(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome to the second week of the Furry Arc where today were talking about one of the most unique animes to come out in years.
(Yume): Odd Taxi?
(Nitsuj): Sadly I haven’t wrote anything for that, so we’ll go with the backup plan and just talk about Beastars S2.
(Yume): Ohh~, that works too.
(Nitsuj): It’s no secret that Beastars kind of got overlooked by a lot of people when it debuted, but since then people have checked it out and have nothing but high praise for it. The story of adolescent wolf falling in love with a rabbit, while also dealing with the death of his friend and growing up in society divided was compelling and dealt with some very mature issues.
(Yume): When the first season ended with a promise of a second season, fans waited with anticipation to see when the second season would premiere. Supposedly, it was scheduled to premiere in 2020, but we all know what happened that year and as a result the anime got pushed back to 2021.
(Nitsuj): Let’s return to the wild side and take a look at Beastars S2.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Yume): The opening for this season is “Kaibutsu” by YOASOBI. This song is a banger. The upbeat tempo and lyrics are addicting to listen to and YOASOBI just kills it on the vocals. The lyrics perfectly encapsulate all the characters within the series as they question if their way of thinking is right or wrong. The only downside is that the opening animation that goes with the song is a letdown. While not bad you can tell the pandemic screwed them over as they use a lot of the animation sequences from the first season.
(Nitsuj): The ending is “Yasashii Suisei” by YOASOBI. Wow, performing double duty, nice. This song is quite beautiful to listen to and once again reflects the relationship between two characters in the anime perfectly. The steady tempo throughout the song is addicting to listen to and YOASOBI just has you in the palm of her hands.
Episodes 1-4
(Yume): The season starts with Legosi and his friends on the roof of the school trying to catch shooting stars but having no luck. Legosi’s roommate, Jack, goes to get his telescope, but on the way back he hears and sees a monster near the auditorium of Tem’s death. Rumors begin flying around that it’s actually the ghost of Tem seeking out the animal that killed him (Nitsuj: It was the guy with the fangs I tell you. The guy with the fangs). Legosi doesn’t seem to care about the rumor as the only thing on his mind is Haru. Over the last 2 months the two have been texting and meeting up with each other in secret (I feel like I’m watching a girl tell her dog they’re going for a walk). While Legosi is overjoyed by this he still isn’t sure where they’re relationship stands. Are they dating or just hanging out as friends (Nitsuj: Dare I say secret lovers?). Louis is also still missing which has put the drama club in a tough situation as they start to get ready for the fall play and aren’t sure if they should start with or without him. Louis reappears at school the next day calm as the moon at night where he hands in his resignation letter to the drama club and to the school (Nitsuj: Why is he treating this like he’s resigning from a job. I’ve seen people up and leave a club without so much as a notice or sound). We get to see Juno again who has become popular thanks her speech from last season which has earned her favor with the carnivores and appears to be a candidate for the next Beastar now that Louis is out of the picture (for now. Scene here: https://youtu.be/NfOmcglqSbU). Several days go by and the rumor about the ghost has been debunked (thank God, the last thing we want is for this place to turn into a Sci-fi original series), however Legosi says there’s someone or something still out there. Throughout the episode Legosi has been hearing a hissing sound (how nobody else has heard it is beyond me. (Nitsuj): Yeah, heightened senses my ass. If this was the wild you guys would have all been killed). Legosi knows the creature has been watching him and he decides to stop playing around and call them out where they finally appear.
Episode 2 starts off with a meeting of the city officials who are discussing who should be the next Beastar. Since the favorite Louis has dropped out nobody knows who to nominate next until one of them suggests the next Beastar should be the animal who solves the case of Tem’s death as nobody has been able to make headways into the case at all (Nitsuj: Hasn’t made headways or haven’t tried are two separate things). Back at the school, we see the animal that’s been stalking Legosi all this time has been a rattlesnake named Hexeye (or Rokume which literally translates to six eyes. (Nitsuj): Yeah, I’m not sure why they went with the literal translation instead of keeping it as Rokume), the school’s one and only security guard (Nitsuj: Your school’s security is a snake and it’s only one guy? No wonder Tem got eaten. Scene here: https://youtu.be/P18_0t4ZF5Q). We find out that Hexeye has been keeping an eye on Legosi for some time now and finds him oh so interesting (first Louis then Haru and now Hexeye. Everybody seems to want a piece of that wolf pie. (Nitsuj): Or be the Little Red Riding Hood to his big bad wolf. Rule 34 at its finest). After a confusing talk between the two (with lots of sexual undertones from Hexeye), Hexeye asks for Legosi’s help in finding Tem’s killer which Legosi agrees to do (Nitsuj: Take a bite out of crime Legosi). The next day, Legosi goes to speak with Tem’s friend Carl to see if anything was different with Tem leading up to his death but doesn’t find any leads (Nitsuj: He does however catch a panty thief). Near the end of the episode, we find out what became of Louis after he left the school (you are not going to believe this), he’s a mob boss. After killing the leader of the Leo Group, Louis became their new boss and has been leading the group where he actually encourages the use of the Black Market (scene here: https://youtu.be/Fhvmxm47aHk. (Nitsuj): How the hell does that work? The guy killed your boss and now you’re taking orders from him).
In the first half of episode 3 we see what happened after Louis shot the leader of the Leo group (Nitsuj: Cold-blooded killer). After killing the leader of the Leo group the rest of the members plan to eat him until they discover he’s the favorite to become the next Beastar. Rather than kill him, they decide to use him as the new face of their group. Louis wants none of that and tries to kill himself but didn’t have the guts to do it (you embarrass me). They force Louis to eat some meat and he manages to stomach it surprising everyone (scene here: https://youtu.be/CMmhJKaH468. (Nitsuj): A dear eating meat. That’s a new one). Back with the drama club, they have a new member named Pina a big-horned sheep who is a pretty boy (meh. He’s alright for a sheep). He quickly angers the carnivores in the club calling them ugly (he is just begging to be eaten) and seems to take an interest in Legosi (scene here: https://youtu.be/_LMqzPQrapg. (Nitsuj): Another one? Was is it with herbivores being attracted to Legosi?). After club activities Legosi goes to a meeting of the carnivores where they’re all curious about one thing, can a carnivore do it with a herbivore (Nitsuj: society says no, but the internet says yes). Of course, he comes clean and says nothing happened between them and one of them says Legosi’s overwhelming protection for all herbivores is basically his large amount of love for Haru to the point that he worships her. Legosi actually does find some truth in this and later on when he goes to see Haru and it seems like they’re about to kiss (Nitsuj: Get your pens ready writers out there), he stops himself and leaves as he realizes she still has feelings for Louis and just wants to protect her from far away (scene here: https://youtu.be/VdeOrq3h2Js, I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I feel very pissed).
At the start of episode 4 as Legosi lies in the back of the school alone thinking about Tem, he gets jumped by the murderer. The murderer blindfolds him and begins to beat him up. Unfortunately, Legosi can’t use his nose to identify him because of his cold (Nitsuj: Well that’s inconvenient) but Legosi gets the murderer’s scent by kissing them before they escape. Jack comes to help Legosi where Legosi makes the decision to leave school and get stronger. He goes to find Gouhin and asks him to train him in order to get stronger. Gouhin says no, but decides to test Legosi’s resolve the only way he knows how. Meanwhile, we go to a strip club where a bunch of carnivores are watching a herbivore named Cosmo strip for them in a cage (what kind of sex play is this? (Nitsuj): And why am I getting both aroused and hungry watching it). One of the carnivore strippers disables the cage and a tiger jumps on stage prepared to eat the herbivore before Louis and the Leo group show up to stop him and establish order in the club (scene here: https://youtu.be/6TODdSdHh7o). After this, we see Louis is getting thinner and thinner due to not eating properly. His body keeps rejecting meat and his pride won’t allow him to show weakness to his men or ask for vegetables. Thankfully, his right-hand man Ibuki buys him a healthy meal but Louis’s pride won’t let him eat it. The two get quickly interrupted by an unexpected visitor, Juno, who came looking for Louis (Nitsuj: How did she know?).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 opens up with Louis and Juno walking the streets where she’s not sure what her next move is (she didn’t expect to get this far). Her objective is to bring Louis back, but the bigger question on her mind is why he’s with the Leo group? Louis says he’s tired of hiding the truth. Louis says he’s going to accept reality for what it truly is, a place where instincts and power rule all. Juno says he’s wrong to believe that society decides how he should live his life, it’s you (scene here: https://youtu.be/gdr4MscWd1Q. (Nitsuj): Couldn’t agree more. I have to admit I like this pairing of Louis and Juno. (Yume): They do seem to have more chemistry. Not to mention she calls him out on his BS that he’s trying to convince himself to believe). Legosi returns to school where Gouhin gave him a new look (Nitsuj: One they’ll give him attention, but not the kind he wants. (Yume): Juno seems to like it. Scene here: https://youtu.be/HSWuRF1-xTM. (Nitsuj): She has strange taste). So Legosi will go to school during the day and at night he trains with Gouhin. The first part of his training consists of him resisting the urge to eat meat and remold his body (scene here: https://youtu.be/yCLzWxYFBsQ). At school we see him show Pina the equipment room where we get this strange sexual undertone scenario between the two as Pina seems to be daring Legosi to eat him out of love (scene here: https://youtu.be/UWI1B15S-KQ, he has to be a hedonist). Meanwhile, Louis goes to see his dad, Oguma and get him to sign his withdrawal forms for school. Even going as far pulling a gun out on the old man and get him to sign it (Nitsuj: You know, since he’s 18 he’s technically allowed to leave the school himself seeing as how he’s an adult).
At the start of episode 6, Oguma sees through Louis’s façade (Nitsuj: Getting fancy I see) and instead just signs the paper for a temporary leave (scene here: https://youtu.be/AzFxMQMO_70, does this still count as a win?). After this, he goes to have a drink with Cosmo (the stripper he saved) who tells him to get out while he still can (wow, even she can see through his façade. Scene here: https://youtu.be/hBJnYZWpOik. (Nitsuj): He may have the suit, the look, and the backup, but he’s still just a Bambi living in a carnivore’s world). Back with Legosi (Nitsuj: DAHH~! Sorry, I’m still not used to his new look), he continues his investigation on finding Tem’s killer. He goes to speak with Juno where he asks to see the inside of her mouth (YOU HAVE NO DELICACY! Scene here: https://youtu.be/Vo9OYJv3DtI). He discovers that females have smaller fangs than males (Nitsuj: No shit, I could have told you that) meaning that the person who attacked him was a male. Sometime later, Legosi continues his training where he clears the first stage (scene here: https://youtu.be/MrBPtv27VTw) and goes back at school where he sees and chats with Haru who likes his new look (Nitsuj: I guess Gouhin was really onto something. Maybe I should dye my hair orange and see what happens. (Yume): You do that I and I will bounce on you until I put your pelvis in a body cast. (Nitsuj):. . .Kinky) and is angry at him for questioning her relationship with Louis and avoiding her (Nitsuj: Rabbits do die from loneliness. (Yume): I’m sure she dies from not having a carrot between her legs. (Nitsuj): Okay, why do you have such a grudge against rabbits? (Yume): It’s complicated). Haru doesn’t care about the state of society, all she cares about is spending time with Legosi and having fun. Legosi out of nowhere asks Haru to marry him (YOU LACK DELICACY!) and even though she doesn’t say no she says there’s no way she would marry someone as selfish as Legosi (Nitsuj: Famous last words of every female in a Hallmark movie. Scenes here: https://youtu.be/OUQ0Tksjj6Y and https://youtu.be/6wD5LNeliEU). At the club, Legosi loses easily in tug-o-war match against Bill and can’t figure out why (scene here: https://youtu.be/HSyBfqE4Ysg. (Nitsuj): I know why, basic rules of nature. An animal’s strength comes from their instincts and bloodlust. When an animal rejects this, it’s almost like they’re rejecting their strength and way of living. Thus, the body no longer sees it as the animal no longer needing the strength to act the way they used to, forfeiting their survival of the fittest idealism, and making themselves significantly weaker. Think the opposite of an adrenaline rush. While Legosi is strengthening his body mentally to avoid his desire to eat meat he is also destroying his instincts and bloodlust in the process thus making himself weak. He is essentially turning himself into a domesticated dog).
(Nitsuj): Holy shit. Episode 7 opens up on a crazy note with one of carnivores in the drama club underestimating their strength and accidently ripping off the arm of a herbivore (oh my God, how does that happen? That is like something out of Mortal Kombat). Legosi carries the herbivore to the infirmary while another carnivore named Riz (a bear) takes the arm as well (scenes here: https://youtu.be/XrIp3uo3Nus and https://youtu.be/g4efI_rxw00). After dropping off the herbivore we get the biggest shock of them all by finding out that Riz was the one who ate Tem (Yume: He claims it was an accident, but you know, rules of nature). Just when the two are about to fight in the hallways of the school, Pina comes by where he overheard their conversation which puts Riz in quite the jam as he can’t kill Pina because that would obviously alert the police to start investigating the drama club and its members (why they didn’t do that in the first place is beyond me. Not to mention he would have to fight against Legosi which would expose him. Scene here: https://youtu.be/8T4a8vYjTN4). Rather than go to the police, Pina decides to stay quiet about this (Yume: Why!? You are going to school with a killer. Arrest this guy and be done with it. I swear, I don’t understand animals sometime). While that’s going on, it gets announced that starting next year, the school will be segregated and the drama club will be closing down in one month. Bill thinks this might be a good thing but Els sees through this and calls him out where she says everyone in the club knows he’s been eating meat and how he would totally date her if she was a tiger (Yume: And people give Legosi crap for having a rabbit fetish). She admits that he’s scum, but at the same time he’s also a good person who cares about others. After calming her down, Bill apologizes and admits he wants the drama club to continue, so the two run to the club room where they see everyone also wants to continue and plan to rebel against the school board (scene here: https://youtu.be/gfkWvKNTaxU). We then focus on Riz where we find out that bears over 2 meters tall are required by law to take drugs that decrease their muscle mass (because if they don’t that situation we saw at the beginning would be occurring everyday and it won’t just be an arm this time). While Riz admits it’s not a bad thing it’s humiliating as the side effects give them headaches. We see how everyone saw Riz as just this gentle bear, but Tem saw him differently. Tem was scared of him (and why wouldn’t he be? He’s over 2 meters tall and has to take drugs to make himself weaker. If he went on a rampage I don’t think anyone could stop him) but at the same time he saw Riz as a friend and Riz saw him as a friend too. The two hung out where thanks to Riz’s interaction with Tem he started to feel less depressed about taking drugs and wasn’t even fazed by the side effects of them anymore. Wanting to get close to Tem and be accepted for who he truly is Riz made a decision, a decision that would come back to haunt him. He stopped taking the drugs and that’s when it happened. Riz’s mind went blank and when he regained consciousness he was covered in blood and Tem’s body was on the ground (scenes here: https://youtu.be/wJl0tzcCMAM, https://youtu.be/-gJOWMZ-hd4, and https://youtu.be/R5Jj1rbLwhE).
In the first half of episode 8 we focus on Shelia a member of the drama club and leopard who struggles with the fact that she’s a carnivore. Acting on impulse, she asks one of her herbivore friends, Peach, on a day out where they have a good time with even Peach admitting that she was a little scared of Shelia and realizing there was nothing she had to be afraid of. After this, we go to the Black Market where Legosi continues his training by fighting a meat addicted hyena (Yume: Male or female? (Nitsuj): I want to say male but honestly I can’t tell the difference) all while wearing a muzzle. Legosi manages to beat them by slamming their head into a wall and seems to be getting stronger in a different way (scene here: https://youtu.be/ciqARhKgzwo). Back at the school, Juno gets asked to play the lead in the coming up play which is the same from last season (can we get a little variety here?). We then focus on Juno who is secretly for segregation between carnivores and herbivores (Yume: Weren’t you trying to be the Beastar? The one who unites all species? Why the sudden change?). In a shocking turn of events she follows Haru to the garden club and helps her out where she sees the charm of Haru and starts to doubt herself about becoming the Beastar. She takes her leave but not before telling Haru to contact Louis who’s been worried about her (scenes here: https://youtu.be/2LIvgv6j9kc and https://youtu.be/XDYenyLUl5Y, I seriously doubt that). We then cut to Louis (Yume: Geez, a lot of stories this episode) who is watching a gator lose his testicles to a herbivore mobster because of his loans (scene here: https://youtu.be/Euo0bPtQg78, whatever’s in your mind erase it. (Yume): I had a line about leather balls but nevermind). He receives a call from Haru, but ignores it deciding he no longer can return to his former life.
Episodes 9-12
Episode 9 sees the reunion of Legosi and Louis (he ignored his supposed girlfriend, but I doubt he’ll ignore his boyfriend). While training in the Black Market (scene here: https://youtu.be/d6nk1EjZFmk), the Leo Group captures Legosi believing him to be a carnivore stealing elephant meat from one of their businesses. This leads to Legosi meeting Louis where at first Louis thinks Legosi was a hypocrite and has been eating meat while Legosi is happy to see his senpai again and shocked to see him leading the Leo Group (scene here: https://youtu.be/lgmSoW-Mh4g). The Legosi/meat situation gets cleared up (Yume: In a rather confusing way) and the two finally chat with each other where Legosi tries to get Louis to come back, but he says that’s impossible. Louis knows he can no longer be the light everyone wants him to be, but Legosi can. He cares about both herbivores and carnivores and is pure. Legosi can’t accept this and grabs Louis where he tells him he knows who Tem’s killer is and is training to take him down himself (scenes here: https://youtu.be/EeSkMWPA_V8 and https://youtu.be/6wXErzxf8mQ). Legosi escapes the Leo Group and returns to school the next day where he gets pissed at Riz for acting all innocent and friendly with herbivores despite what he’s done (scene here: https://youtu.be/MK_XaCA06p8). We get a feel good moment of the episode where we see Kibi (the herbivore who lost his arm. (Yume): That still gets a shock out of me) is in the hospital and receives a visit from Tao who ripped his arm off by accident. Since the incident Tao has been suspended from the school feeling terrible about what he’s done and vowing never to touch a herbivore ever again. Kibi on the other hand invites Tao over to his bedside to hold his hand as he refuses to let fear control him and wants Tao to move forward (scene here: https://youtu.be/QkOHiQNEzTU, and. . .I think that’s beautiful. These two guys were both suffering and to see them both get some closure on this situation and still remain friends is awesome).
At the start of episode 10 we see Riz start to worry about Legosi and Pina and realizes he needs to do something about them quickly before they expose him (Yume: Yeah why haven’t they gone to the police and exposed his ass again? (Nitsuj): Don’t know. Rules of nature, I guess. We’re going to school with a killer who could snap on us at any moment and I’m pretty sure nobody in the school would be able to take him down). We shift focus to Legosi and Haru who once again talk to each other (last time got awkward as hell) where she confesses that she loves Legosi, but at the same time can’t stop worrying about Louis (Yume: Here Haru, let me get you a knife to stab his heart. No good whorbit). Rather than tell her Louis is alright (Yume: He’s leading a gang of lions! How is he fine? (Nitsuj): They haven’t eaten him yet, have they?) he vows to get stronger to not only protect her but everyone (scene here: https://youtu.be/YDH2fcVlaYo). Pina has a run in with Riz who warns him to stay out of his way or he’ll eat him (scene here: https://youtu.be/mAURyDYAGIU). Pina counters this fear of being eaten by giving a chilling performance during rehearsal that makes everyone speechless (scene here: https://youtu.be/dnNJxaWn9Fc). After rehearsal Pina tells Legosi what happened to him and they talk strategy on what to do (Yume: Well we could go to the police and have him arrested for murder). Pina takes matters into his own hands by acting as bait and inviting Riz out, but Legosi says that’s too dangerous. He manages to intercept the invitation, but Riz finds him and after Legosi tosses his honey out the window (we’ll he just signed a death warrant) they has fight. They take their brawl into the showers where Legosi gets gashes above his eyes but he returns the favor by clawing up Riz’s chest. While Legosi has the speed advantage, Riz has the strength advantage, and he uses that to gain the upper hand and overpowers Legosi. Their fight comes to an immediate stop with the janitor coming by and they set up the time to finish this fight once and for all on New Year’s Eve (scenes here: https://youtu.be/LKNV2Jp5_B4 and https://youtu.be/3CPpruf18sI).
Episode 11 starts with Legosi eating an insect in order to understand what it means to take a life. Once he eats the bug he sees its spirit which appears in the form of a moth (damn, Legosi is tripping hard). Legosi bows his head in forgiveness expecting the moth to hate him, but instead tells him it’s fine. The moth explains that insects don’t have worldly desires, all they need is a respect for life. To them, eating means understanding what you just ate and making it apart of you for better or worse. This explanation brings Legosi to tears (Yume: Oh yes. You will believe a bug can enlighten you) and the moth finishes by saying all life is hard (nothing in life comes easy) and tells Legosi to keep on living for himself and for it. Legosi wakes back up with his fur grown back (Yume: Just when everyone was starting to get used to his new look) and wants to go tell Louis what he’s planning to do, but with his fur back they’ll surely recognize him (Gouhin, grab the cutter. Time for another shave). Rather than get another shave, Gouhin instead just dresses up Legosi as a woman (you know he did this to get a good laugh. (Yume): Oh no doubt) and he goes to see Louis who has no idea how to respond to this (Yume: He doesn’t know whether to be disgusted, disturbed, embarrassed, shocked, angry, turned on, or just laugh at this. (Nitsuj): Did you just say he should be turned on by this? (Yume): Oh come on, we all know he’d go gay with Legosi). Legosi tells him about his fight on New Year’s Eve (where Louis tells him to do the sensible thing and call the cops. You know, that’s funny coming from the guy who’s leading a gang of lions and pulled a gun out on his dad) and he wants Louis to be there and witness the fight. Louis says no, but Legosi has faith that he will be there (scene here: https://youtu.be/CinG3MITsCY. (Yume): If not, screw him). New Year’s Eve finally arrives and it’s time for the big fight where it’s hinted that Riz might have eaten Pina before arriving (kid was too cocky for his own good) and Louis can’t ignore his feelings for Legosi and quits the Leo Group to go and stand by his side (Yume: Told you he was gay for Legosi).
In the final episode we start with Louis getting out of the Leo Group by watching Ibuki his second in command die for him and he gets told to never come back to the Black Market (scene here: https://youtu.be/0ULvkksy7zQ. (Yume): Unless you want to get eaten). A lot of people were confused about Ibuki’s death, but here’s the deal. When you join a gang it’s a life thing. You can’t just join and decide you want to leave sometime later; you know too many of their secrets and they can’t trust you to keep your mouth shut. There have been instances of gang members being allowed to leave, but it’s a complicated procedure from what I’ve heard. Ibuki’s death gave Louis a way out as they could say Ibuki attacked Louis, Louis killed him and escaped into the night fearing the repercussions of his actions. We then get the fight between Legosi and Riz where we find out Pina isn’t dead (sadly) he’s just tied up in another location. The fight between Legosi and Riz is decent, but not really as good as we would have hoped. While Legosi seems to be trying to employ some level of fighting knowledge (although he does get one weird scene with the moth spirits. (Yume): And the less said about that the better), Riz is terrible as all he does it just toss Legosi around (hell, their fight in the school showers was better than this. Scenes here: https://youtu.be/tZY4EV3mnWc, https://youtu.be/1PxTEQ6K–Y, and https://youtu.be/I54uYCJVBq4). I know fighting isn’t a central focus of this series, but this is the big fight and confrontation they’ve been building up for 2 seasons and Paru’s dad just happens to be a master when it comes to characters beating the shit out of each other, she could have easily gone to him for advice and ideas to give this build up the payoff it deserves. Anyway, after Riz tosses Legosi a couple of times, Louis finally arrives and allows a momentary distraction for Legosi to catch Riz off guard and escape to chat and catch his breath with Louis. It’s here for the first time we see Louis be true to himself and share his true feelings with Legosi at how he values him as a friend (Yume: Really? Just a friend? You sure it’s not something more? (Nitsuj): Don’t ruin the moment). We even see him cry for the first time in his life (scene here: https://youtu.be/4QQZXZ5h8_Q). Legosi gets ready to head back down and fight, but Louis says he won’t win with the way he’s fighting now and offers his foot to Legosi to give him the strength he needs to beat Riz (scene here: https://youtu.be/zIkZvfpSbds). Legosi eats the foot of Louis and heads back down to fight where Riz’s eyes have finally been opened. Riz this whole time has been delusional believing that by consuming Tem he allowed their friendship to end on a happy note when really it ended on a tragedy note with Tem cursing him. Legosi may have eaten a part of Louis, but Louis doesn’t hold it against him. If anything Louis is thankful for what Legosi has done as it allowed him to be freed from the shackles of his past and their bond has only grown stronger from it (maybe if Riz would have been more open with Tem and how he felt, we could have avoided this tragedy). Legosi defeats Riz, Pina cuts himself loose and he calls the cops (Yume: That snitch. Enjoy your stitches. Scenes here: https://youtu.be/KMGnQCBLmsw, https://youtu.be/L1c6xwCuq8Q, and https://youtu.be/t5sJBw7JXtg). Both Riz and Legosi get arrested for predation, but Legosi was let go thanks to the testimonies of everyone involved (he just ate a foot. Compared to what Riz and other predators have done this feels like a minor offence). Of course he now has a criminal record (it was just a foot! Not to mention it was done with consent and a means of self-defense). The season ends with Legosi and Haru watching the sunset and Legosi saying he’s dropping out of school to learn more about the world (scene here: https://youtu.be/VyW1ySlmEFU).
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): This season was good and switched things up by focusing primarily on the struggles of carnivores rather than the fears of herbivores. We see the lengths they go through in order to stop themselves from causing harm to herbivores, the breakdowns they go through, and the distress it causes them whenever they hurt a herbivore. Some of them feel bad about what they do, others have breakdowns and can’t recover, while others are delusional and in silent pain. The anime shows us how both sides desire peace with each other, but neither side is willing to share with the others their pains, fears, and worries thus creating separation from each other.
(Yume): The reveal of who Tem’s killer is was a shock and how he was able to live a normal life all while hiding the deep pain he felt was good storytelling. Legosi’s desire to get stronger and the lesson he learns at the end of his training was good and shows how he’s mentally stronger than the average carnivore. The story of Louis becoming a mob boss and him trying to protect herbivores by controlling the underworld was interesting but never really took off. I think they killed this story off way too soon, but it did help him see how much he still has to learn about carnivores and to finally see the real him reveal himself to Legosi and call him his friend was good character growth for him.
(Nitsuj): Another major downside was not seeing more of Legosi and Haru progress their relationship. It’s clear that Haru has feelings for Legosi, but a part of her just can’t leave Louis alone and I would have liked to see them go into more depth with that story. Even her relationship with Juno gets overlooked. It was shocking to see Juno secretly support segregating the school only to see her interact with Haru and maybe doubt her thoughts. Actually, I really would have liked to see them go more in-depth with why she’s for segregation when last season she wanted to show everyone the strength of carnivores and was aiming to be the Beastar. Not to mention her relationship with Louis, I’m curious where that relationship will go from here. Also, as long as I’m speaking about characters, Pina really serves no purpose in this anime. Seriously, I feel like we could take him out of the anime altogether and it wouldn’t change a thing. The same can be said for Hexeye. Where the hell did he go!?
(Yume): The animation is still great. While some models may be recycled from the first season they’re used really well here. The music has improved, as there’s new pieces of music that fit the scenes better and leave a memorable impact on you. Aside from the last fight this season, the rest of the fighting we saw in the anime was good and for a series not known for its fight scenes I think that says a lot about them.
Final Score
(Nitsuj): The final score for Beastars S2 is an 8/10. I feel like they had a lot of plot points in this season that they didn’t fully explore and characters that were unneeded.
(Yume): I’m going with a 9/10. Aside from the final fight nothing really bothered me and the stuff you mention feels pretty minor. I believe they’ll address these plot points in the next season now that Tem’s killer has been captured and we can finally focus on the characters and their interactions with each other.
(Nitsuj): As of now there’s been no word of a third season and the manga as well as the spinoff ended months ago so the current status of the anime’s continuation is up in the air. Hopefully this anime will continue someday. If not, definitely check out the mangas. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.