If you were a fan of Disney’s Zootopia then you’re in luck! There’s a new anime coming this autumn that will satisfy. Orange Studios (Black Bullet) has announced that their new CGI anime adaptation of BEASTARS, will begin airing in early October 2019 on Fuji TV and Ultra. Netflix currently has exclusive streaming rights. In addition to broadcast details, it was announced that the ending theme will be performed by YURiKA, who is also known as the performer for Shining Ray, the opening song of Little Witch Academia. Any plans for the opening theme is currently unknown.
What is BEASTARS?
Ongoing since September 2016, BEASTARS is the first manga series by Paru Itagaki. The story takes place in a world where all its inhabitants are anthropomorphic animals, all living side by side despite species differences. While there are laws in place that make meat consumption illegal, it’s not exactly paradise for everyone. Carnivores and herbivores still harbor a lot of tension.
At Cherryton Academy, animals are able to experience living and growing with each other, giving many students hope for equal understanding. However, when an alpaca character is suddenly murdered and eaten one night, distrust and division rises between carnivore and herbivore students.
Enter Legoshi, a gray wolf, and a second year at Cherryton Academy. While used to being feared and mistrusted, he immediately becomes the murder suspect because he was close friends with the victim. The reality? Legoshi is awkward, timid, and shy. He is even known to purposely take dives when getting into fights with other carnivores that he could easily win. Legoshi is simply a pacifist with a kind heart, and sometimes overly dramatic in how he handles social situations. As a member of the school’s drama club, Legoshi works as a lighting technician and stage assistant to the club leader, Louis (a red deer). During a late-night rehearsal incident, he has an unexpected encounter with a dwarf rabbit girl named Haru. Although no one is hurt, it does make him more aware of his primal killer instincts.
The story develops as Legoshi and his group of friends learn to share their insecurities with one another and come to terms with being carnivores in an instinct-restricting world. With themes such as repressed emotions, complex romance, racial profiling, and segregation, BEASTARS shows great potential given current social or political concern for many viewers.
In Japan, BEASTARS has been well received by audiences, and even won multiple awards in the last year. In 2018, it won Best Shonen Manga at the Kodansha Manga Awards. Itagaki also won a New Face Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in the same year. In addition to the main series, Itagaki has started a spin-off of one-shot anthologies titled Beast Complex, which takes place in the same world.
Currently, BEASTARS has fourteen volumes published in Japan. Viz Media has licensed the manga for English localization, with the first book having been released this July. Volume two is slated for release in mid-September.
