One of the more unconventional manga and anime franchises to become popular in the past few years is BEASTARS. A series starring anthropomorphic animals and the feuds that arise between carnivores and herbivores, BEASTARS is in many ways an anime equivalent to Disney's Zootopia.
Although the manga came to an end last year, the BEASTARS anime is still going on, with a third season of the animalistic anime on the way. Despite its particularly furry appearance, BEASTARS is sure to appeal to all manner of anime and manga fans, and the manga ending makes it fairly easy to get into from the beginning. Here's what the series is about and where people can read and watch the whole menagerie.
What Is BEASTARS About?
BEASTARS tells the story of a civilized world in which humanoid animals, both carnivorous and herbivorous, live side by side. This existence is mostly peaceful, but tensions among the species are (needless to say) fairly tenuous. The main character is Legoshi, a wolf who leads the drama club at his school and who lives with other carnivores.
However, things go awry in the world when an alpaca is killed in the night, seemingly by a carnivore. This makes the many species begin to distrust each other, and Haru, a rabbit who is in love with the star drama club deer, also draws the attention of Legoshi. The result is a story full of mystery, death and sadness, all starring the furriest anime cast ever.
Where and How to Read BEASTARS
BEASTARS was created by Paru Itagaki and ran in Weekly Shonen Champion from 2016 to 2020. The chapters amassed to 22 tankobon manga volumes of fantasy slice-of-life drama. Viz Media handles the Western localization, although only 14 of the 22 volumes have been released in the West so far.
The manga can be read/purchased digitally through Comixology, and can also be found physically online through Amazon and Right Stuff Anime as well as brick and mortar retailers like Books-a-Million, Barnes & Noble, Walmart and Target. Some of these retailers also allow for the next two volumes to be pre-ordered, with the first coming out next month.
Paru Itagaki also created the series Beast Complex, which came out before Beastars did. Set in the same universe, it focuses a bit more on slice-on-life dynamics and less on murder mysteries, further showcasing how the different animals interact with each other in this world. The collection of these stories can also be bought from the aforementioned retailers.
Where and How to Watch BEASTARS
The BEASTARS anime was announced in 2019, with the show premiering later that year. Produced by animation studio Orange, the show so far has two seasons, both of which have been brought stateside. It was also revealed this summer that the show will be receiving at least one more season, which makes sense given that only about half of the manga has been adapted.
The series is available to stream in the West exclusively through Netflix, which has not released the series outside of "Netflix jail." Thus, there have been no DVD or Blu-ray releases internationally, with the only physical media collections being in Japan. Netflix viewers therefore have the easiest and fastest way to get into the franchise, with there currently being only two seasons worth of content to binge.