Yet one of the most emotionally complex and interesting manga was a school-based murder mystery about anthropomorphic animals, and that's just wonderful.
BEASTARS, by Paru Itagaki. First published in 2016 and first published in North America in 2019.
PLOT:
At Cherryton Academy, herbivores and carnivores alike study and live together, albeit segregated. It's a tenuous arrangement at best, but the murder of Tem the alpaca brings tensions to a head. At the center of it is Legosi, a tall, awkward wolf and one of the techs in the school drama club. He tries to minimize tension within the club in his own way, but a chance encounter with Haru the dwarf rabbit girl brings out feelings and appetites he's afraid to explore.
It's easy enough to make jokes comparing this series to Zootopia, a movie that was also full of anthropomorphic animals where the tensions between predator and prey species played a notable role in the plot. Those jokes don't do Beastars justice, though. Beastars has far more going on under its surface. It's a veritable stew of complicated emotions that is incredibly compelling to consume.
It's no surprise that the segregation between herbivore and carnivores is meant to be a big damn metaphor for racism. The fact that those groups tend to be subdivided (formally and informally) along taxonomic families adds in another level to the metaphor, the equivalent of the divisions that tend to occur along ethnographic groups, religious groups, and other similar sorts of subcultures. While Cherryton Academy is meant to be place fostering understanding across these various lines, Itagaki makes it clear that even before Tem's murder that these divisions will take a lot more than good intentions to overcome.
But Beastars is more than just an allegory for prejudice. The arcs of its three most prominent characters explore more personal issues in very different but interesting ways. Legosi and Haru are both dealing with sexuality, whether it's Legosi struggling with his appetites (both literal and libidinous) while Haru is trying to take control of her own identity through her sexuality and having to deal with bullying because of that. I have to think that it's no accident that Itagaki chose to make these two a wolf (a species associated not just with cruelty and cunning, but also predatory woman-chasing) and a rabbit (a species associated with weakness, passivity, and femininity).
Then there's Louis, a stag who is star of the drama club. His laser-like focus on success at all costs combined with his near-sociopathic approach to Legosi (and pretty much everyone else who crosses his path) gives every scene with him a strange and sinister air. He's like a furry Bret Easton Ellis character, and clearly he's going to play a bigger role as things go on. That Itagaki can juggle such complex character writing right from the start alongside the heavy social commentary AND make it so compellingly readable is a testament to her incredible skill.
ART:
I was also really impressed with Itagaki's art. There's a lot of nuance in her characters' faces and gestures. It's doubly impressive when you consider that her cast isn't terribly anthropomorphized. While everyone walks on two legs and tend to have more humanoid hands and feet, they're still mostly animal-like in size and shape. Her linework is loose and expressive, and this goes double for her page lay-outs. It's also quite moody - while shadows tend to be abstract, she uses them well for the sake of mood when the story calls for it.
RATING:
Itagaki herself describes Beastars as "an animal manga that is a human drama," and I don't think I could summarize this series any better. It's human in the sense that it's messy and emotional and complicated, and that's precisely what makes it so good.
This series is published by Viz. This series is ongoing in Japan with 16 volumes available. 3 volumes have been released and are currently in print.
Want a chance to win a $25 RightStuf gift certificate? Then tell us about your favorite manga of 2019 to enter our annual Holiday Review Giveaway!
But Beastars is more than just an allegory for prejudice. The arcs of its three most prominent characters explore more personal issues in very different but interesting ways. Legosi and Haru are both dealing with sexuality, whether it's Legosi struggling with his appetites (both literal and libidinous) while Haru is trying to take control of her own identity through her sexuality and having to deal with bullying because of that. I have to think that it's no accident that Itagaki chose to make these two a wolf (a species associated not just with cruelty and cunning, but also predatory woman-chasing) and a rabbit (a species associated with weakness, passivity, and femininity).
Then there's Louis, a stag who is star of the drama club. His laser-like focus on success at all costs combined with his near-sociopathic approach to Legosi (and pretty much everyone else who crosses his path) gives every scene with him a strange and sinister air. He's like a furry Bret Easton Ellis character, and clearly he's going to play a bigger role as things go on. That Itagaki can juggle such complex character writing right from the start alongside the heavy social commentary AND make it so compellingly readable is a testament to her incredible skill.
ART:
I was also really impressed with Itagaki's art. There's a lot of nuance in her characters' faces and gestures. It's doubly impressive when you consider that her cast isn't terribly anthropomorphized. While everyone walks on two legs and tend to have more humanoid hands and feet, they're still mostly animal-like in size and shape. Her linework is loose and expressive, and this goes double for her page lay-outs. It's also quite moody - while shadows tend to be abstract, she uses them well for the sake of mood when the story calls for it.
RATING:
Itagaki herself describes Beastars as "an animal manga that is a human drama," and I don't think I could summarize this series any better. It's human in the sense that it's messy and emotional and complicated, and that's precisely what makes it so good.
This series is published by Viz. This series is ongoing in Japan with 16 volumes available. 3 volumes have been released and are currently in print.
Want a chance to win a $25 RightStuf gift certificate? Then tell us about your favorite manga of 2019 to enter our annual Holiday Review Giveaway!
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