Criticism, drama, love, reflection... 'Beastars' has it all
The curtain opens and all is darkness. Groping, the prey does not know where it steps and the predator sharpens its animal instinct. The chase between a carnivore and a herbivore will never be on equal terms , and this time will not be the exception. That's why, Beastars first sentences are like little needles stuck in the eyes . Because they are like a cry for help with no response. “To you carnivores, we're just food, right? All carnivores are the same. You are killers!”
The same or not, it is a death sentence that directly appeals to the carnivorous nature of the viewer . Harnessing the rise of veganism, Beastars is an unstoppable phenomenon with multiple awards in record time. First, as a manga by artist Paru Itagaki in mid-2016 , and now how anime by Orange Animation Studio . An unstoppable duo has captivated locals and strangers of the genre after overcoming some peculiar initial reluctance.
By mistake or not, the plot was sold as an impossible love triangle between a gray wolf (Legoshi), a red deer (Louis) and a white rabbit (Haru) . Faced with the possibility of another sweetened romance with a happy ending, the male otaku community he rejected the work thinking that action and violence would be lacking . In addition, his link with the "furry" collective left Beastars under eternal suspicion.
“The furros are a group that feels a great fascination for anthropomorphic animals , coming to disguise themselves as such to attend events (adopting them as a new identity) or even to fulfill sexual fantasies. Definitely, Beastars owes a lot to this fashion to succeed as it is doing”, says Juan Carlos Saloz, cultural journalist and author of the book Tamagotchi Effect. “This phenomenon has been going on for a couple of years. generating a lot of confusion in the networks and making part of the community want to distance themselves from it (so they don't get treated like morons, basically). Y Beastars is like his greatest reference”.
This Japanese anime will hook everyone.
To overcome the initial prejudices, even the creator of the manga wanted to clarify the root of her magnum opus. To the open questions of her fans, she answered: “ Beastars is a human drama so I illustrate human emotions . And the deeper you go into them, the more you discover the scary and ugly side of people . I believe that the role that animals play is to affirm humanity not deny it."
Precisely the highlight of the 12 episodes of its first season is the portrait of a strange but recognizable world, in which anthropomorphic animals of all kinds coexist . There are no ferocious wolves or little red riding hoods.
Beneath the naive appearance of an easy first reading, they intuit different levels of interpretation with many nods to the real world . Starting by a harsh political satire against corrupt politicians , following by a fierce cry against sexist violence either misunderstood sexual desire during adolescence , and ending with a public indictment of an outdated food system.
“It follows in the wake of comics such as Fábulas (which proposes a New York inhabited by characters from classic tales) and also serves to tell totally current issues such as the rise of veganism or even machismo (represented by predators), something curious coming from a country as backward in this respect as Japan”, adds Juan Carlos Saloz.
the bubble of student life serves as a shield for young carnivores and herbivores , with their traumas and racialized stigmas, receive sufficient training to assimilate the farce that awaits them to live outside. A balance of forces where the strongest would eat the weakest if it weren't for the existence of strict laws.
The predatory truth of those who want to eat fresh meat hides under the smokescreen of a black market for forbidden foods with the consent of the authorities. As if the only viable way of not arousing the aggressiveness of the carnivore was to content it with dead meat.
“The story would lose practically all its interest were it not for the universe in which it is patented. It is a Twilight to use, or even a Lolita ( the predator -vampire- in love with the victim ), but it fits very well with the institute-mystery universe that Netflix reinforces so much with series like Elite or For thirteen reasons”, adds the journalist. Evidently, Any resemblance to reality is not pure coincidence.
"It's not necessarily better to create a gap between each character's personality and the social image we have of the species, so often i decide for the fun of drawing an animal itself . There are too many different species, so I try not to be too biased”, assured the author when referring to another great strength of the series, the characterization of multidimensional characters.
At the end of each chapter, the viewer will not know exactly what he has seen, but he will instantly know that he wants more.
“Isn't that what we're all wondering? Both young and old, carnivores and herbivores, we struggle to know. We are all of one species from the moment of birth and we must find out in our own way what it means ”, asks the rabbit looking at the wolf for the first time with different eyes. “Forgive me for being born a carnivore. Forgive me for falling in love with you." , thinks the tormented wolf, who apologizes again and again without understanding that he is in the process of maturing.
And it is that the essential question in Beastars lies in balancing the human and animal side , a non-negotiable point that is used with excellence to show that Carnivores are always at the top of the food chain. . No matter what the herbivores do, they can never match the strength of these creatures destined to feast whenever they please.
At the end of each chapter the viewer will not know exactly what he has seen, but he will instantly know that he wants more . Perhaps because of the animation technique that mixes 3D and 2D, for the appearance of very solid secondary characters (see the righteous panda, a laying hen responsible for her eggs or a mafia lion) or the crescendo evolution of the plot . Be one thing or another, Beastars is the big surprise of the new Japanese anime because has hooked viewers who would not normally consume anime.
Fortunately, there is no final moralizing message or the crude attempt to impose any animalist ideology . A chewed ending would be terrible, without letting the viewer reach their own conclusions, and check to what extent is the animal instinct awake or atrophied.