Story 4/10
The story to Beastars begins with mystery, love, and social dilemmas. While these three sound like an uncommon grouping, Managaka, Paru Itagaki, manages to nearly stick the landing on all fronts when presenting a compelling story within the school walls of Cherryton High. Being a world divided by dietary classifications, carnivores and herbivores, many complications arise on whether cohabitation can truly exist. This is where the mystery concerning a murder begins and where the love of two different species blossoms. Many characters within the story rely on prejudices and stereotypes to inform their opinions of the world around them. Unfortunately, these social dilemmas become relevant to the audience's world, which makes it a great read for reflection on the injustices that surround many readers. For example: two character, Haru and Legosi, are falling in love with one another despite being two different species. This forces the characters to question the legitimacy of their relationship based on how society will perceive them. It's a real love-beats-all-odds kind of story that is carried very well between these two alone. In fact, it is their love that draws the most engaging parts of the story, so it is unfortunate when the writer goes a different route after the second arc. Once the third arc begins, many concepts in the world are presented that create plot holes or are lost/forgotten threads. Without giving too much away, some lost threads/plot holes could be discussion of the next beastar, Legosi's new ability learned towards the end, a character seemingly being a therapist but is now a history major, a promise towards the end, and a few more. It is this lack of cohesion tangled with convenient narrative elements and one glaring issue that started so strong but became so weak: characters
Characters 5/10
As suggested, the story begins on the prestigious grounds of Cherryton High. Within this academy, the reader will meet memorable characters like Legosi (a wolf coming to terms with his instinctual desires while still aiming to function in society), Haru (A headstrong lovable rabbit who uses her femininity to gain power in a world of carnivores), and Louis (A deer destined for greatness but plagued with inadequacies of his past) who all complement this animal-driven world and the expectation society places on them. All characters seek emancipation from oppressive labels and seek to bring integration as opposed to segregation. This is where the narrative initially thrives then goes cold. While these characters were originally complex and presented philosophical questions towards society, they quickly became one-dimensional as the author seemed to change the genre from drama to shonen. Once the characters developed after the first arc, many of those same characters stagnated to be nothing more. The best example of this is Legosi. While Legosi grapples with his identity throughout the story and aims to bring harmony to society, he slowly realizes there is only one way to solve everything: unapologetically keep your beliefs and beat the shit out of people. While sticking to your beliefs can be a charming and endearing quality for a romantic character, the positions he puts himself in make it easy for the reader to decipher what he will do next. Legosi becomes predictable, and, at times, imbecilic with how far he may destroy himself and, ironically, contradict his beliefs to prove his point. What makes this harder to avert from is the fact that Legosi nearly becomes the sole character from the third arc forward. This means all the characters from Cherryton (who were arguable well-developed), Louis, and Haru take a backseat to watch the destructive nature that is Legosi. While characters could have been strong, the story is riddled with the introduction of many characters that lose purpose, become one dimensional, or nearly are pointless
Art 8/10:
The art to the Manga quickly became better and more fluid. While there is disappointment in the route of becoming more shonen at the end, action scenes were simple to follow, all panels were distinguishable in what was happening, and personality is suitably conveyed for the moment. Whether it's a quirky and lost look, or a serious and menacing demeanor, the artist of the series took time in crafting a world that looked great.
Overall 5.5/10
As a result of a strong opening, Beastars will not be easily forgotten. With powerful commentary on discrimination of gender, race (species), and societal values, the narrative in the first two acts proves to be powerfully memorable due to the cast, love-story, and mystery. In fact, those two arcs alone would likely receive an 8/8.5 out of 10. However, it is the transition into the later arcs that becomes less about the thought provoking relationship and more about "epic" shonen showdowns. While it pains me to leave such a poor review, the narrative could have been made stronger if it continued on the high-school life and mystery element, then the powerful protag slugfest.
