Beastars 2nd Season

Let's be honest: Have you ever thought of sequels that just blows the original out of proportion and into peak culture? We definitely have seen quite the popularity of shows with fanbases claiming for sequels after the originals finished their run (i.e. Kaguya-sama, heck even Yuru Camp with their massive score jumps for sequel seasons), and in the case of Beastars, the basis largely stays intact with more world-building, intricate characters, consistent visuals and music to back that score jump. For those who've already watched Season 1, you know how massively outstanding Beastars was when we needed a breath of fresh air into the light ofrepeating tropes and clichés for adaptations in the same ludicrious manner of money and fame. But Beastars? Even people who don't watch anime, are absolutely floored from such highly intricate levels of detail, that's come from a now well-established studio Orange that is the "Diamond Play Button" hallmark for fully 3DCG anime ever since Houseki no Kuni in 2017, and on Netflix no less. Season 2, takes that hallmark and cradles it even more to substantiate its solid foundation with mangaka Paru Itagaki's sublime writing that is highly considered to be unparalleled for direct inferences to what can best be described as the anime version of Zootopia. As compared to Season 1 with the whole Cherryton School debacle with finding out the murderer of that one lone alpaca named Tem, Season 2 takes the anthropomorphic animal societial cast both in and out of school, mostly in regards to the main trio: Legoshi, Louis and Haru. With Louis and the massively high expectations of Cherryton School labelling him as the potential "Beastar" in Season 1, his exit comes as both a surprise and a shock to the school, because for all animal schools, each of them has a "Beastar" representative should the imbalance between carnivores and herbivores come to toll and questioning. So, the next potential "Beastar" of Cherryton School is given to the one who can solve Tem's murder, which immediately falls into Legoshi's responsibility, though his personal conviction is the trigger as opposed to marking him on the big scene. And boy, did Legoshi went out of his way to make a 180 degree change of himself from the inside out, despite his desperate attempts to try finding Louis, and in-between, reciprocate his complex understanding of the relationship between him and Haru (which honestly is still a blank at this point, but by no means bad). Louis, like Legoshi, also underwent a huge change, as his exit from Cherryton School meant that he is a free soul, free to do whatever he wants on his own choices. And while sticking together in the lions' den of the Shishigumi is a bold move, changing the inner workings of the Shishigumi from the typical gangster-esque Yakuza-like atmosphere to being a civil-cum-negotiable group, that's gotta be some bold commendation on his part. Alas, one can tell that both Legoshi and Louis are aiming for the "grass is greener on the other side" turning point of an ideaology by being an alternate societal gap-reality of themselves: Legoshi, training to be a full-on herbivore by supressing his carnivorous senses with panda doctor Gouhin's intense training, and Louis, a herbivore living in a carnivore's world, and learning to get used to consuming carnivorous food at the behest of his own being. Even Haru, as much as she is on the sidelines for Season 2, still greatly cares for both males that are on differing terms, with more of that tangible feeling still as confusing as the typical love triangle. The focal point for Season 2 is more of the world-building, and more importantly, new characters like KajiKaji's dall sheep Pina and Hirosho Shirokuma's brown bear Riz (as the main antagonist). Unsurprisingly, Pina's first appearance in the anime is just as eschewing of the manga: the nonchalant "Ladies' man" Bishounen herbivore that likes to taunt carnivores and twist words to his advantage, I'd say he is an inviter of trouble. Riz on the other hand, is just as unassuming as you would see in the same characteristics as any coloured bear, only except that he knows how to navigate his way through a challenge when the situation calls for it, and is also tactical of his actions. Once again, studio Orange is back for more brilliance of its 3DCG prowess, and though it retains more or less the same anthropomorphic heart-felt feeling from Season 1, the juxtapose could not be said when there are action scenes within Beastars, and that has always been seen as the "anime is leaps better" pointing-fingers trope of how polished the entire show has become overtime. It's always so satisfying to watch sharp and fluent 3D scenes done proper, and for good measure. But the music, oh good golly heavens. Season 1 has cemented itself in tip-top shape, and while this sequel kinda loses out in a teeny little fraction, it's still great nonetheless for the haven of Yoasobi fans for covering both the OP and ED. I'd also like to give a shoutout to the animators that did the ED visuals, it's all traditionally hand-drawn and painted on paper for a digitally-painted animation montage of over 1000 sheets of drawing paper, that's some fantastic impressive levels of dedication and passion taken to great levels of care, similar to Season 1's stop-motion OP. Beastars is one of many stellar works that has never once fallen short of a 10/10 adaptation-wise, but to see the series to fruition may only damper one's hopes, so keep your expectations in check. Nonetheless, another outstanding follow-up to what is already the high base of landmarks for 3D anime.

Everyone’s favorite weird looking furry anime is back! Season 1 surprised me by being way better than I thought it was going to be. I hated the animation style, but the story and characters were compelling, and I looked forward to season 2. I can now say that I’ve been surprised once again! Season 2 was so good I almost didn’t mind the funky animation! Season 1 set up some plot threads, but it didn’t really resolve many of them. It was more of an introduction to the society of Beastars and the characters. Season 2 actually follows up on those and it delivers! Remember thatmystery in the first season about who ate Tem? Well in season 2 you get to find out who did it. It’s not just a shocking surprise and “what a twist” moment. You actually get to dive into the twisted psychology of the killer! Remember those lion yakuza guys? In this season we actually get to spend time with them and they’re fleshed out to not just be generic bad guys! You know how Legoshi was constantly haunted by his desire for meat? In season 2 he undergoes training to fully conquer his predatory instincts and get one step closer to making his impossible relationship with Haru a reality. Every episode of season 2 ends with a dramatic finish that will have you dying to see the next one. This is a tense ride from beginning to end. I avoided going to heavily into the plot because I REALLY want to avoid spoilers. The ride wouldn’t be nearly as fun if I knew what was going to happen. The characters you loved in season 1 are all back and better than ever. It’s not just the main trio of Haru, Legoshi, and Chad Elkington that get character development. Bill the tiger was kind of a dick in the first season, but he gets some important character moments here. We also get to learn more about the grouchy panda. No, not that MAL reviewer who shits on your favorite isekai anime. I mean Gohin from the animal black market. Ibuki the yakuza lion ends up being one of the most interesting characters in season 2. The only character I probably could have gone without is Rokume the snake security guard. Her character’s CGI was easily the worst looking part of season 2. Every time she moved; I felt my whole body cringing. Did you like the OP from last season? Well, this season strikes back with yet another killer OP and a great soundtrack overall. Beastars has solid production values all around, even if the CG art style still takes some real getting used to. I don’t speak Japanese, but I’ve been told the Japanese voice acting is much more natural sounding than in most anime. This seems to be what I heard, but it could just be bias from hearing someone say that. If anyone who speaks Japanese is reading this, please let me know. If you liked season 1, you should definitely check out season 2! If you haven’t seen season 1 yet though, watch that one first. This isn’t an episodic anime where you can easily just start with season 2. Despite its somewhat off-putting appearance and the furry factor, I’m going to highly recommend this as one of the top anime of winter 2021!

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 Iwanted 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.

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 andforth 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.

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