Thanks for visiting Anime Rants. Since my last post about this series, I have watched the complete series of Beastars, so I now know the ending. Unfortunately, despite my most stubborn optimism, the Final Season Part 2 was largely disappointing to me. It didn’t settle anything important and had a weak, rushed ending with way too many short, chaotic plot threads crammed in. As we go through these next 9 episodes, I will try to explain the problems with the writing.
I can’t really vouch for Beastars being well-written in its last days. However, despite all the issues with this series, I just can’t stop feeling enjoyment and excitement when I watch Beastars. So in all likelihood, even the Final Season Part 2 will get decent ratings from me overall. Just don’t expect the same blind praise I gave to the first half of the final season in 2024. With all that in mind, here are my recaps and reviews for Beastars Final Season Part 2 episodes 4 to 6 (listed on Netflix as episodes 16 to 18).
Contents
- Episode 4 (AKA 16): The Red In Our Lives
- Episode 5 (AKA 17): Sweet Hunger
- Episode 6 (AKA 18): Upon a Nest of Dried Noodles
Episode 4 (AKA 16): The Red In Our Lives
Episode Rating: 7/10
First, let’s talk about the part where Legoshi thought he had killed Haru and mistook the tomato juice on her nightgown for blood. They milked this scene for all it was worth, dragging out the agonized weeping of the wolf boy. On its face, this was a stupid scenario because there’s no way Legoshi could have literally eaten Haru’s entire body and not remembered anything about it. There’s also no way I can suspend my disbelief into thinking that Legoshi’s nose was fooled so easily. Beastars didn’t need to stoop to this level of cheaply trying to rile up audience emotions. Moreover, the audience does not need the hundredth reminder that Legoshi and Haru’s story is likely to end poorly or that carnivores are unable to control themselves all the time. We know. Stop beating that dead horse.
Despite my complaints and general dislike of this scene, it wasn’t badly executed. The voice-acting by Chikahiro Kobayashi was stunning. His heartbreaking sobs nearly brought tears to my eyes. The visual direction was great, too. I loved how the color changed and everything turned pale grey when Legoshi went into shock. In addition, I thought it was appropriately chilling to see and hear Legoshi’s inner demon taunting him. I love the concept and haunting design of Legoshi’s psychological shadow self. This aspect of Beastars has always spoken to me for personal reasons. Even people who don’t have any identity dissociation issues can probably relate to the idea of an evil, more base self living within the mind.
It was interesting that the monster said that Melon let it out of confinement after Legoshi locked it away. It shows what a powerful effect Melon has had on Legoshi’s consciousness. I love this kind of psychological character exploration – which is all the more reason why it was disappointing when this important plot thread didn’t get a resolution. We never hear about Legoshi recapturing and sealing away his inner monster again. That’s another reason why this scene ultimately irked me. Regardless, it was cute when Haru and Legoshi reunited. After Legoshi reiterated his determination to marry her, Haru made a request. She wanted Legoshi to be with her at this year’s Festival of the Meteor. The wolf and the rabbit did a pinky promise, swearing to be together on that special day.
Meanwhile, the Mayor of Cherryton met with Louis and his father Ogma. He announced the upcoming Zoolympics, a coexistence-themed sports event that would take place in their city. It was also the Mayor’s idea to introduce artificial meat at the opening night of the Zoolympics. The new fake meat was being developed by the company owned by Azuki’s father. (The artificial meat is another example of a plot thread that didn’t get a satisfactory amount of development. It ended up feeling forced and unimportant.) Anyway, the Mayor asked Louis to be the spokesman of the Zoolympics. Louis felt that something fishy was going on, but he couldn’t refuse the new position. Weirdly, while they talked, the Mayor was having a great time fondling Louis’ antlers. I think this was supposed to show that the Mayor is taking more liberties as he uses Louis for his own ends.
Meanwhile, Pina devised a way to piss off Juno even further by taking her role. In the original casting for the play, Juno was playing the carnivore named Laila. Pina was playing the herbivore named Garan. But Pina now wanted the roles switched. Much to Juno’s dismay, the rest of the drama club agreed to the change. Kibi and Tao, the writers of the play, believed this role-switching would make their theme even stronger. So, despite loving the role of Laila, Juno was now stuck playing a herbivore for the first time. This isn’t news, but Pina is such a goddamn fucking brat.
In another stupid, rushed plot point, Legoshi got himself kidnapped by the Shishigumi after approaching them in broad daylight. His goal was to ask for information about Melon, but the lions refused to give it. Instead of killing Legoshi, they used him as bait to draw in Louis. They blackmailed him into coming to meet them and saving “the wolf.” Louis thought that Juno was the one who got kidnapped, so he was surprised to see Legoshi. The Shishigumi asked Louis to be their leader again, but Louis declined. His reason was that it would dishonor Ibuki’s death. Since Louis wouldn’t agree to be the leader, the Shishigumi had no reason to tell Legoshi anything. Nevertheless, Free dropped the hint that Melon was known in normal society by the title “Sensei.” To be continued.
Episode 5 (AKA 17): Sweet Hunger
Episode Rating: 7/10
Juno still wasn’t happy about playing Garan the herbivore, but she put real effort into trying to understand the role. She asked Louis to meet her so she could ask for acting advice. While waiting on a response from Louis, Juno went to a cafe where Haru happened to be working. It was interesting to see Juno and Haru interacting again. Haru was shocked to discover that Juno’s crush was none other than Louis. Though Juno’s perception of Louis was not quite accurate, it was clear she cared about him very much and was struggling with it. Juno feared that her instincts secretly wanted her to devour Louis. With a bright smile, Haru assured Juno that she would never eat Louis. This also gave Juno the inspiration she needed for playing a confident herbivore. It was a good talk.
Meanwhile, Louis spent some time with his fiancé, Azuki. She seems like a cool character. I loved seeing her wild side as she drove around curvy roads at breakneck speed with heavy metal blasting out of the car speakers. During their time together, Azuki tried to make things romantic by sensually applying sesame oil to Louis’ antlers, which he pointed out were fake, as he had recently shed his own. Azuki said it didn’t matter if they were fake right now because they would be real someday. She also mentioned in passing that her father was considering “cleaning up” the Black Market area once and for all. It was part of an effort to make the city presentable for the Zoolympics.
Louis was alarmed to hear this since he still cared about the lions in the Black Market. He immediately hatched a crazy plan to warn the Shishigumi of the coming danger. (Note that the destruction of the Black Market is yet another plot thread that just gets hurriedly thrown in without ever being properly developed or resolved. I think it could have been exciting and interesting if it was done right and given more time.) In order to not be stopped or recognized in the Black Market, Louis put on ragged clothes and carried a “for sale” sign around his neck. He priced himself at 100 million yen and walked through the streets boldly until he reached the Shishigumi’s territory. I thought it was very fitting that a proud character like Louis would give himself such a high sale value.
The Shishigumi were happy to see Louis again, though also disappointed that he still wouldn’t be their leader. They seemed grateful that Louis took a risk to warn them of danger. As for Louis, he felt so relaxed in the midst of the carnivores that he drifted off to sleep. It was one of the sweetest moments in Beastars, seeing the deer boy doze off in a den of lions. Meanwhile, in the last part of the episode, Legoshi went to Haru’s university to deliver some udon. While there, he discovered Melon’s scent. Dom, the peacock who used to be in the drama club, spotted Legoshi while he was snooping around. The two friends had a good but short talk. After walking Dom to his class, Legoshi continued looking for Melon. The scent led him to the office of Lemeron Sensei – AKA Melon.
The episode ends with the first mention of the local chain of disturbing murders. (This is one of the plot points that actually does get development and resolution, but in awkward spurts that don’t feel very well structured in terms of narrative. You can’t just cram an important, exposition-heavy subplot into short clips throughout a few episodes and expect it to be smooth.) Each time these murders happen, two beasts would die. First, a carnivore would kill a herbivore in an attempt to devour it. Then, an unknown third party would kill the carnivore and escape, leaving two dead. We learn at some point that the victims of these murders are interspecies couples. Anyway, the last scene showed the news reporting on the unsettling murders. To be continued!
Episode 6 (AKA 18): Upon a Nest of Dried Noodles
Episode Rating: 5/10
First thing’s first – I’ll offer my opinions on the single-episode subplot of Bill and the baby bird. Unsurprisingly, Bill intended to eat the avian infant as long as nobody knew about it. As soon as it was clear that Pina knew the truth – and after he reminded the tiger that Riz was in juvenile prison for devouring – Bill changed his mind. He immediately decided he wanted to rescue and raise the baby bird. This sounded incredibly stupid to me on its face because the obviously correct and moral thing to do would be to take the fledgling to a hospital or otherwise tell a trusted adult. The irresponsible and arguably cruel thing to do would be to keep it secret, all but guaranteeing its death. It’s also insanely unlikely that any chick would survive being kept inside a refrigerator for any significant length of time. How was that baby bird even alive in the first place?
If issues like these had been appropriately addressed within the story, this subplot wouldn’t seem so stupid. As it was, there was no explanation as to why Bill and Pina kept the baby secret. Nothing was done to address the believability of the baby bird’s survival, either. The “moral dilemma” was incredibly simple and obvious. And that’s mostly why this episode got a lower rating from me. But going back to the story, Bill and Pina tried to take care of the baby bird until it died suddenly one day. Bill buried the creature sadly, having grown attached and hopeful. Pina’s narration reminded us that when eating and loving are mixed, someone is bound to get hurt – as if that point hadn’t been beaten into us so many times already, and as if that should be the main takeaway from the story. Shouldn’t the point be to bring abandoned babies to the hospital?? This was so dumb.
Anyway, let’s move on to other parts of the episode. The interspecies murders in the city were starting to affect Legoshi’s life. Seven the sheep passed out and was hospitalized after discovering the bloody bodies of another interspecies couple. She wasn’t hurt, and by the time Legoshi visited, the shock had worn off. Sagwan was there for her, too. (By the way, Seven gets no more character development in this season. She just gets brushed to the side, which is another reason I was disappointed by the final season’s second half.) Elsewhere, Louis had a radio talkshow interview for his position as the Zoolympic Ambassador. Haru and her friend Lisa happened to be near the radio studio and joined the live audience. After the interview, Haru and Louis reunited. The deer decided to walk Haru home. They took the bus together, chatting and catching up.
While they talked, Haru revealed the next annoying and badly formulated plot point – the fact that she agreed to be eaten by Melon. There were so many things wrong with this. First of all, we never learned what happened between Melon and Haru back in episode 3 (AKA 15). What did Melon do after he stabbed himself with a boxcutter? How did Haru get away? We have no idea – we only know that Haru encountered Melon again at the university some time later. Melon said he was being fired and this was last chance to see Haru. They chatted as if nothing weird or dangerous had happened between them, which was confusing as fuck and another reason I hated this whole scene.
Haru was happy to learn that “Lemeron-sensei” was a mix because it meant that she could have healthy babies with Legoshi someday. As the talk continued, Melon revealed that his birthday was on the upcoming Festival of Odd Souls and that nobody had ever celebrated his existence before. Haru offered to give him a present for some reason, again as if nothing strange or dangerous had happened. Melon pointed to Haru, saying that he wanted her flesh as his present. He asked Haru to pinky-swear on this deal, and for some reason, Haru agreed. I know we’re supposed to think she was flustered and panicking, just trying to bring the stressful encounter to an end. Still, this was incredibly stupid.
Louis was rightfully outraged when he heard all this. He also knew that the teacher Haru mentioned was none other than Melon the psychopath. In an attempt to talk sense into the rabbit, Louis said some powerful lines, telling Haru that she was not prey and that she needed to keep living. To make the stupidity of this whole plot point even worse, Haru got defensive and told Louis not to boss her around. The writing for Haru’s character was so interesting and full of potential in the first season by comparison. Now, her actions make no sense and her whole character arc was arguably misogynistic. It’s like, look at this dumb girl who can’t make her own decisions and always ends up a damsel in distress. The brave and wise boys will always have to protect her from her own stubborn inclinations. I am so sick of this kind of writing. Anime needs to get better with writing female characters.
That is finally it for my notes about this episode. Now that I’ve seen the whole series, including the ending, I wish I could say this episode was just a bad apple and it gets better. Unfortunately, the writing only goes downhill from here. Regardless, there are still aspects of this show I loved, even in the final seasons. So, I will continue to cover the last six episodes of Beastars Final Season Part 2.
~Thanks for Reading~
Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants
Anime Rants 