This anime had all the perfect ingredients to make into an Amazing show!
you got Studio Trigger working on it, taking place in a city were Beastmen lives in harmony, amazing visual style, killer soundtrack, Direction from Yoh Yoshinari who worked on the great Little Witch Academia series, Action scenes directed by the Mad Man himself: Hiroyuki Imaishi, all of that seems like an amazing show at first glances right? well… it kinda is on it’s first Half. Ladies and Gentlemen, Despite being mostly an enjoyable ride, BNA or Brand New Animal, was honestly a bit of a disappointment coming from a Studio i adore.. that’s not to say the Show is bad! in fact, let’s go with some Positives first before i dive onto the issues the series has to offer much to my dismay.

Obviously the first thing you notice on this show were it’s the series’s biggest strength it’s on the Presentation. this show looks fantastic as the world of Anima-City feels as alive as the animals that live in there! unlike something such as Zootopia, there’s a big variety on animals/Beastmen which i wanted for such a long time and that wasn’t Sing. we got it all like: Flamingos, Bulls, Canines, Horses, Wolves, Birds, Reptiles, Tanuki, Foxes, Visons and the list goes on. every character design is a joy to look at because of it’s diversity on the City. not only that but the animation itself is really good obviously. from the adrenaline action that is always exciting to watch even if it’s minimal, to bits of comedy that might give you a chuckle or 2 and it’s satisfying as all hell!

But it’s not just it’s animation that pops with style, we also get a Great soundtrack that gives a 80’s or Vapor wave vibe which i’m a fan. some of my favorite tracks in the Soundtrack Includes: “Crisis” which gives a sense of anxiety on the more extreme moments happening in the show, “Hope” that gives a very special feeling that makes you feel relaxed and comfortable,”Fight for Pride” which honestly gave me My Hero Academia Vibes and Break out which is just a smashing banger to me. Mabanua is quite a music composer if i say so myself

of course a Story is nothing without it’s characters on the story, and it’s yet another aspect i really like from the show. the Support cast isn’t exactly the most memorable or best since previous Trigger shows did a better job at it, although some of them are still fun to watch or makes you see more of them for being either funny or somewhat intriguing like Alan and Nazuma, but it’s main Characters are what made the show for me as well. we got Michiru, the main character who turned into a Beastmen in the form of a Tanuki and she seems to believe it’s because of a "Decease". she’s a very likable character despite being ruthless with her decisions at certain points. and at times a bit protective on what she thinks it’s worth saving. it makes me feel bad for her that her expectations for Anima-City didn’t met what she hoped when she first hops in. but as she grows, she gets more used to it, and gets used to her unique powers. i felt like she could have had a better character arc to say the least, especially compared to Akko which is a much better written one personally, but Michiru is still a enjoyable and relatable character.

but my favorite character of the entire show was none other than the Brutal, Protective and Badass himself: Shirou Ogami! honestly i was expecting his character to not be anything… special despite the cool design (and tons of Fanarts I’ve been seeing before the Netflix worldwide premiere in the Furry fandom Haha) but i ended up loving him more than i was hoping to be. he may seem like the kind of character that would beat the Crap out of you because of his strength and anger towards humans, but as you progress, you get to see more of his story and.. you will feel his pain towards the race he despises after a certain episode that makes him so much better than i can give credit for. in my opinion he was the Star of the show despite the strong moments with Michiru.

Sadly… this is where i’m going to have to talk about BNA’s biggest flaw that makes it far away from being an Incredible show to me like KLK or LWA was.. it’s WAY too short. and it’s second half bring the quality of it’s story down the hole drastically depending on your perspective of the show. and in this case it may leave you unhappy

while the Writing is decent and there’s nothing much wrong with it in my eyes, the story on the other hand feels rushed and filled with spots that could’ve been filled with giving more substance to it. the world of Anima-City is amazing and while we see a good amount of things surrounding it, it feels like there’s a lot left to be told or explored and it bothers because this isn’t a Movie, it’s a TV show were exploring these themes or Discrimination towards the Beastmen and the City, it’s supporting cast, could have been so much better. and the Twists that the show have didn’t exactly gripped me aside from Shirou’s story (which i don’t wanna talk about it because Spoilers). sure there’s still good moments onto this second half that keeps it from being Bad, but it feels underwhelming to me.. my suggestion is to make the show longer for like 24 episodes. have Michiru and Shirou grow close to each other as partners, have better understanding of Nazuma, make Alan deeper as a character than you think and so on. it’s upsetting seeing such good ideas not being fully well used onto this show..
as for it’s Climax final episode: not gonna say any sort of spoilers to it but i’ll admit i had a good time with it and things go well for our heroes so it was probably the best aspect of the 2nd Half. it was exciting and gorgeous to look at!

unfortunately, i can’t say BNA is the Trigger show that i was hoping to be an amazing achievement from them nor from Yoshinari’s vision... but, does that make the show un-enjoyable to me? No. while obviously it has very noticeable Issues, BNA is still a really enjoyable and fun experience like other Trigger’s works! it still has the fun action and comedy with style, the main characters are enjoyable, the soundtrack and atmosphere are on point, and even at it’s weakest points, one or two of these aspects will make you keep watching until the end. but one thing i hope is that Trigger does not simply drop this idea and move on. i wanna see them trying this again with either another season or going “FMA Brotherhood” like to make it better than it’s first attempt. and hey, LWA had 2 short movies before getting another shot with its animated series and it was great!

maybe it’s not the Near perfect furry bait anime series i was hoping it to be, but as far as these kinds of shows goes, it’s still one of the good ones. but if this is not your thing? that's totally fine. there's always Beastars or other shows like this that will satisfy you a lot more. but hey it's totally up to you on how you feel about this Anime! :D