A world where predators and prey animals live in harmony is the setting for Beastars. Consequently, eating meat is illegal, and predatory animals must suppress their instincts. It appears all is well, but tensions simmer beneath the surface – and one of those tensions boils over in a high school drama club.
As a manga, the series has had a rabid fan base for a long time, and its anime debut did well with all kinds of audiences. Nevertheless, since the cast consists of personified animals at a high school, many people have avoided or written off the show.
It’s their loss! An incredibly complex and unique show, Beastars deals with a wide range of topics. For those brave enough to watch it, here are some other series that have either a similar tone, writing style, animalistic theme, setting, or level of quality.
1. BNA
Beastmen have been at odds with humans throughout history due to their genetic “Beast Factor,” which allows them to change shape. Beastmen have been forced into hiding as a result of this conflict. Anima City provides an environment where these oppressed individuals can live in peace without interference from humans.
Michiru Kagemori, a human turned into a tanuki, finds that Anima City is far from paradise during a festival marking the town’s 10th anniversary. Shirou Ogami, a seemingly indestructible wolf and sworn protector of all Beastmen, confronts her after she witnesses an explosion in the square.
As they pursue the criminals behind the bombing, the two discover that Michiru is anything but an ordinary Beastman and look to investigate her mysterious past and uncanny abilities. Could she turn out to be the missing link between Humans and Beastmen?
The plot is all around not that hard to predict, but it’s truly well done and presented in such a way that it’s enjoyable to follow along with. BNA just oozes with creativity and insanity, and it has the added bonus of being full of intrigue.
2. Odd Taxi
The walrus Hiroshi Odokawa lives a fairly normal life despite his eccentricity and bluntness. A taxi driver by trade, he meets a variety of unique characters: the jobless Taichi Kabasawa, who is obsessed with going viral, the mysterious nurse Miho Shirakawa, the struggling comedy group “Homo Sapiens,” and Dobu, a notorious delinquent.
Odokawa’s uncomplicated way of life is about to change drastically. The police have been tracking a missing girl that leads back to him, and now yakuza and corrupt cops are chasing him. Taking place in a strangely familiar city filled with unusual characters, Odd Taxi tells the story of a humble taxi driver and the mystery of a lost high schooler.
Odd Taxi is so raw, authentic, and powerful. It’s simple and yet complicated. The characters get connected through subtle and yet shocking events. It will give you goosebumps from how the story flows flawlessly. Even the small details can give so much information. Throughout the story, we discover how everything mentioned is related in unexpected ways.
3. Houseki no Kuni
After six meteors destroyed a world, crystalline organisms called Gems now inhabit it. As attacks on the Gems are made to shatter their bodies and use them as decorations, they each play a specific role in defending the planet against the Lunarians.
Known as Phos, Phosphophyllite is a beautiful, fragile Gem that dreams of helping others. They are told to assemble an encyclopedia because of their fragile condition. Phos, who reluctantly accepts this assignment, meets Cinnabar, who patrols the isolated island at night due to the corrosive poison that their body produces.
In Houseki no Kuni, Phos resolves to find a role for both Gems to be useful and protect their fellow Gems after seeing Cinnabar’s unhappiness.
It is not just a compelling journey about the main character’s conflict against themselves or even about the secondary cast that serves as foils to Phos. It’s all about your body-how you deserve to live in harmony with it. We have an intriguing story, but we also have an amazing cast that brings it to life.
4. Dorohedoro
Hole is a dark, decrepit, and disorderly neighborhood where the strong prey on the weak, and death is an everyday occurrence. As a realm separated from law and ethics, it is a testing ground for magic users.
Hole’s denizens are regarded as nothing more than insects by magic users occupying the highest levels of society. The powerless Hole dwellers are murdered, mutilated, and subjected to experiments every day in Hole’s hospital.
The magic users seem indomitable to most, aside from a few who find it difficult to challenge their authority since they have free access to and from the cesspool. Kaiman, more reptile than man, is one such individual. He hunts them on a heedless quest for answers with only a trusted pair of bayonets and his immunity to magic.
Cursed by his appearance and tormented by nightmares, magic users are his only clue to restoring his life to normal. With his biggest obstacle being his stomach, his female companion Nikaidou, who runs the restaurant Hungry Bug, is his greatest ally.
5. Aggressive Retsuko (ONA)
Often, office dynamics are stereotypical: the chauvinistic boss who never does any real work; the employees who suck up to the boss; the individuals whose lives seem perfect; and the individuals who get the actual work assigned to them. In the last group is Retsuko, the red panda, who works late most nights to catch up on the work her colleagues don’t do.
At a local karaoke bar, she finds relief from the stress of her everyday life by singing death metal. Every night, Retsuko channels her grief into a microphone and considers this place to be her sanctuary. The more she moves away from her comfort zone and the ideas other people have about her, the more she discovers that letting others into her world of death metal may not be such a bad idea after all.
Aggressive Retsuko is a remarkable achievement. This show’s characters are so fully realized, fleshed out, and relatable that they are more human than most animated shows can ever hope to be. In addition to being classic, their situations are comically relatable, and the way the show tells them is genuine and endearing.
6. Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki
Regardless of the fact that he is not actually enrolled in her class, Hana falls in love with the mysterious man who attends one of her classes. It turns out that he is also not truly human. In the full moon’s light, he reveals himself to be the last werewolf alive. The two decide to start a family despite this, and Hana’s love remains strong.
Both of Hana’s children, Ame, born during rainfall, and Yuki, born during snowfall, are healthy. Their father’s trait of being able to transform into wolves runs in their veins. However, Hana’s life is destroyed all too soon by the sudden death of her lover, leaving her to raise a strange family entirely on her own.
Her desire to prevent society from judging her wild-natured children while raising them in a densely populated city leads her to move to the countryside, where Ame and Yuki can live free from judgment. This is a heartwarming story about the challenges of being a single mother in an unforgiving modern world.
7. Shinsekai yori
In Kamisu 66, 12-year-old Saki Watanabe has just discovered that she possesses psychic abilities and is relieved to rejoin her friends at Sage Academy, a special school for psychics—the playful Satoru Asahina, the timid Mamoru Itou, the cheerful Maria Akizuki, and Shun Aonuma, the mysterious boy Saki admires.
Saki, however, begins to wonder what the fate of those who cannot awaken to their powers, and the children become involved in secretive matters, such as the rumored Tainted Cats, which are said to abduct children.
The story of Saki and her friends as they grow into their roles in Shinsekai yori tells the story of a unique coming-of-age story. However, accepting these new roles might not be easy when faced with the dark and shocking truths of society and the looming havoc of the future.
As we approach the finale, there’s a plot twist, and from that point on, the storyline just turns upside down in a way you would never expect.
8. Mahoutsukai no Yome
An auction sold Chise Hatori, a 15-year-old Japanese girl, for five million pounds to a tall, masked man. Having been given up as a young child and ridiculed for her unconventional behavior, she was willing to sell herself to anyone who would give her a home.
As she travels in chains, robed men gossip on her path, complaining that some buyer got his hands on a rare “Sleigh Beggy.”
Despite the murmurs, the mysterious man leads the girl to a study, where he reveals himself to be Elias Ainsworth, a magnus. With a bit of teleportation magic, the two arrive at Elias’ idyllic cottage in rural England after a brief confrontation. On her arrival, Chise was greeted by fairies and surrounded by strange and wonderful beings, marking the beginning of her story as the apprentice and supposed bride of an ancient magus.
While there’s the modern setting of urban cities and streets, there’s also magic and a world with otherworldly creatures.
9. Devilman: Crybaby
Without a living host, devils cannot take form. A Devilman can, however, be made if a person’s will is strong enough to overcome the demon.
Akira Fudou is a weak and unassuming character with a bleeding heart. Akira accepts Ryou Asuka’s request without hesitation to help uncover devils. However, Akira is surprised to learn they are going to Sabbath, an immoral party of degeneracy and debauchery.
In the midst of bloodshed and death, demons possess the partygoers, transforming them into grotesque monsters. When Akira merges with Amon, the devil, in a reckless attempt to save his best friend, he gains the power to defeat all the remaining demons.
It grants him great power, but it awakens a part of him that is insatiable and primal. While having a devil’s body, Akira has a crybaby’s heart and works alongside Ryou to destroy those who cause harm to humanity.
Every character in this anime is so well done, deliberate, consistent, and interesting.
10. Wolf’s Rain
The gateway to paradise will open when the world ends, according to an ancient legend in a dying world. It is this utopia that offers salvation to those who survive on this barren land, but legends dictate that only wolves can reach this place. It is thought that wolves are extinct, but they still exist and live among humans, masking themselves through elaborate illusions.
The intoxicating scent of Freeze City draws a lone wolf named Kiba to the struggling town under the control of the callous Lord Orkham. Kiba discovers that three wolves have been attracted by the same aroma, Hige, Tsume, and Toboe.
Using the fragrance of the “Lunar Flowers,” which they believed would open the door to their dream world, the wolves trekked across desolate landscapes and crumbling cities in search of their mythical promised land. Others with more sinister intentions, however, will do anything in their power to reach paradise first.