Beastars and Characterization

This post contains major spoilers from the anime.

When I started watching Beastars, that was when I discovered another great story and the struggle of reading the manga gets more difficult as each day goes by. Until now I haven’t read from Chapter 1 because I want to finish the anime first. It’s just that good. But I need to save my reservations for the incoming episodes because I want to discuss how flawless the series deals with its themes and characterizations. Does this mean I’m a furry? Could be, but it’s not the main point here. If I see a good story, I will support it.

It has been set up since the beginning that there’s a clear divide between Carnivores and Herbivores even though the Omnivores are hidden in the background. Hell, it started with a murder inside campus. With Legoshi being the first of the main characters to kick off the story you know there’s bound to be twists on the way.

Typically a wolf is seen as a hostile creature where it can kill with no mercy but here we are with Legoshi suppressing those tendencies. He doesn’t want to be involved but as the story goes on he ends up being at the center. The moment when he did discover the black market full of meat from other carnivorous species that was when he’s going down the rabbit hole. Being a member of the Drama Club despite being part of the backstage crew is only making it more obvious. Plus when he got trouble with other fellow carnivores like Bill, the tiger, there’s more discrimination even from within food web. Though Bill does change for the better, Legoshi still knows what he did to him before. And that’s a good way to know that a character has depth.

On the other hand, this series isn’t shy of themes when it comes to sex. Haru is seen as someone with no shame and she’s a rabbit. She sleeps with other guys of different species including Louis, the deer, who even penetrated her. The one thing she isn’t aware of is the fateful day she actually met with Legoshi at the fountain since she only felt a different presence in her perspective. Later on she was told to strip right in front of a lion mafia boss and her own dignity is shaken at that moment. Against all of what she’s shown so far, at her core she can’t control everything. Except she did screw up when the person she’s been waiting for is Louis and not Legoshi. What’s also interesting here is that each character has only heard one side of the overall picture.

In Louis’ case, he’s been destined to take up the top spot as a Beastar until Juno, the female wolf, came into the mix. At first with his high and mighty facade, he didn’t gave a good impression to Legoshi especially. Finding out he carried the show with a sore injury and he has fake antlers gave it away. He’s simply doing what he does best because he was only told to. I question his relationship with Legoshi at times because I can feel a different kind of tension when the two are alone together. See the featured image I used in this blog post to get what I mean.

Not only that Legoshi has quite the harem in his own dormitory. He has a timid personality yet he’s close friends with Jack and the other boys too. Also his encounter with Gouhin to test his sexual tensions with a porn magazine of all things just to know if he’s in love with Haru makes it more questionable. And don’t get me started on Juno herself. She’s got it all in her head. Juno has an exaggerated view of getting Legoshi’s attention since both of them are the same species. Seeing her declare war against Louis for getting the title is clear she won’t back down.

How does this all boil down to? It’s simple, all characters acted in a way you least expected them to do and created an intriguing world behind it all. From the beginning alone it could’ve played it safe and solve the mystery of the murder but it didn’t. Without the anthropomorphic aspect, this wouldn’t be the series we knew.

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