How about a nice little furry anime? One with a bunch of animals living in an alternate Earth behaving and acting like humans, while having lots of fun. Well, Beastars is not that anime. You get animals acting like humans, but the fun is limited. Beastars is actually somewhat dark, and Beastars: The Final Season is a touch darker than the first two seasons.

While watching season 3, it occurred to me that the series may be a metaphor for an inter-racial society and relationships. Or rather, if this were an American series I could interpret the show that way. But this is a Japanese anime, and Japan is, as I understand it, a homogeneous society. Or maybe it is a metaphor for nations getting along with their neighbors; that is, Japan and China, Korea, etc.

But what about season 3? We get some new characters and a new storyline, along with new crises.

Haru, that cute little formerly promiscuous dwarf rabbit, is getting on with her life. She has graduated from high school and is now in college. She also is contemplating her relationship with Legoshi.

And what of Legoshi? He’s not doing so well when we first are reunited with him. We see him going through withdrawal after having his first taste of meat, fighting off his predatory wolf instincts. Legoshi has dropped out of school and is now working as a delivery boy for an Udon restaurant. All Legoshi wants is a simple life, preferably with Haru.

We learn a bit about Legoshi’s background which we hadn’t known before. It seems that he is not a pure wolf, and that his grandfather is a lizard. Not only that, but granddad used to be a cop, teamed up with another tough detective, a horse named Yahya. Granddad quit the force after falling in love with a young wolf he rescued. Yahya stays on to become a beastar, and a law onto himself.

The main storyline involves a new drug disguised as a popular energy drink. It contains bits of herbivores which would stimulate most carnivores’ animalistic instincts to kill. Yahya is on the case, and he involves Legoshi in his efforts to stop the mobster behind the drug ring.

And what about that mobster? He is a psychotic half-leopard, half-gazelle known as Mellon. He most certainly is a person to avoid.

I like the animation in the final season. They don’t use stationary backgrounds. The characters do move while talking. This took a bit more effort than what you usually find in a television series.

The finale is a bit shocking, and disappointing. I could not believe they would end the series in that manner. So I did a bit of checking up on-line, and happily discovered that the 12 episodes I watched were not the end. Beastars: The Final Season is actually 24 episodes presented in two parts. So episode 12 is not the end, but a cliff-hanger. I eagerly await the forthcoming part 2.