Beastars: Another classic story where racism is bad but also one of the races are literal monsters [manga spoilers]
Disclaimer: The first two thirds of the manga (the first two seasons of the anime) are good and absolutely 100% worth watching. If you’re anime only don’t spoil yourself by reading this. The anime is also making improvements upon the story as presented in the manga so some of my criticism probably won’t apply to the anime. Beastars is a really interesting drama with well written characters, but after Legoshi drops out of high school and the stakes get higher a lot of things fall apart.
Summary of the world for those who aren’t familiar:
Beastars is a world like Zootopia with a modern day anthropomorphic animal society. All the animals are sentient and sometimes they eat each other. A lot of things about these animals differ from real life biology so much that carnivores and herbivores in this universe might as well be a fantasy species. Meat eating takes on a bizarre supernatural significance and at times it's essentially a battle shonen with a meat based power system. Meat temporarily boosts strength and also causes drug-like withdrawal effects. There’s a sharp divide between carnivores and herbivores, and certain animals who don’t fit into either category are kind of awkwardly shoved into one camp or another. The word "omnivore" is literally never used. It’s more analogous to human males and females, with carnivores being strong and aggressive and herbivores being weak and more pro-social. (Even though in real life a lot of the strongest and most aggressive animals are herbivores, reality is different in Beastars.) Interbreeding between different species is possible and results in hybrid animals. Meat consumption is illegal but tolerated in the same sense as prostitution being illegal but tolerated in many nations.
Racism in Beastars
Beastars is a complex series and unlike Zootopia it is not entirely about race. Predation is often used as an analogy for sex or rape and the narrative is in large part about coming to terms with sexuality. The main character, Legoshi, is a wolf who is in love with a rabbit named Haru, but he also struggles with a desire to eat her. At times herbivore characters also show a desire to be eaten themselves.
Racism is one of the themes of the work however. The whole story takes place in a city that I don’t think is officially named but is probably a big city in Japan like Tokyo. It’s a liberal democracy where equality and harmony is emphasized, even if that means censorship and suppressing dark realities. The term “black market” (for meat) and “meat eating” cannot be said on television. When Haru is kidnapped by yakuza the government covers up the crime rather than stop it. The Minister of Beast Harmony tries to suppress information about “the savage nature of hybrid animals.”
The mayor of the city is a lion who has gotten surgery to look less dangerous, and other carnivores must make efforts to hide their predatory features in order to be considered polite and acceptable. Legoshi hides his claws from view, large bears take mandatory drugs to suppress their growth. Herbivores also suffer discrimination and bullying in some contexts and every species has their own stereotypes to deal with. The first two thirds of the story take place at a desegregated high school, which becomes carnivore/herbivore segregated later in the story, and there is a lot of debate about safety versus equality.
Hybrid animals, neurodevelopmental disorders and ableism
Compared to racism, I never see people talk about this, but Beastars can definitely be read as an analogy for neurodivergence and ableism.
The main protagonist, Legoshi, looks like a wolf, but he’s a hybrid due to his grandfather being a komodo dragon. He is socially awkward and does not fit in. There are very few hybrids in the series (I have not read Beast Complex yet, feel free to spoil it if you have) but all the hybrids shown, especially Melon, come off as analogous to disordered people.
Legoshi: Often seen as autistic coded, fails to read the room and is described as “gloomy.” Due to being part lizard he does not come off as emotive like canines are expected to. Generally he is polite and gentle but sometimes completely loses control of his violent impulses. Most carnivores seem to be prone to losing control, but Legoshi seems to be regarded as a psycho even by other carnivores.
Legoshi’s mother Leano: She had more reptile DNA than Legoshi, and while she appeared to be a beautiful and popular wolf, internally she struggled to show the proper emotions and wear a mask of normalcy. Her obsession with outward appearance, along with developing reptile scales later in life, drove her to suicide.
Melon: Melon’s life seems to be absolute hell due to his status as a Gazelle-Leopard hybrid. He also had bad parents and was a bullying victim, but it seems his senses are innately scrambled due to competing carnivore and herbivore instincts. He has an instinctive fear of carnivores, but also a predatory urge to hurt herbivores. He has no sense of taste and no sex drive, which is stated to be a result of his hybrid status also be typical of carnivore-herbivore hybrids. Melon has enhanced senses and can sense things other animals cannot but also lives in a constant sensory hell. He’s also an evil psychopath.
What does all this mean?
The main character Legoshi is in an interspecies and inter..vore? relationship with a herbivore animal and intends to reproduce with her, yet the only example we get in the entire series of a carnivore-herbivore hybrid animal is seriously disordered due to being a carnivore-herbivore hybrid. I find it frustrating we only get three hybrid characters in the whole series, and although we are rooting for Legoshi and Haru, the only carnivore-herbivore hybrid in the series makes their relationship seem ill advised. I get that the villian (Melon) is supposed to challenge the ideals of the hero, but it goes too far when the villain is right and nobody is really proving him wrong.
This is a series that depicts interspecies love as a good thing, but also as a thing that is painful, difficult and often ends in tragedy. For example, Legoshi’s grandmother, a wolf, died of accidental poisoning from her venomous komodo dragon husband. His mom killed herself. There are no examples of hybrids actually living a decent life. I think this might actually be the point the mangaka is trying to make with the story: not that interspecies relationships are bad, but that the bad things in life must be accepted. In the last chapter, Haru and Legoshi make a point of accepting that their romance will always be painful and dangerous no matter what.
The manga is frustratingly inconclusive about how carnivores and herbivores are supposed to resolve their innate differences, and it’s also inconclusive about the fate of Legoshi and Haru. They talked a lot about getting married and Legoshi even imagined himself as his future hypothetical son (long story). Yet at the end, they do not get married. Instead of committing to marriage, Legoshi says, and I quote: “I want to continue having interspecies interactions with you for the rest of my life.”
I believe the intended message about Beastars is accepting yourself no matter who you may be. This message was done very well when the manga was still in a high school setting. Legoshi had to come to terms with his self loathing about being a carnivore. Louis had to accept being a herbivore. Haru also had struggles with feeling helpless and inferior to other animals. Once the story spread beyond high school society, the message kind of fell apart, and a lot of plot threads were introduced that went nowhere.
Overall it’s not the worst manga I’ve read and I do recommend reading it despite the inconclusive ending and mixed moral messaging. If nothing else it's a unique take on animals as an allegory for human social conflicts.