BNA: Brand New Animal Was Surprisingly Great
I have to be honest. My only reason why I picked Brand New Animal was that it was one of the most popular Animes in the 2020 Spring Season. I wanted to watch it, so I could create some cute galleries here on the website and some beautiful pins on Pinterest. Basically, the idea was to leach on BNA’s popularity in order to get some views and repins. Well, thank god I did, as Brand New Animal ended up being one of my favorites of the season.
Synopsis
Brand New Animal’s story occurs in a world where beastmen have always existed. Unfortunately, the relationship between them and humans aren’t the best and, therefore, beastmen all around the world had to live in a separate society. Michiru is your average teenage girl until one day she wakes up to see that she has transformed into a beastman. Since most humans are racists towards beastmen, she decides that her best option is to flee and go live in Animacity, the only known city composed by a beastmen society. Unfortunately, things aren’t as friendly as she thought they would be. Crime is all over the place and she ends up living in the same house as Shinrou – the city’s main protector.
Animation is Unique
I know that Anime Comes in many shapes and forms. But when I started watching Brand New Animal, the animation seemed everything besides Anime. If not for adult topics such as organized crime and fanaticism, I would say BNA could very well be a Cartoon Network show. Despite this, the show’s animation is great! Especially the backgrounds, which are breathtaking. It was also nice to see such a traditional, almost child-like, type of design when the Anime industry has become more and more computerized lately.
The Plot Thickens
For the first half or so of the Anime, Brand New Animal has an episodic approach to its story. Basically, what you would expect from a superheroes’ cartoon: every episode, there’s some kind of problem, and both Michiru and Shinrou need to solve it (and to do so in one or two episodes). I’m not very fond of this type of storytelling. I love Anime so much because the stories have more to it than just episodic events. If not, I would just watch criminal series like CSI or something like that. However, it’s through these episodes that Michiru starts to learn more about the city and her abilities, as well as getting along with Shinrou, so it’s ok. Moreover, the episodes by themselves are entertaining and fun to watch.
However, Brand New Animal only caught my interest when the plot starts to thicken. I’m not going to go too much into this, as I want to avoid sharing spoilers. But, basically, there’s a mastermind behind what’s happening and everything ends up coming back together in the end. Though it’s important to understand that this is not a mystery Anime like Psycho Pass, as it’s a bit lighter, but still interesting nonetheless.
I really didn’t think this was going to happen, but all characters end up being pretty complex. There’s clearly a villain and hero to the story, but that doesn’t mean they don’t share their piece of qualities and flaws. It’s hard to give examples without spoiling anything for you, so I’ll just leave it at that!
Is Brand New Animal Worth Watching?
Yes! If you’re a fan of adventure-type Animes with a lot of action, I say go for it! The show also displays a dystopian kind of setting, though not as deep as Ergo Proxy and other similar Animes. The characters are wonderful to follow, and every single episode is entertaining, which is the most important part, right?
Beware that the Anime doesn’t have a romance or anything like that. I know that many of you love it when there’s a couple going along with the story (I do too). Although the animation can be child-like, the story clearly isn’t. This means that the approach for the characters and story evolution is very similar to reality – there’s even a small hint to World War 2. So, if you’re not into that and prefer more of a fairy tale kind of ending, you may feel underwhelmed by how this Anime finishes. Honestly, for BNA specifically, I prefer this approach, as it makes you wonder how our world would be if beastmen actually existed.
What about you? Have you watched Brand New Animal? What are your thoughts about it? Tell me everything in the comments down below.
Wow, this sounds pretty awesome – I’ll check it out!
Hope you like it as much as I did 🙂