beastars blog

Bill gets excited easily, and when he does, he is energetic and often waves his arms around, talks loudly, and bares his teeth. It’s never bothered Els, but she knows it will bother others, And Els hates it, because she believes Bill has the right to be himself just like anyone else. 

Like I take meds, and i’ve had different experiences with them both, and I can’t imagine having to be forced to take a government mandated drug against my will, a drug that doesn’t even work. 

The bears should unionize. 

Try as he may to ignore it, Louis is still a herbivore. And his body reacts accordingly to the many carnivores in his life. 

Ibuki

Despite all his time living amongst the Shishigumi, and now Ibuki at his estate in the city, nothing will ever compare to the sudden fear induced reaction to bolt out of the room when Ibuki yawns, the toothy action often accompanied by a deep, deep roar. 

Louis can see his entire life reflected on those pearly incisors, and imagine the ways his flesh could grate against Ibuki’s razor sharp tongue. It’s a timely reminder every morning that Ibuki is a carnivore. 

The life of domesticity with Oguma often makes it hard for Louis to consider him as such, and when he’s laying asleep in the bed or engrossed in Oguma’s extensive library, it’s hard to remember that he is a lion. 

The way his lips pull back, revealing a thin stretch of burned skin that borders his teeth, the action an inherent snarl, sends shivers down Louis’s spine. Even Ibuki’s claws seem to come alive in the morning, his sharp talons increasing in size before retracting back into his fingers. 

Louis is still, instincts surging through him. He wonders how Oguma does it every morning. 

“Louis, are you alright?” And like the final close of a curtain, Ibuki’s features fade into darkness, the soft and gentle smile shining through the void. 

Louis’s ears relax and his body melts like butter to a flame.

And of course when female carnivores are allowed to be feminine, it is always eclipsed by the fact they are dangerous carnivores, just like their male counterparts. In a sense, to be a female carnivore is to be denied femininity. 

That’s an experience darker skinned women of color often have, in juxtaposition to their lighter counterparts. 

I would have loved if femininity from the perspective of Juno and others like her was more deeply explored. 

The dangerous, prone to attach, inherently dangerous rhetoric has been used to stir discriminiatory policies and beliefs against people of color outside of Japan, namely darker skinned people.

Some of these beliefs are anti-black, which is concerning considering that there is anti-blackness in Asian communities. 

This is why I find it interesting that it’s based on Zootopia, which sought to free individuals from harmful, clearly racist stereotypes, yet Beastars keeps them, and takes it a step further with introducing eugenics (ie: the dogs). 

On top of that, in regard to class & social standing, carnivores are at the bottom and often in poverty. On top of that, carnivores are also overly policed. 

 That’s common with certain groups, especially black people (but also other groups). 

Not only can carnivores not move up socially, it is incredibly hard for them to move up financially. 

So combined with the belief of them being inherently dangerous, having no social mobility, being policed, and having society tell herbivores to stay away from them, it’s easy to make those connections of other kinds of discriminations.

This is why Legosi’s narrative is really painful, because he’s hating himself for a lot of what society has to do with him.  There’s his instincts, but then there’s the idea that society projects on him that he’s inherently dangerous when we know that no, not all carnivores are inherently dangerous just like not all herbivores are inherently safe. 

Literally if that was the case, the Oguma wouldn’t be a character. 

Anyway this is why Louis is such a great character in Legosi’s narrative, because he truly does accept Legosi as a carnivore. What’s also important is that Louis acknowledges and recognizes his own prejudices against carnivores, and helps Legosi accept himself as a carnivore.