Since I finished Beastars last night, I want to do a thread on the series. This series is very dear to me. It's a rare case where I was hooked straight away and got so engrossed in the characters. it felt like I could watch and read about them forever.

It is the most entertaining manga I read to date, I could read through 20,30,40 chapters in one go with a smile
on my face the whole time. Legoshi's journey as a character is one that I really connected with, and was the main driving force behind my love for this series.

He's a phenomenal and unique protagonist, and to me he's pretty much everything I could want out of one.
His dynamic with Haru, and with Louis, are both consistently entertaining and fascinating due to the nature of the setting Itagaki has created.

So many little details are given throughout that make this imaginery society these animals inhabit feel real.
I honestly think the premise is genius, the potential it created for both the world and the characters, and the variety it provides is amazing.

I consider the first 150~ chapters, or about the first 75% of the story, to be perfect to me. I love every character interaction, slice of life moment, all the bits of worldbuilding, all the reveals. Up until this point, I would give the manga a 10/10 without thinking twice.

Unfortunately, the final arc wasn't what it could have been. All the potential for the world, the characters, and the story that had been built up, sort of just... ended. The final arc wasn't the best, but I didn't think it was bad or mediocre.

It was still solid, and the antagonist was initially great. if this was just a temporary low for the series, and it closed with a good final arc, I would be happy to give it a 10. But that's not quite what we got. The final arc is in many ways disappointing.

The way plot points were resolved towards the end got less and less satisfying compared to earlier parts of the story. certain things came out of nowhere with no buildup, seemingly unnecessary new plot threads and concepts were introduced.

However, none of this would have been a problem if we received a proper finale. All it would have taken is one more arc to fully wrap up everyone's character arc, tie loose ends, show us more of certain characters (we never got to see Legoshi interact with Haru's family again?).

To a lot of people, endings are everything. Luckily, my favorite series is hxh, so I'm not one of those people. This series is still special to me even if it didn't live up to its potential, and I'll always cherish reading those first few arcs for the first time.

This series is still special to me even if it didn't live up to its potential, and I'll always cherish reading those first few arcs for the first time.

I wish I could give it a 10. I loved it and found it flawless for so long, but with the final arc being what it is, I'm giving it a 9. Still a generous rating, but any lower just doesn't feel right with how much I connected to the story.