Legoshi is a wolf at Cherryton Academy, a school with a mixture of carnivore and herbivore animals. Volume 3 of Beastars by Paru Itagaki, continues his story, and in this volume he starts to become friends with Haru, a rabbit who he almost killed in volume one. Haru doesn’t know that Legoshi almost killed her, but there’s still a natural instinct to be scared of Legoshi. It’s a strange relationship that’s growing between them, although they only share brief scenes together in this volume.

More interestingly we get to see a look at the wider world for the first time in this volume as Legoshi leaves the academy to go into town to help prepare for the Meteor Festival. It’s a really wide and varied world and it feels like we’re only just scratching the surface. The art during this section is also really strong and really gives you the sense of how lively the world is. I hadn’t really thought about the wider world beyond the school grounds, so really enjoyed this part of the story. The carnivores go to a darker side of town, where they can buy herbivore body parts, showing a much darker side of the city.

The murder that kicks off the whole series, isn’t mentioned really at all. There’s still a lot of tension between the carnivores and herbivores, but it’s linked to another murder that has taken place. When I read the first pages of the series I thought this was going to turn into a murder mystery fast, but that seems to be the slow-burn plot point, that I’m guessing is going to become more important as it goes on.

There is a really strange chapter in this volume about a hen, Legom, who sells her eggs to the school shop for egg sandwiches. The chapter features Legoshi only as a side character, and instead does some world building. It also gives a nice break from the main story. I hope there’s more of these side chapters throughout the series, as it makes everything seem more real and that there’s more going on outside of the main few characters. It makes Cherryton Academy feel more alive.

Volume 3 definitely widens the world of the manga further and still continues to be focused on a great set of characters. I really love this manga, and I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get round to reading it. There’s so much going on with it, that I’m completely hooked. It’s a dark story, with so many great characters. Everything about it is really well done, and I’m excited to continue.

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