Try Everything... Including Cannibalism! (Beastars Spoilers) · 8:22pm Mar 16th, 2020
Howdy, folks! First and foremost, as always, Adorable Applejack:
Appul Fwitters for teh Appul Fwitter Gawd!
Now then...
Let's start by addressing what is on at least some of y'alls minds: what the fuck is up with the Horse Word Extravaganza? Well, the honest truth is that one of our judges has been absolutely slam-fucked by life in the past week and a half, and only last night finished his reading and rating. I know, it sucks, but it's life, bruh. You can't predict this stuff. All I can ask is that you remain patient. We're hard at work, and once we sort our shite out, we will announce the winners.
Back to the topic at hand, I'm going to tell you something that may shock you. You should probably sit down, and might want to find some pearls to clutch, but...
I really fucking love Zootopia.
I know, I know. Shocking! But seriously, I love everything about this movie. The characters, the story, the setting, everything. It's easily my favorite non-Pixar Disney movie of the modern era, and maybe even including Pixar! And, to be honest, Judy Hopps is the only animated character who can rival Applejack as the One True Waifu.
She could hustle me any day...
For real, I could write an entire blog extolling the virtues of this movie, but that's not why we're here. See, once I saw the movie, I started extolling said virtues to anyone who would listen. And almost immediately, whenever I would, I would inevitably hear the same thing:
"Hey, you should probably check out Beastars!"
For those that don't know, Beastars is a manga that released the same year as Zootopia, and it deals with very similar themes. This has lead some to claim Zootopia is a rip-off of Beastars, but this isn't true. The first issue of the manga released in September of 2016, while Zootopia debuted in March. Keep in mind that this means that Zootopia likely began coming together in 2015, maybe even 2014, as animated movies usually take a long time to come to fruition.
Still, some have called Beastars a "Rated R Zootopia," and the similarities are striking. They both take place in a modern urban world populated by anthropomorphic animals, where there is a clear divide between "predators and prey," or "carnivores and herbivores" in Beastars. The central plots are are both kicked off by an act of violence against prey by a predator. They both have a female lead who is a bunny—Judy Hopps in Zootopia, and Haru in Beastars—and at least some of the story is devoted to the blossoming relationship between them and a male canine, Nick Wilde and Legoshi respectively.
However, despite these similarities, I never read the manga because... well, I don't like manga. Sorry. It's the same thing with super heroes. I love super hero movies, but I don't like comic books. I don't know, it's weird. So, it likely would have ended there... until last year, when it was announced that Netflix was adapting Beastars as an anime.
I'm sure I've said this before, but I am not what you would call an "anime guy." And it's not for lack of trying. I mean, I obviously like cartoons, so cartoons made specifically for adults should be a no-brainer. Seriously, name any well known or widely respected anime, and I've probably watched a few episodes. And at least once a month, I'll have a friend say, "Oh, dude, you should check out X anime! I really think you'll like it!" And invariably... I don't. I am honestly not sure why. I just can't get past the tropes, the cliches, and the... Japan-ness, for lack of a better and less offensive term. The only anime I have ever really enjoyed was Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and that was probably because it wasn't very "Japanese." I mean, the story takes place in a very European-inspired world. Plus, there a big militaristic element, which probably made me relate to it better. Also, one of the main characters shares the same last name as me.
May he Rest in Piece...
Still, with the announcement that a manga so similar to my beloved Zoot was being made, I felt the need to at least give it a shot... although I did wait until the dub came out. Sorry, but even with as little anime as I consume, I just can't do subs. I know, I know...
So when the dub finally released last Friday, I finally watched it, and...
I liked it!
The series had a somewhat odd noir-ish vibe to it, both through its storytelling and style. The characters are interesting and unique, and while they sometimes do fall victim to several anime tropes, they usually stand up very well. The animation took some getting used to. It's a sort of CGI/cell-shaded blend that starts off as a bit off-putting, but once you become acclimated to it, it's very cool. The action scenes are very lively and well-animated, and it uses more traditional animation styles for things like inner monologues and dreams. Even the intro is stop-motion, and it's very nifty.
My only real complaint is the pacing. According to Wikipedia, the manga is still ongoing, which means there's a lot of plot to work with. What is there is competently written and not too hard to follow. The hitch is that, well, the entire season is twelve 15-minute episodes. While I enjoyed it, that is simply not enough run time for the amount of plot they're trying to run through. This leads to moments where a character's entire motivation and backstory is just shotgun-blasted out in massive info dumps. But I'll get more into that later.
Having gone over the similarities, let's now go over the differences between Beastars and Zootopia. For one, Beastars is very TV-MA. There's a lot of violence, a fair bit of blood, and some nudity. We never see any genitalia or actual intercourse, but it can get quite l00d. There's one scene where a guy is literally holding up a female character by her tail and is very lewdly staring between her legs. This feeds into the comparison of it being a "Rated R Zootopia," since if they for some reason did make Zoot like that, this is what it would look like. And what a sight it would be to behold...
But those are just tonal differences. Conceptually, there are some stark contrasts. In Zootopia, we are led to believe through the first two acts that there is some sort of biological difference between Predator and Prey. Even Judy, our bubbly, optimistic, idealist thinks so. We see hints at first, like when she goes back for the fox repellent, or when she gives Nick the backhanded compliment of being "a real articulate fella!" It's made clear when she and Nick have their big blowout, where Judy literally says, "I mean, it's not like a bunny could go savage!"
However, we eventually learn that no, there aren't fundamental differences. Judy even says as much in her big revelation: "A bunny can go savage!" We finally learn that all of this tension in the city between Predator and Prey is manufactured, a conspiracy by the power hungry and bigoted Dawn Bellwether. Now, it could be argued that all she did was light the fuse on an already existing powder keg, but the fact remains that Predator and Prey animals are fundamentally the same.
Not so in Beastars. Here, Carnivores very much do have a primal streak in them. There's an entire subplot of their being a "Black Market" that everyone knows of, but no one talks or does anything about it. Here, vendors sell meat to Carnivores collected from morgues and funeral homes, and as we eventually learn, kidnapped victims. We meet a panda doctor who tells our male lead that he tries to help Carnivores who have "fallen to instinct" and tasted flesh, who become so enamored by the taste for blood that they gnaw their own limbs off just to scratch that itch. Hell, in the very first episode, our male lead literally almost devours a Herbivore! This barely-under-the-surface tension is palpable, and it serves as the driving force not only for the main plot, but as the impetus for the majority of the main characters motivations. Let's go over them now.
Let's start with our male lead, Nick Wi—er, I-I mean Legoshi, a grey wolf.
Now, it's entirely possible that is a legit Japanese name, but for some reason I like to think it;s a play on "Legosi," as in Bela Legosi. Either way, Legoshi is... a bit hard to pin down at first. He's first mentioned in hushed whispers of people who are nervous or scared of him. Indeed, when we first see him, it's through a female goat names Els, and she's terrified of him... until he reveals he's carrying a love letter for her from the student that was killed, and they eventually become friends.
Anywho, we learn that Legoshi is always doing his best to control his emotions and put on an air of disinterested aloofness. He does this because, being an apex predator, he's scared of losing control and hurting someone. We see this clearly when, again in the first episode, he loses control and almost devours our female lead. My only gripe is that we never really get specifically why he's so scared. Once or twice there was a passing mention of some incident from a few years ago, but we never get any details exactly what happened. I just feel the story would have been better served diving a bit deeper into his backstory.
Now, let's talk about our female lead, Jud—er, I mean Haru, a dwarf rabbit.
As stated, the first time we see her, she is nearly killed by Legoshi, but she gets away without seeing his face. When the two properly meet for the first time... she takes her clothes off and tries to seduce him, and in a very mechanical way. "Oh, that's why you're here? Well, okay then! *ziiiiip*" And we're left with a feeling of, "Oh, you ho!" Later, we learn she has a bit of a reputation of being a slut... and eventually learn she's actually sleeping with our other male lead Louis, kicking off a sort of awkward love triangle. This leads to a feeling of, "Oh, you trife ho!"
However, we eventually learn why she does all this... in a massive exposition dump during the second to last episode. See what I mean by pacing issues? Anywho, we find out that, in addition to being a dwarf rabbit, she's also the runt of her family. Because of this, people see and treat her the same way as Judy: just a cute, harmless, helpless little bunny, always treating her with kid gloves and patronizing smiles. One day, she realizes that the only time people don't treat her like some fragile little toy... is when she's sleeping with them, and that gives her a feeling of power. So her being a bit of a ho-bag isn't her debasing herself; it's her empowering herself in an odd way.
And she owns this. After she is kidnapped by the Carnivorous gang, the lead lion is trying to scare her by the aforementioned tail grabbing lewd act, because he claims that, "Blood surging through the muscles due to fear makes the meat taste better!" But Haru ain't having that. She defiantly stares him down and says, "Yeah, no. I'm not scared, so guess what? Your next meal is gonna taste like shit." There's a lot of stuff I'm sort of glossing over, but I really liked how they handled her. Also, any time someone says her name, all I can think of is Haru from 50% Off.
Finally, we get to our other male lead and primary "antagonist," Louis, a red deer.
I put "antagonist" in quotations because he's a bit of a red herring. When we first meet him, before we know the full scope of the plot, most people would think that Louis is somehow behind the devouring of Tem the alpaca. This is because Louis is portrayed as your typical pompous, arrogant rich kid, blinding by ambition and out to manipulate others to serve his ends. And he very much is that, but as with most good characters, there's more to him than that. He does manipulate those around him, but develops a sort of begrudging admiration with Legoshi. He steps in to save him when Bill, a Bengal tiger, is kicking Legoshi's ass on stage, but he's never truly friendly with him. He seems to hate Legoshi because Legoshi is strong, an apex predator, and yet he does everything he can to be seen as weak and helpless.
His involvement with Haru is... complicated. He does sleep with her, but he's dismissive of her emotional advances... but then he gets aggressive when he realizes that Legoshi is into her... but then goes along with the mayor when he offers to destroy evidence of his backstory in return for him keeping Haru's kidnapping a secret... but then he shows up to save her and... yeah, like I said. Complicated.
Speaking of Louis' backstory, let's get into that. Remember when I said that he dislikes Legoshi for pretending to be weak? Well, this is explained when we learn where Louis came from. See, he didn't originally come from a wealthy, powerful family. He was actually breed and born in captivity in the "Black Market," for the sole purpose of being some Carnivore's illegal meal. At five years old, he couldn't read or speak, but he risked his life to defend a fellow captive from being taken away. This catches the eye of a wealthy red deer who is at the market for... reasons, I guess? The buck adopts Louis, and tells him he has been chosen for a great destiny, and that he will carry on the family "bloodline."
Pretty epic stuff, right? Well, the problem comes due to that pesky pacing issue from before. All this info by itself is really interesting, if a bit melodramatic, but it's the way it's delivered, through Louis' internal monologue, that is jarring. Like, we learn it, and go, "Wow! Okay! That's... a lot of info in two minutes during episode eight of twelve." And again, it's just this massive expositional info dump that removes you form the flow of the story. Still, I like that we learned that, as it shows us why he both respects and is disgusted by Legoshi not owning his predatory nature. Legoshi is a large, apex predator who could easily be running the show and have everyone at his beck and call out of fear, but he chooses to remain hidden. Louis is a (comparatively) weak deer who has to go out of his way to showcase his strength and needs to command respect. It's a very interesting dynamic that adds drama. Also, I now fully understand why there is so much porn of Legoshi and Louis. You could cut that sexual tension with a knife, man...
There are other characters, too. We mentioned Bill before. There's also Jack, a Labrador Retriever, who is Legoshi's best friend, but we don't spend as much time with him as I would have liked. The only other major player of note is Juno, a female grey wolf freshman. Initially seen as shy, naive, and helpless, we quickly learn she's a manipulator like Louis. A social climber who is willing to do anything, use anyone to achieve her goal of seducing Legoshi and becoming "The Beastar," a concept the show only nominally touches on. The Wiki describes it as, "an individual of great talent, service, and notoriety." Basically, this would be someone at the absolute top of society, who could use their influence to make major changes in the world.
The plot, like I said before, is a bit melodramatic and somewhat convoluted, but I really liked it. It breathes life into the world, but it remains focused on our main characters, specifically Legoshi and his internal conflict with his nature and developing feeling for Haru. The show does flesh out the world, but it's never specifically for world-building purposes. Every time we learn some tidbit about how the world works, it's specifically for Legoshi to react to, and to let us on as to what is going on in his head. For example, there's a scene where he and some Carnivore students accidentally happen upon the Black Market. At the mouth of the alley is a Herbivore beggar sitting on the street... with price tags attached to each of his fingers. It's fucked up, but makes a sort of morbid sense for this world, and serves to drive Legoshi to the next plot point.
There's other nifty little touches to the world that set it apart from Zootopia, too. For one, there are more than just mammals in Beastars. We see reptiles and birds inhabiting the world. There's even a brief line about how one of the avian students is jealous of another flying overhead, and it;s mentioned that he can't get his "Flyer's license" until he graduates.
There is one big issue I had with the character designs, though. Much like in Zootopia, the animals are of similar stature to their real life counterparts. So, Legoshi the wolf is much larger than Haru the rabbit, who is in turn much larger than the squirrel teacher who runs the school paper. However, the problem is one of proportions. In Zootopia, the characters are pretty much just "animals walking on two legs." That is, the lemmings outside the bank buying pawpsicles are tiny, pudgy little rodents. However, in Beastars, the characters are... well, let's just say it: they're furries. Literal human/animal hybrids, with the same proportions as people. This means that tiny little squirrel has the same body type as Legoshi, he's just... tiny. But then sometimes they do have more realistic proportions, like the giraffe girl having a really long neck, or the peacock dude with an ostrich-like neck. It;s just... odd.
So all in all, this is a very unique world, and a pretty odd story altogether. This honestly leads me to wonder why they chose this to make an anime out of. I get that the manga is very popular and it;s won a few awards, but there are a lot of popular, award-winning manga out there. So why this one? Well, I think the simplest, and possible most conceited answer is... furries.
Look, these major media companies know furries exist. Disney may have made Zootopia for the kids, but they knew exactly who their shadow audience would be. I'd also hazard a guess they know that for some strange reason, furries tend to inhabit this Goldilocks Zone of having a lot of liquidity and not a lot of financial sense. Just look at the commission pricing for furry artist Miles-DF. I mean, Miles is a really talented artist, but Goddamn! Also, there's that infamous story about the "Your Character Here" porn animation that ran someone $8,600... and it was less than two minutes long... and had no sound. Look, I get the desire for the perfect fap material, alright, but for almost nine large, Judy Hopps herself better show up at my apartment door wearing lingerie with tendies.
So, it;s not surprising that more production companies are starting to take notice and pander a bit to the fur crowd. And you know what? It works! Hell, just look at me! I said that Zootopia is my favorite modern Disney movie, and my favorite old-school one form my childhood was Robin Hood, and I really liked The Fox and the Hound! What can I say? When Disney does cartoon foxes, they do them right.
Eeeeeeexcept for that one...
Alright, this blog is waaaaay too fucking long by this point. The TL:DR is that I really enjoyed Beastars, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is into either anime, film noir-ish drama, or plain old furries. Like I said, it's only twelve fifteen minute episodes, and hey, it's Spring Break and the whole fucking world is under quarantine! So if you have an afternoon to spare, give it a look. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it!
Never forget that I fucking love you all. Tune in next time, when we announce the winners of the contest! Til then stay safe, stay free, and stay metal! Jake The Army Guy out!
His name is Bela Lugosi. That said, Romanian vampires were primarily associated with wolves rather than bats, so there's still a pretty good chance that you're right. (In fact, something like 90% of modern vampirism is quirks of Count Dracula as played by Lugosi, and the remainder is from the copout ending of Count Orlok caused by the writers making him too hardcore)
"I'm just saying we should consider all the options."
"Cannibalism is not an option. We've been locked in the house for ten minutes, and there's a Pizza Hut right down the street who delivers and takes credit cards. So put down the bar-b-que sauce."
5221757
I feel like this is from something... and that I should probably know what.
I’m still shocked that Zootopia and Moana we’re actually made by modern Disney; they seem too moving, cohesive, and... well good.
To be clear I grew up on Disney and treasure some of the classic movies, i just haven’t been impressed by the stuff my kids are stuck growing up with.
... Ah... The fandom I fled from rears it's grotesque head once more. Seriously, avoid the Zootopia Fandom, they're... 'troubled.' Like, there are levels of obsession that overtook that fandom to... Extremes. "THE RABBIT AND FOX HAVE TO KISS! REEEE".
Aside from that, great little movie. Which has apparently been dumped by Disney as they haven't announced any further products related to it in at least 2 years. As for Beaststars. Just, couldn't get into it. Not much I can say other than it just wasn't my cup of tea.
Also dude... I know those telemarketers really got on your nerves but I thought you were KIDDING when you said you were gonna 'fry 'em up real good'. How the hell am I supposed to explain the mess to upper management when they start pokin' around?!
So the dub came out eh
)
Where might somebody find it in not-shit quality, for free?
(poorfag here
5221956
Hey, you shut your whore mouth. WildeHopps is as true and pure a love as shall ever exist and this is a hill upon which I shall die!!!
And the sequel is heavily rumored to be in the works. Yeah, it's all just rumor, but come on, man. The film made over $1 billion! Of course the greedy-ass Mouse is going to do another one! Every original movie they made that has crossed that mark has gotten a sequel. Whether that takes six years like Frozen or 14 like The Incredibles, it;s gonna happen.
5221980
I watched in on Netflix, though my go-to for pirated stuff is Kodi/Exodus.
5222014
... We'll see old man! WE'LL SEE! Seriously though, I'm still kinda holding my breath considering they took projects that made a fair bit less first. I'm also coming down pretty hard with a fair bit of doubt on their... capabilities considering how Wreck It Ralph 2 went, same with Frozen II (And the first Frozen, seriously. That movie just. Guh.). Their writing chops seem to have been spent on the first go around each time and when the sequel has come up, it's been fairly... Well lacking something each time.
Also, death to the Zootopia Fandom, they ruined WildeHopps something fierce for so, so many people I know, including me.