Beastars, OR, the PG-13 Remake of Zootopia

[Tani Coyote]

(Sometimes R depending on the exact chapter!)

Paru Igataki's Beastars takes place in a world where carnivore and herbivore species live side by side, ostensibly in peace, though racial tension boils below the surface between predator and prey species. The story focuses on Legosi, a large grey wolf who has conditioned himself to avoid using his impressive strength. The uneasy peace between predator and prey is shattered due to a series of attacks on herbivores by carnivores, one of which happens at Legosi's own school, though the culprit remains unidentified, and this is a central conflict for much of the early comic. Making things worse for Legosi, he starts to develop feelings for a rabbit student named Haru, but he is constantly plagued with indecision on whether his feelings are love or a carnivorous desire to eat her.

Beastars takes numerous artistic licenses with biology to make its world work. The most apparent is that meat basically is a drug: any predator who consumes some immediately gains strength, but they also develop an addiction. All carnivores have a natural, repressed desire to consume it as well, which puts herbivores at unease, particularly considering herbivores are incapable of consuming it themselves to even the odds. Predators' natural instincts clashing with social and legal expectations drives a lot of conflict in the story.

Needless to say, there is an impressive amount of philosophical discussion throughout the manga about the ethics and politics of this sort of world. All in the context of a slice of life manga about high schoolers who are talking animal people. Truly, Zootopia if it was not meant for younger audiences.

Beastars has 117 chapters and releases new chapters weekly. An anime is also on the way!

The manga will be officially translated into English at some point this year, but there are numerous fan translations floating around. Is anyone else excited to see where this goes?

[Balding Spider]

Beastars is Zootopia without the fluff. It's such a good read, granted I only read like three manga (JOJO, My Hero Acadamia, and Beast Stars) but honestly I think it's my favorite of the books.

Also I love that the marine area is basically that part of town. The area in a town that is uneasy and odd.

[Polkadi~☆]

When the volumes do come out in English, I am geniunely curious about reading this story. The synopsis has already captivated me, and I'm interested in knowing more. Like Balding Spider, I don't read many manga (only one I've collected extensively is My Hero Academia, and I read all the volumes of Dragon Ball that my school library has), but I'll still pick this up.

How many volumes are there so far? I'd like to read up on it all before the anime!

[Tani Coyote]

16 minutes ago, Polkadi~♪ said:

How many volumes are there so far? I'd like to read up on it all before the anime!

So far we're up to 12 volumes, with 117 chapters out so far. A new chapter of about 19 pages comes out every week.

[Polkadi~☆]

2 minutes ago, Legosi (Ogilvie) said:

So far we're up to 12 volumes, with 117 chapters out so far. A new chapter of about 19 pages comes out every week.

Yup, I've just started to look up information about the series, and a new chapter a week would seem right for a Weekly Shonen Champion series (i found that all thanks to the volume cover you posted, where it does say shonen champion :V). I look forward to the English release!

[DabigRG]

What in the world?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Whoa. This is forreal?

 This was one manga I never thought would get animated as soon as I read it. I always thought it was too obscure to get this attention...shows what I know, but I’m looking forward to this one.

[Adamis]

The first two volumes have been released last month in French and I loved them. 

[Kellodrawsalot]

Im intrigued. 

[Kittea]

My girlfriend loves this series ^^

Will check out the anime adaption then maybe check out the manga afterwards ^^ I've been interested in this series for a little while due to being a fan of Zootopia and plots involving moral ambiguity in general ^^ From what I've heard a lot of effort went into creating the rules for this universe ^^

[Rowl]

Do we really have to compare every single idea that features anthropomorphic animals as a Zootopia ripoff? Geez, Disney didn't invent the idea of anthropomorphic animals. I'm so sick an tired of that stupid Disney movie! 

[Tani Coyote]

Just now, Rowl said:

Do we really have to compare every single game that features anthropomorphic animals as a Zootopia? Geez, Disney didn't invent the idea of anthropomorphic animals. I'm so sick an tired of that stupid Disney movie! 

First off, this isn't a game, it's a manga and anime series.

Secondly... take a look at it. It really has major Zootopia vibes. The division into predator and prey. The animosity between the groups. Even the fact the size differences are realistic and reflected in the ergonomics of the whole society.

This is very different from Sonic, Star Fox, or Sly Cooper. Those are more human-like narratives than Beastars or Zootopia. The cast in those could easily be human in most cases and it would not make much difference. In Zootopia and Beastars, it would break the whole story.

[Adamis]

Separating preys and predators, plus size differences, have been quite common, really. Zootopia didn't invent it.

[Rowl]

On 2/28/2019 at 10:17 AM, Adamis said:

Zootopia didn't invent it.

Yeah, but everybody on this freaking planet thinks that! This just shows, how powerful Disney as a company is. When they show an idea, doesn't matter if someone else had this idea before, then people will see Disney's idea as the canon one. Same also with Frozen. If a future movie features a character with ice powers, doesn't matter if it will be a girl or a boy, he/she will be called out an Elsa ripoff.  

[Tani Coyote]

Sure, Zootopia didn't invent it. But Zootopia popularized it. That matters when it comes to marketing.

So it makes sense to refer to Zootopia rather than [whichever piece]. To do otherwise runs the risk of pedantry as we become fixated on who the OG series is.

Honestly, Rowl, you seem to have come into this thread with an axe to grind. I did not invoke Zootopia to dismiss this series or any other, but because it's the series most people would be familiar with. It is perfectly logical to invoke it.

Frankly, "ripping off" is itself a hilarious concept, because nobody is completely original. Ideas mix and match, and indeed, human imagination is constrained by things we have seen before that our brain can then hybridize. Some people just have more success spreading their ideas than others. Now sure, some people do blatantly copy others, but it's also readily obvious when it's done. That's not what's in play here, though; I'm not saying Beastars copied Zootopia, just that anyone familiar with Zootopia will have an idea of what this world is like. It's a simple heuristic.

 

 

[Adamis]

Zootopia was also more popular amongst furries than non-furries (that's not an attack/insults on furries, let's clear that). The movie had its success, but I don't see many people in my area mentioning it very often, especially when talking about Beastars. They compare it more with comics like Blacksad, which has been longer in the mind of people. 

I also understand the sentiment of people being tired at others shouting ZOOTOPIA for anything having similar concepts.

I mean, I'm not surprised that you, Ogilvie, would compare it to Zootopia

[Tani Coyote]

7 hours ago, Adamis said:

I don't see many people in my area mentioning it very often, especially when talking about Beastars. They compare it more with comics like Blacksad, which has been longer in the mind of people. 

From some quick research:

"Though both authors are Spanish, their main target audience for Blacksad is the French-speaking market"

Given your location in Belgium, I think there's an explanation for that.   I've never heard of Blacksad until now.

Quote

I mean, I'm not surprised that you, Ogilvie, would compare it to Zootopia

Furry things aside, Zootopia did receive a lot of praise from mainstream outlets for tackling privilege, racism, etc., though.

While furries really love it, it's still a very successful film that a lot of people could readily understand comparisons to.

[Tani Coyote]

Slightly extended trailer for Beastars has dropped, giving us a little more of an idea of what the animation will look like. We also have a release date for the anime: October 2019.

[Polkadi~☆]

Beastars and My Hero Academia Season 4 starts at the same time?

Well.

This has turned into a difficult situation.

[Kellodrawsalot]

23 hours ago, Legosi (Ogilvie) said:

Slightly extended trailer for Beastars has dropped, giving us a little more of an idea of what the animation will look like. We also have a release date for the anime: October 2019.

This is giving me lowkey Blacksad vibes then Zootopia now.

[Adamis]

Volume 3 of the manga has been released over here last week and ooooh boy that world is dark. (Warning : a bit of gore)

Spoiler

There's a black market for carnivores. A tramp offers to sell his fingers for money, asking them to bite them on the spot. And some of Legoshi's friends have apparently accepted the offer off-screen.

 

[Tani Coyote]

21 hours ago, Adamis said:

Volume 3 of the manga has been released over here last week and ooooh boy that world is dark. (Warning : a bit of gore)

  Hide contents

There's a black market for carnivores. A tramp offers to sell his fingers for money, asking them to bite them on the spot. And some of Legoshi's friends have apparently accepted the offer off-screen.

 

Personally, I'm amused that the series' driving conflict increasingly is that eating people is only wrong if they don't meaningfully consent to it.

[PaddyFancy]

So I forgot about this series since it was mentioned here until October of 2019. Bought my first book on my trip to America, watched a fan sub of the anime and looked ahead for the translated scans. I love it. I love it. I love it.

And lucky for those anime fans, when the 12th episode of the anime closed, it was confirmed there will be a 2nd season. Just can't get enough of it.