and realistically. As you usually rarely a strong presence of both. This however is the second thing that this show does extremely well, having characters with complex emotions about the world they live in while also having those emotions legitimatized by the fucked up world they live in. The sound track however, was mostly forgettable. There where times throughout the show a blissful sound would play at the end or during an intimate moment but for the most part that was it. With Orang being the studio that did Beastars it is a 3D animation style but honestly, Orange is the only ones that can pull it off. It is kinda awkward at times and it makes the light strange during some scenes but for the most part the animation kept hold but doesn’t seem to really stand out in any particular way. All and all I would have to rank Beastars surprisingly high, and I hate to say that. Since it was just Zootopia with sex, wait, can text get copyrighted? Anyway, it really took me by surprise. Going into it I was not expecting what I got and found myself emotionally involved in the struggles of all of the characters I mentioned above. I didn’t give a second fucking thought about Tem though. They kinda just throw that on you. If I had to put a number on it I feel it would be around 7.8-8 out of 10. Which, if you hang around long enough for this shit show. Is fairly high, since one of my all time favorites I rank around a 6.8.

I am definitely looking forward to a second season which was suppose to be August 2020 then the world ended. I think its project spring 2021. But either way once I finish it you will see my thoughts here. Hope you all enjoyed, and as always thanks for reading!