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swimfast724's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This first volume is really slow and the art is not great but as the series picks up it gets ten times better
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Bullying, and Cannibalism
Minor: Classism, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, and Gaslighting
choco_bunbun's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Death
berry21's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Beastars starts with a bang, setting the dark and dramatic tone for the series. It is a wonderful first entry, one of the best first volumes I've read in manga as it sets up its plot, characters and conflict exceptionally.
we begin with Tem, an alpaca student at Cherryton Academy (a high school for both herbivores and carnivores), runs for his life from an unknown carnivore hunting him. Even worse, this carnivore was a classmate of his he had spoken with before, inexplicably killing and devouring him that very night.
I can't help but appreciate how Beastars' protagonist is introduced. A carnivore and herbivore are seen having a heated argument, fueled by distrust after the murder the night before. Suddenly, the lights go out, and when they are fixed we see him. Legoshi, a grey wolf, is perched up high staring down at his clubmates. The argument is cut short and there is an air of tension between him and the rest of his club. We first see him from his clubmates' perspective. Quiet. Towering. Suspicious.
Then later that night, Legoshi, who'd been acting odd all day and watching a herbivore girl intently, seems like he's going to kill and eat her. He approaches her quiet but domineering, and right when the reader and girl believe she's done for it's revealed he was actually performing an act of kindness that defies our expectations. We see him for his true self; simply a shy, kind and gentle soul.
One night not long after, the rug is pulled out from underneath the reader once again when Legoshi is suddenly and for the first time overtaken by his carnivore instincts. He lunges at a small rabbit, Haru, a very interesting character with her own chapter on how she feels unsure of her place in the world and the harsh bullying she faces . You can feel how tense both of them are, and Legoshi's internal conflict in that moment and the rest of the volume are wonderfully portrayed.
The only part of this scene that personally falls flat for me is how his temptation manifests as a small cartoony-eyed silhouette. It just looks a bit silly and takes me out of it a bit, but that's just a small criticism of a great scene.
We are also introduced to a red deer named Louis, who more than any herbivore or even carnivore exudes power with his confidence even in the face of carnivores. He questions why Legoshi holds back his strength, and shows himself to be the type to never let anything stop him from achieving his goals.
The art style is rough and sketchy but I find it very unique and it allows the characters to be extremely expressive from intense and unnerving to endearingly cartoony.
The fun little bonus comics at the end of each volume are very charming, and I love the in-depth character profiles that show Paru Itagaki's thought process. My favourite bonus however has to be the bit of world building with facts about how beast society functions, practically, socially, etc. So much thought is put into this and makes the world feel so fleshed out, Beastars no doubt has the best depiction of an anthro-animal world imo and I am always eager to learn more about it.
I can't help but appreciate how Beastars' protagonist is introduced. A carnivore and herbivore are seen having a heated argument, fueled by distrust after the murder the night before. Suddenly, the lights go out, and when they are fixed we see him. Legoshi, a grey wolf, is perched up high staring down at his clubmates. The argument is cut short and there is an air of tension between him and the rest of his club. We first see him from his clubmates' perspective. Quiet. Towering. Suspicious.
Then later that night, Legoshi, who'd been acting odd all day and watching a herbivore girl intently, seems like he's going to kill and eat her. He approaches her quiet but domineering, and right when the reader and girl believe she's done for it's revealed he was actually performing an act of kindness that defies our expectations. We see him for his true self; simply a shy, kind and gentle soul.
One night not long after, the rug is pulled out from underneath the reader once again when Legoshi is suddenly and for the first time overtaken by his carnivore instincts. He lunges at a small rabbit, Haru, a very interesting character with her own chapter on how she feels unsure of her place in the world and the harsh bullying she faces . You can feel how tense both of them are, and Legoshi's internal conflict in that moment and the rest of the volume are wonderfully portrayed.
The only part of this scene that personally falls flat for me is how his temptation manifests as a small cartoony-eyed silhouette. It just looks a bit silly and takes me out of it a bit, but that's just a small criticism of a great scene.
We are also introduced to a red deer named Louis, who more than any herbivore or even carnivore exudes power with his confidence even in the face of carnivores. He questions why Legoshi holds back his strength, and shows himself to be the type to never let anything stop him from achieving his goals.
The art style is rough and sketchy but I find it very unique and it allows the characters to be extremely expressive from intense and unnerving to endearingly cartoony.
The fun little bonus comics at the end of each volume are very charming, and I love the in-depth character profiles that show Paru Itagaki's thought process. My favourite bonus however has to be the bit of world building with facts about how beast society functions, practically, socially, etc. So much thought is put into this and makes the world feel so fleshed out, Beastars no doubt has the best depiction of an anthro-animal world imo and I am always eager to learn more about it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Bullying
Moderate: Animal death, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Infidelity
spurreys's review
dark
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Miren, quitando la parte de que son animales, no está tan mal. Es más, hasta tiene un sentido del por qué son animales y no humanos. Lo compré solamente porque vi la adaptación y bueno, lo leí en menos de cinco horas.
La versión que tengo tiene dos volúmenes, el primero y el segundo, así que con ese tiempo verán que no es mucho tiempo. Legoshi es un personaje muy querible.
La versión que tengo tiene dos volúmenes, el primero y el segundo, así que con ese tiempo verán que no es mucho tiempo. Legoshi es un personaje muy querible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Racism, Death, and Murder
Moderate: Violence, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Sexism, Sexual content, and Infidelity
sprucewillow's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Animal death, and Murder
Moderate: Classism
alaskan_bull_worm's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Whoa. That was pretty darn good. The way the emotions of a scene are shown with shadows, angles, and the structure of a page, but also told through inner narration and sound effects is extremely effective. I really want to see where this is going. . .
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Violence, and Animal death
Minor: Cannibalism, Blood, Infidelity, Cursing, Death, and Bullying
vekenega's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death
lilybear3's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
Beastars is a fresh and exciting story that explores animal instincts in the most unique, but obvious way. While comparing it to Zootopia is tempting (they do share some similar topics), Beastars is grittier and delves deeper into relationships between carnivores and herbivores.
The Netflix adaptation is well-worth watching. Studio Orange proves that not all CGI anime are bad.
The Netflix adaptation is well-worth watching. Studio Orange proves that not all CGI anime are bad.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal death, and Murder
zombiezami's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Murder, Bullying, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity
Slut shamingcyanide_latte's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I'm past overdue on re-reading this, which I've wanted to do before leaving a review.
Where to start? I'd been curious about Beastars from the moment I heard of it, mostly because I knew pretty instantly it would be something one of my best friends would be into. When she watched it and loved it, I was happy to watch through season one with her, and it was more her interest in reading the manga that got me to pick it up than anything.
And again, I run into the question of where to start with this first volume, especially since it would be easy to spoil too much since I've read beyond it. I suppose I'll start by pointing out the art. Revisiting this first volume, it's very easy to see that Paru is really just beginning to get a feel for her focus characters and working on differentiating them in this world. The further along in the series you get, the more you'll see comfort and familiarity in the lines of how she draws them. Meanwhile, it's fascinating to see all of the various background characters that populate the world and her attention to detail in making them resemble their real life counterpart animals. I think that's one of the nice things about the manga that we don't always get in the anime, when Paru notes what many of the animals are for the reader.
One of the biggest strengths of the series is the way in which the dramatic tension of the opening gives us a chance as an audience to truly segue into information and learn about the world in as natural a way as possible. Infodumping can and does happen at times in any story, but there is an art to doing it well and in a way that enhances the read rather than jostling the reader and disrupting the flow. And I think Paru truly accomplished that in a great way, because while the various relationships between characters in a world divided into carnivores and herbivores is the crux of the entire series, the suspicion and fear surrounding the death of Tem the alpaca really allows us to explore it from a raw perspective, and gradually eases us in to learning more about the world, a bit at a time. And always in a very natural way.
And as for those focus characters, we know from this first volume who the important first three are going to be, for now. (Four, technically, if you count Tem in a posthumous way, which I am willing to do.) We meet Legoshi and are given inside into a fairly melancholy soul who has spent his life up until this point denying his carnivore nature and preferring to remain low-key and out of sight. We also know from the thoughts of his best friend Jack that Legoshi is sensitive and tends towards a gloomy demeanor, and all of these things boiled into his inner conflict make him very interesting to start with. His startling first encounter with Haru the white dwarf rabbit gives us a reason to find him compelling, as well.
Haru herself we get very little of in this first volume, but what we do get packs a punch. She's viewed in a very ostracized light, and while she doesn't always let this impact her sense of self-worth, it's also pretty clear she isn't wholly happy or feels like she can be anything but alone. I could go on, but I don't want to throw more in here than what the volume does. Suffice it to say, I'll likely continue to go on about Haru's character in further reviews, because it caught me by surprise when watching the anime just how much I love her and how dear she is to me.
Louis is the one I feel remains the most mysterious in this volume. We get a very outward view of him, filtered through the lens of other students as they interact with him and see the person he projects outwardly. We also know he's a very good actor from the off, and what few glimpses we get below his surface are, in here, very telling to the fact our red deer has a lot more layers than what he likes to show.
It's a very good opening volume to establish those three, the rules and tension of this world (though we have barely scratched the surface on that level,) and unfold the plot we'll be following for a while to come. I loved reading this the first time, and I love it again upon re-read. It's a much, much deeper story than I think many people were willing to believe of it back when it was first being talked about in the states, with a lot of heart, emotion, and critical thinking and examination of the sort of social issues faced in a society comprised of animals. Paru is an excellent artist and a wonderful storyteller, and I really think everyone should be willing to give Beastars a try.
Where to start? I'd been curious about Beastars from the moment I heard of it, mostly because I knew pretty instantly it would be something one of my best friends would be into. When she watched it and loved it, I was happy to watch through season one with her, and it was more her interest in reading the manga that got me to pick it up than anything.
And again, I run into the question of where to start with this first volume, especially since it would be easy to spoil too much since I've read beyond it. I suppose I'll start by pointing out the art. Revisiting this first volume, it's very easy to see that Paru is really just beginning to get a feel for her focus characters and working on differentiating them in this world. The further along in the series you get, the more you'll see comfort and familiarity in the lines of how she draws them. Meanwhile, it's fascinating to see all of the various background characters that populate the world and her attention to detail in making them resemble their real life counterpart animals. I think that's one of the nice things about the manga that we don't always get in the anime, when Paru notes what many of the animals are for the reader.
One of the biggest strengths of the series is the way in which the dramatic tension of the opening gives us a chance as an audience to truly segue into information and learn about the world in as natural a way as possible. Infodumping can and does happen at times in any story, but there is an art to doing it well and in a way that enhances the read rather than jostling the reader and disrupting the flow. And I think Paru truly accomplished that in a great way, because while the various relationships between characters in a world divided into carnivores and herbivores is the crux of the entire series, the suspicion and fear surrounding the death of Tem the alpaca really allows us to explore it from a raw perspective, and gradually eases us in to learning more about the world, a bit at a time. And always in a very natural way.
And as for those focus characters, we know from this first volume who the important first three are going to be, for now. (Four, technically, if you count Tem in a posthumous way, which I am willing to do.) We meet Legoshi and are given inside into a fairly melancholy soul who has spent his life up until this point denying his carnivore nature and preferring to remain low-key and out of sight. We also know from the thoughts of his best friend Jack that Legoshi is sensitive and tends towards a gloomy demeanor, and all of these things boiled into his inner conflict make him very interesting to start with. His startling first encounter with Haru the white dwarf rabbit gives us a reason to find him compelling, as well.
Haru herself we get very little of in this first volume, but what we do get packs a punch. She's viewed in a very ostracized light, and while she doesn't always let this impact her sense of self-worth, it's also pretty clear she isn't wholly happy or feels like she can be anything but alone. I could go on, but I don't want to throw more in here than what the volume does. Suffice it to say, I'll likely continue to go on about Haru's character in further reviews, because it caught me by surprise when watching the anime just how much I love her and how dear she is to me.
Louis is the one I feel remains the most mysterious in this volume. We get a very outward view of him, filtered through the lens of other students as they interact with him and see the person he projects outwardly. We also know he's a very good actor from the off, and what few glimpses we get below his surface are, in here, very telling to the fact our red deer has a lot more layers than what he likes to show.
It's a very good opening volume to establish those three, the rules and tension of this world (though we have barely scratched the surface on that level,) and unfold the plot we'll be following for a while to come. I loved reading this the first time, and I love it again upon re-read. It's a much, much deeper story than I think many people were willing to believe of it back when it was first being talked about in the states, with a lot of heart, emotion, and critical thinking and examination of the sort of social issues faced in a society comprised of animals. Paru is an excellent artist and a wonderful storyteller, and I really think everyone should be willing to give Beastars a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Death
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