Beastars 2 – 02 [The Grey Police Hound Runs]

Beastars is back (and I am, too. It has been a while). Beastars was one of my favorite anime in the last few years, so naturally I was eager for this next installment. These first two episodes of this new season kinda push a reset button to its core story: Haru has limited screentime, other characters are on their new character arcs. They return to Tem’s murder mystery – which was never the main focus in the first season – and set Legosi up to be the central figure of it all. I do find it amusing for Beastars to tab in different directions, but at the same time it feels as if Beastars takes a detour with a different focus to its carnivore/ herbivore themes. 

But boy was this second episode full of surprises.

While I can understand other writers don’t feel enthusiastic about the first episode, the plot is thickened like glue this week, the “ghost” turns out to be a rattlesnake – Rokume – with a security hat to top it off. He (or she?) has a deep obsession to Legosi, to the point of stalking him and requesting him to find more clues about Tem’s murder. He’s making a hell of an entrance for sure, part of it because of his resentment that he has no limbs, and part of it because he “figures out” Legosi (the only one so far who knows to full extend about their relationship and Legosi’s love complex for Haru. But Legosi’s total indifference towards Rokume’s threats is alarming too. Normally one would be startled when others know too much about your hidden desire, right? Normally one would feel threatened by this rattlesnake, right? Legosi doesn’t feel any danger around this security guy. What sort of mindset is he going through now?

The Tem’s murder investigation did give Legosi a valuable lead – his dairy written before he died. That he made friends with a carnivore and it’s very likely that his carnivore friend was a killer. What’s intriguing is the one question that Rattlesnake the security guard asks Legosi “the clue lies within you”. There could be two implications behind this remark. Either it was Legosi himself was a killer – which makes sense since the murder took place just before he met Haru, and Tem and Legosi were close friend – which if it turns out true would be a big disappointment to me. Or what Rokume meant is that the relationship between Tem and the killer was similar in nature to Legosi and “that babyface dwarf rabbit”. I fancy the second option much better, but it does imply that the endgame for Legosi and Haru is grim and might end up with blood and head-rolling on the floor.

We also get a glimpse of choosing the next Beastars but it remains one of the vague elements in the series. For now, it’s nothing more than a symbol and I have no idea what being a Beastar entails. What is his role and what sort of privilege he can have? As such I have a hard time relating to this Beastar race or any of the candidates (Legosi seems to agree with me on this). Speaking of (former) candidate, we see Louis as he literally climbs to the top of the ladder – he’s a leader of a Lion gang. He’s fascinating because he doesn’t let the race-politics influence him, he’s strong because he, more than any other character, awares and acknowledges the fact that he’s a herbivore. He’s dangerous because he would do anything to define himself in this man-eat-man world – thank God not by becoming one himself, but by ways of firearms. Using guns is handy, excuse my pun, Rattlesnake. How will this Lion gang cross paths with Legosi in the future? I’m eager to find out.