They may wear human clothes and live human lives, but the population of BEASTARS’ world is very much in touch with their animal sides. The most important way in which these manifest is in the animals' dieting habits, specifically in the fact that the anthropomorphic herbivores still eat vegetation, while the carnivores eat herbivores. The only thing that keeps society afloat is the use of synthetic meat, eliminating their need to kill for survival, but failing to suppress their craving for flesh.

The story opens with the murder of an alpaca by an unseen carnivore—something extremely rare in the story’s present—which immediately causes massive harm to the relations between herbivores and carnivores. The plot follows Legosi, a young wolf studying at Cherryton Academy who doesn’t quite fit the traditional idea of a carnivore. A scrawny body, an empathetic disposition, and a strong distaste for the social order in spite of benefiting from it as a physically superior apex predator are all aspects of his character that alienate him from his peers.

On the other side of the spectrum, there’s Louis: a deer with impeccable grades who stands against our canine protagonist. While other carnivores in the story tend to stay in the camp of archetypical bullies, rejecting Legosi for not fitting into the alpha Chad expectations thrust upon him since birth, Louis represents a much more complex form of antagonism. Despite being a herbivore, Louis detests carnivores like Legosi who neglect what he perceives as their superiority. He's one of the few herbivores to act assertively around carnivores, but his self-defeating attitude towards them shows he has lots of issues to be explored, adding a deeper layer of intrigue to the character and the plot.

Legosi too is far from a simple character, since he initially comes off as little more than a timid good guy, but the story is not afraid to challenge this perception, showing dark things behind Legosi’s unthreatening demeanor early on and only goes deeper over time.

If it’s not already obvious, Beastars’ narrative is an exploration of identity, focusing on individualities clashing in a society that assigns them roles incongruent with their needs. Legosi’s suppression of parts of him he deems negative and Louis’ antagonism towards those who could assert themselves as members of a class superior to his but choose not to give a holistic look at the extremes such a system brings out in people. Plus, when you remember that Japanese who do not live up to the highest standards of expectations placed on them are commonly referred to as herbivores, the importance these ideas hold to modern society become perfectly clear.