Melon

"It's strange, isn't it? Carnivores and herbivores should get along, yet their children are treated like freaks."

- Melon venting to Legoshi.

Melon (メロン) is the primary antagonist of the Melon arc in Beastars. He is first introduced in chapter 124 of the manga as a faux elephant therapist, killing them and using their tusks for ivory to make quick money.

Appearance
Melon is a half-breed, gaining characteristics from both parents. He is a gazelle with the body, jaw, tail and eyes of a leopard.

He wears a surgical mask in public to hide his leopard features.

Because of his life as a half-breed, Melon develops leopard spots on his body gradually which he chooses to hide with tattoos of melon leaves.

Personality
Melon is a cunning, sadistic individual who can easily manipulate others using his false sense of charm and empathy to achieve his objective. His deceptive nature has led others to be seriously injured or killed, from murdering an elephant with a large syringe to almost killing Legosi with a bullet to the stomach. As a new boss of the Shishigumi, Melon is cruel and harsh towards the members, unlike Louis, who is firm, yet kind with them. He also has no remorse what he has done, making him ultimately sociopathic or psychopathic in nature. He seems to be a masochist as well, since getting a tattoo from a sloth excited him immensely, making him blush and stick his tongue out in pure bliss. Melon claims that getting inflicted with pain is the only way for him to feel alive since he can't taste anything due to his hybrid nature.

Backstory
Born from a female leopard and male gazelle couple, Melon's hybrid attributes were visible very early in childhood. At the age of nine, he was targeted by carnivore kids for being both a herbivore and carnivore. Exhausted, he proceeded to lean against a set of bars just off the edge of a building. Despite his depressing state, the carnivore kids encouraged him to jump. It was at this moment that Melon felt his first urge to kill, fury filled his eyes and seconds later he disposed of them by throwing them off collectively.

Introduction
Melon is first seen as a fake Herbivore therapist, wearing a cough mask to hide his hybrid identity while squinting his eyes to hide his feline irises. He comforts a confused and troubled Elephant who lacks support in his life. After receiving Melon's support he feels closer to him. Unknown to the patient, a number of skulls are hidden underneath the floorboards. Melon further pushes his fake therapist identity by pretending to care for elephant patients by providing Elephant sized objects, including a teacup and needle in which Melon prepares to use before being hauled by Yafya.

Unfortunately, his patient puts himself first, encouraging Yafya to stop in which Melon takes the opportunity to hug him before stabbing him with the needle. Enraged, Yafya shots Melon with a tranquilizer dart but fails to neutralize him as the needle was intended for pure herbivores. Before escaping, he removes his mask revealing his hybrid identity. Warning Yafya of his presence before leaping out of the window.

Investigation and Mask Party
Yafya has all official search teams to look for Melon. Unfortunately, the three crews are unable to find him due to his hybrid background such as a unique scent, perfect blending in gazelle crowds, etc. Frustrated, he disconnects from the team before glancing at his wounded leg and later at Legosi's teeth. Remembering his strong characteristics and bloodline, he heads out and finds Legosi while working. To convince him to work, he offers to remove his criminal record.

Later that day, Yafya and Legosi meet outside of a VIP club famously known by carnivores for the Mask Party. The duo use the dress code to their advantage by blending in the crowd to find Melon. The two blend their blood together to get a response from him, then Yafya peeks into his mask to confirm his identity before chaining him to his table.

He's left alone with Legosi. He starts sweet-talking to Legosi by using his hybrid identity to make him sympathetic, Legosi, unfortunately, falls for his manipulation tactics due to his past experience with his mother. Burning with curiosity, he releases him and takes a walk with him outside on the sidewalk. Melon talks about hybrids yet again, furthermore adding the notion that he and most other hybrids are freaks of nature. Legosi wants to know him more and better but Melon insists on having fun or hearing a good joke, after Legosi looks away he quickly withdraws his gun after taking it back from Legosi's pockets and shoots him in the chest.

Shishigumi
Legosi is hospitalized while Louis finds himself reuniting with the Shishigumi. He is brought over to the hideout before being hidden by Free. Their new boss happens to be Melon. Free later explains his role in the Mafia as a purpose to fight while also bringing the diversity and positivity Louis did. Unfortunately, Melon has no respect for his henchmen. This is shown by enforcing a meat rule. Despite ruling over the black market, Melon forces all the lions to eat non-meat products, such as melons and only letting them have a monthly allowance of meat.

Melon sits down, Mishi mentions his early return which he simply adds that the job had to end earlier than expected before shooting the 'guy'. He reveals his package, a delicious plate of medium-rare steak pieces. After a single bite he struggles to ingest it, he dismisses his reaction by adding cream and other flavorings on the streak to make it bearable to eat. While stuffing himself, he mutters about not knowing what he is eating.

The youngest lion, Agata calls him out for being unethical about the Market's morals. Melon stands before kicking away his dish before mocking him for his morals, to further push it in he stabs the lion's hand before kicking his heel into the fork's end. He asks Free to bring out the stranger, threatening Agata's life for a meal. Miguel sacrifices his dignity by presenting Louis' horns, faking a story about eating a male deer while praising Melon. He lets him off the hook to give him one last chance before leaving the hideout.

Tattoo Parlor + Beach
He orders himself a herbivore and carnivore dish before eating by himself in a food restaurant. While eating he watches the local herbivores talk happily about the food, mentioning how tasty it is causing Melon to feel internally frustrated to point of momentary bloodlust. His frustration comes from his lack of taste from both herbivore and carnivore dishes, simply put as "everything tastes like sand." After leaving, he glares at random citizens remembering his desire to kill herbivores while also feeling internal terror from carnivores. Melon eventually stops by a Tattoo parlor as a way to 'contain himself.' After entering he asks one of the tattooists for a particular artist which causes the monkey to yell due to his violent treatment of customers furthermore he was fired. Melon stays silent until he confronts the artist, Holger a silent sloth.

He first asks about leaving then proceeds to threaten the sloth with a gun, laughing about his status as a serial killer. Melon begins to strip down to his boxers, revealing his melon leaf-covered body. All previously done by Holger to hide his mother's spots. Since Melon is a regular customer, Holger has his equipment ready and prepares his tools. Melon lies down and starts mumbling to himself about his hybrid identity until Holger's pen saws into his thigh causing blood to spill everywhere. Melon finds pleasure through pain as it allows him to feel intense emotions compared to his walking life. After finishing his tattoo, he causes Holger to whisper poetic lines about his fabricated emotions. This was done to trick Legosi into going to the beach after catching his scent in the area.

He appears next to Legosi as a figure of imagination, embracing his chest while repeating a much more detailed line from Hogler "Living like me is like living without a dick or stomach." Melon makes a physical appearance at night to shot Legosi's left ear at the beach. He's accompanied by his fellow lions and has them restrict Legosi's movement. Now face to face with his enemy, he mocks him for having empathy for him. He simply leaves and lets the Shishigumi have Legosi for eating. Although they ended up throwing him into the ocean out of hatred, they made a deal that if Legosi could come back from almost drowning, they promised to tell him about Melon's weakness.

Trivia

 * Melon displays several symptoms of Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) including a lack of remorse for his past actions, a facade of empathy and kindness, manipulation, condensation, arrogance, and deceitfulness.
 * Melon is a dark counterpart of Legoshi if he cannot handle his carnivore instincts.

Meron