Throughout history, humans have been at odds with Beastmen—a species capable of changing shape due to their genetic "Beast Factor." Because of this conflict, Beastmen have been forced into hiding. Anima City serves as a safe haven for these oppressed individuals to live free from human interference.
During a festival celebrating the town's 10th anniversary, Michiru Kagemori, a human who suddenly turned into a tanuki, finds that Anima City is a far cry from paradise. After witnessing an explosion in the square, she is confronted by Shirou Ogami, a seemingly indestructible wolf and sworn protector of all Beastmen. 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?
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Comentários
ziIIa
Alright alright. When I first took a glance at BNA, I felt that it was going to be something pretty cool and awesome. Well, was I wrong, or was I right? I’d say neither. BNA is a show that shows the darker side of the world if beastmen really existed. Firstly, I was pretty shocked to find out that BNA was 12 episodes instead of 24. The setting and everything made it feel like it would have lasted a lot longer than what it actually is. The world-building and everything made you have an easy understanding of what is going on with their world andI honestly appreciate that they used several episodes for that. The story is extremely simple and straightforward, with some things still left unexplained, such as how does Michiru has all these incredibly supernatural powers, even in a supernatural world. I personally enjoyed this show a lot, how you could have never dreamed of such a city being existent in our world. And that the balance between the comedy and the seriousness was of good standards. That dark feeling along with Slice of Life being the jam on top of it created that urban fantasy type of feeling.
Even though the story was shown in a straight-forward and simple way as it chooses not to be sophisticated, however, those final few episodes in my honest opinion wasn’t able to push out a darker feeling than I expected it to release. Like I said, Slice of Life is the jam, don’t forget what you’re eating is still the bread. I feel that a darker final few episodes, even if the resolution is still the same, would have impacted many more audiences, myself included.
Another thing that got me started on BNA was the pretty unique art style. Nowadays most modern anime (especially isekais) tend to adapt with that pretty generic art style which I don’t mean to be an elitist or anything, I don’t appreciate much. So having this unique curvy, joyful, and dynamic art style is definitely a plus in the art department. As for animation, I don’t have much to say, it’s Trigger. They've always been gorgeous when it comes to their style of animation. If they fail in animation, it’s the same as saying KyoAni produces shitty art—which in contrast, produces the most eye-candy art you'll ever imagine.
As for sound goes, I was pretty satisfied. Actually, I was more than satisfied, I was pretty impressed. The OSTs, OP & ED, all had that urban modern society taste imbued into them, along with a bit of a futuristic kind of feeling as well. This led me to really enjoy them and rock to the beat, although that is more of a subjective thing. One OST that impacted me was that song Michiru and Nazuna sang together, it reminded me of how special friends were, and yeah. That’s literally all.
The character development for the characters I would say wasn’t the most substantial, but it’s decent for a 12 episode series. Especially Oogami, his character development, backstory, and everything was really well-done and Trigger deserves a thumbs up for that. Michiru like what Nazuna always tells her hasn’t changed much. Well, I suppose that is pretty realistic, humans don’t change much over such a short period of time do they, especially for somebody as stubborn as Michiru. But the characters overall were really enjoyable and I had a really fun time watching them. (Especially my little precious bear Jackie)
Overall, I had loads of fun watching BNA, although story-wise it was not even close to what I had wanted, but I got something else that I didn’t ask for: Fun character interaction. Honestly, I’m satisfied with just that. So, you interested in BNA? Sure, go ahead, but don’t expect some crazy complicated storyline that even the great Hououin Kyouma can’t figure out. ;)
myacorn
Despite my negative comments below, I thoroughly enjoyed BNA, and so should you. Story: 7 As mentioned in some other reviews, the story becomes quite cliché as it moves on. There are so many questions that are left unanswered. BNA is a story that draws parallels between real-world discrimination and discrimination against the beastmen and also how money often drives horrible things that can happen in society. In trying to deliver this message through the story, Trigger did a great job, despite having a plot that is so obvious that it can be seen from a mile away. The story could have beenmuch better fleshed out and become much more comfortable and less rushed if the anime were longer than 12 episodes. I genuinely don't understand why they didn't bother making at least 24 episodes; I really would have liked some more slice-of-life sessions (such as the baseball arc) to break apart the fast-paced storyline, which would also have allowed the side characters to play a larger role in the story (Mink ex machina?). Sometimes I got tired watching the same people do the same things over and over again.
The ideas in the story were quite inconsistent, and there were a lot of unexplained power-ups and ex machinas that could have been elaborated on.
Art: 8
Trigger has a very specific art style which is different from what we usually expect and pairs well with the lo-fi musical feel. It takes a moment to get used to, although I did tend to enjoy it more as time went on.
Sound: 9
Including the fantastic OP, the music has a great feel for the story and I enjoyed the lo-fi vibes even though this kind of music is actually not what I usually enjoy listening to. The voice actors were well-suited to their characters.
Character: 6
Although I really enjoyed the characters (especially Michiru, of course) all of them ended up as some stereotype or very close to one. There's nothing that's new or refreshing brought to the table in BNA; they could have done so much more with it.
Overall enjoyment: 9
I really did enjoy BNA. While the plot was a little obvious, I enjoyed watching the characters navigate the city and explore the world. The story is indeed obvious, but that's often because it often it's the best way to proceed. I particularly enjoyed Trigger's unusual animation style and the music! While there are some issues with the anime, they are not blatantly visible and are quite easy to miss if one isn't looking for them.
JillFanatic
You ever watch a series that feels like it tries to juggle too many plot points at once? When attempting to have a full story in the short time span of 12 episodes, you generally want to focus on only a few elements at a time, but this series tried to have its cake and eat it too, with concepts such as discrimination, segregation, poverty, super powers, corruption, a friends middling relationship, and it all ends with a subpar Trigger final battle that resolves all the issues in the city that it really shouldn't. The protagonist is Michiru, a young teenage girl who mysteriously turned intoa beastman, a half human animal hybrid, and decides to run away to this city called Anima city where beastmen live separated from humans to avoid getting harassed by humans. As for why humans despise and discriminate against beastmen, that is never really given a proper explanation. Furthermore, beastmen have the capability to transform into normal humans and the question becomes why does anybody care about these beastmen to begin with. In any case, we follow Michiru and try to figure out why she was turned into a beastman and how she can transform back to normal so she can go back to her normal life with her parents. The first half of the series focuses on Michiru learning about Anima City and the conflicts surrounding the beastmen on a daily basis. Together with loner wolf man Shirou, they occasionally fight crime together.
The first 5 episodes had a more episodic feel to them, such as Michiru joining a poor baseball team and inspiring them to not give up just to earn money, or this one episode where Michiru was trying to teach a group of children how to read and write for this mafia lady to get her wallet back. These episodes aren’t necessarily bad, but given how the show ends up, they do feel pointless in the grand scheme of things(Aside from ep 1). The baseball episode felt particularly egregious since aside from one adorable bear from the team, we really don’t see the team much ever again, and what could have been an interesting commentary on how a capitalistic system can force poor folk to stay poor, it just kind of ends on not giving up, which is nice, but it doesn’t really do much to explore this city.
The other thing is that the show never focuses on how Anima City really operates. The city is generally unable to access the internet and the only way to do so would be through illegal means. How does this society function without the internet? What means do they have to get through their day to day lives? What do they do to get things done around the city? We do get parody brand names like Dog Way, and there seems to be a mafia gang running things behind the scenes, but generally speaking, we really don’t get much of anything out of this city. It has an Us vs Them mentality regarding humans and beastmen, but it's not like that's explored much beyond violence. There is a conflict involving the cult and what happens in the last two episodes is so stupid that I don't understand how this society even got off the ground. It's that bad.
One interesting thing regarding Michiru at first would be her desire to return to being a human and go back to her town. There's this interesting scene where her parents wish her happy birthday over on Instagram and she hesitates to respond. Sadly, this conflict is never brought up again, and she decides to stay as a beastman anyways so her whole story felt useless. She even gains the ability to transform into a human out of nowhere in one of the earlier episodes and its never used again. She constantly gains all these abilities such as Cheetah legs to run fast, bird wings, stretchy arms, and so on, but it's never explained how she's able to do all these things. Then her friend Nezuna and her cult is introduced in ep 6 and this is where the show really starts to take a nosedive. To her credit, Nezuna does call out Michiru for continuously jumping to conclusions and acting before thinking, but this argument that they end up having doesn't really help her change for the better. If anything she continues to act the same while being a little sad as well. In the end, Michiru feels so detached from the main conflict of the series, and her end goal of becoming a human again is thrown to the wayside. Her character arc is the usual "I've come to accept myself as a beast" trite that I've only seen Shrek pull off. It would honestly make more sense if Shirou was the protagonist, though its not like he's a good character either. At least she's got a cute character design. I wish I would've liked the cute tanuki girl more.
Shirou is like that loner anime man that came out of the early 2000's. He's rude, hates humans, clearly has a dark past or some nonsense, and works alone. As a wolfman, he has the ability to sniff out certain people and objects such as bombs and so forth. He's a part time detective who works for the police. I don't get how something as arbitrary as smell is accepted as evidence to the police. Phoenix Wright would be all over their asses, but it's generally used for plot conveniences. What I don't like about Shirou is how he doesn't have any sort of character chemistry with Michiru and his character can be very easily summed up as "Humans bad, Beastmen good". The bastard also allows a fucking bomb to explode to catch the criminals in the act when finding and stopping the bomb would be more than enough. When his "backstory" is revealed and they bring up WW2 I was laughing. Everything about him is such a hot mess.
I don't have much to say about the rest of the cast. Nezuna is mostly just a prop and a means to an end for the main villain as well as a source of conflict for Michiru, the main villain will not be named due to spoilers, but it's pretty obvious, and everybody else is fodder.
Now on to the general look of the series. The director of the anime is Yoh Yoshinari, and you may recognize that name from LWA since he was the director of that series. It really shows since this series looks rather similar to his previous work, though not quite as visually appealing in my eyes. Like that series, this show has a lot of character put into it with expressive facial expressions, pull and stretch animation, and a lot of energy when it counts. The final battle, as contrived as that was, did have a lot of visual flare to it, which I always appreciate. Having said all this, I was hoping that this show was going for a cyberpunk esque world given the previous poster that this series had when it was announced, and I quite like that aesthetic. I do wish Yoshinari and Trigger experimented a little more regarding this show, but it still looks appealing overall.
Finally, there's the soundtrack. I do really like opening and ending songs, but the ending song is used way too much throughout the show. I get that anime likes to use their opening and ending songs sometimes as a nod, but in this case it feels super forced and annoying. By themselves however, they're nice to listen to. With the ending song has this sort of chilled vibe with a super stylish art style that I love. The rest of the soundtrack is fairly solid, with Mabuna who also did the OST for Megalo Box and he did a good job here. Easily my favorite part of the show.
Sadly, I can't really recommend this series unless you lower your expectations to rock bottom. It lacks any kind of focus and generally feels directionless until the disaster that is the second half. It's not really worth your time. Just watch Beastars if you haven't already.
y8man
I am what you can call a huge Trigger fanboy, so I advise you to cautiously take this as enthusiasm, as guidance, or even just as a piece of experience that a viewer had for BNA. BNA is a freaking delight, but for reasons different from my profile picture. If there's one thing that could overcome my furry bias, it is my appreciation for the craft of Trigger studio. That said, I know this anime has evident flaws, and I will be judging it appropriately... after I shower it with praise and love. Story (9/10): I believe there are legitimate grounds for saying that the plot of thisanime feels tame. I, for one, felt it too, but perhaps for reasons different than most. Upon the near end of the anime, I began to feel like this is a tamer version of the concept of Kill la Kill. It has been spurred strongly by the nature of identity and self-acceptance that BNA fiercely integrated within its story and very conflict. In hindsight, I think rather than as a flaw, it is more of a Trigger trope at this point.
Here is why I am embracing it instead. BNA did not feel pretentious. Much of the acceptance I felt from Kill la Kill (despite being about the strange connection with clothes), was translated very well in the format of beastmen in BNA. I believe this goes with the fact that the utilization of anthropomorphism did not feel like some random choice. It is tied very well with what the anime wanted to portray and wanted to be. BNA would not be complete without the beastmen aspect, much like Kill la Kill would not be striking without its recklessness with its clothes symbolism. It's a classic Trigger kind of exaggeration that feels strangely wholesome.
Character (9/10):
To relate with the previous aspect, I believe this is where the utilization of the beastmen aspect shines the strongest, particularly the philosophy of the characters and their ways of dealing with conflicts. This comes across especially striking due to the various natures of the character "types" being human, beastmen, hybrids and everything in between. This is where a lot of anime material aiming to be inspiration falls flat. However, BNA makes it so that the characters are grounded with reason and logic, where seeing both flaws and reality in character perceptions are able to be given empathy, but not necessarily agreement. This makes for compelling character dynamic, no matter how frustrating it gets.
That said, I am sure this will be a point of conflict for other viewers, because it does come to a point where it seems horribly cliche in nature. For me, going back, I think people underestimate the effectiveness of using tropes. People see it as an unnecessary format, but rarely see it as an effective means to convey story and build up in a more convenient way. This is especially important for BNA due to its short runtime, where much of the main characters main frameworks are quickly explained for efficiency, while still leaving room for the parts of mysteries and plot developments. Plus, Michiru is simply too memorable.
Sound (9/10):
Absolutely love the energy here! It goes very well with the Trigger dynamic, so the chemistry is strong and it is very infectious! I wish there could have been stronger song themes for the tamer parts of the anime, but this is enough for the wild pacing and setup of the anime!
Art (8/10):
If I have to pick one anime to introduce people to Trigger, this will be it. For the nth time of mentioning, Kill la Kill is obviously not for the faint of heart. BNA, on the other hand, will be holding a special kind of fondness in my heart, and probably even for other people. It's the now typical Trigger stylization, but somehow remarkably defined well with its integration of animal characteristics. It feels like a legitimate and respectful take on anthropomorphism without appearing as pandering (the fanservice in this anime is very mild). While not for every episode, there are some strong visuals here and there. I would have to criticize the studio for placing some obvious budget cuts over some particular frames (not necessarily animation itself, but it counts for an art critique), especially for a short anime that needed the most it can get.
Overall (9/10), I fully acknowledge and embrace my bias. Despite a good amount of flaws, my enjoyment far outweighs my sentiments for negativity over the material. I see BNA as a more family-friendly way of playing around with the theme of acceptance, as opposed to the aggressive take of Kill la Kill. But surprisingly, I don't think I will endorse this anime due to its "furry" aspects (Beastars, on the other hand...). I think it is a disservice to the anime to advertise this as merely that. It is a Trigger delight, much like the rest. It is a wild ride, and I will always be appreciative of anime that takes on the lesser uniform approach. I hope that more people will be involved with and look forward to more of their projects. They certainly delivered with this one!
An1meDweeb
*COMPLETE REVIEW OF EPISODES 1-12* First off, I want to mention that BNA is my first Trigger show, and I intend to share my thoughts on the show based on its own merits without this infamous studio’s work in mind. That being said, I’m definitely looking forward to exploring Trigger’s catalogue further. One more thing, this first bit is going be spoiler-free, but I’ll include some specific details at the end, so read at your own risk. Brand New Animal (BNA) brought up plenty of discussion among the community when the project first got announced. An anime-original story, backed with a Netflix release? That’s just unheard of!*Jokes aside, news about the show and its premise did pique my interest. Was I pumped for the show? Yes. Did I have a good time? Sure did. Was the hype warranted in the end? …Not quite, IMO.
Let’s get this out of the way: BNA absolutely nails its presentation. The art mixes overall vibrance with moments highlighting individual color tones, keeping the scenes looking anything but mundane. Animation here is free-flowing and complemented with careful shot composition, which makes the action and pivotal confrontations stand out. The sound design is great, and the score is really well implemented. The OP slaps, and I can never bring myself to skip the ED. Overall, these elements are executed incredibly well, making for a fun show that I can easily recommend.
With all that being said, I have a few problems with BNA regarding its writing and series structure. BNA’s premise is a big draw for the series, but unfortunately I never got the feeling that the show fully delivered on its potential. The broad issue I have is that the show’s overarching plot is too thin and stretched out, leaving little room for tension and only having a couple of compelling story beats. This certainly isn’t helped by the show’s unusual release schedule. BNA is essentially split in half and premiered the first 6 episodes back in March. I watched the show in-line with the Netflix broadcast, and it had this disjointing effect, with mostly inconsequential “filler” episodes frontloaded and more exposition-heavy material in the latter half. Note I say “filler” loosely (there’s only one egregious case)**, in the sense that the show raised some interesting ideas that didn’t really mean anything or arrive at a meaningful conclusion in the end. Our protagonist Michiru meets the indestructible badass Shirou and spend the initial episodes exploring the crime syndicate known as The Family. Through these experiences, Michiru comes to gain a grasp of the nature of Beastmen. That one tangent alone would have been sufficient to service a whole cour of the show, balancing that buddy cop relationship and character introspection for Michiru, the human-turned-beast. That was the show I was expecting, but then the show just leaves that thread hanging. Instead, the show chooses to shoehorn in new characters, giving the show a looser feel and lessening the impact of potentially strong material. While that in itself is not an issue, I feel that BNA is a bit of a tease for only briefly hinting at these ideas without committing to them. This lack of narrative focus may be less of problem if you’re binging the show and is mostly dealt with two-thirds into its run, so make of this mini-rant what you will.
Now, to quickly address a few specific problems, mostly having to do with the points mentioned above. The worldbuilding in the show varies quite a bit, as good ideas can get tossed in one episode while the next may see Beastmen doing human things the exact same way humans would. Conflict within the characters in the show seem inconsequential unless fangs are bared, with one exception coming at the end of episode 6. The characters themselves are fine and serviceable, not exactly bland but not interesting either.
TL;DR: What do I think of BNA? Although I’ve attempted to give this show a good bashing, that’s only because of what I thought it could have been. And I believe I’m not alone in thinking that BNA could have been so much more. Story threads that weren’t given enough room to grow, themes that weren’t comprehensively explored, and a world not fully realised hold BNA back from making much of an impact. That being said, solid production from a renowned studio and genuinely fun moments keep things engaging. BNA might not be a beast in contention for AOTY or anything, but it’s certainly fine for what it is. Trigger could have done a lot worse here, and there is always a place in the anime landscape for this level of creativity. BNA, for what it’s worth, is a fun ride, and I think in these times we could all use a little light in our lives. 6/10~
STRAY RAMBLINGS (SPOILERS):
- *that is, unheard of for roughly two seasons. The comparisons between this show and Carole and Tuesday run deeper than Netflix and the release schedule; C&T also has the pattern of episodic romps in the first half and a more plot-oriented second. However, with C&T the tone shift was more nonsensical, and it tried to go from Folk Tik Tok songs to… a discussion on immigration? Still trying to wrap my head around that one.
- **my GOD I hate the baseball episode, why does it exist
- I want to punt Jackie across a room, why does it exist
- Said it once and I’ll say it again, “NIGHT RUNNING” deserves to be put on loop. Spotify, we’re waiting.
- The Nirvasyl flashback sequence in Episode 8 was really good. Great idea to switch up the art style, there was a frame or two in there reminiscent of Genndy Tartakovsky’s best work.
- Best Girl: If I had to choose, probably Nazuna. Her interpreting being the face of a cult to her aspirations of becoming an idol is probably the most interesting idea in the show.
- In A Nutshell: Zootopia meets the Powerpuff Girls (with a dash of Major 2nd**)
- Greetings Internet! Just a small-time anime fan here, I’m trying out some stuff in this community and sharing my ill-informed opinions. This is my first review and at the moment I’m satisfied with it, although I have a feeling I’ll regret this whole idea a week from now. Looking forward to doing more of these reviews here and there, I don’t watch a ton of shows seasonally though. In any case I hope you enjoyed this piece and that it gave you something to chew on. I do want to get better at this, so if you have any feedback feel free to let me know, peace!
TheLazyCommunist
I'm convinced that Trigger has some of the most talented artists in the industry and some of the worst writers. Or pushiest executives. The show is gorgeous, vivid, and genuinely a breath of fresh air compared to some of the art styles of the modern era. The writing, on the other hand, really needs to have some more room to explore what it is its even trying to say. There is such a non committal game being played with the messaging and themes that it makes me believe an original story was had, and was great, but a room full of studio execs pulled itapart until it was such a shadow of itself that it became no longer recognizable. And it truly is a shame. Another victim of selective artistic expression due to a drive to be universally marketable from those who only see art as a commodity.
Atlos
If you’re watching this show for deep nuanced story about politics, racism, and furry rights you’re going to be deeply disappointed. This is a trigger show, and one written by Kazuki Nakashima (the mind behind kill la kill, promare and most of gurren lagann) nonetheless, so if you came here for the raw energy inherent to shows like Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann, Inferno cop etc this is going to suit you just fine. Story & writing: As stated in a plethora of other reviews the story is a bit cliché and the characters are a bit generic. But it is a means to an end,the story purpose is to string together a bunch of amazing looking set pieces together in a somewhat coherent manner. The rule of cool runs through the core of this show a dictate everything happening on screen. But this is nothing new, trigger shows are built upon this concept. The show makes just enough logical sense for the writing of the story and characters to take a back seat because as I said before strong writing isn’t the point of this show.
Art: The art style is very similar to yoh yoshinari’s previous work little witch academia. The backgrounds pop and feel incredibly vibrant all the while employing a vaporwave-esque colour palette. Everything animated moves incredibly smooth while maintaining the trigger flare which the company is known for. But there are only so many ways I can say that this show is a visual treat.
Sound: The intro and outro songs are downright addictive, although the show does seem a bit fond of its outro, not to the point that it is overused but it is in a fair few scenes.
Enjoyment: While the cast are generic and the story predictable everything “bad” about this show is good enough while the everything “good” about this show is excellent. Your enjoyment from this show while vary depending on what you want from this show.
nonemukun
Trigger made a fantastic story again! I really enjoyed watching it and I love everything about this show : Music,Animation,Art,Voices. Michiru’s Seiyuu voice is something brand new! Despite of new animal theme, it was a real classic trigger series. You see, here we have : 0.Rocking Opening 1.Genki/Clumsy/sometimes sad main female character who doesn’t understand many things at the start, but in the end she finally gets everything and grows up.2.Funny animation
3.Difficult relationships between main characters
4.Crazy,confusing plot twist in the final episodes.
5.Amazing soundtracks
6.Relaxing/melancholic Ending
I like to compare Michiru with Ryuuko and Atsuko/Luluco.
Jackie and other poor bears are something similar to Mako Mankanshoku or her family.
The only bad and at the same time great thing about trigger shows is they never have second season because they don’t need them, they are full stories with out understatement.
GaBeRockKing
Most anime about the future shoehorn in some sort of "technology can have drawbacks" or "we need to be careful not to lose our humanity" subplots. BNA goes very much in the opposite direction. Can't say too much because that would be spoiling the plot, but BNA is of the opinion that genetic modification is awesome, people should have whatever bodies they want, and being something other than human would be pretty damn cool. Plus, it's animated by Studio Trigger, of *Gurren Lagann*, *Kill la Kill*, *Darling in the Franxx*, and *Little Witch Academia* fame, so there's tons of awesome action shots. (The plot andcharacters are pretty good too, but frankly that was secondary to my enjoyment.)
If you enjoy transhumanist themes, you will enjoy this anime. If you're a pansy ass luddite, go back to watching your zoetrope.
wyvernwings
I want to base this on what the anime IS rather than what it could have been. That said, I really enjoyed BNA. The characters were compelling, the universe was intriguing, the art was stunning, and while the anime didn't accomplish anything particularly revolutionary, I thoroughly enjoyed every episode. It was a good concept with some parts that could have been elaborated on or explored more, but in 12 episodes, I still got a good sense of the world at large, the challenges characters faced, and the overarching themes. For a 12-episode anime, the plot was really well-done with a good amount of build anda satisfying (although some might say lackluster) resolution. Character design was 10/10 with diverse body types and a stunning lack of hyper-sexualization. Music was very good. Art and animation, incredible, especially during the scenes with more action. Some heavy topics such as prejudice, discrimination, and eugenics, but they didn't feel glossed over or heavy-handed which was refreshing.
This review is pretty scattered, but in short, certainly not the best anime in the world but definitely worth watching.
anemicghost
-Just finished watching this on Netflix and I started with pretty low expectations, but I ended up really enjoying this anime- Story: (7) I agree with what others say that this was a very short anime at only 12 episodes so the actual substance to the plotline and main conflict was kinda rushed in the last few episodes. Also, it would've been nice to get more background on the characters and the show's setting. However, I did enjoy the storyline. I thought that it was engaging and different than a lot of other animes I've seen out there. Also, I have to give them props fordoing a beastman show that wasn't creepy like Beastars was.
Art: (9) I thought the art style of this show was amazing, and honestly, that's the thing that caught my eye and got me to watch the show. I think the creators did a great job animating this. It was super colorful and I really liked the character design as well.
Sound: (7) Not much to say other than the music was good. It was catchy but nothing that blew my mind.
Character: (8) I think overall all of the main characters are likable. I enjoyed the character development as the show progressed as well. I just wish they went into more background on them especially the main character Michiru. All we really found out about her past was that she used to be human; so basically nothing lol.
Enjoyment: (9) Really enjoyable show. I ended up watching the whole thing in one night and would've loved to see more. It had some good action scenes as well as plenty of comic relief.
Overall: (9) The art was amazing, the characters we loveable, and I had fun watching it. I've been getting tired of the same anime premises that are popular lately so I found this show to be really refreshing. I would recommend this show to anyone who wants a short anime that is funny and has some good action as well.
2life
Haha, I'm no furry but... Well Brand New Animal (BNA) is already the second quite successful anime of the year. BNA was very Trigger-esque but also not. I liked it and I did not. This was due to misplaces expectations and good plot twists. Art: The art is fairly simple but lively. You can expect the good Trigger stars to pop up, but what was a disappointment was that there were to many still frames to my liking. I guess all the budget was burned up on Promare. The fighting scenes however were done very good. Smooth crisp battles and of course over the top punches. The animationis what you want from Trigger, but with a downgrade on some scenes. Overall very good. There are some cameo crossovers like that from Inferno Cop, but it is fun to look for them.
Sound:
The intro and ed were totally slapping. Voice acting felt a bit stiff from the cast other than from Michiru. As far as music and sounds go, they often goes unnoticed, but they add a lot to the scenes, from hyping you to pumping up the tension. It was sad there was not a wide variety of sound effects but it got the job done
Characters
A mc with a strong personality is by now a standard at studio Trigger. Michiru and the rest of the cast in no different. I think the representation of the characters is done more subtle than previous Trigger works, and that did fit very well in the "cite life" experience.
Michiru is your everyday Tanuki. She is vibrant, colored, wild, loud, cute, totally Trigger. With her thick skull there won't come much logic in our out, but she is a girl with a genuinely good heart. She is typically a character with more tail than brain.
Shirou; does he looked depressed? tired? i guess both. This bad ass wolf seem to have a "im a emo dude" aura, but you'll see soon enough he is more bite than bark.
Nazuna is exactly a character i wanted to see more off. Her actions and reactions all make sense in the last episode. She is much more nuanced and she uses her brain. Lovely, pink, fluffy.
As i can say about the rest of the cast, without spoiling, the police is just there, don't expect much, side characters are side characters, the villain is charming and turn out well balanced in his actions.
Story:
Oh boy, I love it and I hate it. The anime starts off quite relaxed to go to 100 real quick in the end. The plot is well built and have a certain coherency, making the plot reveal satisfying and "ooooh thats why!!". Characters feel more realistic as you get more and more sucked in the story. There are some bold twists both character wise and plot wise.
The story itself touches some multiple aspects, from unfair game bets to racism in a multi cultural society. Because there is not much attention to the overall message of these themes, it feels a bit messy at times, but it is still enjoyable.
edit: i now know why this story felt so alienated from the classic Trigger works, there is no clear enemy to fight off. While the humans are presented as a problem, the aren't the REAL problem. It was just the antagonist puppeteer the rest of the humans instead of Michiru having fight off real threads.
Enjoyment
As a Trigger made anime i definitely enjoyed it and loved it. There were some disappointments as I had high hopes for BNA but it surprised me in other aspects. All in all im extremely disappointed in that beastmen weren't aliens and that Michiru didn't fight in space, but we can't have it all.
If you love furries and a relaxed plot with a lot of vibrant colors and vibes, this is your go to.
giraffenanime
I was excited to watch this anime since Trigger was in the mix, and it didn't disappoint me one bit! Not the theme I was expecting, but thats what I love about surprises! Let's get into the anime basics... The story was a lot more political than I was expecting (in a world where humans and beastmen co-exists, yet humans think they're the dominant race that get to choose how beastmen live). You follow Michiru as she makes her way to Anima City, to discover how she became the way she did, how she can turn back and maybe understand the beastmen. Besides the fact thatthere are humans with animal genetics, I felt this anime was very real and relatable to how the world is right now. Although we are all living beings, there is somehow always boundaries because of fascism, racism and the sex we've been born with. I think they show cased these problems very well, and although they might not solve anything it really gets pounded into the back of our minds that we really do base things off of looks, our own views and don't consider what other people might be feeling or dealing with around us. I've been a fan of Trigger since they've worked on Kill La Kill, so I might be a bit biased off the Art style; when I see how they animate expressions, actions and fighting scenes it almost seems freeing to me... I don't know how else to explain this, but it makes me feel like the characters can just pop off screen at any moment! The OST was freakin AWESOME! I downloaded the songs right away that way I can listen to them when I work out. The way they build up every main character was perfect; They gave us enough background information to understand where their views are coming from, and situations where we watch the characters grow over time with us when we watch the anime.
Overall, I enjoyed this anime a bunch! During 2020 I feel this anime might be a good one for anyone to pick up; action, comedy, political views and possible ships (MAN I want Michiru and Shirou together!)
You'll never know how you feel about an anime until three episodes in, so give it a try before shooting it down.
GabuGoo
I remember seeing promotional trailers for BNA. I was very excited. I'm a sucker for shows with animals, since I'm a furry, so seeing stylish action show with animals as the leads? Sign me up is what I said! I absolutely love Beastars, so stories with animals as the main characters can work. However, BNA is not an example of this. Let's start off with the positives. The show is gorgeous. Studio Trigger did an amazing job with the world of BNA. Animacity is full of parodies of real life fast food chains which is something that I heavily appreciated while watching. The voice actingwas fine for the most part. All the voices fit the characters, so I can't complain about that. The show really shines in action scenes. There's so much style in the animation. Everything is slick and nice to look at. When a character gets hit, the animation makes the impact feel powerful. The animation of the show, at least for me, is the highlight of the show. It's just so well done.
Now, it's time for the negatives. Oh boy. Personally, I prefer anime series to be short. However, I understand when a series need more episodes to complete its story. BNA's biggest problem for me was its short length and pacing. BNA is too short and fast-paced. Since the show is going at such a fast pace with only 12 episodes to work with, we get so many plot-conveniences and plot-holes. This show needed more than 12 episodes.
The main character, Michiru, is able to just get out of any bad situation she's in because she can just randomly stretch her arms out, or get cheetah legs to run really fast, or can grow wings to fly like a bird, or whatever. If this isn't a plot-convenience, I don't know what is. It's never explained how or why Michiru is able to do this; it just happens. It only happens because the plot needs it to happen. Shirou is super fast and super strong. He's basically the BNA version of Superman, but unlike Superman, he literally has no weakness. He never loses. He can't lose. He's overpowered. Why is he overpowered? I dunno; I assume the writers just needed him to be OP so the plot could progress. While this doesn't ruin the action scenes from being flashy, it ruins, at least for me, the personal stakes of the scenes. When I watched Shirou get impaled in the chest, leaving a huge hole in the middle of his body, I felt nothing because I knew that he would just recover in a few minutes. When I see Michiru fight an opponent, I felt nothing because I know she could just randomly make her arms really big to defeat her foes. When Michiru and Shirou need to stop a bird beastman for committing a terrorist attack, all tension is removed when you see that Michiru can just randomly grow bird wings. So many convenient events occur which take away all tension and stakes from all of the action scenes. The reason for Michiru becoming a beastman is just... so... dumb.
BNA has so many plot holes that it's ridiculous. Why does Michiru claim that she hates Beastmen in one episode, then in the next episode, she is perfectly a-okay? The villain, who I will not say in order to avoid spoilers, is a Beastman who is also immortal with three heads. Why is that? I dunno, it's not explained. What's a hybrid Beastman? Why is this villain also immortal? Why is the weasel- err I mean mink- always trying to make money off of people? Why is Michiru so confused about everything? Does Michiru miss her family? So many questions that could've been solved if the show wasn't so rushed.
Since I'm on that topic, let's talk about characters. Or the lack there of. Oh, there are characters in BNA, but they really don't have dynamic personalities. Michiru is the spunky female main character that rushes into situations without thinking in the name of justice. Shirou is the edgy, moody, stoic, cool guy who is basically the no-fun police. Mari is a mink. Not a weasel, a mink. She will let you know that she is a mink. Every. Single. Time. The main villain is evil just for the sake of being evil. All the other characters just exist. No one feels developed. We get barely any time to learn about these characters personally. No one develops. I'm not asking that we get development from the chicken guy that Michiru lives with, but we should be able to identify these characters' personalities. I'm also disappointed in the fact that Michiru and Shirou barely, if at all, develop. Seeing Shirou smile more at the end of episode 12 isn't character development. In fact, I think Shirou is the worst character is the show. He's so boring. He dampens the mood of any scene he is in just to appear serious. Well, while he does appear serious, he's really just no fun. Michiru and Shirou do not have any chemistry whatsoever. When Shirou brings Michiru on missions, it doesn't feel that he brings her because he trusts her or believes her; it feels as if he's forced to bring her, like a parent making you bring your younger sibling to your friend's birthday party. These characters do not bounce off of each other and as a result, they can't develop from each other based off of their interactions.
I would say more, but I don't want to spoil the show. As I said before, I wanted to love this show, but this show is just too short for its own good. BNA feels rushed. It's a mess. I haven't watch much of what Trigger has made, but I have seen Space Patrol Luluco and that show was really good, so I know this studio is capable of making greatness. BNA had so much potential and it was all wasted.
Ghostflame2153
The story is fine, it does what it wants and is pretty enjoyable and doesnt feel jarring. The Sound, Art, and Character Design all help the story create a very fun and enjoyable setting for this show which makes the show a blast. So if your looking for something fun, entertaining, and easy to watch this would be a great choice. The music and sound design does its job insanely well, helps its setting and never feels weird or out of place. This show touches on some deep themes, and while being important and a big part of the story isnt themain focus and it doesn't overshadow the main character which was what I was most happy and pleasantly surprised about.
Overall, the show was great and even though the first few episodes felt somewhat unimportant to the plot they were utilized well to be really enjoyable and helped define the city and worl they live in.
PyraXadon
I don't usually watch Trigger shows. But when I do, I hear that they're really good for the niche audience that's a fan of the style and presentation. But kind of...average for anyone outside of that sphere. I can see why that is now. Story: Beastmen. As the name implies, they are a race of human/animal hybrids that biologically are a separate species to human due to the fact that host the 'beast factor', a gene in their DNA that both lets them transform into the animal of their DNA and gain similar abilities. But humans have essentially driven them out of places to be because they're'different', and so, the city of Animacity was born, acting as the safe haven for the beastmen to live in and thrive. Michiru is an unfortunate girl who was turned into a beastman due to an unknown circumstance. And now in Animacity, she searches to know the reason why she was turned into a tanuki-girl and learns about the recluse society that exists within the walls of the Beastmen society.
Conceptually, the story had grounds to be interesting mostly in part to its setting and potential to expand outwards from the series's innate conflict of humans vs. beastmen. As well as its potential to create an entirely unique culture based on the different Beastmen and the difference that each species might have from one to another since creatures like dolphins, MINKS (this will make sense later), wolves, various birds, and different kinds of bears are all present in the series and display a variety of different traits as per what their species are capable of when given out as a kind of superpower to a population. Unfortunately none of this really holds much ground because the show struggles with even knowing what it's supposed to be, sporting so many different plot threads that I'm almost certain the ending didn't wrap up some of them by the time we were done with this.
The first half of this show for one thing is episodic. The main focus here was to build up Animacity and give Michiru a taste of the new place she's found herself in (fish out of water, basically) without really giving much thought to continuity once we got past that point in the runtime. Most if not all of the show's plot threads here are little more than tiny occurrences in an attempt to world build, but almost none of it matters in the end since the most that the show does to refer back to these early episodes is to do a cute little roll call at the end to showcase 'the friends we made along the way'. The second half is comparatively more fluent, as it sports a vaguely more cohesive arc, but it still suffers from a lot of problems since exposition is dumped left and right, and makes the viewer feel a lot less invested in the show since things just HAPPEN to work out in the protagonists' favor, and the ending feels significantly less earned because it ends up resolving the conflict with numerous amounts of deus ex machinas coming into play.
On top of that, the thematic of the show wavers between an allegory of racism between humans and beastmen, and the morally gray area of keeping the peace/doing what's right with sides conflicting with each other due to having different interests. Actions that characters take can be wildly out of character sometimes, and the plot can escalate to the point that things just don't make sense within the span of a twenty minute episode, which makes the viewer lost and confused because WHY ARE THEY SUDDENLY FIRING BEAMS?! It's because of this that the story of BNA essentially stumbles to the end, tripping over the weight of its densely detailed yet messy narrative that leaves certain side threads in the dust since the only thought I had coming out of the show was the word "Ok" since the last two episodes are the most egregious showing of the show's flaws, rushing to the end with crazy visual spectacles that only mean something because there was exposition just five minutes ago to explain it.
As a result, BNA's story is one that was unable to reach its own potential. Things like baseball gambling and the selling of children mean absolutely nothing because those were just worldbuilding episodes that mattered little else beyond that since the show wants to focus on 'Big Pharma' and the whole religion of Ginrou, both of which are talking points that only rose up in significance because they started to get heavily talked about once we reached the middle of the series. Which means you only have half of your runtime to explain it all, give us a proper climax, and an ending to the whole thing. Totally doable without pacing or worldbuilding problems.
Characters:
Michiru as the show's main human girl turned tanuki sports a very divisive role in the series. Her character follows a predictable path of wanting to save/help the greater picture instead of only saving herself from this biological curse with the added annoyance of wanting to impart her infinite, bullheaded wisdom into everything because she doesn't understand why the city doesn't function by her rules, and gets upset whenever someone else has any ulterior motives not similar to her own. It's an irritating character trait since because she gets too active a role in the story, the story isn't allowed to flow naturally and let the world unfold without her interjection. It gets so bad that one of the other characters in the series ends up calling her out on her bullshit without it having so much an impact on her character in the end since Michiru doesn't really change that much anyway due to her being the protagonist and 'always right' in a sense. Her skillset is also way more OP than it has any right to be, but hey, if you're making an animal-based protagonist, might as well make her ALL of them, eh?
Shirou is the show's secondary character, having the more reserved and experienced character traits to contrast Michiru's character of being more young and innocent. For the most part, Shirou's character is really only there to save Michiru or participate in the plot as the beastman that hates humans for reasons that're explained much later in the series. Which adds a majority of the show's later conflict because oh yeah this show has a racial allegory as a part of its narrative. He's that grumbly character that changes only because of the fresh new blood in his life, which is fine, but not very unique or stands out that much since the show follows a pretty predictable path all things considering.
The final character to talk about is Nazuna, a girl who shows up only halfway into the series and serves a friendly contrast to Michiru, being more calm and thoughtful in most situations instead of our protagonist's usual loud and abrasive personality. Her character is primarily internal rather than external, and slowly loses presence in the series due to her role being a character that the plot needs her to be at "X" in order for the story to progress. She loses a lot of autonomy and her character starts to make less sense the further we get into the series since the plot ends up taking over and the rest of the characters are along for the ride. Conceptually she had a lot of potential. In execution though...she's little more than a headpiece for the show to tote around for exposition reasons. (Much like her actual role in the show, unfortunately.)
Other characters fall on the spectrum of side characters with varying interests that only become convenient during any given time in the series. The mayor just wants to protect the city so she shows up in her little sky office whenever anything regarding the government shows up. Jackie and the bears show up because the show needs a side cast to show you how shitty life can be and that class divide still exists in an animal/human hybrid society. The Sylvasta corp. exists to pose a threat but possibly not a threat to everything because everyone's 'morally gray'; there's no antagonist whatsoever. And the mink is there to remind you that she's not a weasel or some permutation of a similar animal, but a mink. Because that joke was so funny that it needed to repeated every other line that she had even if the characters didn't ask. Is any of this quirky? Kinda. But quirk can only get you so far when you don't have a reputable story or cast to back it up.
Aesthetics:
Trigger to me always screamed the word 'aesthetic'. BNA, being their most recent project, screams this part of the company's signature a lot since a lot of the show boasts their usual snappy animation among other things. The art of the series isn't really much to look at. The simplicity of the character designs even from the animal forms perspective isn't something that stands out since they all just look like anthropomorphized animals on two legs. You got a chicken? Here's a chicken. A rhino? He got horns and is bulkier. It's because of this that I don't feel like the art is all that impressive, although the color palette in some of the earlier episodes and a lot of the night scenes where they're allowed to use more contrast than what's available to them than in the day genuinely peaked my interest because it's visually different than what a majority of the medium uses.
So while the art's not overly amazing, it lends itself to giving the animation a lot of room to move and stretch around in. A lot of the animation is done for comedy's sake, and the snappy movements in addition to any gentle movements with hair swaying in the wind really make up for that since it gave the show a lot of personality in its movements due to the simpler designs. A lot of model deformity was used throughout the show to move and stretch the characters around to what was needed during scenes, and the effects of the two main girls constantly transforming and using different abilities gave some nice visual flair even though the weight of everything going on wasn't all that fantastic.
On that same vein, the OST for BNA is so much better than I expected. "Ready to" by Michiru's seiyuu is an energetic and memorable piece that has so much more flair than I was expecting, quickly becoming one of the more memorable songs of the season. It strikes that good mix of catchy beat and variety within the piece that I really wish that this song was tied to a better show. In contrast, "NIGHT RUNNING" by Shin Sakiura is a song that sounds like one of'em new fangled lo-fi songs that you'd put in a playlist. In all seriousness, the lax nature of this song combined with the song's neon visuals put it in a similar league to its OP sister, in being a song that's just so much better than it had any right to be, and is definitely worth a listen because it's got a lot what I think are positive aspects going for it.
Final Thoughts:
I had a couple predictions on how the show was going to end once I got through a couple episodes. 1) It was going to be a purely episodic show, but that was unlikely. 2) It was gonna be episodic for half the runtime before having a major arc for the latter half. 3) It was gonna be a mix of the two, only having a major arc that was the most lore heavy at the very end of the series. The answer to BNA was number three, and it was probably the worst avenue for the show to go down.
There aren't really a lot of positives I can give for this series since things just HAPPEN at a moment's notice, and the motivation for any given action is always explained after said action is done. Thus keeping an annoying surprise factor of the show of always explaining things at the end which gets tiring because it shows that the series never trusted the viewer to understand or figure things out, choosing instead to dump loads and loads of exposition in order to explain things that only JUST became relevant ten minutes ago. The show never seemed to keep an even foot on the gas, choosing instead to keep moving around from one plot point to a different plot point in an effort to diversify the show's topics. Only to muddy itself even more because the relevancy of things never seemed to be kept in check and things faded out of existence as quickly as they were introduced.
As a result, BNA ends up being an unsatisfying watch from start to finish, with the series's cute little ending meaning nothing in the end because the it didn't feel earned; it just felt like that's just where we ended up through all of the series's deus ex machinas and convoluted explanations and story facets that would've all been solved if the show chose one route and stuck with it. If you're a fan of Trigger, you might still find enjoyment in this series because apparently this show is still true to form for the company. But for anyone else, the aesthetics of the show are worth at least looking into, but the show itself is not.
O_T_T
Seriously competent but essentially pointless. I don't normally care for Anime studios. My tastes lie in stories, not frames. It's for this reason, though, that Trigger is one of the few I've come to follow, what with the vast majority of their productions being originals. While they have a track record of nearly all of these being excellent, I cannot say BNA fits the trend. There's a sort of permeating indecisiveness all throughout. Stakes come and go, scale fluctuates wildly, and whether or not the characters even address the plot from episode to episode is anyone's guess. All this aside though, I can point to a fairfew good aspects, mostly in design and tone work, as well as a degree of intrigue in the story, when of course the show remembers it has one.
----
BNA is a bit confusing when it comes to plot. Michiru, the protagonist, along with her friend Nazuna, have the bulk of the story, but in the second half a new major plot emerges. Since the link between these two storylines is tenuous at best, it rather feels like a large chunk of possible material was cut from the middle. That being said, I can point to both of these plots having reasonable intrigue, and if integrated better could have been pretty good. As for the numerous self-contained plots of single episodes present in the first half, they're all acceptable, and their coming back into play again later in the series works to the advantage of the show.
The characters, or at least the main few, are not the best. Michiru and Shirou, the main duo, I wouldn't at all call stock, but their archetypes and dynamic have been done before. Strangely, the less integral to the plot, the more interesting the characters become. Tertiary characters are more interesting than secondary characters, and recurring minor roles are the most fun and memorable. I don't really have anything positive to say about the villain at all, and especially not without passing spoilers, but the final reveal is sort of nonsensical if given a bit of thought.
----
The animation and art is BNA's strongest suite. The show itself looks fairly unique, due to its particular colour palette, and the animation allows for characters who move a lot more and can emote better, something that the writing aspect is lacking a little in. While the OP is excellent, the ED is merely average, and does not have re-listening potential. Coupled with BNA's choice to have it exist in-universe and be played as an Insert nearly once every two episodes, it gets very grating.
The lore of the Beastmen, revealed in the latter portion of BNA, is a huge missed opportunity, as very little is done with it. Michiru becomes something of a macguffin at this same time, and ends up being so suddenly important in the finale it borders on chosen one territory. I wouldn't say that said finale is all bad, as it does have a pretty exciting conclusion, but there again is an issue that it doesn't really fit with the established tone of the show. If there had been more done to establish such a possibility previously, it would probably have worked much better as a climax.
----
BNA is rife for improvement. I'd point to a somewhat major rework of central characters and maybe adding a few more episodes before its third act so as not to jump ahead in the story as it did, and maybe explore more of the history elements introduced at that point.
For as much as there are issues, it's not without merit. The show itself is pretty enjoyable all the way through, and I can point to a multitude of scenes I like. However, since it will always be kept at a comparison to its preceding projects, BNA currently stands as a bit of a disappointment.
Moomochi
Out of 100 Nobles watching… 69 were impressed 15 had absolutely no stake in the plot 8 had grievances with the world and immersion issues 8 were expecting trigger quality animation and didn’t get it BNA is a new original series created by Trigger that has further cemented my growing disappointment with the studio. There are certainly bits to be enjoyed in BNA and I’ll give it some credit, but the show ultimately joins the rapidly growing list of post Zootopia furry IP’s that will never have as believable and immersive a universe as the series they are so desperately aping. BNA is about a world where there are beast-menand humans living on the same earth. The story follows a human girl Michiru who becomes a beastman herself which in this universe is not really a thing so she thinks she has some sort of disease. I’d say the story covers Michiru’s mystery of how she became a beastman, but that’d be disingenuous. I’ll say right now the show didn’t know what it wanted its plot to be.
Some episodes of BNA were about human-beastman relations, others were beastman-beastman relations. More than halfway through the series there’s a disease plot ala “going feral” from Zootopia. There’s a religious cult, a shady medicine man, a baseball episode about racism, a human trafficking episode, a holocaust episode, and more. It really was a pretty chaotic affaire and if the show had picked one or two of the social issues they wanted to talk about they could have really took the time to do something solid, but really the show covered nothing and just “Triggered” all over the place the last 2 episodes.
As a massive furry myself I liked the designs of the characters for the most part. Characters beast forms weren’t the weird half measures of Killing Bites, and they weren’t the uncanny monstrosities of Beast Stars. They were well designed anthropomorphic characters. There WERE about two or three horrible Deviantart-tier characters who were definitely someone on the Trigger teams fursona which had me cringing pretty hard but for the most part the show creators weren’t tipping their hand too much.
I was pretty disappointed with the animation in this series and I am continuing to see a decline from Trigger. I loved the style of the series and a lot of parts look quite good, however there was some real sloppy work this time around. Very noticeable drag and drop “PowerPoint” style movement done in non-stylized scenes and a particularly egregious scene where projectiles at one point just fade into the shot like I was watching a product made in Windows Movie Maker. These moments really took me out of the show and left me worried about Triggers talent.
BNA was a decent watch, but ultimately disappointing from a Studio I used to want a lot from, but now I have come to expect them to make the same show with a new coat of paint. If you want a show that makes any sort of meaningful statement than this isn’t it, but does provide some entertaining furry fun.
-------SPOILERS PAST HERE-------
There were some glaring issues with the world Trigger presented in BNA that left me struggling to immerse myself in their story and appreciate the stakes they were apparently trying to establish. The show had an opportunity to base its plot around the prejudice of humans towards beastmen. Beastmen are portrayed as having tempers and animalistic tendencies and you are initially left thinking “oh I see so the story is going to be about how beastmen are like every one else and racism is bad”, but then the show outright says that beastmen are actually slaves to their animalistic tendencies. They’re gullible and easily fooled, and need to be controlled by the government because they’re a danger to themselves and others… not a good look Japan though pretty funny at how awkward it is.
Tonal problems are best highlighted in the baseball episode. The episode opens almost immediately with the statement that “dodo beastmen as a species have gone extinct playing baseball” which is a pretty funny line as a throwaway joke, but the story proceeds to double down on this canon. In Beastman City baseball is a death game where beastmen literally kill each other playing baseball and fans bet in an underground gambling ring on games. Characters are killed on screen, and the mayor of the city is launching an investigation… into the illegal gambling. We are presented with a world where beastmen commit murder in a stadium live on tv, but the concern of the government is people are betting on it. The episode briefly shows a flashback of the baseball team coach of Michiru’s team who was the first beastman pro baseball player in an all human league. This is a clear parallel to Jackie Robinson who was the real life first African American pro baseball player… except the insults and prejudice the beastman character experiences in the story leads him to flip the hell out and murder everyone on both teams ending their career. What the hell is the message that this episode was trying to convey other than a negative racist narrative about Beastmen’s inherent nature. The show could have just been a wacky baseball episode with cartoon Trigger style violence to represent the dirty gambling team was cheating, but by acknowledging character death playing baseball and establishing it as a norm the narrative completely falls apart.
Zlateh_The_Goat
My general belief in anime is that for something to be fundamentally entertaining, it needs to do 2 things: look good, and be fun to watch. I cannot think of another studio that fulfils these categories better than studio Trigger. I'll start off with the "look good" part. Brand New Animal (and all Trigger projects for that matter) doesn't have the kind of fluid perfection of something like Demon Slayer, but that doesn't seem to be Trigger's objective. Trigger really soars in its artistic style, whether it be the exceptional use of colors and over-the-top action and expressions to make sequences simultaneously hilarious and intense. Theuse of color especially shines in BNA, and when it comes to both dramatic action scenes and solemn shots of the Anima City or the protagonist Michiru simply talking with a friend, I was consistently impressed.
Moving on to the "fun to watch part." I'm not going to try and make it seem like BNA is the peak of fictional storytelling here, the main story doesn't really kick in until more than halfway through, the villain is pretty stupid and feels a lot like a Kill La Kill rip-off, and many of the events that take place don't always make sense or match up with the precedents set by previous interactions. The world of beastmen and humans also feels a little underdeveloped. For example, there is a whole episode about baseball in which BNA seemed to be presenting some kind of weird Dorohedoro-esque, murdery version of baseball, but a lot of the darker elements are pretty much ignored for the sake of Michiru interacting with some weird (annoying) bears and an uninspired Jackie Robinson story. From what I've said so far, it probably doesn't sound like a very good show right? Wrong.
With all of its flaws, this show is still absurdly fun to watch. People ultimately watch tv to be entertained right? When it comes to a show like this, where the overarching story is not really the main focus, and is cast aside in favor of fun character interactions and Trigger's unique action scenes, I don't really care if the story is lacking in some aspects. After every episode of this I was consistently excited to watch the next one. Everyone's favorite Tanuki-girl Michiru is awesome to watch on screen, and the supporting cast is just as great. Ogami the edgy wolf-man, for instance, is all anyone could hope for in an edgy wolf-man! Overall, if you are looking for a deep, story-rich experience, this show probably isn't for you. But, if you are looking for an visually impressive, easygoing adventure with Japan's favorite furries (with some damn good music by the way) and some cool action scenes, then I highly recommend BNA.
