At first I didn't expect much from this series, personally I had not heard about this manga before and firstly, unlike most, what caught my attention was that it would be done at CGI for nothing less than the Orange studio in charge to do Houseki no Kuni in 2017, so I expected something really good in this point and I am not disappointed.
The story takes place in a world dominated by anthropomorphic animals, both carnivorous, as herbivores, aquatic, terrestrial creatures and all the problems that this implies, with a main question What do they eat? What do carnivores eat in this world?
The world of Beastars is very interesting, it reminds us a lot of the movie Zootopia, but darker and without fear of playing scabrous and more complex themes, this touches many aspects that include sex, discrimination between species, predation, some repression that exists towards carnivores and the frustration they suffer from not being able to feed on what they owe and repress their natural instincts for the good of society, this leads to the existence of "Black Markets" where various groups of carnivores can quench their appetite clandestinely.
While carnivores have to suffer that, herbivores have to live with a constant fear of being eaten, since most of them are weaker by nature than carnivores and live with a constant fear, so it's very difficult for Both groups can relate well.
This is the society that is presented to us in Beastars, where carnivores and herbivores each suffer in their own way, in a restless society that is unable to solve these problems.
As for their main characters are really very well done, everyone has an important side in this story. We are in a boarding school or high school, where our main protagonist is Legoshi, a great gray wolf that is a bit clumsy and shy, which faces his low instincts and personal demons that eat him and seek out, I really loved the psychology used in Legoshi and how at various times he falls to his carnivorous instincts, the images/art they use in that moment are really to appreciate, these manage to get you in Legoshi skin to feel that doubt, anxiety, desire, self-esteem and in the situation or tension of the moment. We also have Louis, our beloved red deer // alpha //, a very popular and beloved deer who is a candidate to become the next "Beastars".
The personalities of these two characters have enchanted me a lot, while Legoshi is a shy wolf and hides an incredible alpha predator inside, Louis is someone with a lot of confidence, charismatic, incredible and arrogant, but who hides a past and cruel fears towards the carnivores that lead him to act like this and which leads him not to understand Legoshi's way of acting very well.
Finally in the main trio we have Haru, she is a little rabbit which serves as the main love interest and desire for predation of Legoshi… it's a funny bunny, which is presented to us at the beginning as someone who is discriminated against by their classmates. She is a victim of ugly sexual rumors, hmm that curiously end up being true.
The relationship between Legoshi and Haru is certainly fun, it has its chemistry, while the wolf is normally calm and has a lot of empathy, Haru is active, direct and somewhat sarcastic, which makes it certainly nice to see them together. The interesting thing about this love desire is that it has its origin in an attempt at predation, the first reason that Legoshi became attracted to Haru was because of his desire to eat her and quench his carnivorous instincts, ,which makes me think that this love that arises later is nothing more than a product or deception of its original desire to devour her, a point that is touched in an episode.
As for its animation, the CGI is very good, the expressions, fluidity and movement are very well taken care of, Orange again does not disappoint with this type of work, we were already surprised with Houseki no Kuni and I dare to say that they even improve this in Beastars. The animation in the fight moments is simply amazing.
The soundtrack is really top tier, the sound is very well maintained, and I really love the opening, it’s very catchy and creative, the idea of using puppets and stop motion animation was great, it's the first time I see that in an anime and I was amazed when I saw it.
So, is it recommended to watch the anime of furry school?
Beastars is a show that is really worth watching, both the development of the world and that of the characters are incredible. If you are interested in seeing a social problem of carnivores and herbivores that touch many types of issues that are not very far from our reality and society, I recommend it and give a chance to animation that by far is very well worked.
