Thank you for visiting Anime Rants. On December 5th, 2024, Netflix released the first 12 episodes of Beastars: Final Season. I watched the season over a few days and was surprised to find that it ended on a cliffhanger and nowhere close to a good ending. That’s because there will evidently be a Final Season Part 2. As of December 12th, it is not known how many more episodes will be released or precisely when. Most people expect Part 2 to be released in the next six months.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I will release episode reviews for the twelve new episodes that dropped on Dec 5th. I’ll probably try to cover two or three episodes per post. Without further ado, let’s look at the first two episodes.
Contents
Episode 1: An Itchy Collar
Episode Rating: 8/10
We open with a scene of Yahya, the Beastar who will be extremely important in this season. The narrative doesn’t tell us who he is yet, but most fans already know him from the trailers and general online discussion. Yahya is an older male horse with black fur and a lean, tall build. In this opening scene, he’s looking at Legoshi’s legal record, which now has one case of devouring. Yahya is intrigued by the description, which states that Legoshi received consent from the deer he partially ate. This is where Yahya begins taking an interest in Legoshi.
Having dropped out of school, Legoshi moved into an apartment complex. He is suffering from “meat withdrawal,” a sort of madness that follows the consumption of live flesh. It can last up to three months after devouring. The main symptoms seem to be extreme cravings, heightened aggression, and lowered impulse control. It is often accompanied by mental anguish. This meat withdrawal makes Legoshi groan and shout at night, which is bothering his neighbor, Seven the female sheep.
Seven is extremely cute, in my opinion. I love her petite, stocky build and her determined green eyes. That being said, I don’t ship her wih Legoshi. For one thing, she’s several years older than the wolf, who is still a minor. Anyway, Seven tries to introduce herself, but Legoshi can’t even be polite in his current state. He withdraws without a word. For what it’s worth, Legoshi knows he’s being antisocial and rude, but it’s his only real choice right now. Protecting herbivores means sometimes not interacting with them.
During the day, Legoshi works at a ramen shop as a delivery boy. One day, he brings ramen to Gouhin and the two of them chat. Gouhin learns that Legoshi was raised by his kind grandfather, who doesn’t yet know that Legoshi was arrested for devouring. When he hears that Legoshi wants to marry Haru and start a family, Gouhin gives some bad news. A convicted devourer cannot legally marry an herbivore. Legoshi is devastated, but his overblown reaction was funny.
We next switch to a scene were Louis stands admiring the golden hair that he kept from Ibuki’s body. It’s good to know he got some small token to remember Ibuki by. In this scene, Louis reveals his new mechanical prosthetic leg, and it looks bad-ass. Though Louis is grateful to his father for paying for the highest quality prosthetics, he knows he has not escaped the pressure of his position. Louis still has to inherit the company and obey his father. The journey ahead won’t be easy.
Meanwhile, Cherryton High School has been officially segregated into carnivores and herbivores, which most students are happy about. Jack the golden retriever gets selected for a student award. He’s happy, but also troubled by the other carnivores and their open talks about meat. Legoshi’s grandfather, who doesn’t know what’s going on with his grandson, calls Jack. He asks for Legoshi’s contact info, but the wolf now has no cellphone. Jack can’t help.
The next scene shows us what Haru is doing. She has begun university and has befriended several other rabbits, including Anko, the one who used to bully her back in the first season. Apparently, she has matured a lot and can now respect Haru like a friend. To make things even more surprising, Anko is now dating a carnivore: Eado the enormous African Lion. Anko, Haru, and company hear some other animals saying judgmental and hateful things about interspecies relationships. Haru can’t help thinking about Legoshi and feeling discouraged.
Two intense events happen in the last few minutes of the episode. Seven goes to complain to Legoshi about the noise and stupidly enters his room. Legoshi pounces on her and looks ready to eat her. I thought I liked Seven, but she’s apparently not very bright. Hopefully this was just a temporary lapse of reason and she’s actually a character who can handle herself most of the time.
Meanwhile, someone murders that Saiga antelope in the black market (the one who’s always selling his fingers). Whoever it was took the Saiga’s horn and presented it to the Shishigumi. The mysterious individual demanded to become the new boss, killing a hamster drug dealer and holding a knife to Free’s throat. Most fans already know that this enigmatic murderer is Melon. Still, in case you haven’t been spoiled for his character yet, I won’t say more. To be continued.
Episode 2: The Shiny Black Nose Before Me
Episode Rating: 9/10
Legoshi managed to calm down after realizing that the creature in front of him was “Miss Seven.” He immediately crawled away from her. Seven decided not to report him and instead ended up helping him call the electric company. When Legoshi asked why, Seven said it’s nice to be called by her actual name.
The next scene shows Louis attending university. He sees two lions with an empty can of kines and immediately knows it’s not an ordinary energy drink. Fortunately, the lions hadn’t drank any of it themselves. Louis took a bossy attitude and pointed out that one of the lions was experiencing meat withdrawal symptoms. The lion in question got angry and swiped at Louis, but the deer defended himself extremely well. (He learned it from the Shishigumi).
As Louis leaves the scuffle victorious, he thinks to himself, “I can’t seem to escape carnivores.” He then remembers when, on the day of his highschool graduation, Juno suddenly kissed him. He called her in private to show her his prosthetic leg. Since she was the only one from school who knew he’d been active in the underworld, Louis believes he has a “connection” with Juno. But he wasn’t expecting her to turn it into a romantic connection. (Let’s face it, he’s probably gay~).
I hated watching Louis shoot down Juno’s love confession, and I don’t even like Juno all that much. I still want her to have a chance with Louis in the event that he’s bisexual, lol. The kiss was so adorable, too. Louis refused to entertain the idea of dating a carnivore, but he was blushing as he stormed away. So. Cute.
Elsewhere, the Shishigumi are waiting on their new boss to explain to them how they will regain their fame and lost business. While they wait, Jimma consumes a drink called Kines, goes insane, and tries to kill his companions. They restrain him with force. Just then, Melon arrives and explains that Kines is a liquid drug infused with proteins from herbivore body parts.
Carnivores who have never eaten meat will simply get high from the Kines and feel more powerful. However, if a carnivore has already eaten meat, he reacts differently to the drug, becoming extremely bloodthirsty and violent in a way that resembles intense meat withdrawal. The new boss wants to distribute this disastrous new drug, marketing it to young animals as an energy drink. The Shishigumi members initially refuse, but are more or less bought after Melon brings them the head of a murdered elephant.
Back in the daytime society, Legoshi defends Seven at her workplace when she’s being harassed by some co-worker carnivores. They call her “Lamb” rather than her real name and are extremely condescending. Once the bullies see that there’s a huge gray wolf backing Seven, they immediately rethink their actions, and promise to stop being so petty. Legoshi was only trying to be helpful, but Seven gets pissed off at the sheer level of privilege he has as a large carnivore.
The sheep girl spent years just trying to grin and bear it. Then an arrogant teenager came to her workplace and instantly took away her problems by just existing nearby. That would be infuriating. Legoshi later realizes his mistake and apologizes to Seven, who quickly forgives him. She knows it wouldn’t be reasonable to stay mad. The wolf and the sheep spend some time together sipping drinks at the park.
The scene switches to the city at night. A gang of rats steal a bunch of drugs that were going to be sold on the streets. Since the rats are vigilantes, the cops do not treat them kindly. There’s an extremely brutal moment where a large dog in the police force traps the small rats in a cloth bag and proceeds to slam it against a concrete wall repeatedly, leaving bloodstains. The leader of the rats is tied up and helpless to save his brethren. However, Yahya the Beastar charges in and saves the rats, reminding the brutal cops that even the smallest animals have the same right to life and dignity.
Meanwhile, Legoshi encounters two young carnivores selling Kines. He tries to politely decline, but the two carnivores insist on him trying a sip. They crack open a can and the smell of whatever is inside begins to flood Legoshi’s sensitive olfactory system. Let’s hope it doesn’t make him completely lose it. To be continued.
Closing Thoughts and Links
I have strayed a little from my original intended format. In the future, my Beastars episode reviews will probably not contain detailed recaps. Rather, they will focus on a few aspects of each episode that I want to focus on. Writing about everything that transpires in an episode takes quite a bit of time and doesn’t add much of anything unique to the discussion.
With that note out of the way, what do you think of the new Beastars season so far? As for me, I’m impressed. The animation quality doesn’t seem to have dropped and the character writing is still awesome. The voice-acting is great and often hilarious for comedic moments. Furthermore, I love the way this story slowly teaches us details about the weird world in which it is set. We’ve already learned more about drugs and prosthetic technology, for instance, in this season.
The character whose story I’m most interested in right now is probably Louis. However, I’m also deeply invested in Legoshi and Haru. Finally, I’m eager to see more of the mysterious new villain, Melon, who now leads the Shishigumi. You can expect more episode reviews soon for Beastars: Final Season. Sayonara for now.
~Thanks for reading~
Written by 7Mononoke
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