I'll be honest, I didn't think I was going to like this show and wrote it off as some weird furry show. But then, I started watching it and damn! it was really good. But, like all good anime, it went downhill fast. This show went from a mislabelled furry show that I felt bad for writing off to becoming the show I wrote it off as.

I know this show is one of the more popular ones this season, so I get it if you're mad that I'm saying bad stuff about your favorite show, but hear me out.
I'll start the way the show started: with the good. The show starts off phenomenally: an alpaca is being chased by a predator whose name we don't know and the horror and fear is handled really well, accentuated by the show being in 3D, which doesn't work out too well for a lot of shows, but it works here pretty well, especially with the lighting and movement. Not only does it use its graphics in an original way, the show also brings up really interesting ideas.

Now, I first thought, huh? Oh hmm interesting, but Zootopia already did that. And I wasn't wrong: the divide between predators and herbivores was done in Zootopia, and done really well. But this show did it even better. The hysteria and distrust that ensues after the alpaca died is portrayed through gossip on the streets and between friends. Not only that, but the main character is introduced slowly and the watcher has the same distrust for Legosi as his herbivore friends. The show lets these ideas fester for a while, showing the abuse Legosi has to deal with as a carnivore in a society composed of animals living together contrasted with his kind and caring personality.

I may be remembering this wrong, but after 15-20 minutes of seeing him badmouthed and thinking that he might be the one who killed the alpaca, we see a really touching scene where Legosi delivers a love note from the dead alpaca to the girl the alpaca had a crush on. This causes the girl to feel bad about shit-talking him, but Legosi says it's ok, he gets it all the time. 1 episode into the show, and it's already hit a nerve and given the main character depth and empathy from the viewer. Once again, absolutely phenomenally introduction to the show. This is why I felt bad about initially writing off the show. This characterization of Legosi is further accentuated by Louis, the deer who is his foil. Though initially portrayed as an asshole who abuses Legosi, we soon see the reason he acts this way: unlike Legosi who was born strong and now needs to hide himself in the shadows so herbivores can feel safer, Louis needs to do the opposite for the same reason. He needs to shine in the light to show the strength of herbivores. it's really neat that the characters are fleshed out like this and you can really understand them and why they do what they do, instead of having stereotyped bullshit characters you see in most other shows. Unfortunately, all good things must end, and I blame it on the show's shift from a show about Legosi's self-discovery as a carnivore/predator who must suppress his desires to one about Legosi's love for a rabbit. That's right, a wolf loving a rabbit. Now, normally this wouldn't be too bad, but the way it's done in this show and the way Haru is characterized makes this really not work. Now there's no good way to say this, but it needs to be said: Haru only has two defining characteristics: she's stubborn and she's a slut. I'm not kidding, that's seriously all the characterization she gets, beyond the mature way she accepts her death when Legosi attacks her at night. The problem is, this mature, thoughtful characterization doesn't count. Haru's maturity begins to show cracks in it as she outlines the reasons that she became a slut: she didn't want people to look down on her because she was a little cute bunny rabbit, and she saw sex as the way to do that. Normally, I would be hesitant to or simply wouldn't make this conclusion, but this show literally says it by itself.

The problem here is that Haru could've had her own development arc, like Legosi, where she learns that the way she's dealing with her species is not natural or healthy. Speaking of characters that aren't utilitzed by the plot, we have this asshole:

Now here, I was hesitant to say anything about this guy, because the only characterization he ever gets is that he's a carnivore and owns it, unlike Legosi. Now normally, this would be a great way to develop both Legosi and this guy into characters who both accept their predator instincts but learn that they need to use their strength for the good of those that need protecting. And this, this is where the show goes off the deep end: once Legosi goes bat-shit during the play, the show stops making sense altogether. First of all, Legosi's rationale for this is shaky at best and really dumb at face value. Second, there's no way that the play could be seen as anything other than a fight by its dialogue (the first part you could maaaaaaybe think was part of the play as a viewer, but definitely not the second). I can overlook this (and I did when I watched this show) but I was hoping for this guy and Legosi to finally find some common ground. Sadly, when the show goes off the deep end, so does this dude, as he becomes defined by his carnivore instincts and does some pretty questionable stuff later on in the show. Legosi tries to restrain him, but Legosi's conviction and methods of convincing are poorly thought out and don't produce any results for the character. But, watching this show and realizing that one, change isn't something that happens immediately and two, this is probably a multi-season show, I was still hopeful. Then I got the interrogation scene with the panda and I thanked the lords of anime: the show would finally turn around! Legosi would stop his love bs and get back to discovering himself, realizing that his "love" was just hunting instincts. Mind you, I didn't want this because I didn't like Haru, I wanted it because it would make for a much more interesting plot and get it back on track (to what it had been before). Also the rabbit porn mag scene was priceless XD.

Ok this review is getting pretty long and I've probably lost most of you, so I'm going to start wrapping this up. It's not too hard, because after the panda scene, the show goes to shit, and then that shit hits the fan. FAAAST. We have a female wolf introduced quickly and instead of Legosi becoming a role model for her and helping her discover her place as a carnivore while she helps him redefine his, she becomes a love interest. Ugh. So many more interesting ways to use her in the plot, even more disappointing is that it seems the writer almost has her help Legosi redefine his role in society as predator, but he pushes it away to be in the shadows and chase Haru (last episode). Now if this wasn't bad enough, the show continues to get worse with a random rescue arc right before the show ends. I'm not even going to include any details, because this scene was absolutely insane. It didn't fit at all, it was just further evidence of the show shoehorning a romance plot into a self-discovery anime. There was nothing good about this scene. Nothing. NOTHING. And if you can put aside your love for the Legosi x Haru ~~shit~~ ship aside, you'll see what I'm saying. After that, everything else just doesn't make any sense anymore and the show has strayed so far from its original plot that it's ridiculous, don't give me that bs about them fighting their instincts to become a couple, that's not what the show was about, it was about animals finding their place in a society that segregates carnivores and herbivores, and by the end of the show, there is not a single character that is any closer to doing that than they were at the beginning.

Honestly, I enjoyed most of this show, and did my best to ignore the stuff that really made no sense, but the ending really ruins it for me. I don't like this show, not because it's bad. Even worse, because it had the potential to shine in the spotlight but slunk into the shadows after Haru instead.