SPOILAHZ.
Link: https://read-beastars.com/manga/beastars-chapter-193/
WHELP. I don’t know if I should be happy or terrified about that smile. That happy, squinty kitty smile... XD
This is giving me some real-life serial killer vibes right now. Like, holy schtick. Melon keeps proving me wrong again and again. I thought he was gonna die, we ALL thought he was going to die with Yafya, but nope. XD
Just... nope. I’m kind of curious about the fan-mail, as it’s giving me some Charles Manson and Ted Bundy vibes. Is it from Holger (pfft, imagining the sloth writing all those letters to Melon so Melon could pretend he has friends is depressing as fuck XD)? The people at the tattoo parlour he frequented? The guys working behind the Bloodbone drug? Members of the Ivory Tusk Trade? A new character (or characters)? The carnivores that hate Yafya?
That last look on his face makes me think he’s getting some trick up his sleeve and he’s not done just yet. That something is going to go down in the future. I swear, if Melon evolves into an Overarching Villain, I will freak out. XD That would be freaking AWESOME, but that’s most likely just wishful thinking due to the anticlimactic ending this arc has gotten.
The conclusion to the Revenge of the Love-Failure arc is very.... anticlimactic and rushed. The BAM is demolished, which I have mixed feelings about, as Louis stated a few chapters ago that “carnivores need meat”. When Louis said that it was necessary for carnivores to eat meat, I don’t think he meant destroying the BAM. I always thought that the Back-Alley Market was going to stay and the carnivores and herbivores were going to have to live with it, while fish meat and seafood were going to be included in the market as remedies or alternatives for carnivores that had cravings for herbivore flesh. But, I guess they're all just going to eat fish meat now? Yay? How did that not occur to them before?
This sudden resolution feels like a Deus Ex Machina, and the sudden pacing of Chapters 192 and 193 make me wonder if Paru's editors or publishers are forcing her to rush it to move on. It's disappointing, because I was really invested in Melon's story, despite the arc's flaws. I was on board for most of the way and was very excited to see what happened after the end of Chapter 191, until Chapter 192 happened.
The Revenge of the Love-Failure arc was all over the place, to say the least. It started off great, with Melon’s introduction and his clashes with Legoshi and his interactions with Haru, but after the game-quiz thing, it started getting crazy and a lot of things were left unresolved, like in my previous post.
Legoshi’s fight with Melon was kind of anticlimactic and all over the place, and this ending has left plot-threads revolving around Melon hanging and unresolved.
What was the point of introducing Melon’s father if they’re not going to meet at all? The guy might as well have just stayed dead if that was the case. And what happened to Melon’s ‘promise’ with Haru? It makes all their previous scenes together pointless. Unless Melon somehow breaks out of prison or his father decides to drop by and visit him, I can't see either happening.
With Haru being the only animal that gave him the urge to eat for the first time in his life, I thought his promise with her was going to conclude with him kidnapping her and recovering his sense of taste after his fight with Legoshi. Even if Haru had changed her mind, it wouldn't have hurt to have had a brief scene where she'd tell him she changed her mind, only for Melon to try to kill her anyway.
Kyuu’s betrayal also comes across as filler as well. Even if she did tell him Legoshi was using dentures, what was the point of that if Legoshi grew his teeth back anyway before Melon could use it to his advantage? The whole thing with Legoshi starving himself in preparation for the final fight didn’t really change anything, either. I remember people speculated that he was going to lose control and try to eat Melon and go feral, but nothing ever really came from it.
From the way Ch. 191 ended, it looked like Gosha was going to get shot and I feel like having somebody (be it Yafya or Gosha) get wounded or die in that moment would've been very powerful, realistic, and would've risen the stakes higher. I thought Ch. 192 would open up to Legoshi and Yafya rushing to Gosha's side and Gosha was going to say some heartfelt words to both of them and die, Melon was going to see his killing of Legoshi's grandfather as an opportunity to goad Legoshi into killing him by harming more of his friends, like Louis or Haru. I thought he was going to escape with Louis, Louis was going to discover a kidnapped Haru, where we'd get a flashback chapter as to how and when Melon caught her, Louis was going to buy Melon some time until Legoshi got to them, Legoshi was going to turn up and, with Louis, fight Melon one last time. For something so unexpected and big like the death of Gosha to happen, it would've made Legoshi and Melon's animosities toward each other more personal, and it would've shown us that nobody is safe and anybody could die at any time much like in real-life. But for everybody to just survive at the end, and for everything to be just magically resolved like this, it all feels like a cop-out.
And another thing... I wish Melon had had a bigger goal, or at least a warped vision of the society he wanted to achieve. I remember there was a theory on Reddit about Melon inspiring the carnivores of the Back-Alley Market to rise up in a civil-war against the city that was forcing them to hide away what they were, similar to what he did in the Turf-War scene (the one where he cut Dolph), and I was hoping something along the lines of that was going to happen. I suspected Melon was plotting something bigger and crazier than Yafya and the others were prepared for, and it was going to get crazier and crazier, forcing Legoshi and Louis to put a stop to it and their cooperation and efforts would earn them the titles of “Beastars”. That would've been an epic climax, but alas.
If this is the end of the Love-Failure arc, I kinda hope this isn’t the end of Melon. I know some people are getting sick of him, but I kinda hope he’ll make a better-written comeback since his introductory arc was rather weak. But that’s probably just wishful thinking from me, as it does feel like the manga is reaching its conclusion.
On a less depressing note, I think I’ll end this with.... a happy Melon.
The Fruit-Boi may be behind bars, but the Fruit-Boi is behind bars with no fucks to give.
