Beastars (2020)

Beastars (2019) - Season 1 - Review

                                      

Is it a love story? A murder-mystery? An allegory? Maybe everything at once.

Find the trailer here

Based on the manga series of the same name,his mellow anime depicts anthropomorphic society where animals of both carnivorous and herbivorous nature try to coincide, Zootopia alert anyone? It'd be easy to draw comparisons at first, but this is a more nuanced, subtle and in your face anime with amazing animation.

The protagonist is a student who happens to be a silver wolf who's a loner and also an introvert and hangs out as a crewman at the school drama club. The opening scene is quite gruesome and depicts an Alpaca chased by a predator at night on campus ground and devoured in gruesome fashion.

The entire premise and plot surrounds around Legosi, the aforementioned wolf who tries to come out of his social seclusion and become friends with the dwarf rabbit. Another major draw is the secondary protagonist 'Louis', a red deer who also happens to be the lead at Cherryton high drama club. It's a psychological battle for both Louis and Legosi, while one wants to have both carnivores and herbivores on equal footing and loathes Legosi for being weak, whereas Louis admires and respects Louis for his mastery in his craft and can't help but fall for Haru (a common love-interest for both our protagonists).

Thematically, it's a gold mine; explores a multitude of ideas and breathes life to concepts of harmonious living, bullying and its associated results the division of class,co-existence, eroticism to draw parallels on how carnal embrace can bring about serenity, a coming of age love story but the story loses its focus from the murder mystery and evolves into a high-school drama and soon transits into a love story.

                                                                                                                                                                

OUTCOME:

Re- watch-ability: (1/2)

Element of Surprise: (0.9/2)

Enjoyment : (2/2)

Plot line : (1/2)

Memorability : (1.9/2)

OVERALL: : 7.4 out of 10 (rated extra for amazing visuals)