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Beastars Season 2 Review

The second season of Beastars premiered on Netflix in 2021 and it consists of 12 episodes. It’s an inferior season to its much more interesting predecessor.

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“I have to love them from the shadows“

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Legoshi tries to find out who the murderer is while Louis gets involved with the lion’s den gang. This is the basic plot behind this messy season that tries to be too many things all at once – a murder mystery, a teenage comedy and a psychological drama. It doesn’t really succeed in other of those areas, at least not fully. It also entirely forsake the romantic subplots as Haru is almost nowhere to be found here, which was ridiculous as she was a crucial character before. Her relationship with Legoshi is put to the side, which was frustrating.

I have to say that Louis was the character MVP of this season. His entanglement with the lion criminals was intriguing and most of his scenes were dark, memorable and giving us a solid arc for him. I loved his growing friendship with Legoshi and the two gained respect for each other throughout this season. Their dynamic is by far the best one here.

Speaking of Legoshi, he continues to be the hero of this show, though his arc is much less interesting this time around. I still enjoyed his psychological and physical progression into a stronger carnivore and person in general. The action scenes are not the greatest, but they were memorably visceral and animalistic.

Juno was sidelined, though she got a couple of moments to shine. Gohin is still quite cool and intriguing. Riz is a compelling villain who isn’t over-the-top in his intentions, but he just succumbed to his carnivorous nature, which was very well explored. Many of these characters are solidly realized, but sadly the slice-of-life elements were shortchanged for more crime stuff this time around.

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Beastars continues to be exceptionally well designed. The animation is fluid, artistic and unique. The character designs are top-notch. The soundtrack is solid too and the voice acting is exceptional, especially for Legoshi and Louis. I just wished more care was given to the female characters and I wished also for more sophisticated themes that were present before, but were sorely lacking in this season.