Why did the gray wolf cross the road? Apparently, to start the debate on whether or not liking Beastars makes you a furry. At the time of writing, it’s been two years since the anime adaptation first hit streaming services, leaving fans awaiting a third and final season, as well as the last English volume of 22 in the manga. With the respective finales looming ever-closer, the anticipation is building to have all of our burning questions answered. Who will survive until the end? Who will end up together? Am I a furry? Since I’m not one to drop spoilers, or your therapist, I can’t answer any of those inquiries. However, I can address perhaps the most important query weighing on all our minds: which was better, the manga or the anime?
To fully explain my take on this matter, first I should provide some context as to how I personally got into the series. My first exposure to it was through the anime. With me being a psychopath, I watched the first season over and over again, until I burnt myself out on it. From there, I began collecting the manga. The story kept me so obsessed that after I tore through what was officially out in English, I braved the world of online manga and the… interesting advertisements that tend to come with it. And now here I am before you, having survived my rollercoaster ride through this series in order to give my opinion on which presentation of it reigns supreme… so far.
Now, for the sake of fairness, I will only be comparing what’s currently released in anime form to its manga equivalent. To get the ball rolling, we’ll start by judging the first question that I consider when I start a new anime or manga: how pretty is it? Both forms of Beastars took some time for me to adjust to, but for different reasons. In terms of the anime, it was the use of CG animation, a style with which I am not accustomed to being acquainted. That being said, the transition was easy because the work done on the visuals is close to godliness. The animation itself is smooth, and don’t get me started on the color palette. For a moody murder-mystery, with an even moodier protagonist, the strong use of darker tones with the occasional bright scene to offset them almost tells the story better than the writing does… at least in Season One. When it comes to the color palette in Season Two, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, with the season focusing on heavier themes, I appreciate the color palette following suit for thematic purposes. On the other hand, however, I just couldn’t see a darn thing half the time. As someone very aesthetically-driven, it was just not a pleasant experience for me or my husband as we desperately covered all the windows and doused the lights just to be able to see what was happening on the screen.
Regarding the manga, the adjustment was a little harder for me. The art style is by no means the conventional fashion that seems to be popular in other series nowadays. It feels like a more-polished sketch, shattering the mold with a strong personality and expressive proportions- expressive being the key phrase. It was the dynamic nature of the artwork that eased my transition from screen to paper, even carrying me through the rougher appearance that I experienced once I moved to reading online. Existing within the confines of black and white, the manga managed to tell a visual story just as effectively as the anime did. It also did this without falling into the same trap of relying too heavily on dark tones to communicate intensity.
When it comes to the writing itself, the first season of the show is pretty much shot-for-shot with what’s in the manga. The main plot points are all there, as well as the more charming elements, with the humor being one example. If anything, the translation to the screen makes the comedy and small idiosyncrasies of the story even more memorable, without disrupting the overall vibe of the narrative. But once again, my beef lies with the second season. In short, Season Two takes itself too seriously. I understand that the second season is meant to hold more weight, but in doing so, it loses a lot of the charm that the first season and the manga worked so hard to establish. Even with the bulk of the tale being told, this season just falls a little flat.
Having found comfort in Beastars through the height of the pandemic, the first season of the show will always hold a special place in my heart. It introduced me to one of my new favorite series, and brilliantly brought to life the story of Legoshi and other anthropomorphic friends. However, the efforts of Paru Itagaki on the manga truly stand out, resulting in a much more well-rounded work than the anime and the winner of this installment of “Who Wore It Better.”
Do you agree or disagree with the outcome of this vs. battle? Let us know in the comments and why!
