Build a Beastars Character: The Irina Beast

I wanted to see Beastars the second it came out. I’m not sure why but I really did. It was my most anticipated anime of the season. I found out it would be on Netflix and got doubly excited cause I got Netflix! So I waited in anticipation! I saw the first episode posts come out and hurried home, opened Netflix and..no Beastars. No worries, I thought to myself, someone probably saw an early screening, maybe they saw it in Japan or something… I waited another week, still nothing. Then another and another and I found out that it wouldn’t be airing on Netflix Canada – The agony!

But then a nice reader told me it would be coming to Netflix Canada in March 2020! YAY!!! I figured everyone would have seen it already but I was still psyched to get my chance at it when my friend Scott told me that he had not watched it yet and he wanted to collab with me on it! Well didn’t that just make it worth the wait!

Now, a lot of folks have already reviewed this series (In fact I will as well) so Scott and I figured we would do something a little different. We’re each going to imagine the beast version of ourselves and see who would devour…I mean who would be the next Bestar!

I figure the first thing would be to pick between herbivore and carnivore. Now some of you may know that I’m a vegetarian so herbivore may be a more natural fit but in the universe of Beastars, these labels have a lot more to do with attitude than with diet. I mean everyone is vegetarian and my diet actually resembled the meat eaters more, with a lot of soy and egg whites and such.

As far as attitude goes I really identified with the constant undefined sense of mild guilt the carnivores had. I’m not sure where it comes from but I get it. You sort of feel like you have to apologize even though you don’t know what for. Maybe it’s a Canadian thing? I’m also not that stressed or anxious by nature. I don’t feel like prey most of the time and I’ve never felt like a fragile creature that needs to be protected. Even though I’ve wanted to. I’m just not patient enough for that.

So carnivore it is.

But I also don’t feel like much of a predator. Lets face it, I’m not scaring anyone in a dark alley although if they got to know me…

Beastars does seem to hold over some of the known characteristics of animals and apply them to the cast. I tought for a while that maybe I’m just a plain old house cat cause I’m kinda  lazy but let’s face it, I wish I was a cat. I am nowhere near smart or fabulous enough to be a cat. I just couldn’t pull it off. I thought about a cat-like creature, a civet but even that’s out of my league.

I love dogs but I don’t have the indomitable spirit. I admire canine’s too much to be a part of them and after seeing the show I also count Pandas as way above me. 

So I’m looking for a small carnivore that’s a bit lazy, a bit clumsy, not that fabulous but generally good natured. Ladies and gentleman I give you my Beastar incarnation: Irina the Least Weasel. Super common and not that interesting, they range for 29 to 120g for females. They’re two lazy to dig out their own burrows so they just use abandoned ones and the give out annoying shrill squeaks. They are also super successful, thriving all over the world, the are good luck, capable of killing basilisk and wendigos (by running up their anus…) Yelp sounds about right.

Considering how small I would be, I probably wouldn’t be able to have that big a role in the Beastars universe, like I wouldn’t be able to be seen on stage but I could do well on camera. The newspaper editor was a mouse and he seemed to have things pretty in control. And I could eat him! Not that I ever would. Nopes, no way… ha ha…

I’m guessing I would probably be in the science club mixing very small amounts of chemicals together or arguing over subatomic particles or something of the kind. I would totally be friends with the bigger herbivores like the sheep or cows but I would feel awkward around the little ones. I would also be intimidated by the big carnivores. 

I wouldn’t even try to become a Beastar myself but I would be a great right hand weasel!

The best medicines are in the smallest pots? That expression may only exist in french. I have had a lot of events in my life defined by the fact that I’m just visibly smaller than average so maybe that’s why I tend to see myself that way even in animal form. I wouldn’t know what to do with some huge powerful body I guess. That was a weird sentence. I’m going to stop writing now.

Now let’s see if Scott and I would have been friends or run in the same circles if we were in Beastars!

Irina, can I be honest when saying that I think I would be intimidated by Weasel too even if they are good luck. How is it that we’ve chosen animals that are smaller but completely intimidating? A huge package in a small size? Is that some kind of singular mind meld? I’m kind of very curious about this. 

 
I also love the nature of the Least Weasel from how you described them because that tells me so much about how you kind of think about yourself. I can’t see you as lazy from an online perspective. That refusing to dig their own hole and taking over others. Plus, that loud shriek sounds amazing. I am so fascinated by this choice in a lot of ways. 

Well now you’re just flattering me. And I’m very happy about it!

In some ways, I do think that Scott Crow and Irina Weasel would be in similar circles because they are smaller carnivores in some nature. I can sense that same kind of Rouis and Legoshi atmosphere where I try to get your Weasel to do more then they are doing. That’s how my mind works though. At the same time I can’t help but admit there would be that carnivore sense of nature that puts an edge in their relationships though. 

Whelp you heard it here folks. Scott would bully me if we were in Beastars… Can’t deny that I’m surprised but I do admire his honesty. I guess I found who to follow! 

---

Thanks so much for following our collab, everyone. This is one part of a two part collab so be sure to see the animal that I picked on Irina’s blog, drunkenanimeblog.com. Irina is one of the best people to work with and I look forward to doing another one some time in the future. Who knows what about though :).