Legoshi

"I'll be fine. It's always been like this. I'm used to being feared and hated. I'll survive."

- Legoshi to Els at the end of Chapter 1.

Legoshi (レゴシ), also referred to as Legosi, is a male gray wolf and the main protagonist of Beastars. Though feared and misjudged by others for being a tall carnivore, he is actually quite mild-mannered, docile and awkward. Legoshi has taken it upon himself to solve the mystery of the murder of Tem and later finds out firsthand the extent of the prejudices of the world he lives in.

Appearance
Legoshi is a tall, lean gray wolf who tends to hunch over. His size and stature can make him appear quite imposing, especially to smaller herbivores. Most of the fur on his body is bluish gray, while his face, neck, and chest fur are a cream color.

Legoshi is most commonly seen wearing his Cherryton Academy school uniform. In cold seasons, this uniform consists of a white dress shirt, an indigo vest, a dark gray tie, black suspenders, gray pants with dark gray vertical stripes, and brown loafers. During the warmer seasons, the topwear is replaced by a blue polo shirt. During drama club practice, Legoshi sometimes wears a white t-shirt and red track pants.

Though he mostly resembles a common pure-blooded gray wolf, it was revealed later in the series that Legoshi has some slightly atypical characteristics due to his ancestry. Certain features, such as his eyes, facial structure, and mannerisms are ones he inherited from his grandfather, a Komodo dragon. Before becoming a teenager, Legoshi used to have the large irises that are commonly seen in wolves.

As the series progresses, Legoshi's appearance changes slightly; some changes are temporary while others are permanent. Legoshi has experienced more physical changes in his appearance than any other character in the series, most of them the result of some sort of physical injury.

Personality
Legoshi is a soft-spoken, humble, and polite gray wolf with a kind heart and gentle personality, which contrasts his frightening appearance. He often tries to hide his more terrifying features, such as his fangs, to better acquaint himself with his herbivore peers. Legoshi is very conscious of his own presence and often does what he can to downplay himself. This can be seen in his postures and mannerisms as he often slouches when standing or sitting.

In the beginning of the series, Legoshi was an outcast who generally avoided attention and interaction with other individuals. This led to him becoming a socially awkward individual. Behind his deadpan demeanor and facade, lies a considerable amount of self-loathing. For years, his self-awareness as a large carnivore and knowledge of his familial nature made him feel isolated from others and made him choose to keep to himself. Consequently, this made him underestimate his own value, crippling his self-esteem.

Despite this, Legoshi is quite capable of being very imposing and assertive when the situation calls for it. He is quite gifted physically, with a lean build and a jaw strength of 295 kg, which is 95 kg higher than the average for his species. Although he is rather naive and air headed, he is also quite stubborn and impulsive in regard to his own convictions, even in the face of confrontation. Legoshi, despite being awkward and unable to read the atmosphere often, has demonstrated a great level of maturity compared to his peers when talking to others and is very patient.

Legoshi is considerably an egalitarian and an empathetic individual. He treats others with the same amount of respect and doesn't display any form of bigotry towards anyone, regardless of their creed. He often tries to understand the struggles of other animals, even his enemies such as Riz, who uses honey to numb his headache-inducing strength reduction medications. Legoshi has a fixation with Haru, a small white dwarf rabbit who also attends Cherryton, but he often struggles understanding these feelings, not knowing if they were born out of a genuine love for Haru or his subconscious/instinctual desires to eat her. Even so, he strives to suppress his predatory desires to live a normal life. Legoshi also holds a great respect and admiration (as well as a level of affection) for his fellow wolf Juno who embraces who and what she is which inspires him to slowly do the same.

As the series progresses, Legoshi begins to slowly accept himself as a carnivorous gray wolf and develops more confidence in himself as he better understands the world around him. Legoshi becomes a much more sociable ambient who generally enjoys being around other people but also likes his own company at times as well.

Skills and abilities

 * Amateur Detective: Legoshi was able to solve Tem's murder by himself, without any form of help from either a police detective or anyone else. When he got attacked by the culprit behind and got his eyes covered, Legoshi kissed his mouth to identify his saliva. He also discovered that the killer is a male when he asked Juno to open her mouth to see the difference between the mouth of a carnivore male and female. Later, he drank the bottles from the male students' locker to recognize the taste of the saliva, but he discovered who was the killer when he found a letter threatening him inside the locker.
 * Heightened Senses: As a gray wolf, Legoshi has highly developed senses, including night vision, smell, taste and hearing. He was able to determine Riz's position and fight him off despite being tied up and blindfolded. He has an "archive" of the smells of every animal he has ever met and managed to deduce that Pina was alive by his scent alone.
 * Heightened Strength: Despite a lack of formal training (with the exception of Gohin), Legoshi is a capable fighter, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the other species he comes across, and has only lost to a few stronger opponents. Under Gohin's tutelage, Legoshi's skin becomes more bite-resistant, with even Riz remarking on its toughness.
 * Meat Independence: Legoshi is able to gain strength without having to eat meat. It was possible for him due to the training he had with Gohin. By capturing the savage carnivores, wearing a muzzle (he was not allowed to bite in the training) and controlling his instincts, inside the room with huge meat in front of him. He lost the strength in his mandible, because the strength now has passed for his arms. He may have inherited it from his Komodo dragon grandfather, Gosha. However, the strength doesn't work against big animals. During his fight with Riz, he had to eat meat to defeat him.

Trivia

 * His name consists of three syllables, whereas other main characters have two.
 * According to Itagaki, Legoshi's name is derived from that of Bela Lugosi (best remembered for his famous role as Count Dracula in several films).
 * In addition, his face is modeled after French movie actor Mathieu Amalric, while his figure is based on Japanese actor, Kenichi Matsuyama.
 * Chapter 16 incorrectly lists Legoshi's birthday as April 11th on his student ID card. In the Volume 1 omake, Chapter 98, Chapter 120, and Episode 1, his birthday is consistently listed as April 9th. Itagaki has also celebrated his birthday on April 9th on Twitter.
 * Before the localization of Beastars to the West, many fan works and translations have translated Legoshi's name as "Legosi" (as the syllable "si" does not exist in modern Japanese). Since then, however, it has been officially established via the release of Beastars related media by VIZ Media that the correct spelling of his name is "Legoshi".
 * Legoshi, Haru, and Jack are some of the first characters in the series to have been created. Legoshi and Haru first appeared in the 2013 doujinshi Beast Complex, whereas Jack first appeared in a tweet with Legoshi posted by Paru Itagaki in 2014.
 * Legoshi appears in or is mentioned in all chapters of the manga, except Chapter 156.
 * Legoshi may be a reference to Volk from the popular Russian cartoon Ну, погоди! (Nu, pogodi!; English: Well, Just You Wait!).
 * Legoshi and Haru's story has gone full circle. In Chapter 3, Legoshi pounces on Haru because of his hunting instincts. In Chapter 196, Haru pounces on Legoshi to accept his proposal.