Beastars – 08

Beastars is in pretty good shape this week, as far as the narrative is concerned. We have a great amount of scenes between lovestruck Romeo & Juliet Legosi & Haru in this episode, and Beastars tangles its chemistry web by exploring the chemistry between Louis and Juno. I will start first with what I feel didn’t work too well this week, Juno’s development. When Louis comments that she’s overconfident, my immediate reaction was “nah”. We first saw her literally being bullied just 2 weeks ago, and the way she’s falling for, and declaring her love to Legosi is way too quick. I don’t see any chemistry between her and Legosi, although it’s by design since Legosi doesn’t really think much of her (but Hidaka in Hi Score Girl is basically the same role and she has such strong chemistry with Haruo and she’s the best girl, so…). 

The very core tension between Louis and Juno, though, is interesting and promises to be more complex now that she learns about the little being named Haru. They both aim for Beastar status, but Juno makes the damn point clear to Louis that she’s stronger than Louis by physically overpowering him, a “subtle” hint that the Beastar position is more suitable for carnivores (it’s no coincidence for me that the Mayor is a carnivore). Louis isn’t going to give up, obviously, but he does put himself in the dangerous zone here. I don’t know if this is a motif towards his character, but during 8 episodes we’ve seen him more physically injured than anyone else (the strained ankle, the antlers shed off his skin, and now this), and he’s also in a tense atmosphere with Legosi on top of that.

For those like me who seek more of screen-time between the Wolf and the Rabbit, this week offers plenty of those to great effect. What I found really interesting, is that fundamentally they are different. In more precise manner, they’re never the same wavelength. Haru has a mentality of someone seconds away from death at anytime, something that understandably she can’t relate to Legosi. Legosi’s feeling towards her is love, whereas she considers him as a friend (not with benefits). Haru Opens up to her feelings, whereas Legosi tends to keep them to himself. Despite all that, they still hang together by some odd red string of fate. I don’t think it’s a great move at all that they decide to runaway in the subway (Haru could’ve just explained), but that allows Legosi to be proud of his nature for the very first time.

One thing they do have in common is that they do look out for each other (and that they’re a big question mark towards the other). Haru realizes his kindness, but at the same time perplexed towards his mixed signals (“tell me, are you gentle, or brash?”). There’s no surprise that Legosi can’t confess to Haru (it would be awesome if he does though, narrative-wise), but I didn’t expect that she’d tell Legosi about the incident. Finally, towards the “blackout” sequence, there are many great moments in display here. The blackout does seem odd to me, but I was floored by the way the carnivores surround their herbivores friends to protect them. Legosi looks for Haru by following her scent (that says lots of things) just so that in her moment of vulnerableness, she thinks of Louis. Damn, that moment of awkward silence say it all – and Juno is about to catch up to everything. Very effective moments right there. The dim flame of jealousy has caught the necessary fuel to expand into great hellfire.

What’s not to say: holy smoke, this leopard girl is sexy!!!!! Make her the main characters please.