There’s a mixed bag of news for fans of Beastars, the gorgeous manga and anime series that is perhaps best described as “grown-up Zootopia.” The original manga by Paru Itagaki seems to be coming to an end, but as the manga door closes, an anime-shaped window opens for the confirmed release date of season two of the Beastars anime.
In the recently released combined 36th and 37th issue of Akita Shoten’s Weekly Shonen Champion magazine, it was revealed that the manga is currently “right before its climax.” This lines up comments made by author Paru Itagaki earlier this year in the same magazine, where she said that the “end is in sight” for the Beastars manga. Itagaki launched her animal-fueled drama series in Weekly Shonen Champion in September 2016, with the Akita Shoten publishing company recently releasing the 20th volume of the series earlier this month.
That 20th volume of Beastars had some very important info for anime fans, though. Printed on the wraparound jacket band attached to the recently released volume was the news that season two of the Studio Orange-produced Beastars anime would be premiering in January 2021. The show is set to once again air in Japan on the Fuji TV +Ultra programming block. While no news about streaming availability or a global release has been confirmed, the first season of the anime was available on Netflix, so we’ll likely see the second season land there as well.
Viz Media currently publishes the Beastars manga in English, and describes it as follows:
At a high school where the students are literally divided into predators and prey, it’s personal relationships that maintain the fragile peace. Who among them is a Beastar — an academic and social role model destined to become a leader in a society naturally rife with mistrust?
Last night at Cherryton Academy, an herbivore student was killed and eaten. Among the members of the drama club, the herbivores’ suspicions naturally turn to their carnivore classmates… The prime suspect? Legoshi, a large wolf. But he wouldn’t hurt a fly — or would he? And will dwarf rabbit Haru bring out the beast in him? Or are his feelings for her… something else?
The first season of Beastars debuted back in October of 2019, before getting a global Netflix release on March 13th this year. It was produced by Studio Orange, the incredibly talented CG anime studio behind other series like Land of the Lustrous and Dimension W. While the staff and crew for the second season of Beastars have yet to be confirmed, much of the team from the first season is likely to return.
Shinichi Matsumi directed the first season of the anime, having previously been an episode director on Rurouni Kenshin and Rage of Bahamut Genesis, as well as an assistant director on Pom Poko and Porco Rosso. Scriptwriting was handled by Namami Higuchi, who was previously a writer for Little Witch Academia and Ninja Slayer From Animation. Nao Ootsu, the firearm designer for Saga of Tanya the Evil and sub-character designer for Banana Fish, was the character designer for the show. Eiji Inomoto was in charge of CG directing and previously worked on Kan Colle and Ghost in the Shell Arise. Finally, Satoru Kousaki was the music composer for the first season of the show, with previous credits on Wake Up, Girls!, both seasons of Oreimo, and Monogatari Series Second Season.
