Beastars Final Season

One of the things you want to see in an anime adaptation is what it can do differently or even better than the manga, this without of a doubt meets both of those. I am obviously going to have a little bias with this IP being my all-time favorite, however, even with that there were a few things I can acknowledge that are left to be desired in the source material.

This review contains spoilers, however, the TL;DR will remain spoiler-free.

TL;DR: Season 3 brings a mix of slice-of-life world-building and mystery angles that the previous seasons displayed. The issues the manga had with pacing and the ... commonly phrased issue of, "distractiveness" in my opinion, are nowhere to be found. It is clear Studio Orange cares about this property and knows exactly how to form a clear vision for this series. Not to mention the intro (like all other seasons) is an absolute banger, and the artistry is uniquely Beastars. If you like navigating moral issues and witnessing/relating to awkward situations (even adding a bit of action in there), then I can not recommend this season of Beastars more.

Story/Plot: 10/10 - This show took what was a clear vision but in parts into a single coherent vision that shows what Beastars is meant to be. The scenes in every single episode blend beautifully and naturally with the next, adding to the character's depth in not only their own growth/mindset but in how they are holistically placed in the world around them. The major elements that were switched around from the manga like Melons incorporation with the Shishi-gumi (and subsequent rewriting of the Reapers Drop scene) and the reimagining of the concept of drugs (giving a bigger purpose to the "Bloodbone Drug"), adding a new realistic in-world dimension of how things operate. It can be argued thats what the black market's function was to convey, however, I argue it still does in which it represents harsher drugs while the tamer stuff introduced is exactly that, tamer. Granted, even with the praise and 10/10 score for the plot, it does go without saying that this season does end on a nasty cliffhanger (literally) but, I am completely fine with this as it is confirmed this isn't the end of the show.

Characters: 10/10 - Every single new character introduced in this season is perfect, they aid the themes, and drive the plot forward meaningfully. Seven (Sebun), Yahya, Gosha, Sagwan, Leonna, Melon (and yes even the little poop guy); they all play important roles in adding dimensions to Legoshis character development and showing the different perspectives that make up their world. Going more into legacy characters, the developments of Louis, Juno, Haru, and even the whole drama class was very refreshing and reminded me of why I love this series.

Music: 10/10 - The intro is (as expected) peak as per usual with Beastars, even the outro has an amazing piece accompanied by pleasing visuals. Most of the classic scores from the first season make a reappearance accompanied by new appearances making a great catalog to choose from. Granted, there is nothing super special about these scores or leitmotifs, but, it does its job as being an aid to the scenes and setting up the audience to expect what the motif comes with. All-in-all the music is undoubtedly one of the best components of Beastars, as those who detest watching the show still admit the intros are bangers.

Art/Animation: 10/10 - This is the component I most love about Beastars, from the very beginning of the adaptation studio Orange experimented with stop motion, watercolor, and the mixture of 2D/3D animation. Season 3 brings what I missed in season 2, being a new vibrant experimental intro that is pleasing to watch. Also, as mentioned earlier with the outro, the paper-mache cutouts is very cool to see. In terms of the animation in the show itself, every aspect from previous seasons has also been improved. The choreography, camera work, facial expressions, just everything I can list. The only part that tells me it could've been better if they maybe experimented more in the actual show with different art styles like season 1 had, but, I got more than enough of that with the intros and outros.

All-in-all I thoroughly enjoyed this season and it marks a great addition to the series. Can't wait to see what meets us in season 2!

As a fan of Beastars since season 1 released, I do have some mixed feelings with part 1 so far. The animation, pacing, voice acting, the score have all been great. I would say the animation definitely had an upgrade this season with more dynamic shots and the fighting choreography was pretty solid. And of course our main trio: Legoshi, Haru, and Louis do get more fleshed out this season which is always such a treat. At least so far with part 1, it's hard to judge the story since this whole first half is just dedicated to setting up for whatever is to come ... with part 2.

SPOILERS START HERE:

Though, I do have some gripes with the season especially with some aspects of the world building and would say some extent the villain. At least world building wise, I love how they began to expand the Beastars world as we know it with the introduction of Sea animals and interspecies relationships in general. But what I was not a fan of how they began to establish the mechanics of interspecies relationships. The logic feels a bit too out there especially with a Komodo Dragon and wolf being able to conceive a child that was able to live as long as it did. Wouldn't the gene compatibility cause a biological problem with the child? It would have made more sense to me if Legoshi's grandparents adopted children or something instead of actively trying to conceive. Then there is also the thing with the whole interspecies children manifesting physical traits from the male parent as they grow older instead of already having both traits the moment they were conceived. The world of Beastars never had fantastical elements like magic. Everything in the world makes sense from the way the Carnivores and Herbivores react and the diet of the carnivore and herbivores. But it felt a bit too out there with how any species somehow being genetically compatible.

I also might be the minority with this. The whole reveal of Legoshi being a Komodo Dragon and Wolf hybrid just took out the appeal of why I really liked Legoshi as a character too. The big reason why I loved him in Season 1 is that he's just some everyday guy that just fell for someone that's taboo and he's just trying to navigate his way with his feelings for Haru as a carnivore. But now, Legoshi is also interspecies and is apparently more special compared to the other animals which completely took me out of it.

I'm just really hoping there's a decent enough ending since I just adore the show and the characters so much.

tl;dr: I felt this season had a lot of gross elements in it (and no, I don't mean "ew, furry show!") that made this season unpleasant to watch, from how they cover interspecies relationships (and overall the herbivore/carnivore society) to the underwhelming and unentertaining villains to the rather weird, offputing isolated scenes to how they use marine life.

--- spoilers for Beastars Final Season (episodes 1-12) below ---

In my opinion, this season (or at least this half, thanks MAL for not splitting it into 2) felt... kind of gross?

I'll be forthcoming and say I wasn't the biggest fan of Beastars seasons 1 or 2 so maybe ... it's just me, but there was something deeply unsettling throughout this whole season for me.

I think the biggest one was how interspecies relationships were handled. I never really questioned Legosi and Haru's relationship, yeah, sure, whatever, wolf and rabbit, awesome.

And to be honest, I rather would've kept it that way because trying to dig deeper into that idea, it felt like it was not the most positive towards the idea?

I'm sure the second part will (hopefully) go "actually, interspecies relationships are cool!" but it seems like more or less everyone we hear from hates the idea or are "chasers" at best.

- Legosi is considered a pervert wolf for wanting to date Haru and they say something about him going after Haru because he was attracted to her herbivore traits
- There's a new character in this season who basically explicitly says "I hate mixed children" and he's supposed to be a big, influential person in this universe so...?
- There's another new character who is a huge antagonist in the season who is the most relevant example of mixed children and I mean doesn't that speak for itself, that the most relevant example of mixed children is the ANTAGONIST?
- While not a carnivore/herbivore mix, there is another character who actively considers themselves a freak of nature and ends up killing themselves for being a mixed animal
- There's an interspecies couple who ends up basically being two chasers which ends when the carnivore goes sicko mode on the herbivore
- There's straight up a guy who yells at the TV like that asshole relative at Thanksgiving about how interspecies relationships are made up of irresponsible youngsters

And, like, a lot of these can be explained away as "well, yeah, they're NOT freaks of nature, they're NOT chasers, that one guy is just an asshole", but it just left a nasty taste in my mouth considering how many examples there are.

The Good One doesn't really show off traits of their ancestry besides the obvious species they present as either, so even if you want to use them as an example, I don't think it's a very solid one.

The interspecies relationships isn't the only example either.

There are multiple examples of people either leaving cafes or demanding the "offending" party leave the cafe because they're part of "the bad race". And sure, I've liked shows with dour, shitty worlds, but it just felt like a bitter, unpleasant, uncomfortable show to watch. Maybe Part 2 will provide some much needed relief but as of writing, only Part 1 is out and I haven't read the manga either so this is all I have to go off of.

I get that you have to show the shitty world for the new world to hit better, but when you only have the first world to judge off of, it just... is a shitty world. And there are series that I think work with this premise, but this one is not one of those.

The villains aren't really all that great either. They have this... theatrical evil to them that just seems like artificial "hate now". There are villains I love (Doflamingo, Pucci, etc) and villains I love to hate (Caesar Clown, Mahito, etc.) but they're not entertaining or interesting enough to be cool or likeable. They aren't just LOATHSOME like the latter group either, they're just annoying. I guess I'd like to see them die or be written offscreen sooner rather than later but, like, I don't enjoy seeing them on screen either.

Most of one of the villains' screentime is dedicated to his scat fixation. His fixation for HIS OWN fecal matter.

That's not mentioning the unrelated fetish mask party (that someone freshly minted as an 18-year-old is taken to), piss scene, or the guy who gets off on bloodletting via tattoo gun

There was a scene that made me so uncomfortable, I had to pause the show because it made me physically nauseous

Maybe it's because all I could see was that Mei Mei scene from JJK but seeing a baby/little kid wolf sucking on a phallic object of his grandfather's for the secretions coming out of it (granted, it was just his finger but still) while they laid in bed together and the grandfather had this, like, satisfied face while the kid was talking about the secretion being sweet and bitter... I'm sorry, no, that was nasty.

Let's talk about the marine life introduced in the series. I thought this was an interesting twist to bring in but I felt like it detracted more than it added.

We only really get one character added from the ocean and he's just... kind of unpleasant? I'm watching the Japanese dub so I can't speak to how he speaks in English but I couldn't stand how he spoke, not to mention his design. Beastars is a series whose designs... you kind of have to get used to but this one was particularly ugly.

He's fat and blubbery and he's got these beady little eyes and he's naked in multiple scenes and I did not enjoy a single scene he was a part of.

However, more than that character, I think it brings with it a bigger issue (that, admittedly, Part 2 might just say was a concept and they figure out a different ending).

He says something like "the ocean treats the food chain differently than land dwellers do" and tl;dr, they just kind of accept that in a lot of cases, they're going to get eaten by something bigger to continue the circle of life and the character doesn't really cry for his fallen comrades.

...Is this supposed to imply that the series is going to end with the land dwellers adopting an ocean-like perspective? Surely, the series isn't just going to end on "lol, sorry herbivores, you've gotta accept that the carnivores might eat you sometimes"

But, like, what exactly IS the solution here?

I don't see a way where it doesn't end in genocide, segregation, continuing to repress carnivore urges, or developing some magical meal that tastes Really, Really, Really, Really, Really good so carnivores don't want to eat meat anymore

Or just "lmao, deal with getting eaten, herbivores"

Not to mention the world already seems kind of fucked up?

I believe they mention ant shakes in a couple scenes and Juno squashes a bug with no repercussions, not to mention they serve udon with an egg in it to an herbivore which raises all kinds of questions.

Admittedly, that last point has bugged me all throughout the series but it continues here so yeah

What did I like about this season?

1. I thought the OP was great. After listening to the three OPs again, I think this one is probably my favorite? I didn't watch the OP videos for S1 and S2 again but musically, I think I like S3 Part 1's the best and the video was good.

2. The cliffhanger jumpscared me so props to them.

3. Uh... I thought Seven was nice enough for the couple episodes she was in.

I'll admit that maybe I'm in the strict minority with this as I have been multiple times, I think I'm the first negative review for this, but this season was so unpleasant to get through, it made me retroactively consider if I rated Beastars seasons 1 and 2 low enough. A complete, utter misfire for me.