Chekov’s lion asserts his presence more quickly than I’d expected.

The fascinating tango between symbolism and drama continues to evolve on Beastars, as the anime version stares down its final few episodes.  I have no idea whether the anime is diverging from the manga here, but things are certainly happening quickly.  It seems we may be seeing the seeds of the dramatic climax emerging, and while I’m certainly more vested in the characters now and more able to embrace the story at face value than ever before, the form that climax is taking still invites (practically begs) deeper analysis.

This was certainly a plot-driven episode (as I think back, this is actually very much a plot-driven series) but those plot developments are deeply entangled with the implied metaphorical side of the story.  First we have Louis’ past, and learning about that also teaches us something about this fictional world.  Apparently the black market for meat is well-established, to the point where herbivores are bred for the sole purpose of being consumed, held in cages as they wait to die (which opens up yet another metaphorical can of worms, as if we weren’t already swimming in options).  It’s a dark and unpleasant flashback, and firmly establishes both that Louis is made of steel and that it was this fact that saved his life.  But that will be challenged later in the episode…

As for the beastar question raised last week, it seemed that Louis is very close to having that honor imparted on him – but it’s complicated.  In the first place beastars apparently are generally carnivores, which has the carnivore community plotting to take Louis down before he can he anointed.  We’re back to classist themes here, but if one chooses to switch over to the gender politics track that signal is green too – my take from all this is that carnivores feeling humiliated and yes, emasculated (almost all of the one we’ve met are still men) by the rules society forces them to live under has led to social problems.

In fact it’s Legosi who saves Louis from the first attack, by a cheetah (I think – maybe a weasel) played by Okamoto Nobuhiko – but there are apparently more coming.  To say Legosi is conflicted would be an understatement – he loves the girl who loves Louis, and I think he senses that Louis’ treatment of Haru isn’t as respectful as it could be.  But he also deeply admires Louis’ strength and confidence.  He vows to be Louis’ silent protector – but also to offer a confession to Haru which he fully expects to fail, so that he at least won’t have to live with the shame of never having told her (and he remembers that Tem died with his confession undelivered).  It’s very sad, and a classically Legosi (I think I know him well enough now to say that) thing to do.

That scene where Legosi – bless his heart – tries to confess to Haru is also very sad, but also hilarious.  Legosi looks a proper mess doing it, thanks to a pop on this nose during the scuffle, but Haru not wanting to hear it also surely reflects the fact that she knows she can’t reciprocate.  These are two very kind people – Legosi doesn’t even really want to take Haru from Louis but he figures he has no chance anyway, and Haru would prefer not to hurt anyone’s feelings.  Legosi leaves it at a promise to deliver his confession properly at the festival the next day, which would surely have led to an uncomfortable 24 hours for Haru had fate not intervened with rather more urgent business.

I gather the Shishigumi are effectively a carnivore yakuza gang, and they’re powerful enough to be a thorn in the mayor’s side.  He had his fangs removed and multiple plastic surgeries to make himself look less threatening, and if the Shishigumi ruin his manufactured image of kindly lions his political career is screwed.  When they kidnap Haru (white animals are more delicious, supposedly) to serve as their banquet, the mayor wants nothing to do with trying to retrieve her and potentially bringing attention to the Shishigumi.  What’s worse, he buys off Louis with a promise to clear his shameful past from the record and clear his path to the top.

I suspect in the end Louis will do the right thing, even if it costs him the chance to be a beastar.  But for now, Legosi has clearly elevated himself far above him as a protagonist, and one imagines Haru would have to take notice of who prioritized her life and who their own success.  I’m still seeing metaphorical ghosts in the shadows here – the way Haru is treated speaks less of a businessman assessing the goods than a predator (choose what sense you want to take that) humiliating the prey for his own gratification.  There’s always a lot going on in Beastars, both on the surface and on multiple levels of interpretation, and things are really starting to heat up on both fronts now.