Humans and animals. Different views on the world, different meanings behind their actions, one relying purely on instinct, the other on logical thinking. These two worlds seem like direct parallels but are inherently the same.
BNA is a show that is probably the most unconventional thing the anime medium has offered in recent times along with Beastars, offering a new viewpoint on many relevant themes and problems in today’s world from racism all the way to fascism, BNA tackles multiple ideologies.
Like a classic episodic anime, we are introduced to the characters and the world they live in in the first few episodes while the plot only progresses in the last few. BNA failed horribly at executing the last part of its story with an underwhelming reveal and a predictable, satisfactory ending which was foreseeable from the start.
While putting strong emphasis on the dark aspects of this Beastman society in the first few episodes, BNA quickly abolishes those themes and sticks to the Good vs Bad guys near the end of its run, the dark side of this society remains unexplored, only shallowly dug into in the form of gambling, stereotypes and racism, the story had much more potential to develop in a natural way instead of forcing a happy ending which did not feel rewarding at all and was plainly and lazily executed.
BNA still does some things right in the form of exploring the world and the Beastmen themselves, their culture and way of life. We follow Michiru, a girl who knows nothing about Animacity or the Beastmen at all. We learn about the world through her eyes, at her pace and with her. And while some information was dumped out too fast and did not feel important at all, most of it was delivered nicely in the form of Michiru herself going on adventures around this city and meeting its residents, getting familiar with their culture, fighting against the dark market of the city.
Michiru is a stereotypical protagonist, righteous and foolish, easily manipulated but likeable. Her development comes in the form of accepting the beast she has become, the tanuki within her and making use of this odd body that she was given. Every time Michiru becomes friends with someone, she “unlocks” a new ability, a new way of making her stronger, she develops in a way. While learning to accept herself and her body, it all feels underwhelming, it is known from the start that she has some mysterious power that will grant her the ability to save the world, making the whole process of her growth feel less significant and more of a thing that would have happened eventually no matter what. She was overall a good character, just a lazily written one.
BNA’s biggest problem is its lazy writing. The story itself and the characters in it felt like they all could have gotten bigger reveals, more depth or just overall personality. Most of them felt like a stereotypical slice of life episodic anime characters. From the evil guy that turns out to be the thing he hates the most, to the nice Mayor that observes everything and is a support to our protagonist with nothing to add whatsoever. The series felt like it could have given a lot more significance to the characters themselves, instead of focusing on the dark themes of the world it ended up completely abandoning in its later episodes.
Shirou, BNA’s saving grace. As he conflicts with himself after failing to accomplish his only life goal, we get to see the cold and emotionless Shirou finally open up, his history revealing that he is in fact Ginrou, the guardian deity of Beastmen. His inner conflict represents the dark side that everyone has, but in classic anime fashion, the good side came on top and Shirou was able to conquer his doubts and save the world together with our fearless, happy, likeable main character, Michiru, leaving the series feeling disappointing.
Studio Trigger delivered once again, atleast in the animation and musical departments. While definitely not their best work visually, BNA is still a pleasure to watch, with a beautiful and darkish color palette, sticking to the series’ themes, it helps enhance the overall experience and allows BNA to dig out of the grave it dug itself into. The Opening and Ending were beautiful, while the ending feels underwhelming visually in comparison to the Opening, it still provides a nice transition between episodes. The Opening is probably the best out of the 2020 lineup, both visually and musically being a masterpiece.
Trigger is a studio praised by some, hated by others. I personally find myself in between, they sometimes allow their animation prowess to take their show to a new level, sometimes they simply choose the wrong story to fit their masterpiece animation. BNA is one of those shows. It had immense potential but ended up wasting it on creating a lackluster closing to the series and setting itself in place as one of many Studio Trigger works that simply did not reach the highs that it should have.
I came into BNA not expecting much, and that is what I got. A quick twelve episode watch that did not do anything special, while it is worth a watch, it is nowhere close to Trigger’s best works and is somewhere in the middle of the 2020 season, which was lackluster in itself. Overall a good anime, but one that should not have ended the way it did.
