Beastars 2nd Season

"Beastar"—a title awarded to beasts who prove their excellence through fighting inequality to unite carnivores and herbivores in an anthropomorphic animal society. Cherryton Academy has gone five years without one such leader. However, following the murder of an alpaca within the school boundaries, the growing tension between the different species poses a greater need for a Beastar to ensure peace and harmony.

When Louis, the prime candidate for this prestigious role, rejects the offer and leaves the academy, the student council declares to honor any student who captures the culprit of the aforementioned murder as Beastar. Meanwhile, Legoshi's sense of duty as a strong wolf who must protect the weak pushes him to investigate the incident. To further complicate his life, he struggles to manage his complex feelings for the white rabbit, Haru.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Legoshi Main

Kobayashi, Chikahiro Japanese

Louis Main

Ono, Yuuki Japanese

Haru Supporting

Senbongi, Sayaka Japanese

Gouhin Supporting

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Jack Supporting

Enoki, Junya Japanese

Juno Supporting

Tanezaki, Atsumi Japanese

Pina Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Bill Supporting

Torashima, Takaaki Japanese

Ibuki Supporting

Kusunoki, Taiten Japanese

Collot Supporting

Ootsuka, Takeo Japanese

Tanaka, Kouta Assistant Producer

Matsumi, Shinichi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Sokuza, Makoto Episode Director, Storyboard

Shibuya, Ryousuke Episode Director

Reviews

Mar 24, 2021

debochca

Recommended

Beastars is an anime that I watched in a whole rainy night before the pandemic appeared. At first sight, I ended it and I thought that it was nothing out of the world, but as soon as time passed, I started to rewatch parts of it and I gradually started to think how a delight of a piece it was. And now that I have this second season, I just reafirm it.

If you refuse to watch this just because you don’t want to be called a furry, you are just a reprimed anime watcher that is afraid to like something because of a category; ... and if you have watched it and use the furry stuff to diminish the show’s quality, you didn’t understand anything of this great anime.

Beastars is a work that reaches an even deeper and darker story every time it advances. It is a story about animals except that has nothing to do with animals but a lot more beyond that. It successfully handles a suspense atmosphere and the thrilling moments once again. Mixing aesthetic with an agressive enviroment is something they are good at, and that achieves its goal of letting the mysterious intact and making it very catching as well. This started in its first season being a school drama with a great and deep background about a splitted society, and ended up being a turbulent drama that went even deeper, delving into trafficking, black market and hervibores survival in the outside world.

Between Legoshi and Louis I couldn’t be able to pick one of them. Louis is a king with every letter of the word, whose intelligence and ambition can’t reach any limit, being the real representation of “I don’t know what I want, but I know how to get it”, and this is the season where we get to know his weaknesses more precisely, more natural. He loses that confident facade to show the vulnerable hervibore that, even 13 years later, only tries to survive and that, at the same time, wishes to leave it all behind. His relationship with Legoshi is more intense than ever before, and that’s great, that’s subtle, and what I love about them is how they are not friends and they are not enemies either; they just respect and admire each other, and it’s represented very clear. They barely see each other during the season, but when they do, I can’t help but watch it while I feel it.

“The reason I’m strong isn’t because I want to be happy” is a phrase that hit me in the middle of my forehead. It just makes a huge emphasis on what Legoshi’s feelings are. His constant crisis about him being a carnivore is more present than ever, and that’s amazing. It is just supported with a great and gradual development where he trains his spirit, so by the middle of it he has to choose between his mind and his body. It’s another step to know Legoshi, to his own self-knowledge, and to realize how much he grew up from the first episode of the series. He started as a coward that couldn’t resist his own instincts, a guy that didn’t know who he was nor what he wanted, finally puts his foot down to know and to say what he really wanted. He becomes a character with determination, but he doesn’t lose his common sense either. He knows when he can’t fight, and he knows when he has to speak. Legoshi is a character that I loved from the beginning, but right now, he is great. His growth is so reasonable, according to his personality, according to his own desires, fears and insecurities; is subtle and happens without losing his essence, without leaving behind his natural charisma and graciousness.

The rest of the cast just function as the background of every scene, as they did the previous season. Jack is still a cinnamon roll, a snake appears to be used as a trigger for Legoshi and disappears, and the bully girls drama disappears entirely, thankfully. The only one of the secondaries I want to remark is Bill. That guy was a pain the previous season, but this one I really liked him. He just has some minor changes, but it is more likeable this time. Kudos, Bill. Haru decides what she wants to do and her true affection for Legoshi takes place. Ibuki and Pina are two secondaries that play in the background and craft the story so it could lead both Louis and Legoshi to the place they have to go. Even though they are not developed as the rest, they have a lot of weight in this work, and they are good characters. Ibuki was my favourite, without a doubt.

This season is, in my opinion, a lot better than the first one, and here’s why: it focuses on what the viewer wanted. They took Haru out of the focus to become a real secondary; Juno took the place as the female lead of the season and approached to Louis, developing a relationship that was born as a defiant one. She constantly confronted Louis because of his attitude, but when in this season she knew who he turned into, their relationship changed, and that’s subtle and another piece that helped constructing Louis’ personality. Not only made me like the characters more, but it gave what the viewer expected from this second season: answers. Tem’s killer is devealed and, even though I felt offended because of who it was, it shocked me when I knew the explanation behind it. I’m not a person that rewatches things that I’ve recently watched, but that scene where Tem dies really moved me. It is not good to feel bad for the killer, but that really caught me off guard. The way the killer is fleshed out is amazing too, valuating the prize of life and the different kind of lives. I wanted answers, but when I got them, I didn’t want to know them anymore. It not only embraces more boundaries between carnivores and hervibores, but it also uses very well and in repeated situations with its according explanations.

This OST is probably one of the best this season. The opening is excellent from every point of view, makes justice to this dark season and is pretty intense as it should be. The ending is no different, it just contributes to the melancholy aura. The only CGI I can actually enjoy, once again. It also never fails in terms of direction to demonstrate the fear in hervibores; the frames and the restrained art style just contributes to the amazing atmosphere that is always there.

A marvelous sequel to a good series, where the tension, the drama and the violence reach its peak. I'm thankful for giving it a chance, and I wish I could talk a lot more without spoiling, because it surpassed my expectations by far. Definitely, worth watching.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 29, 2021

RoronoaZoloft

Mixed Feelings

Beastars first season was very surprising to me. I didn't expect a show about anthropomorphic animals to be as good as it was, especially since the last comparable thing I saw was the popular US CGI animal copaganda movie. The characters were multifaceted and there was a pretty intricate set of conflicts.

Beastars second season was more surprising in that it was only okay.

Here are my issues with it:

-The story is almost entirely focused on the singular storyline of fighting Tem's murderer, and some of the major developments in that story didn't feel earned.
-The alternate storyline feels repetitive or stagnant rather than having a back and ... forth tension
-Haru was almost completely absent, and her reactions to Legoshi basically disappearing reappearing at will didn't seem realistic.
-The new character, Pina, seems to exist just to move the plot along. He's hyper-competent, except when he isn't, and I didn't understand his motivations.
-Multiple deus ex machina to resolve the conflicts. All the time spent training, which was essentially the entire season, was seemingly pointless.

The characters and momentum from the first season are enough to carry the bad writing across the finish line but if this were a standalone show I would probably say it's just not good. If you're reading this when season 3 comes out and don't have unlimited time to watch anime all day, I would say skip everything after Tem's murderer is discovered and go straight to the next season.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 21, 2021

Drewguardo

Not Recommended

I am dyslexic, therefore there may be one or two spelling and grammar errors but ill try my best to keep them to a minimum.

I watched season 1 of Beaststar's and found it very enjoyable, probably a 8/10 so I was looking forward to the 2nd season. I wanted to see the show explore a world in which predators and prey live together in a uneasy collaboration where the massive power imbalance between carnivores and herbivores stokes civil unrest in a way that mirrors the real world to a certain extent. Additionally the characters that were introduced and built up were appealing and I ... wanted to see more of them especially the very unusual love interest Haru.

So in what ways does season 2 of Beaststars fail? (since you can see I only gave this season a 3/10)
It fails in almost every respect, the characters I found interesting have been destroyed, the world has been watered down and is completely contradictory and there is essentially no interesting social commentary.

This will be the end of the spoiler free section, I have explained very vaguely my problems with season 2, from here on out im going to get a lot more specific.

*SPOILERS*
Ok im not sure exactly where to start here so ill just start with the characters.

Legoshi is an introverted and mostly kind hearted wolf who has some seriously problematic urges and viewpoints, some of those originating from his carnivores instincts like the desire to essentially own Haru as property (and in doing so protect her) or just straight up consume her. he's kind of a stand in for the quite nice guy exemplifying toxic usually masculine behaviors. He was defiantly a flawed character but this wasn't necessarily a bad thing as it gave us a complex character who was trying to better himself. By the end of season 2 Legoshi is a selfish, self-consumed, toxic, aggressive introvert who doesn't care about anyone but himself and maybe Haru if she happens to be on screen at the time. He works out the identity of the murder and instead of turning him into the police, as any reasonable and moral person would have done, he instead confronts the killer which gets a innocent bystander involved putting someone other than himself in serious danger, he then keeps the murders identity hidden for weeks or possibly MONTHS for some reason without telling the police putting everyone in the school in danger and then finally he challenges him to a 1v1 which if he had lost would have allowed the killer to get away with it. He turns the gruesome murder of his friend into a selfish personal vendetta making everything about him, he obviously didn't respect his friend otherwise he would have contacted the police immediately. Additionally Legoshi plays with Juno's feeling at multiple points for some reason, he isnt ignorant of her feeling for him but he refuses to address them and asks things of her which are simply unfair taking her feelings into account. This character has been ruined which is a real issue as we see the world mostly through his eyes, this only exemplified the problems present which I will go into later.

Haru was a very interesting love interest, most love interests are innocent virgins who dote after the main protagonist and have no regrets, so usually there not really fully fleshed out people. Haru is a sexually promiscuous "slut" who has zero interest in the main character till near the end of season 1 and has feelings for someone else while also being funny, confident and driven, she gets bullied by classmates and is defiantly at the bottom of the social hierarchy. She is a person and a genuinely likable one at that, being herself instead of who people would like her to be. By season 2 she has attained the powers of invisibility and is actually in every scene at least that's what i assume has happened because the only other explanation is that she is essentially not in season 2. she probably gets about 2min of run time and the time for which she is on screen she is a shell of her former self, not as bad as Legoshi tho. Her fear of Legoshi is gone, *poof* its nowhere to be seen which is very convenient, very shallow and unsatisfactory. Her love for Louis, gone apparently. Hows she coping with being kidnapped and almost eaten, very well almost as if it never happened. Like wtf this isn't how Haru would have acted, she has instead been shoehorned into more of a traditional love interest to suit the direction of the show and that really sucks.

Louis is one of the only characters that remains mostly unchanged during season 2 but even then he gets completely destroyed in the final episode. Louis is one of the few herbivores in this school with a position of power, he gives off the illusion of physical strength but his real power is that of the pen which he himself realizes and hates about himself perceiving it as weakness. Louis has a need to feel superior to offset his perception of himself as a weak herbivore. He's a manipulator who is lacking strongly in morals. quite a interesting character to watch. by season 2 hes the same character, he become the head of a criminal syndicate (how this happens is really stupid and disappointing btw), manages to level the playing field between herbivores and carnivores by obtaining a gun, even goes so far as to consume meat to feel superior. this is the case till the final episode where the power of friendship triumphs, he sees the error of his ways, comes to Legoshi's aid... who he should hate. He took his love interest away and knocked him out in front of the school demonstrating his weakness to all of them humiliating him. his character collapses in the final episode but at least he lasted till then, additionally the whole arch where he was a mob boss amounted to nothing and was therefore a huge waste of time.

The final character I can be bothered to even mention is Juno who resembles the typical love interest much more then Haru but who Legoshi isn't interested in. She was a great addition in season 1 however is season 2 she also gained the power of invisibility because she is essentially not in season 2. shes in season 2 more then Haru but that's not saying much. Her character is mostly the same but her drive to become the beaststar has disappeared for some reason. Mehh on Juno shes kind of there but not really.

Any other character from the show is ether one dimensional or simply isn't a person and therefore isn't worth mentioning which btw is a lot of them. There's no excuse for this, other anime like "my hero academia" are able to flesh out a much larger cast in a much shorter span of time.

I feel as though i also have to make specific mention to all the lost potential of the show like the numerous different things that are introduced and then dropped never to be mentioned again:
- The Beaststar plotline, mentioned once at the start never mentioned again. Nor the fact that the person who catches the killer would be made the Beaststar. (which is stupid btw, a school would NEVER agree to this)
- The segregation of the school, mentioned a few times, everyone gives VERY basic one sided opinions on the fact they oppose it, never mentioned again. it would have been nice to hear from the opinion of someone supported it. (other then Juno who's reasoning is shallow also)
- Haru and Legoshi's relationship, dropped almost entirely, barely mentioned.
- cosmo the stripper, dropped never to be seen again.
- Jacks strained friendship towards Legoshi, dropped after 2min.

I also need to mention all the really stupid things that happen:
- Kai ripping of kibi's had coming to such a simple resolution. kibi doesn't have any fear of kai/ carnivores like he should to, herbivores are needlessly understanding considering that could have been them.
- Riz being the killer was insanely obvious.
- Bills inter species relationship with a herbivore called Els, mentioned but never expand on much like a whole bunch of hinted inter species relationships which go no where.
- Rokume is introduced and then never mentioned ever again, only used as quest giver for the protagonist and is therefore a stupid addition.
- pina is a stupid character, he isnt deep hes just dumb.
- The mob boss underling being in the exact right place at the exact right time for no conceivable reason other then plot convenience to shoot Agata saving Louis's life.
- Legoshi not being recognized and killed by the mob immediately, taken for dinner and then left alone with the mob's boss. How insanely stupid can a criminal organization be?

As you can see im very disappointed with this season, I felt a strong compulsion to write this review as I believe people are giving it way too much credit. But in summery this season destroyed everything the previous season built up, its messy, there were clearly too many chefs in the kitchen when this was being made, there are too many plot-lines and most get dropped minutes after being introduced, previous characters have been destroyed and turned into something else. Its really quite bad.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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