Beast Complex Volume 1 – More Beastars Stories

Have I ever wanted to dig more into the universe of a show that you enjoy? While the story of a show is good, the world building around it is more interesting? That was Beastars for me. I think Legoshi and Haru’s journey is interesting, but the world of Beastars is so interesting that there is a lot to dive into. The main story really feels like something that is just Carnivores and Herbivores living together somehow with a very uneasy tension in the air is so interesting. Especially since wondering how it happened was interesting. This manga is the Beastars’ Mangaka Paru Itagaki doing that.

Beast Complex is an anthology of different carnivores and herbivores in the Beastars universe. There was an adorable story about a tiger and beaver grew up together and want to continue being friend despite social pressure. That’s followed by a racist camel journalist whose life turns around after spending time with a seductive wolf and it feels wrong because it doesn’t feel consensual. I also did not like the gazelle and crocodile working a cooking show together because it felt so wrong. The romance story between a fox and chameleon come into themselves was adorable though. So, there is more good stories then bad which explore the universe.

I do think that this manga went by a little too fast for some of these relationships that appeared. At least for the ones that need more explanation like the camel and the wolf meeting and sleeping with each other or the gazelle and crocodile working together. There is something lost in both of these about how the world of Beastars operates considering that these are animals which are human like. Something about scents and other things need to be thought about or at least explained to the audience to make some sort of sense. Otherwise, the beaver and tiger is a classic children’s kind of story and the fox and chameleon is just high school context with animals.

In general, I had a lot of good times with this manga. The background art is very minimalist, but the art behind the character designs is really good. Each one is very expressive despite being human shaped animals. You can tell that Paru Itagaki put a lot of thought in to these designs. I also think that the stories in here, good or questionable, are worth checking out into putting the world and manga of Beastars in general. So, I am going to give this manga a good and recommend for people who at least have watched the Beastars anime at a minimum. The first season mainly because the second one is in locked in Netflix jail right now. (That’s not what this posts is about). So, anyway, have a good day!

You can find this manga in a lot of places thanks to Viz Media. Please click this link to find out where you can find this manga here: Link.