Beastars Vol 10 Review

We’re gearing up for a big showdown in this volume of Beastars! Will Legoshi be able to defeat the murderer in a head on fight? Well, we don’t find out in this volume, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot that happens.

As with my other reviews of the Beastars manga, this review will contain spoilers, both for this volume and for events that occurred in previous entries in the series.

Synopsis:

Legoshi knows who murdered Tem and that person knows that he knows. When an attempt to confront and subdue this dangerous carnivore is interrupted, both parties agree on a date and time to meet and settle things, once and for all. Legoshi wants justice for his friend, and to ensure that the rest of his classmates are protected, but he questions whether or not he’ll be able to defeat his opponent in a head on fight, at least, as he is now. Could consuming some form of life, like, say, an insect, give him the insight he needs to get an edge on his foe? Meanwhile, Haru is worried about Louis, who still hasn’t returned to school. Can Legoshi find a way to both convince Louis to leave behind his new life as a crime syndicate boss and muster up the mental and physical strength to survive his upcoming battle?

Review:

This volume is mostly setup for the upcoming showdown, but there is still a lot of great stuff in here.

Nothing says: ” Sorry, I ripped your arm off,” like a nice bouquet of flowers!

Kibi is mostly recovered from having his arm torn off and has a touching heart-to-heart talk with Tao, who is consumed with guilt over the accident. Legoshi tries to better understand his enemy by eating a bug and then has a trippy vision where he get’s lectured by a giant moth about having respect for all life. We get a big reveal about Legoshi’s family. There’s a chapter that gives us a little background information on Gohin – which was interesting, but also a little uncomfortable, as one of his patients totally falls for him and then asks him to wait for her while she pays for her crimes in prison. I know you’re not an officially practicing psychologist, Gohin, but dating you’re patients is still a big no-no! That said, I’d be surprised if this character ever reappears, so it probably won’t end up being an issue.

The best part of this volume, however, has got to be when Legoshi decides to cross-dress, in order to sneak into the black market to talk to Louis! Louis’ henchman didn’t know what to think!

Louis remains popular, where ever he goes!

So, yeah, never a dull moment in Beastars!

The big reveal about Legoshi’s family was a real shocker. We found out last volume that Legoshi isn’t a pure-bread wolf, but here it’s revealed that part of his genetic makeup isn’t even canine! Legoshi’s grandfather is a reptile, making Legoshi 1/4 reptile too. I wouldn’t have thought that a mammal and a reptile would have been able to have kids together, but fully reattaching arms seems to be a common medical procedure in this world, so I guess anything’s possible.

I thought that this was a very interesting development for Legoshi’s character and I wonder how this aspect of his identity is going to influence how others see him, if/when the rest of the cast find out about it. Interspecies marriages aren’t widely accepted by society and mixed race children can face discrimination, which is why Legoshi keeps his heritage hidden. It seems that Legoshi’s mother experienced a lot of suffering as a result of her mixed parentage and it eventually got so bad that she was driven to suicide. When he was younger, Legoshi’s grief lead him to be angry with his grandfather and he’s had no contact with him for several years. Thanks to all of the personal growth he’s experienced in recent volumes, however, Legoshi has realized that he has been unfair to his grandfather and is starting to reach out to him again. I hope we get to see his grandfather more as the series progresses, as I’d love to see Legoshi be able to reconnect with him. Also, Legoshi’s granddad seems like a badass, so I’m sure there’s a lot of cool stuff he could teach Legoshi!

We don’t see much of the girls in this volume, unfortunately. Haru pops up to talk to Legoshi about how she’s worried about Louis, but she doesn’t wind up doing anything about this herself. We see a bit of Juno rehearsing for the play (which is the exact same play that they did last time, except they did a gender swap in the casting. These kids need to try branching out a little!), but she’s also not up to much this volume. I hope they both get more to do next time, as they’re great characters who have been underutilized in the recent storyline.

The tension in Beastars is rising, as the day of the big fight draws near. I’m curious to see how Legoshi is going to manage to best his opponent and whether or not Louis will take him up on his offer to bear witness to the proceedings. I’m looking forward to the next volume and to seeing how this will all play out!