Beastars – 04/05

Episode 4 is kind of a testing game for Legosi’s own nature, but from a new angle they haven’t approached before. Instead of testing his relations towards the herbivores, Beastars introduces Bill the Tiger, another carnivore who is the exact opposite with Legosi. Bill embraces his own nature and is proud of it. He’s macho, isn’t afraid to speak his mind and always wanted to be in the spotlight – your typical alpha dominant type. It’s quite clear how this Bill character is built as a foil for Legosi and further pushes our grey wolf to come to term with his animal instinct, and then some. The “then some” part is ultimately a small dose of rabbit blood that boils Legosi’s own blood. Make no mistake, the vial of blood reminds both Legosi and Bill of their nature. Whereas Legosi sees it as a curse, Bill regards it as something he’s entitled to have. I can clearly see Bill’s argument over this, as up until the second stage performance he walks a fine line between embracing his predator side and getting along well with the rest. As for Legosi, this vial of blood also reminds him strongly of Haru and all his guilt towards harming her.

And that conflict between Legosi and Bill escates nicely as well. Start as a mock fighting in a play where Bill doesn’t hold back at all against Legosi, the tension rises up after the bloody affair and explodes during the performance. I rather dig how they structure this whole thing in parallel with the play. That way the conflict feels much grander, and it puts us in a perspective of an audience. As in episode 5 informs us, the whole fight is a mean for Legosi to truly acts freely like himself. “I like it… which I don’t like”. We can also see a glimpse of Louis as he realizes that the second play was a success. He’s going for fame, that’s for sure, but maybe it’s just that he seeks recognition from others.

But the best moments of these two weeks come from Legosi and Haru meeting up again and I believe Orange really nails the special moments there. There’s lots of tender moments that it’s such a treat to watch: from Legosi ties her shoes and their eyes meet for the first time, to their animal instinct while staying together despite their minds know the other means no harm. In a way, despite living in such an isolated (and a bit sad) life, Haru is much more comfortable with her own self than Legosi’s. I must admit that it’s hard to talk about Beastars on an episodic basis. It’s such a fascinating world for sure, and Orange more than does its stellar job to bring so much identity to it, but the story is in its planting phase at best, and for now I’m not going to draw the deeper meaning that between these animals might represent our real world, be it the cutthroat highschool environment or the male dominant (as carnivores) in the highschool world. There is a certain commentary that could only apply to this unique world, and dissecting the themes might not do Beastars any justice.