Beastars is fascinating. As is a large swath of the commentary on it (primarily because it illustrates just how retarded most people on this site are). There is a large amount of levity here. While a lot of fucked up stuff is hinted at and the story tries to deal in darker themes, it never really goes full throttle with it. I also think Beastars is PROFOUNDLY unserious. I find it almost hilarious to even imagine the creator of Beastars is unaware of how little sense certain aspects of her story make. The "real history" being a prime example of this, called out in universe by Mr. Wolf. But the whale is real y'all. In Beastars absurdity is where a lot of it's character and pleasure comes from. If you spend too much time thinking about possible associations between the world of Beastars and our own, you are going to be sorely deprived. The creator of Beastars is fantastic at sub-narratives, character interaction and broad aesthetics. They are not so fantastic at prevailing narratives and themes. Even I can not totally look past the obvious truncation of this story. Haru, The Black Market, "The Beastar" and hybrids were all to central to the core of this story and some of it's most interesting components that they deserved a far better send off than not even a whimper of a curtain call before the ink ran off the page.
But that's isn't the sort of criticism I seem generally leveled at Beastars. It's more in the intellectual vein of deadoptimist, who I quote:
“Real life zoological connections also fail. Omnivores are a non-entity, for example. Hyenas are called canines in the beginning. Hippos are carnivores now (they are opportunistic carnivores irl, but c'mon). Sizes make no sense, with birds and reptiles as big as mammals, an adult red deer smaller than a wolf, yet mice being correctly tiny.”"
His overall review is actually pretty good, and heads and shoulders above most on this site for it's writing. HOWEVER, I just feel like you maybe should have dropped Beastars out of the gate if you think it's a failing that the relative sizes of it's character do not map onto IRL animals very well. Even worse is their comment about omnivores... Omnivores are a non-entity because they have no relevance to the core thematic drive of the plot. "Carnivore" and "Herbivore", despite their IRL definition, do not mean the same in Beastars. They are labels for those that CAN predate, and those that cannot. All "good carnivores" and by extension "good citizens" of Beastars world are as close to herbivores as possible because eating meat is illegal. An "omnivore" is just a "carnivore" in the world of Beastars. It basically means the same thing.
I'm pointing this criticism out because it's a coherent example of the attitude you shouldn't be coming into Beastars with. You can't look at the world on display and use a lot of the illogical charm on display to tear it apart. Did you find it cute when all the canines went and played fetch at the mall? Well you shouldn't because in a world lacking humans and their relationship with dogs, how the hell would the characteristics that make that scene cute have ever come to exist!? Decide what hill you want to die on. A story can be barely coherent, yet be carried on it's aesthetics. Your favourite story will inevitably have it's flaws (in the same way your favourite non-fiction work does), you just don't notice because your so enamored with it that you'll cover for it like an abused spouse.
HOWEVER... Beastars as it continues onward, sprawling outside of Cherryton, begins to lose a hold of the tight and compelling structure that made it's beginning so great. The facade that it isn't serious about trying to tackle it's heavier themes is dropped and it simply degenerates into a teasing fest. I still really enjoy a lot of the characters and their interwoven stories, but there isn't any doubt that a lot of the "potential" of Beastars is prematurely dissipated.
And that brings me to, what was the purpose of Melon? He is after all the character that most typifies the issues with Beastars. The story is in a constant push and pull as to whether he is really sympathetic or not. He's tied into The Black Market, but he is a very poor character to represent the dark pleasures that the Black Market is meant to represent. After all, he hates eating. What is his struggle against Legoshi meant to represent? Melon in all his shlocky, evil glory, is completely misaligned with the core thematic drives of Beastars. His backstory contains great elements (as most of Beastars characters do), but when it comes to paying that off Beastars fails. Or it's cut short at the very least.
Beastars never bored me. Even though it's last leg is messy and lacks any compelling finality, it easily buys good will from me based on the tendrils of luminescent character it's grown throughout the story. So I recommend for those with a 1:1 of empathising and systematising, or possibly even a schizo-loaded profile 😉 Those of you of a sperg variety may find the pure emotional dialectic on display to be a little too human.
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