"Beastars" by Paru Itagaki, the winner of this year's Manga Taisho award, depicts a world where animals live like humans. Fans have raved about this manga, which combines great fantasy with sharp satire of human beings and criticism of society.
Seven volumes of the manga have been published so far by Akita Publishing Co.
"I'm surprised it's been so well accepted, even though it's a very weird manga" -- these were the first words Itagaki uttered on the podium as she received the prestigious award in Tokyo in late March.
Itagaki made her professional debut two years ago, but has still not shown her face in public. When she made her speech during the award ceremony, she covered her head with a costume head that looked like Legom, a hen character from "Beastars."
"Beastars" is set in a boarding school for animals in a society where herbivores and carnivores live together. Gray wolf Legoshi is a large carnivorous animal, but his personality is that of a herbivorous boy. Out of all the animals, he falls in love with a dwarf rabbit called Hal. Yet Legoshi's feelings toward her are mixed with a wolf's innate desire to eat her.
I've never read such a manga for young people. How did the author come up with the idea?
A world of animals
"I've been an animal lover since I was a child," Itagaki said, adding that she was also very interested in wild animals' eat-or-be-eaten relationships.
"The strong ones take the others' lives, while the weak ones run for their lives. I found this relationship beautiful ... let's say there are no lies among animals."
Does she mean that there are lies in the human world?
"I'm a human being, so I think morals and ethics are important," she said with a wry smile. "But I also feel that something's missing, something's wrong."
The idea of a civilization built by animals rather than human beings was almost fully formed in Itagaki's mind when she was a child. Her favorite works during her childhood days included Disney's "The Lion King."
She majored in film at art college and began drawing manga in her senior year. The first work she brought to a publisher was also about animals, which was favorably received and led to serialization of "Beastars" in the Shonen Champion weekly manga magazine.
'Real diversity' not simple
"Beastars" is unique because it uses personified animals to humorously depict prejudice against others. In this sense, it's not an animal manga.
"I made Legoshi the protagonist because wolves are villains in fairy tales and other stories. That's just how people look at them. Therefore, I wanted to draw a boy who suffers from being seen like that," she said.
In the story, grazing animals are protected as weak members of society, while flesh-eating animals are not allowed to use their fangs and claws. Some carnivorous animals in the underground community are not happy with the rules. Legoshi, Hal and other characters such as Rouis the red deer try to live their lives to the fullest while taking charge of the destiny of their respective species.
You could say the theme of this work is diversity, but Itagaki is careful about using this word.
"Diversity is drama born from one-on-one encounters between completely different beings," she said. "It feels odd to me to say, 'Everyone's equal, so accept each other' from a third-party viewpoint high above. Real diversity begins when you don't deny prejudice within yourself."
For example, can you be friends or fall in love with someone who you think "probably wants to eat me"?
"There are risks in communication between people. But when you're scared of someone and also become interested in that person, [these feelings] don't contradict each other. I think there's surprise and joy in encounters between different beings, and that has brought civilization and progress," Itagaki said.
Such a theme would be too serious if the characters were all humans. But it can be expressed in Itagaki's world, even with humor. Isn't this a precious innovation in the history of manga?
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