The second season of Netflix's anime drama Beastars finally has a release date, and it is sooner than you'd think. Studio Orange, who handles animation for the series, posted the news on their Twitter account.
Beastars is directed by Shinichi Matsumi (assistant director for Pom Poko, Porco Rosso), with Nanami Higuchi (Little Witch Academia) penning the script, adapted from the manga of the same name by Paru Itagaki. The show follows a high school where students are literally divided into predators and prey because everyone is an anthropomorphic animal. After a herbivore student was killed and eaten, tensions rise as everyone starts looking for a usual suspect, all while a large but seemingly harmless wolf named Legoshi starts doubting his instincts.
Where many shows and movies about anthropomorphic animals gets its message muddy due to drawing parallels between animals and humans perhaps in the wrong way (looking at you, Zootopia!), Beastars managed to create a show that was engaging as a genre-hopping and thrilling mystery noir set in a high school that is also a steaming hot romance between a wolf and a dwarf rabbit named Haru. The show is not for kids, which allows it to explore more complex and mature subjects than something like Zootopia, as the show explores the aforementioned murder of a teenage student, but also the palpable sexual tension between Legoshi and Haru, and even the intricacies of the existence of a black market for meat in a world where carnivores are not allowed to eat meat.
Season 2 has already finished airing in Japan, where it debuted in the winter anime season this past January. Sadly, as anime fans in the West are well aware, Netflix is notorious for taking a long time to release anime seasons outside of Japan.
Thankfully, the wait is almost over, with Studio Orange revealing that season 2 of Beastars will be released on Netflix worldwide on July 15. You can see the announcement tweet below, and while we wait for the new season, why not watch that incredible stop-motion opening sequence one more time (or 15)?