Beastars

I really did not have any opinions when I heard of this show. I just thought "ah yes a furry anime" then I heard the story was good so I began watching. After episode 2 I started the manga. This show is so fucking good. The characters are great and the story is oddly dark.
There are many anime with animal characters like aggretsuko. But none of those anime inspect the food portion of the world. What do they eat? In this universe Carnivores and Herbivores live in peace. Only problem is that carnivores crave meat but they need to eat the same food as herbivores. Sometimes their carnivore instincts take over and they eat a herbivore. They also have somewhat of a clever solution for this problem and it is THE BLACK MARKET. There you can buy meat. But it will have side effects.
There are few important characters: Legosi is the main character whose life we follow. Legosi is this awkward wolf who has troubles keeping his instincts inside him. Then we have Louis. Louis is this deer and a candidate for the next Beastar. He is in the same club as Legosi. He is also the most famous student in the school. He is respected by both Herbivores and Carnivores. Then we have Haru. Haru is a rabbit and also the main love interest of this show. Haru is also rumored to be sleeping with multiple guys. Haru is a fun and sweet character. She must be protected.
I have no idea what the story is supposed to be about. I think its just about becoming a beastar. Even though its more of a battle manga right now.
Do I recommend this anime? Hell yes. It is an amazing series.

Note: The ost is fucking good. The opening is catchy as hell
Another note that I forgot to add: For some stupid reason when all the characters speak to each other it feels more natural than any other anime. It really does feel like they were talking and randomly the mic was still on.

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I was scared about this to become an Anime. But let me explain better.
(No major spoilers review).

"Beastars", together whit "The Promised Neverland, is one of the best "New Entry" manga published in the last 2 years. Both of them won important cultural prizes in Japan (for example the "Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize"). Both of them are Shonen whit various seinen aspects, too.
But Beastars received an Anime adaption almost a year later than The Promised Neverland. Why?
First of all, Beastars have various elements that aren't "perfect" for a shonen anime that airs on a big platform such as Netflix: sex, blood scene, drugs, racism.....
I wonder how the animation studio will censor "Haru 18+ activities". Another factor, apart from the "censor" one, that penalizes the Anime is the CGI one. From the various trailers and the first episode, it appears to be good, but most of the people who watch it are gonna drop it whit a bad grade using the excuse of the shitty CGI animation. Another good part of the anime watchers are gonna drop it because "furry romance is shit", not understanding the characterization and the human side of every character. Sooooo... I hope the anime adaptation will be good but I know a lot of people are going to hate it without a particular reason. I also hope the Beastars community will remain quite calm as the fanbase that I know now, despite the haters' fact. If you're pissed off because of the CGI, read the manga, because this is surely a good product that needs more attention.
Now that I made this disclaimer I will review the various anime aspect.

Plot:9
The first part of the plot itself it's not that original, but neither is boring. I loved assisting at the directions that the main characters cast take after the introduction of the world.

Characters:9
The various main characters are characterized as good and is also very entertaining to see their movement inside the world of Beastars. The character design is quite simple but well done. A defect is the fact that different characters are used only 2 or 3 times and then they're thrown into the trash can. The villains are also very interesting characters with their backstory and behavior.

Art Style and Animation:8
Orange studio never disappoints under the graphical point of view. Excellent CGI.

Music:9
I have to admit that I am a great fan of jazz-like music... I loved the opening and a great part of the OST in the anime.

Enjoyment:9
I enjoyed a lot to watch all the characters from the manga moving and talking.
If you've arrived at this point, thank you for have read my stupid-ass review. Hope you will like this anime.

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MINIMAL SPOILERS.

I'm going to start this with, if you think this is just a wish-fulfillment furry anime, please either watch this and guide yourself to a new opinion or get out, it's not.

Studio Orange, most well known for the fantastic 'Houseki no Kuni', has come back to give us their blessing yet again, adapting a very well-received manga and adapting it wonderfully.

Beastars is put simply, many different species of anthropomorphic animals coexisting with each other, set in a high-school where you are instantly greeted with the society inside of Beastars, the hardships of reality you could say. The narrative is built into many different categories, it's a complex show full of tight social dynamics, interesting character-interactions and ultimately, the reality of this world.

As you'd expect of a show about animals, one of the most prominent themes is the difference between carnivores and herbivores, the show combats this in an excellent way of showing each side's struggles with no 'good guy, bad guy' like you will see in most shounen. Carnivores aren't allowed to eat the food they desire and their natural instincts could release at any time, Heribovesare are seen as weaker and live in constant fear of the Carnivores and their rage for food. You will see a whole lot of discrimination, jealousy, identity crisis etc. This all corresponds to the themes that the show portrays.

There is quite a large and diverse cast to chew onto, multiple personalities and animal traits but there are three key characters: Legosi is the main character and you are mostly shown his perspective, he is a quiet and sensitive gray wolf trying to overcome his nature. The other two are Louis the deer, an egotistical perfect student, he is aiming to achieve the rank of Beastar and finally, Haru, a white rabbit who is often shunned for her sexual promiscuity and she is the only person in her club. Every one of these characters is equal in one major way, internal struggles. You will witness sex, bullying, distrust, fear, but it's not always black, you will also see romantic tension and real relationships being formed; each interaction is richer than the previous.

The music is one of the key features in setting the mood and atmosphere, you may know the composer Kousaki from hits like Haruhi or the Monogatari series, he absolutely nailed the tone that this show sets. Sometimes jazzy, sometimes overflowing emotion, the OST is diverse and complementary. Each episode opens with a creative jazz stop-motion opening and you exit with a new ending song each episode.

Ah.. Studio Orange. They have done it again! I implore that you do not dismiss this show due to it being fully CGI, the fans of Houseki no Kuni should know just how visionary this studio is in their animation, presenting super detailed artwork and exceptional animation, it is still CGI, but it never feels clunky. The stunning direction and dynamic cinematography is just the icing on the cake, this is using CGI to its advantage and oh boy does it deliver. I can go on and on about how visually beautiful this show is, but you're better off seeing it for yourself.

This is a love letter to us all, for those of you who are interested in seeing a social commentary of carnivores and herbivores, the psychological aspects of anthropomorphic animals, the subtle coming-of-age themes, I can wholeheartedly recommend this.

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so I was just scrolling through youtube when I came across the op of this anime and my god did I love it!
I then thought of checking out the anime and honestly didn't know what to expect but then right after the first episode.... what can I say?
IT WAS BEAUTIFUL
The CG was well done and animation overall is very good. It's not often that I get invested in a story right off the bat but this one is an exception.
Even though I have only watched 4 eps so far I can say its been a pleasure.
seriously, if you aren't watching it already..JUST GO WATCH IT!
I recommend this 100%

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All of this begins with ‘What if carnivore and herbivore live together?’.
So yeah it’s one of the unique anime in this season I think.

If you think something like ‘Wow all characters are animal, this probable be a kid anime’ then your are wrong!! Don’t judge a book by its cover they say.

I gonna write a review from anime-only’s view (I haven’t read manga yet).
#Story: 9/10
So intense, gave me stress feeling. So that means this show can make make you enjoy with it!
They mainly focuses on male wolf (MC) and what he’s thinking, but didn’t show the all the reason why he’s thinking like that (you have to keep watching lol).
The more you watch, the more you will understand each characters (and more intense feeling).

#Art: 8/10
For short, it’s beautiful. CGI is also beautiful.

#Character: 10/10
This anime show us realistic society that people judge each other with their appearances, for example wolf have to be aggressive.
Each characters has their own histories/problems/untold stories.
They have reasons for doing somethings, yet they don’t show us in one episode, that’s why you have to keep watching it lol.

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5 episodes in and I am completely sold on this show’s setting. The school’s system is so intricately detailed and well designed. Stuff like meal schedules that use soy meat products to cater to carnivores and regularly assigned “environmental time” so students can be around their own species are nice touches that immerse me even deeper and makes me appreciate the world so much more.

Speaking of immersion, the visuals are fucking phenomenal. This anime is an example of CGI done beautifully well. The free range of motions that come with 3d character models gives way to the usage of subtle body language that sells the audience on these already well designed characters (though I will admit that the minor characters’ movements seem a bit unnatural at times) . Such as Legosi’s posture and face giving off a passive, friendly look but still seeming somewhat intimidating due to his height on broad shoulders. The backgrounds are great too. The art quality and lighting is always on point and they are always filled with clever little details that fit in with the fact that this is a school for animals. A great example of this would be the tiny doors for rodents so they don’t get trampled when entering a class.

Aside from having amazing art quality, Beastars also has some great direction. The 3d backgrounds allow for some stunningly dynamic and creative camera movements during intense moments. The shaky movements and tracking shots when the wolf (probably Legosi) chases the sheep in episode 1 were particularly very impressive. There is also no shortage of intriguingly abstract visuals either. Just look at any sequence when Legosi becomes bloodthirsty and you can clearly see some truly visionary direction went behind making him look as terrifying as possible.

The story so far has been great. The plot mixes in a main storyline about Legosi’s internal struggles of controlling his bloodlust and Haru dealing with her reputation with a more subtle overarching narrative about the tension between herbivores and carnivores. All of these plot lines synergize very well with each other and the show’s setting of a school’s drama club and it makes all of the plot points and story beats feel natural and well-earned. Of course, any story worth its salt is incomplete without great characters. Beastars certainly delivers on this. Up first we have, the docile and friendly Legosi, a wolf who submits to anyone he meets while secretly harboring a secret passion for bloodlust. He is contrasted beautifully by Louis, a sharp tongued and aggressive Antelope that wishes for nothing but to bring out passion from himself and in others. Watching this pair’s relationship unfold is interesting to watch. As it develops the theme of the racial divide between carnivores and herbivores by showing that herbivores can be aggressive and carnivores can be passive. The last main character is Haru, a bunny that gives off the facade of being cordial while secretly being, for lack of a better term, the school slut. While she also contrasts Legosi well, her arc is fairly restrained into her own point of view. But I think this fits in well with the isolation she feels as her reputation continues to get smeared in the eyes of the student body. All of these characters have extremely charming personalities, with sympathetic conflict that play off each other masterfully.

Overall I think Beastars is a great package. It features sublime visuals that truly use the strengths of 3d animation to its fullest. And the writing is a beautifully cohesive work that makes every single moment feel earned. Beastars is certainly the best anime I've watched this season. And it’s a shame that it will eventually be forgotten with time because the cynical side of the anime community will shun this show for featuring CGI and appearing as “Furry Bait”.

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Listen if you told me Zootopia: The Anime was going to be THIS good I would've laughed in your face last year. But here we are, with the most gorgeous piece of CGI anime with a hecking STOP MOTION OP? Who would've thought.

Anyways, Beastars is actually a super well rounded anime. It's got quite the nuanced plot (I picked up the manga because the anime got me so hooked), well-developed characters, good pacing, excellent animation, gray morals, but/and is also fun. Can't ask for much more in an anime.

Watching it it worth the potential of becoming a furry. It's just that good.

Beastars is one of the anime for this the fall season of 2019 that I was not expecting to be good. When I first read the description of Beastars, I was a bit iffy on watching it. It made me think "Oh, Zootopia the anime" I contemplated on watching it and was nearly not going to watch it until my friend urged me to. I was not disappointed by what I experienced.
Story:8/10
As I had mentioned, the story revolves around the wolf Legoshi living in a world inhabited by herbivores and carnivores. Sounds very familiar to a certain animated movie *cough* zootopia *cough*. But unlike zootopia, where we explore a vastly rich world, the story focuses more on school grounds. AS we explore the interactions on the campus, darker elements start to emerge when a student is killed by another student or when we encounter a student that is labeled a slut.
Art 7/10:
The anime is done by the studio who had their hands on Land of the Lustrous and Pingu so their art is not usual. The animation for Beastars is purely CGI. Majority of the time, the CGI is done well but at certain parts, the CGI looks out of place or unnerving. But the art does well to elevate the atmosphere at certain points to evoke certain moments. And the OP provides a rather interesting direction where the entire OP animation is done with stop motion.
Sound 9/10:
The voice actors do a wonderful job giving life to the characters. Along with that, the ED song is a good song to help develop the story built up in the ED. Similarly, the OP song helps build up a wonderful narrative within the OP. To me, the song itself is just so funky and upbeat and helps take the cake of making the sound of the show really great.
Character: Every character so far, displays the theme of don't judge a book by its cover. The main character is a wolf, a carnivore. But, he lives in a society bent on coexisting with herbivores. Despite his menacing appearance, he is reclusive and is uncomfortable interacting with others. Similarly, there are herbivores with who present themselves as the role model for student body but they display corrupt thoughts that are only presented to the audience.
Enjoyment 8/10:
Honestly, I was not expecting much from this anime. Now,I am grateful to watch this show. I really enjoy the stop motion OP and the OP song while I watch the drama unfold with every week. Despite some moments with the CGI being ... weird, the CGI is very good at times. To those that don't mind CGI, furries, or stepping beyond your boundaries, I would recommend this good show

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*Disclaimer: This is simply a preview as the series is not over yet, I am only 4 episodes in at the time of writing.

Beastars the anime came from the japanese manga series by Paru Itagaki. If you do a simple Wiki search on it and look at the reception portion, in 2018 the manga won 4 awards in 3 consecutive months from March to May. Based on credentials alone you will see why there is much anticipation and hype regarding this anime series.

Visually, so far this anime is beautiful. For context, the anime was made by studio Orange. "Ora- what?" You might ask. Correct, anime fans might have never heard of this studio before. They specialise in making 3D computer graphics for animes, and have seldom done a whole series themselves. You might be worried that this critically acclaimed work might be ruined by a newbie studio, until you realise Orange was the studio that made the visually amazing "Land of the Lustrous" anime back in 2017.

From the character art, one would think of a Disney cartoon right away, the animals drawn to depict each character are all cute, unique, colourful and true to life scale. Rodents characters such as hamsters and mice are small enough to be crushed by careless feet, while grey wolfs are much larger than rabbits, just like their real life counterparts. Another aspect of the visuals are the animation of action sequences, camera angles, lighting and colour. In these aspects Orange seems to be doing amazing work. The action scenes are highly fluid and with lots of impact. The story and dialogue scenes with the characters are somehow always engrossing and draw my attention. The colours and tones of the light hearted and dark scenes are always appropriate and so obvious, that they could almost tell the story themselves.

From watching the opening animation alone, you would quickly realise this anime is not for children. The OP has delightful clay animation visuals, but has disturbing visual suggestions of murder mixed with romance, and possible insanity of a murderer, whose mind is trapped in a illusion of romance.

From the story of the first 4 episodes to far, it seems to delve into dark topics of modern society. Legosi the Grey Wolf struggles with his bloodlust and has to restrain himself from literally eating his herbivore schoolmates. As the opening animation suggests he will probably get romantically involved with the rabbit Haru. From which he also has to suppress a dark desire to sink his sharp fangs into her white flesh.

This dark plot has eerie resemblances to horror stories where the Vampire falls in love with a human girl, but has to battle against his constant desire to drink her blood, unwillingly killing his true love as he loses his fight against his bloodlust.

But Beastars deals with more than one central theme. Which is one of my minor gripes about the story, it deals with so many issues that it seems too busy, and even after 4 episodes in, the viewer would not be able to figure out what is the main point of the story. What is obvious though, is the association of the themes with the characters. Each character is fleshed out with amazing depth, and in an amazing short amount of screentime.

Haru, the white rabbit's story shows how vulnerable our young teenagers and children are. They are at the mental age where they have not figured out what their identity and value to society is. Since everyone says I'm a slut, then my place in society, what I can do for others, is probably.... in being... a slut....This kind of theme is disturbing but awfully true. There are endless stories of people who commit domestic violence, crime, prostitution, poverty, and the reports will describe their childhood of being in an eerily similar environment, sparking a vicious cycle of hatred and immorality that spans generations.

Louis the honor student is a picture perfect depiction of a handsome prince on the outside. But inside Louis has an obsessive and unhealthy drive to succeed. He feels that it is his life mission to prove that a herbivore can be at the top. So much so that he is willing to sacrifice an arm or a leg, and that everyone else is just a tool for him to achieve greatness.

Bill the ambitious Tiger is your opportunistic go-getter. Always hot on the heels and chasing the top dogs like Louis. He has an open, seemingly honest personality and has great social skills. The typical potential high flyer type that you might see in any office environment. The show tries to tell us that such people are often willing to take shortcuts, even if the shortcuts are morally and legally wrong. In the show Bill takes illegal rabbit blood, which the viewer can easily associate with drugs in real life. It's as if the story is trying to tell us that this typical personality type, is probably the one most likely to commit corruption in the accounts, or take drugs to win the gold medal.

Beastars seems to be in a genre of its own. It's like slice of life, but dark. It uses colourful anime characters and a fictional world, but the stories are so realistic they keep reminding me of the dark sides of human society. We have to ignore our usual expectations of an anime and just appreciate how haunting beautiful and brutally honest this series is.

Just like how Haru was captured by Legosi at the end of episode 1. Beastars has gripped my attention in its claws. The best points of this show are its characters and story, which is due to the amazing author of the original manga. However the adaptation and execution of studio Orange is amazing as well. If the rest of the show keeps this up, I expect this show to be a top contender for best anime 2019, along with many other anime awards as well.

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