Beastars

• 1. Introduction

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  Beastars is a Japanese manga by Paru Itagaki, and its story begins with a body. At Cherryton Academy, a student named Tem, an alpaca, is murdered and devoured. The world around Tem is modern and orderly. Animals walk upright, attend classes and live in dormitories. Eating one of them is strictly illegal, and because every animal here is a person, any meat can only have come from someone. The killing falls on a school already divided between herbivores and carnivores. It lands hardest on a timid gray wolf named Legoshi, who lives among the carnivores and has never wanted to be seen as a threat. What does a predator owe a society that has outlawed his appetite? Who gets to decide where the line between civilization and instinct falls? And how did a series about talking animals earn a shelf of major prizes and an audience on a global streaming service?

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• 2. Cherryton Academy

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  Beast Complex, another manga by Itagaki, shares its universe with Beastars and originally served as its predecessor. That shared world is a modern society of civilized, anthropomorphic animals. Carnivores and herbivores live side by side under a cultural divide, and the law forbids eating meat.

  Inside Cherryton Academy, the carnivorous students share a dormitory. Legoshi's neighbor there is Jack, an extroverted Labrador and his friend. Jack's easy confidence is a useful contrast to Legoshi's reserve.

  Legoshi works as a stagehand for the school's drama club. The club is led by its star actor, Louis, a red deer. Backstage, Legoshi assists the performers rather than competing with them, which suits him.

  Haru, a dwarf rabbit, enters his life through the same circle. She has unrequited feelings for Louis, while Legoshi develops conflicted emotions toward her. A herbivore and a carnivore, drawn together in a school on edge, are the first sign that the divide can be crossed.

  Then Louis abruptly leaves school. His destination is not another academy but a crime syndicate.

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• 3. The Shishigumi and the Black Market

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  The Shishigumi is a crime syndicate dominated by lions, and Louis leaves school to lead it. Haru ends up inside its reach, and Legoshi rescues her. Louis later relinquishes control of the organization to Melon, a leopard-gazelle hybrid.

  Gohin, a giant panda who works as a physician, operates in the Black Market. That is where illegal meat is traded. Legoshi trains under Gohin, which places a young wolf in the one corner of society that profits from the very thing the law forbids.

  At the same time, Louis investigates Kines, an energy drink that contains substances derived from herbivores. The drink turns the question of appetite into a question of commerce. Someone is selling herbivores to everyone else, in a bottle.

  While Legoshi and Louis follow separate trails, the identity of Tem's killer is still unknown. It is about to be revealed.

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• 4. The Devourer's Price

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  Riz, a bear, is the murderer. Legoshi defeats him, but only after consuming Louis's leg, and the red deer is left with a prosthetic. The fight settles the mystery and creates a new one, because Legoshi has now done the thing his world considers unforgivable.

  Legoshi is arrested but avoids prison. He leaves with a criminal record as a devourer instead. That record nullifies his eligibility to marry Haru, so the one relationship he had begun to build is legally closed to him.

  The punishment shows how the story treats law and instinct. The wolf who stopped a killer is marked by the same label as the killer.

  The way out of that label runs through Legoshi's own family, and a grandfather he has only just met.

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• 5. A Komodo Dragon's Legacy

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  Gosha, a Komodo dragon, is Legoshi's grandfather. Once, Gosha collaborated with Yahya, a horse. After meeting Gosha, Legoshi goes to confront Yahya himself.

  The encounter turns violent. Afterward, Yahya offers Legoshi a deal. If Legoshi arrests Melon, his record will be cleared and he will receive a monetary reward.

  Legoshi agrees. During the mission he is shot twice and falls from a cliff. Despite his injuries, he survives. Melon, for his part, attempts suicide and also survives.

  The story closes with Legoshi beginning a relationship with Haru, the very thing his record once forbade. All of it was drawn and written by one person, Paru Itagaki, who worked on both the art and the story.

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• 6. Serialization and Print

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  On the 8th of September 2016, Beastars began its run in Weekly Shōnen Champion, the shōnen magazine published by Akita Shoten. It ran until the 8th of October 2020 and reached 196 chapters.

  Those chapters were collected in 22 tankōbon volumes. The first came out on the 6th of January 2017, and the last on the 8th of January 2021.

  Outside Japan, Viz Media announced its license at a panel during Anime NYC 2018. The first English volume appeared on the 16th of July 2019. The last followed on the 17th of January 2023.

  By October 2021, more than 7.5 million copies of the manga were in circulation. The readership had grown large enough to carry the story onto television.

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• 7. Screen, Sound and Stage

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  In February 2019, an anime adaptation was announced, to be animated by Orange, a computer animation studio. Shin'ichi Matsumi directed. Nanami Higuchi handled series composition, Nao Ootsu designed the characters and Satoru Kōsaki composed the music.

  The first season aired from the 10th of October to the 26th of December 2019, on Fuji TV's +Ultra block and other channels. A second season followed, airing from the 7th of January to the 25th of March 2021.

  In July 2021, studio Orange and Netflix Japan announced a third season. By December of that year, it had been named the final one. The last season was split into two parts, which premiered worldwide on the 5th of December 2024 and the 7th of March 2026.

  Netflix streamed the series outside Japan. The first season arrived there on the 13th of March 2020, and the second on the 15th of July 2021.

  "Wild Side," performed by ALI, opens the first season. The second season pairs two songs by Yoasobi, "Kaibutsu" and "Yasashii Suisei." Kōsaki himself performs the opening themes for the third season, which include "La Feralia."

  The stage was less lucky. In December 2019, the magazine announced a stage play, planned for April 2020 in Tokyo and Osaka. In late March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic led to its cancellation. A stage reading musical was finally held in September 2024.

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• 8. Prizes and Praise

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  In December 2017, the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook ranked Beastars second among male-targeted manga, behind The Promised Neverland. Then came a run of awards in 2018.

  The series won the 11th Manga Taishō in March 2018, and it was the first Akita Shoten series to do so. The same month, it took a New Face Award at the 21st Japan Media Arts Festival. In April, it won the New Creator Prize at the 22nd Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In May, it won the 42nd Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category.

  Recognition spread abroad. The French site Manga-News gave it its Shōnen Tournament 2019, and French critics' association ACBD listed it as a jury-recommended work for its Prix Asie de la Critique. Comic-Con International named it among the best manga of 2019. The Eisner Awards nominated Viz's edition in 2020.

  The Ursa Major Awards honor works in furry fandom and anthropomorphism. Beastars won both Best Graphic Story and Best Dramatic Series there. It was nominated for the 53rd Seiun Award in 2022.

  The anime drew praise as well. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 94% approval rating from 18 reviews, with an average of 8.1 out of 10. The critical consensus reads: "Well-made and beautifully animated, Beastars is a solid new anime for anyone looking to get a little wild."

  In 2020, the series was among the Jury Selections at the 23rd Japan Media Arts Festival. It won a CGWORLD Award and the Best Anime prize at the 26th Manga Barcelona. At the 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, "Wild Side" won Best Opening Sequence, and the show was nominated in 8 other categories, including Anime of the Year. The second season earned nominations in three categories at the 6th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2022.

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