A new volume of Beastars has arrived and things are getting more complicated for our favourite wolf-boy, both in terms of his personal life and his understanding of himself.
Synopsis:
Following their explosive fight during a drama-club production, Louis comes close to suspending Legoshi and Bill from the club, but ultimately decides to let them off the hook when it becomes clear that the audience didn’t realise that their fight wasn’t a part of the play and that they loved the performance. Legoshi continues to struggle with his violent emotions and things only get worse for him when he and some of the other carnivore club members head into town and accidently stumble upon the Black Market, which sells herbivore blood and meat that’s been acquired from hospitals and funeral homes.
Review:
“I don’t mind expressing my feelings… but I hate the ones I have.” – Legoshi, Beastars Volume 3.
Legoshi utters the above sentence while talking to his friend Jack about how he doesn’t want to mask his feelings anymore. He’s reached a point where he doesn’t want to hide who he is, but he’s still, understandably, uncomfortable with the violent urges he sometimes feels and his desire to eat other animals. Supressing these urges appears to be something that a lot of carnivores struggle with and an illegal market has sprung up to cater to their desire to consume flesh. Remarkably, the Black Market seems to be pretty easy to find and was operating in the middle of the day in some back streets in a seedy looking area of town. One has to assume that local authorities are intentionally turning a blind eye to the market, and most of Legoshi’s carnivore friends seem to regard its existence as something that’s necessary in order for their society to function. But Legoshi just can’t look at it in the same way.
When Legoshi’s friends want to pool their money to buy a finger from an old, homeless man who is selling his own flesh for cash, Legoshi becomes enraged and storms off, but he is quickly overwhelmed by the sights and smells of the market. That’s when he meets an unorthodox psycho-therapist who specializes in treating carnivores who are struggling with their aggressive desires. I’m actually pretty excited to see therapy presented as an option for Legoshi, even if the therapist in question employs some… questionable methods. His theory that Legoshi might not actually be in love with Haru, but instead be interpreting his obsessive feelings for her as romantic so he doesn’t have to face the fact that he wants to devour her, is also very interesting. Especially since his proposed solution is that Legoshi should never see Haru again! A logical suggestion, but I suspect that Legoshi will only find Haru more irresistible now that his love for her is forbidden. Teens, am I right?
Meanwhile, the romantic situation between Legoshi and Haru gets even more complicated in this volume. Legoshi works up the courage to talk to her, and the two even eat lunch together, but while they are getting to know each other better some other factors have cropped up that have the potential to throw a wrench into things. This volume sees the introduction of Juno, a female grey wolf who is a member of the drama club and who has a huge crush on Legoshi. Also, one of the boys that Haru has been sleeping with is revealed to be someone shocking! I’m anticipating even more drama in the drama club as the story progresses and I’m excited to see where this is going.
I really enjoyed this volume of Beastars; we got to see more of the world outside of the school, the ground work for some serious romantic drama has been laid and we continue to delve further into the complex psychology of the characters. There was also a, somewhat random, chapter in the middle of the book that focused on a hen who sells the eggs she lays to the school cafeteria and takes this part time job very seriously. This lighter chapter was really fun and provided a nice break from the more intense main story while simultaneously filling in some details on how the world works. I hope we get more chapters like this one in the future because I really loved it and I like the idea of seeing what life is like for some of the other students in the school. All in all, Beastars continues to be a fascinating series and I can’t wait for more!
Final score: 8.5 out of 10.
For more information on this manga, visit Viz Media’s website: https://www.viz.com/read/manga/beastars-volume-3/product/6090/paperback
What do you think of the Beastars manga? What are your thoughts on the new characters, Juno and Legom the chicken? Let me know in the comments.
You can also read my reviews of the other volumes in the series:
- Beastars Vol 1 Review
- Beastars Vol 2 Review
- Beastars Vol 4 Review
- Beastars Vol 5 Review
- Beastars Vol 6 Review
- Beastars Vol 7 Review
- Beastars Vol 8 Review
- Beastars Vol 9 Review
- Beastars Vol 10 Review
- Beastars Vol 11 Review
- Beastars Vol 12 Review
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