Beastars – Season 1 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Fantasies

Legoshi awakens from a slumber in episode 2 of Beastars to find himself in bed and dragged out by his classmates who suspect something amiss with him. Given what he went through the night before, Legoshi starts to fantasize about eating Haru. We then jump back to that night as a figure in the distance eggs him on to give in to his animalistic tendencies. He refuses to do so though and uses his mental willpower to stop, as this shadow menacingly tells him to taste her.

Zoe thankfully distracts him long enough for Haruu to get away, as Legoshi heads inside and finds Rouis on the floor after he and Zoe took a tumble together. Legoshi helps the deer back to his feet but in the mirror, Legoishi starts to see his animalistic shadow stalking him once more.

The next day, a fight breaks out at school as Legoshi watches in fear; the visions cause him to try and stop the fight but the fox squares up to him, just as Rouis arrives and calls him jealous given he’s the one with the coveted title of Beastar. Although Legoshi thanks him for his help. Rouis dismisses the wolf and bemoans his lack of carnivore instincts.

As fate would have it, Legoshi and Haru find themselves face to face as he goes looking for roses to decorate the hall. As he talks to her, Legoshi realizes just how small and fragile she really is. In the garden they talk but his gaze focuses on her arm – the same arm that he scratched. She can’t remember the incident though and continues to tend to her flowers as Legoshi has a hard time taking his eyes off her.

As he tries to pluck up the courage to talk, she gets the wrong end of the stick and takes her clothes off, believing this is what he wants. As Legoshi opens his eyes, he looks at the dwarf rabbit in shock.

With more plot development this time around, it appears Haru isn’t as innocent as she first appeared. This whole discriminatory way that prey and predator in this world view each other is such a fascinating thing to see play out. During the incident in the lunch hall, hearing the carnivores far more worried and gentle compared to the herbivores is a great juxtaposition and these little tidbits stand out right the way through the show.

The big moment here though comes from the silhouette of the wolf being used as an actual outline of the scene itself as the action plays out inside. It’s an unusual technique but one that works perfectly here to top off another very good episode.