You know the saying: one should never judge a book by its cover? That goes for Beastars undoubtedly. Many people might dismiss it as an anime meant for furry lovers. While not even have given a proper shot first. Although, there are definitely those kinds of details here that could make one think that way. Beastars is a lot more than meets the eye, and should not get glossed over that easily. It's a story centered around anthropomorphized animals. Meaning they are human-like. At least when it comes to behavior, actions, feelings, and so forth. One can't merely justify everything with the front and go on with your day. That's a down-right insult. To [the author] Paru Itagaki masterful writing of this great story. Beastars is a coming-of-age tale about self-acceptance with psychological elements to explain or assess our characters thoroughly.

What I mean by that, is Itagaki uses things like acting as a form to express one's psyche and what really makes one click. Let's see a person that comes off as genuine and caring, could actually hold some ill feelings, and those are realized through acting. There are many examples of such moments, and it's better to experience them yourselves since words can only accomplish so much. Moreover, Itagaki does a great job of exploring human emotions. Like how teenagers act, their frustration, issues, and so much more. Plus, the added bonus of animal instincts for both carnivore and herbivore. Our story centers around a young, naive male wolf Legosi who is living his life normally. Until one day, his beast instinct makes him accidentally injure a small animal. Legosi is thankfully able to stop himself in time before things get very dicey and dangerous. Legosi is a wolf that is scared of his instincts and of the fact that one day he may truly hurt someone to the point of no return.

It's more than that, but Beastars is first and foremost Legosi's life and how he comes to terms with his nature as a wolf. Maybe he might ultimately give up and take a drastic measure. But that's up the audience to figure out for themselves. We feature three protagonists in total. All of them are likable and charismatic. Beside Legosi, there is Louis, who is a very striking person. His interactions with Legosi are some of the best I have seen. Their dialogue is so realistic and impactful. Both affect one another in either a positive or negative way. Then Haru, who is the main love interest for Legosi, and she has lots of personalities and is an overall lively character to watch. More importantly, she is a dwarf rabbit. So you can only imagine how the romance aspect will work when Legosi is a large and heavy wolf. Itagaki does, in fact, do a very sensible job of explaining those aspects, and it's realistic to boot. Haru and Legosi are not your typical protagonist who lacks common sense and a means to think for themselves. They get to an answer slowly over time. But while some of the setups could use more work.

It didn't affect my enjoyment much, and the disappointment factor is overshadowed by all the greater points of Beastars. I can't forget mentioning the love-triangle we have in Beastars, which is properly executed, unlike some media and literature. It's hard to go into the nitty-gritty without spoiling some stuff, but essentially the logic of love seems to be more realistic when in action. As I've said prior, the main characters are not stupid and can make their own decisions. So the romance is not one-sided or feels lacking in substance. Both parties, through many trial and error, eventually start climbing the stair to adulthood on their own. While we're on the topic, there are some occurrences of close intimacy between our cast members. Some might find this slightly offensive if you are not used to seeing anthropomorphized animals in the act. It's to be expected because of the nature of the story. But a heads-up has never hurt anybody, so this is a fair warning.

I will also throw this in here that he comedic elements in Beastars are quite funny. It's also big thanks to the voice actors. One of my favorites consists of a carnivore and herbivore recreating that one gold meme not knowingly. You know the one that a shota gets chased by a onee-san? That's the one, and it's down-right hilarious. I love how Orange cuts it from the carnivore walking to the herbivore running after them in a quick act. It'd add to the charm of that moment. When it comes to the story of Beastars, it's told uniquely, to make us feel as close to the characters as possible. Every decision or action someone could make is explained in a detailed manner through the use of inner monologuing. As an example, when Legosi was trying to stop a fight from escalating against carnivore smaller than him in size. He went through in his head any way possible to break the two from brawl without using his own nature as a wolf. This goes to add credibility when I implied Legosi lacks confidence in himself, and this possibly explains my other point as well.

When it comes to the art-style and the animation, it's full-on CGI but absolutely beautifully produced. Studio Orange is back in action from their top-notch adaptation of Houseki no Kuni. We see they have not lost their touch and are doing a good job of depicting the complex elements in Beastars. For instance, the psychological aspect or even the animal's appearance. While art-style might come off as simple in overall nature, it contains every detail unique to an animal. It's not shoddy or low quality, and Orange can be flexible if need be. The background is nothing short of stunning either since many of the scenes shown are no doubt wallpaper material. Nothing but praise for the CGI animation as well. It's quite fluid and versatile, as we saw during some of the action scenes we had. Yes, there are elements of gore, but it's definitely censored. But we had a man offering his finger for a huge amount of money on the street, and the sinister aura and gritty feeling still didn't fail to deliver the right emotions.

Lastly, I have to throw a massive appreciation for the voice actors. They all did a superb job of putting themself in the shoes of their respective characters. I feel like most if not the whole cast voice acting was spot-on, and suiting them perfectly when it came to overall energy, personality, and appearances. That being said, Orange is not stopping there and takes a step further. Throughout Beastars, you can see them experiment with many things with their production value. A notable one was the play with different camera angles, or how the darker elements are shown on the screen. Whatever the case may be, Orange seems to be successful in all categories. That again goes to also complement the beautiful soundtrack and the many lovely and impacting insert songs we have here. The opening song is very fitting, and the jazzy nature somehow works too well with Beastars. It's a catchy tune that gets stuck in your from the first listen. Did I forget to mention, we have all those exquisite ending songs, which are different every episode? It's no doubt in my mind Orange is an epitome of what a CGI animation studio should aim to become like.

Now, what's actually negative about Beastars? There is, of course, some flaws here and there. If I had to point any fingers, it had to be the second half of the Beastars. We got this dangerous organization story out of literally nowhere, and it could've been fleshed out more and executed with the terms Itagaki set prior. What I mean is there are some cliche troupe here such as "damsel in distress" and twist around the story to a point it felt like your typical shounen. Itagaki does, however, conclude it on a satisfying note. All those loose ends that where setup previously was fully realized and got the conclusion it deserved. But some of the stuff in this one arc was definitely rushed, and I don't think Itagaki was in his right mind when writing this story arc. This is the only part that irked me slightly, but I didn't ruin my complete enjoyment either. I still had a blast with Beastars all the same. I am unquestionably going to read the manga at some point. For now tho I am gonna try my best to wait on the sequel, which was announced right after the ending credits. I'll probably jump on the manga once either the sequel concludes, or I get swallowed by my own curiosity to see more of this great story unfold.

Overall, Beastars is a unique story that centers around anthropomorphized animals, with profound and moving elements. And a somewhat tastefully executed romance that blossoms over time slowly. There are unquestionably people that won't like Beastars for many kinds of reasons. Still, I would highly recommend to give it a solid shot and let your eyes and heart be the judgmental core that leads you to a decision. You might be pleasantly surprised and come to love it. As many others might've while being reluctant to try it out first. I was one of those persons, and boy, am I glad I didn't gloss over Beastars. It's personally one of the best anime of 2019 to me, despite some flaws. I can only hope the sequel which will be coming very soon will be just as impactful, if not a lot more. Not to mention, the story on the level of something we saw in the early stages of Beastars. Anyway, it's one of those stories that might make a meaningful or massive imprint on you. But it's up to yourself to decide if it was positive or negative. I am the former personally.