‘The Pig and the Peacock’ – a pig has a strange occupation (even for this world)- he’s a taxidermist. Preserves the bodies of his fellow animals- at the request of family members usually- and prides himself on his skill and artistry, making them look so lifelike. Pig meets a peacock who is a police officer, at first just there inspecting his “borderline illegal” business, then they get to talking. The peacock reveals he’s soon getting transferred to a dangerous district and is afraid of being eaten alive by the predators there. He wants Pig to preserve his life as it is now. Pig is horrified. Comes up with something to help the peacock face his fears and ward off the aggressors at his new locale.
‘The Shiba Inu and the Shiba Inu’ – A Shiba Inu dog is admired by all- so cute! and is launched into an immediately successful career in modeling- especially feminine clothing- even though he’s male. He starts to resent the duplicity. Envies a female Shiba Inu he meets who works a lowly but simple, stress-free (so he imagines) job as a store clerk. And then one day he overhears some tigers criticizing his modeling gig and blows up at them in public …
‘The Crow and the Kangaroo’ – We learn that albino animals (called ‘brights’) are endangered, made targets for their rarity. By the carnivores. Special secluded districts exist for them to live in. A white crow goes there and meets a female kangaroo with a secret- she’s not pure white! (Has some spots in a private location). But the district official allows her to stay if she gives sexual favors to any male there, and she’s afraid to leave, putting herself at risk. The crow isn’t at all interested in her advances, and helps her brave the outside world.
‘The Stellar’s Sea Eagle and the Mongolian Gerbil’ – This eagle has a cushy job ferrying a gerbil with a high-paying job to and from her office. She avoids traffic and risk of being stepped on by larger animals, he lives easy. Until she announces her plans to marry. The eagle begs to keep on living with her- even promising to overcome his fear of thunderstorms (before, he would refuse to fly in them and she’d have to find other transport or skip work those days).
‘The Chipmunk and the Mountain Hare’ – A magazine editor is desperate to get the final chapter from a popular and very reclusive writer, before the deadline. He sends a chipmunk to talk to the author and retrieve the manuscript. Shocked to find the novelist isn’t a mountain hare (as advertised) but a large predator with a sensitive soul. He has some serious writer’s block, stuck on the final scene, and needs to observe an herbivore feeling abject terror. So now with the chipmunk on his doorstop he has the perfect subject for a little experiment to enhance his writing . . .
‘The Wolf and the Rabbit’ – Legoshi and Haru! and other Beastar characters are in this one. Haru is turning twenty and invites Legoshi to attend a special ceremony with her, where he will purify the wound (now just scars) he gave her, way back when they first met. It’s a symbolic gesture with a superstition attached. Legoshi immediately wants to do the ceremony with Louis too, but he’s already performing it with Bill the tiger (much lesser wounds). Legoshi wonders about the incidents and thoughts of the other herbivore / carnivore pairs waiting in line. And while Haru is very focused on the present, he then gives her a kiss which shocks the attending priest, outraged.
Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 4/29/24.
2 Responses
This one sounds a lot darker than the first one, with the police officer peacock (eek) and the kangaroo’s situation…
It was. Really, they are all fairly dark. Just didn’t feel quite so intense as the whole Beastar series though, maybe because all the stories were shorter, I’m not sure.