The Academy's Top Dogs (学園の心臓部は庭園にあり, Gakuen no shinzō-bu wa teien ni ari?) is the second episode of the Beastars anime.
Synopsis[]
Legoshi ponders his own ferocious impulses; an altercation at breakfast unsettles him further. The theater students prepare for their play.
Plot[]
Legoshi lies in a dark puddle surrounded by rusted spikes lamenting that he does not want to get up. Collot pulls back his curtains, insisting Legoshi wakes up. As Collot drags Legoshi across the floor to get ready, Durham jokingly asks if he forgot to study for their math test. Jack notices there's something weird about Legoshi today as Legoshi stares into the mirror seeing a dark reflection of himself.
In a flashback of the night before when he grabbed Haru, Legoshi wonders if the sound he hears is him or Haru, noting how small she is in his arms. As she squirms to get away, he tries to stop himself from wondering about what lies beneath her fur. A shadowy figure interrupts his thoughts telling Legoshi he's doing the right thing after struggling his whole life to repress it. Legoshi tells the shadow to go away, but its voice continues to taunt him. The shadow asks if Legoshi is sad or frustrated, noting he is instead overjoyed for listening to his instincts and cannot run away from himself. Legoshi attempts to look away as the shadow continues to grow, begging him to take a bite after 17 years of resisting. Legoshi begs the shadow to leave and struggles against the urge to eat Haru.
Just as Legoshi is about to take a bite, he is interrupted by Zoe screaming about an emergency. Haru takes the opportunity to break free and run, escaping with a scratch on her arm from Legoshi's claws. Legoshi follows Zoe into the auditorium where Zoe relates how he slipped off the stage while rehearsing and Louis broke his fall. Zoe worries what will happen if Louis is too injured to perform, but Louis says he will be fine by the next day. Louis asks Legoshi to help him walk and thanks Legoshi for keeping watch. Afterward, Legoshi sees his shadow in the bathroom mirror and shatters it, ending the flashback.
An altercation breaks out between two carnivores in the cafeteria.
Legoshi stands with his friends in the cafeteria as Miguno looks through the carnivores' breakfast. They each get a tray of food specially designed to meet their nutritional needs without meat, which is banned in their society. After almost stepping on a rodent by accident, Miguno tries to talk to Legoshi about his need for glasses. Legoshi starts to zone out, anxious about the night before. His thoughts are interrupted as a fight breaks out between two carnivore students, with one biting the other. This further triggers Legoshi's flashbacks before he yells to stop.
Legoshi tries to calm the fox.
The fox gets up asking if Legoshi thinks he can beat him. Legoshi starts analyzing himself and his opponent to find a believable way to lose the fight but is interrupted by Louis who is trying to become the next Beastar. Legoshi thinks about how Beastars are heroes who lead the school by rising above discrimination to unite everyone. Louis asks the fox if he thought about why the school needs Beastars and to improve himself rather than begrudge others. The other students vocally agree, causing the two fighters to leave. Once the crowd disperses, Louis asks if his efforts repay Legoshi for helping him the night before. Legoshi starts to protest and thank Louis but Louis stops him, asking how long he expects to keep holding himself back. Legoshi wonders if Louis is righteous, does that mean he's on the wrong side?
Louis rehearses with the drama club.
Later, during drama club rehearsal, Sanu pauses to ask Louis if he is feeling alright. Louis says he is fine and it is no time to be worrying about his health because of how important the welcome event is. He tells the carnivores playing his attackers to come at him with everything they have.
Legoshi and the backstage team discuss costumes.
Legoshi tells the backstage team about this, and they discuss what to do with Tem's costume. While the others continue talking, Legoshi thinks about how what happened to Tem is a great taboo, so people avoid discussing it. He starts to understand what Louis meant, and how much pressure he must be under as Louis tries to hide his injury from everyone else. Dom interrupts Legoshi's thoughts again and sends him to ask the gardening club for roses. Legoshi questions whether he should go since it's an herbivore club, but Kibi says it would be good to improve his talking skills.
At Legoshi's insistence, Kibi accompanies him to the gardening club to keep from scaring them. Legoshi recognizes Haru's scent just before Kibi opens the door and Haru asks if they need anything. Before Legoshi can think of an excuse to leave, Kibi says he forgot something and has to go. Haru says she figured they were there to get flowers for the welcome ceremony. After Legoshi agrees, Kibi leaves him alone to explain. Haru says rumors spread quickly and assumes he left out of fear, asking if Legoshi was afraid. Legoshi silently denies it, thinking he doesn't even have a right to speak to her after trying to eat her.
Legoshi and Haru talk about her injury.
The two make small talk as Legoshi helps out in exchange for the roses. He learns Haru is the only member of the gardening club and feels that she and the plants need each other. Though he tries to resist, Legoshi can't stop thinking about what he did and asks about Haru's injury. She says she doesn't remember what happened and not to worry since it was probably just a bad dream. Her words don't comfort or torment him, but Legoshi finds he can't stop looking at Haru.
Haru thanks Legoshi for his help and offers to repay him with his favorite food. Legoshi struggles to think of how to tell her he doesn't need to be thanked and just wants to talk to her. Haru mistakenly interprets his hesitation for wanting to ask for sex and closes the blinds, starting to strip. Legoshi continues to hold his head with his eyes shut, frustrated with himself while Haru strips and says she's never had sex with a carnivore before, noting their size difference. Legoshi finally opens his eyes when Haru asks if he's done it with a small animal before, leaving him in complete confusion as she approaches in her underwear, saying she'll try to enjoy it.
Anime/Manga Differences[]
- In the anime, Legoshi's encounter with Haru is seen as a flashback.
- A feline student nearly stepping onto a chipmunk student and talking to Legoshi about wearing glasses is in the manga whereas in the anime, he is replaced by Miguno.
- The flashback of Kibi talking to Mizuchi's boyfriend and another student about Haru only happens in the manga and not in the anime
- Nonetheless this happens in the next episode
- In the manga, the fight between the two students ends with one of them in a headlock. In the anime, one of the two canine students bites the other's arm.
- In the anime, Legoshi is fully seen injuring Haru's arm with his claws whereas it is only briefly seen in the manga.
- In the anime, after waking up Legoshi sees his "inner/shadow self" staring back from a mirror.
- In the anime, Legoshi's struggle with his "inner/shadow self" is more serious and detailed with Legoshi envisioning feeling Haru's body all over. Furthermore, Legoshi's struggle with his "inner/shadow self" is longer and akin to the exchanges Lucy Diclonius had with the DNA Voice in the manga/anime series Elfen Lied with the "inner/shadow self" even appearing at Legoshi's sides as well as above him from behind and not just his front like in the manga. Legoshi's "inner/shadow self" is also more wolf-shaped in the anime then it was in the manga before it fuses into Legoshi and takes control of him with the words coming out of Legoshi's mouth, which does not happen in the manga as Legoshi gave in on his own and the words were only in his mind.
- In the manga, Legoshi doesn't talk to Haru until after Kibi leaves him on his own; whereas in the anime, Legoshi pleads for Kibi to stay at his side to help.
- In the manga, Legoshi looks at a clipboard to survey the flowers in the gardening club; whereas in the anime he does not.