Beastars again ups its games considerably this week, offers a darker and deeper takes to its themes. While there is a lot going on in this episode, they’re all interweaving and heading towards the same direction. It’s such a smart move, for example, to delve into Louis’s troubled past at this point of time. Not only we have a great grasp of his character and why he is the way he is now, we can also see the difficult choice and sacrifice he has to make, between Haru the girl he loves and his life goal. This flashback sure is cruel and terrifying – as terrifying as the current day’s plot – Louis remembers his past as a caged prey waiting to be butchered. Although unable to speak nor write, he holds his dignity high and that impresses his later-adoptive father (still, a cruel way to test his resolve). It’s the past that Louis’ trying to forget, but it’s also the past that ties with him and makes him the way he is now: full of pride, determined to be on top.
And this flashback does a solid job at hinting the unsettling underground power that is about to come in the present day. While previously the Panda doctor assures Legosi that the meat sold in the black market comes from the deceased herbivores, this week turns the table to show us these poor orphanage herbivores are caged for the sole purpose of being butchered. To add to that, the mayor has shown his fangs, in a way that he decides to not pursue the kidnap any longer, in fear of his current position. Worse, he blackmails Louis into turning a blind eye, with the promise of clearing his “shameful” record and the Beastar status. It’s a nice conflict for Louis to test his quality. You can literally see him shaking with the Mayor’s proposal, and now it’s a battle between his long-awaited goal in life vs his righteousness. It’s Legosi who knocks some sense to him but I reckon sooner or later he will join Legosi to rescue Haru, knowing the cost that he eventually has to pay.
But then there is Legosi who doesn’t put any wrong step this week. Upon knowing the relationship between Haru and Louis – or more like, her feelings toward Louis – he decides to confess his feelings and moves on, to which deeply embarrassed the poor girl. Her “making excuses” is charming and awkward (boasted by comical facial expressions – something that Beastars hasn’t done so far), but it underlies how she’s afraid to reject his feelings. I bet for her this is the first time someone confesses to her, and she isn’t ready to take it. The proper confession will have to wait, though, as the plot gets much more sinister afterward. Sinister, because I don’t know how uncomfortable I’d feel at the scene where she is ordered to strip naked – if these characters are human counterpart. As they are animals, they get away with making us feel intolerable – but the cruelty is still there. She’s a being where her life can end up just like that – a meal for the banquet of a yakuza gang.
All in all, the plot thickens considerably this week and we have the typical damsel in distress situation, but it works magnificently as it addresses many core themes within Beastars: the cruelty of the world shared between Carnivores and Herbivores, the solid character developments in display and the top notch visual execution by Orange. Beastars is going strong.
