In a climate where a gajillion shows are being released each season, one gets used to each one slightly tweaking itself to try and be different. There's probably a slice of life show for every subject you can think of (and a corresponding club). I thought BEASTARS would be one of these, with the anthropomorphization not having any actual bearing, like how the horse girls in Uma Musume could just be regular girls and nothing would change (except for the amount of carrots).

What I find instead however, is a show that uses its quirk to great effect. Its animal cast allows foundation for all sorts of interesting themes, that of instinct, weakness, and even as set-up for comedy (there's half of an episode devoted to how proud a hen is of her eggs).

Of Mice and Men is a short novella that I found deals with many of the things present in BEASTARS. But while it takes some analysis to pick it apart (as high school English classes may attest), BEASTARS goes about it in a different, interesting way.

____

End card design by Bakuretsu: https://bakuretsu.co/
Twitter:   / kamimamimashita  
Patreon:   / kamimashita  
Reddit:   / drjwilson  
Anilist: https://anilist.co/user/drjwilson/ani...