Strawberry Panic, Beastars Recommendations
What even is a Beastar? What gardening club could exist with only one member? Are there really schools like that? OMG, furries!
Beastars is truly something new, but, it does have inspirations, and there are a few things about it that really only make sense as a faithful adaptation of another work. (E.g., why in the world would someone as powerful in society at the Beastar be solely chosen from among high school children?)
I think one of those inspirations is a mildly-infamous 2006 yuri show called Strawberry Panic. The two works share many elements:
• The elite boarding school setting.
• The fruit-themed institution names (Cherryton Academy and
Strawberry Hill)
• The strong female love interest tending to a spacious garden alone
• Instant romantic attraction bordering on something creepy or supernatural
• French-language elements throughout (Beastars: the opening song and characters named after French kings; Strawberry Panic: practically everything)
• The occupants of the different residence houses being at each other's throats (although Beastars' more-literal premise makes better sense.)
• The selection of a star among the students to unite the houses.
• The title of the star (“Beastar”, a portmanteau of “beast” & “star”, and “Étoile”, French for “star”)
• The late, shocking reveal of the true intended composition of the star role (literally the exact same plan but for different reasons)*
• An in-depth exploration of the extreme toll it takes on the star when that intention falls apart*
• An edgy-for-the-time wholehearted embrace of a social taboo which tricks some reviewers into thinking that the work is “about” yuri or furry or whatever, but in hindsight is just about human relationships.
(*Later in the Beastars manga. The anime isn't there yet.)
A caveat: these two works are not at all similar in tone or plot. Whatever Paru Itagaki's inspirations are (and I have no hard proof that this actually is one of them) she transcends all of them.
If I had to pick one thing to watch it would definitely be Beastars, but Strawberry Panic is pretty good as a bit of over-the-top earnest boarding school yuri, and it's interesting to imagine how a writer can take the dry bones of another story and turn it into something completely new.
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