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A review by rorycb
Beastars, Vol. 3 by Paru Itagaki
5.0
The best volume in the series so far.
Legoshi's conflict between his instinctive impulses and the rational suppression of those impulses is quite brilliantly portrayed.
The creativity is high from author Paru Itagaki. Addding to the drama, some great new characters such as the young grey wolf Juno, Aoba the bald eagle, and the brilliant tangential chapter about Legom the chicken who takes great pride in the eggs she lays that are eaten unwittingly by her carnivorous classmates. The wider world is enriched by the introduction of the Festival of the Meteor, and the Black Market for meat in the local town, adding fascinating dilemmas for our lead. Then in the last part of the book, there's the surprise introduction of the giant panda guardian of the Black Market and what he now brings to the narrative. To be fair I thought this character was sometimes over the top, but Itagaki draws him magnificently.
Just the other day, there was group of teenage girls in my bookstore, arguing about the occurrence of sex in Beastars (two of them ganging up against the one who was defending it), that they reckoned it was basically beastiality, and that it cancelled the worth of the series (paraphrasing, if course). I thought it was very funny how squeamish and prudish the two were. Maybe they were referencing the anime because I don't think it's overt here, although physical attraction between the characters is definitely part of this story If anything, it's the depictions of "carnivorism" that I find more disturbing.
This is not a manga for younger readers, but it is certainly a great allegory for the teenage experience.
Legoshi's conflict between his instinctive impulses and the rational suppression of those impulses is quite brilliantly portrayed.
The creativity is high from author Paru Itagaki. Addding to the drama, some great new characters such as the young grey wolf Juno, Aoba the bald eagle, and the brilliant tangential chapter about Legom the chicken who takes great pride in the eggs she lays that are eaten unwittingly by her carnivorous classmates. The wider world is enriched by the introduction of the Festival of the Meteor, and the Black Market for meat in the local town, adding fascinating dilemmas for our lead. Then in the last part of the book, there's the surprise introduction of the giant panda guardian of the Black Market and what he now brings to the narrative. To be fair I thought this character was sometimes over the top, but Itagaki draws him magnificently.
Just the other day, there was group of teenage girls in my bookstore, arguing about the occurrence of sex in Beastars (two of them ganging up against the one who was defending it), that they reckoned it was basically beastiality, and that it cancelled the worth of the series (paraphrasing, if course). I thought it was very funny how squeamish and prudish the two were. Maybe they were referencing the anime because I don't think it's overt here, although physical attraction between the characters is definitely part of this story If anything, it's the depictions of "carnivorism" that I find more disturbing.
This is not a manga for younger readers, but it is certainly a great allegory for the teenage experience.