This article explores the anime BNA (Brand New Animal), reflecting on its story, characters, humor, and themes of prejudice within a world of anthropomorphic animals. It discusses the show's strengths, such as its humor and character development, as well as its shortcomings, including predictable plotlines and lack of gender diversity, comparing it to Beastars for context.
There was a time in my life when I was deeply immersed in the furry fandom. I consumed a lot of content related to anthropomorphic animals, including comics, movies, and animes. Two titles that caught my attention were Beastars and BNA (Brand New Animal).
When the first episode of BNA was released, I watched it and found it interesting, but then I kind of forgot about it. As more episodes came out, I grew to like the anime, except for the ending, which I found somewhat weak. Since then, BNA remained in my mind with a certain fondness, but I never rewatched it after 2020.
Recently, I decided to make a video about it, which meant I had to watch the series again. This experience was surprisingly mixed, both positively and negatively.
BNA tells the story of Michiru, a girl living in a world where humans and "beastmen" coexist. Beastmen are people who resemble animals but can morph into humanoid forms. Despite their abilities, they face prejudice for being different.
Michiru was originally human until she suddenly transforms into a tanuki beastman. Afraid of the repression beastmen suffer and seeking a cure, she travels to Anima Allya, a city where beastmen can live in peace. There, she meets Shirou, a bitter wolf who dedicates himself to protecting the city. Alongside the city's mayor, they aim to help Michiru find a cure.
As the episodes unfold, Michiru learns more about this world, its issues, and especially how human prejudice is even greater than she initially thought.
Although I am no longer deeply involved in the furry fandom, I still appreciate the aesthetic of anthropomorphic animals. It is comfortable, cute, and friendly.
Watching BNA again without the intense focus I once had made me realize that I had overlooked some issues in the anime.
BNA has several positive points. Some episodes convey excellent humor and energy. One episode that stood out and stayed with me over the years is episode five, where Michiru plays baseball, helping a team of beastmen from a poor neighborhood who are terrible at the sport.
This episode features a kind of cruel humor that is still very funny. The beastmen's personalities turn a common sport into something much bigger and stranger. Cheating, deaths, and violence are ignored and even encouraged to make the game more intense and wild, driven by gambling.
The game is less about baseball and more about the thrill of betting large sums of money. The deaths are treated so casually that it creates a dark humor. The team Michiru helps, the bears, are portrayed as extremely poor, living in a dilapidated slum without even water. This exaggeration adds to the morbid but absurd humor.
At the same time, the episode reveals a more fragile side of the series. The bears' coach deliberately makes the team lose so he can profit from bets. He lost his passion for baseball due to the prejudice he faced as a beastman trying to join a human baseball team in his youth. This prejudice diminished his love for the sport and turned him into someone focused only on making money.
Michiru, however, sees baseball not just as a way to make money but as a way to have fun and compete healthily. Her enthusiasm inspires the coach to give up gambling and regain his passion for the sport. Her dedication helps the terrible team improve and win more games, giving hope to the people. Even when they lose, they are celebrated. This is the charming and heartwarming side of the series.
Another interesting episode is episode seven, which focuses on Pinga, a beastman albatross. He crashes at Michiru's house during a failed flight. They form a connection because Michiru admires his flying abilities and feels that flying represents a freedom she can never have.
However, flying is not truly free for Pinga. As a migratory bird, he wants to travel freely, but humans prohibit flight over their land, treating it as an attack. This leads to bureaucratic obstacles for Pinga.
Later, we learn that Pinga was a soldier who fought alongside humans against radical beastmen, which ironically endangered his own species by making migration more difficult.
Despite these strengths, BNA struggles with several issues. The main problem is that it lacks the narrative depth to fully explore the complex themes it introduces. While it can create convincing isolated dramatic moments, it fails to sustain a consistent sense of danger, fear, and prejudice throughout the series.
Much of the series is predictable. For comparison, Beastars handles serious issues like the herbivore-carnivore divide in a way that directly impacts the story and character development. The mysteries and conflicts in Beastars serve as a foundation for the protagonist Legoshi's self-discovery and exploration of love.
In contrast, BNA's serious themes often feel superficial and disconnected from the main plot.
Another frustration is the lack of gender diversity in BNA. Michiru stands as the most grounded character in the series, despite being one of the more eccentric ones due to her body-manipulating powers.
BNA offers a unique and visually appealing take on a world of anthropomorphic animals, blending humor, social commentary, and action. It has memorable episodes that combine dark humor with heartfelt moments, especially through Michiru's journey and the baseball storyline.
However, the series falls short in delivering a compelling and nuanced narrative about prejudice and societal issues. Its predictability and lack of depth in handling serious themes prevent it from reaching the potential seen in similar works like Beastars.
For fans of the furry aesthetic and those interested in stories about identity and acceptance, BNA remains a worthwhile watch, but with tempered expectations regarding its storytelling.
Overall, revisiting BNA with a more critical eye reveals both its charm and its limitations, making it a fascinating subject for reflection within the furry and anime communities.
