''Beastars'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Paru Itagaki is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known as the creator of the manga series ''Beastars'', for which she has won the 2018 Manga Taishō, a Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, a Kodansha Manga Award, and a Japan Media Arts Festival Award. She is t ...

. It was serialized in

Akita Shoten is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was founded by Teio Akita on 10 August 1948. As of 2020, the company's president is Shigeru Higuchi. Magazines Male-oriented manga magazines ''Shōnen'' magazines * – Bimo ...

's ''

Weekly Shōnen Champion is a Japanese ''shōnen'' manga magazine published by Akita Shoten. History ''Shōnen Champion'' was first published on July 15, 1969. It has had numerous popular series by manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka, Go Nagai, Shinji Mizushima, Masami ...

'' from September 2016 to October 2020, with its chapters collected in 22 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. The manga is licensed for English release in North America by

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

. The story takes place in a modern world of civilized,

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

animals with a

cultural divide A cultural divide is "a boundary in society that separates communities whose social economic structures, opportunities for success, conventions, styles, are so different that they have substantially different psychologies". A cultural divide is th ...

between

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

s and

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

s, and where eating meat (which always comes from other anthropomorphic animals) is strictly illegal. The series takes its name from the in-universe title of Beastar, an individual of great talent, service, and notoriety. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation by

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

aired from October to December 2019 on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network Sys ...

's +Ultra programming block. A second season aired from January to March 2021. A third and final season is set to premiere in 2024. The anime series is licensed by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. The first season premiered outside of Japan in March 2020, and the second in July 2021. As of October 2021, the manga had over 7.5 million copies in circulation. ''Beastars'' has won multiple awards in 2018, including the 11th

Manga Taishō The is a Japanese comics award recognizing achievement in manga. It is awarded annually to a manga series published in the previous calendar year of eight or fewer collected volumes in length. The Manga Taishō was founded with the aim of re ...

, being the first Akita Shoten title to receive it, the New Creator Prize at the

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Named after Osamu Tezuka, the is a yearly manga prize awarded to manga artists or their works that follow the Osamu Tezuka manga approach founded and sponsored by Asahi Shimbun. The prize has been awarded since 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Current ...

, the 42nd

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...

in the '' shōnen'' category and the New Face Award at the 21st

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...

Plot

In a modern and civilized world populated by

animals, there is a cultural divide between the herbivorous animals and the carnivorous animals.

Legoshi is the protagonist of Paru Itagaki's manga series ''Beastars''. In a world of modern, civilized, anthropomorphic animals with a cultural divide between carnivores and herbivores, Legoshi is a high school student and gray wolf working with his re ...

, a large

gray wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...

, is a timid and quiet student of Cherryton Academy where he lives in a dorm with several other carnivorous students including his outgoing

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

friend, Jack. As a member of the school's drama club, Legoshi works as a stagehand and supports the actors of the club headed by the star pupil Louis, a

red deer The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...

. Out of nowhere, Tem the

alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can successfu ...

is brutally murdered and devoured in the night, setting off a wave of unease and distrust between the herbivore and carnivore students. At the same time, Legoshi has a fateful encounter with Haru, a

dwarf rabbit Dwarf rabbit refers either (formally) to a rabbit with the dwarfing Cuniculture#Genetics, gene, or (informally) to any small breed of domestic rabbit or specimen thereof, or (colloquially) to any small rabbit. Dwarfism is a genetic condition that ...

who has been in love with Louis, and begins developing complex feelings for her.

Media

Manga

''Beastars'', written and illustrated by

, was serialized for 196 chapters in

's '' shōnen'' magazine ''

'' from September 8, 2016, to October 8, 2020. Akita Shoten collected its chapters in twenty-two ''

'' volumes, released from January 6, 2017, to January 8, 2021. During their panel at

Anime NYC Anime NYC is an annual three-day anime convention held during November at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Programming The convention typically offers arcade games, an artist alley, concerts, manga library (Carolina Manga ...

2018,

announced that they have licensed the manga. The first volume was released on July 16, 2019.

Anime

In February 2019, it was announced that ''Beastars'' would get an

television series adaptation animated by CG studio

. Shin'ichi Matsumi directed the series, with Nanami Higuchi handling series composition, Nao Ootsu designing the characters, and

Satoru Kōsaki is a Japanese music composer and arranger. He is best known for his work on anime, including '' Lucky Star'', ''The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya'', ''Monogatari'' and ''Beastars''. He worked at Namco, where he primarily composed soundtracks for ...

composing the series' music. The series aired from October 10 to December 26, 2019, and aired on

's +Ultra anime programming block and other channels. At the conclusion of the TV broadcast, a second season was announced. Animation studio Orange returned to produce the second season, which aired from January 7 to March 25, 2021. On July 20, 2021, studio Orange and Netflix Japan announced that the anime series would be receiving a third season. On December 7, 2021, Studio Orange announced that the continuation would be the final season. It is set to premiere on Netflix in 2024.

ALI ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 CE) was the last of four Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was the first Shia Imam. ...

performed the series' opening theme song "Wild side", while Yurika performed the series' ending theme songs "Le zoo" (ep. 2, 5, 8 and 9), "Sleeping instinct" (ep. 3, 7 and 10), "Marble" (ep. 4, 6 and 11) and "Floating Story on the Moon" (ep. 12). The opening theme song for the second season is and the ending theme song is . Both songs are performed by

Yoasobi Yoasobi (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese music superduo formed by Sony Music Entertainment Japan, composed of Vocaloid producer Ayase, and singer-songwriter Ikura. Represented by the slogan "novel into music", the duo has released songs ba ...

. Season 1 of ''Beastars'' was released on March 13, 2020, on

outside of Japan. Its second season was released on the streaming service on July 15, 2021.

Stage play

On December 4, 2019, the first 2020 magazine issue of ''Weekly Shōnen Champion'' announced that a stage

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

based on the manga was in development. It was originally scheduled for an April 2020 debut running through May in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. In late March 2020, it was announced that the play has been cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. However, there are plans to have it postponed instead.

Reception

Manga

As of October 2021, ''Beastars'' had over 7.5 million copies in circulation. In December 2017, the series placed second in the list of top male-targeted manga for 2018 in the ''

Kono Manga ga Sugoi! is an annual reference mook series published by Takarajimasha since 2005 featuring yearly rankings and reviews of manga. The rankings are compiled by surveying people in the manga and publishing industry. The series is part of Takarajimasha's ...

'' guidebook, placing after ''

The Promised Neverland is a Japanese manga series written by Kaiu Shirai and illustrated by Posuka Demizu. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from August 2016 to June 2020, with its chapters collected in twenty ''tankōbon'' volumes. In N ...

''. The series won the 11th annual

in March 2018, the first time a series from

took the award. In April 2018, it won the New Creator Prize at the 22nd

s. In May 2018, it won the award for Best Shōnen Manga at the 42nd annual

s. It also won a New Face Award at the 21st

Japan Media Arts Festival Awards The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by a ...

in March 2018. The series won the "Shonen Tournament 2019" by the editorial staff of the French website ''manga-news''. It was nominated for the Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia at the 2020

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

. ''Beastars'' won the Best Graphic Story and Best Dramatic Series in the Ursa Major Award. The Ursa Major awards are given in the field of

furry fandom The furry fandom is a subculture interested in anthropomorphic animal characters. Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, speaking, walking on two legs, and wearing clothes. The term ...

works and are the main awards in the field of

anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

. The manga was chosen as one of the Best Manga at the

Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is c ...

Best & Worst Manga of 2019. ''Beastars'' was nominated for the 53rd

Seiun Award The is a Japanese speculative fiction award given each year for the best science fiction works and achievements during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by , the awards are given at the annual Nihon SF Taikai, Japan Science Fict ...

in the Best Comic category in 2022.

Anime

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the show holds an approval rating of 94%, based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 8.10/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Well-made and beautifully animated, ''Beastars'' is a solid new anime for anyone looking to get a little wild." It was part of the Jury Selections in the 23rd

in Animation category. ''Beastars'' won a CGWORLD Award in the Computer Animation category. It won the 26th Spanish

Manga Barcelona Manga Barcelona, formerly known until 2018 as Saló del Manga de Barcelona ( es, Salón del Manga de Barcelona) is a Spanish anime and manga convention held annually in Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spa ...

award for the Best Anime category in 2020. The anime series was awarded the Best Opening Sequence and was nominated in 8 other categories including "Anime of The Year" in the

5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards The 5th Crunchyroll Anime Awards were held on February 19, 2021, honoring excellence in anime from 2020. Crunchyroll announced the list of categories as well as the judges on December 16, 2020. They noted that the categories used in the previous e ...

. While the second season was nominated in three categories in the 6th Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2022.

References

External links

* * * at

* at

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