Listed! By The Numbers – 12 Anime That Appealed To Me as a Furry, Part 2

First, a huge thank you to the encouraging responses I received for part 1 of this column. While chatting with others, I realized I missed a few series, and needed to rewatch and reassess at least one movie. Additionally, I’ve added a section for stuff I didn’t talk about in the main feature, but that deserved a short mention. Anyway, I can’t think of a stranger way to sit here, spending my Christmas Eve than to write about anime that appealed to me as a furry. I suppose the timing on this column could have been better, but that’s the story of 2023 as a whole for me. Perhaps the next time I need something to write about during my livestreaming break in December, I’ll tackle Christmas movies and specials. Or perhaps Geoff should have livestreamed tonight on Twitch instead. Nah, it’s Christmas Eve, he deserves a much-needed break.

On with the second half of this list. It covers the late aughts up to 2020. If I’ve excluded a show or movie you like, feel free to talk about it in the comments. Again, this list only covers what I’ve seen in some capacity.

 

 

7. Spice and Wolf| Production Company: Imagin | Year Released: 2008

Spice and Wolf is a show that Joseph told me about. He even reviewed it for this blog way back in 2009. I actually didn’t finish this anime, and got about halfway through the first season, despite having it downloaded. I didn’t dislike Spice and Wolf, it was just one of those series I took a short break from and never returned. This is a series I should probably revisit, especially since the entirety of it can be found on Crunchyroll.

Lawrence is a merchant living during a medieval period. He travels from town-to-town peddling and buying wares. After stopping one night in the town of Pasroe, he discovers a stowaway in his wagon. A girl named Horo, except she’s not actually a girl. Horo is a wolf god of the harvest. She appears to Lawrence as mostly human, but her wolf ears and tail give away the fact that she’s not human. In her heyday, numerous villages celebrated her, as the one responsible for proving plentiful crops, and teaching them how to plant and harvest. One day the villagers decide to worship a new deity. So she convinces Lawrence to let her travel with him, as she yearns to return to her homeland in the north. She’s able to help him with his profits during their travels, but it’s not easy keeping a wolf god concealed from curious eyes.

Honestly, I can’t remember why I stopped watching Spice and Wolf. I certainly don’t remember finishing the first season of the series. It was pretty cool that Horo had a form as a giant wolf, even though she spent most of the anime as a girl with wolf ears and a tail. That said, what left the bigger impression on me from this anime was the economic aspects. It was a neat introduction to how the medieval economy worked, as these little lessons were fascinating. It reminded me a lot of how C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control was a monster battler on the surface, but dig deeper and the series was really about finance. Spice and Wolf shares a similar vein of addressing finance through entertainment, though C is much stranger.

Another big aspect the show was how new religions are introduced, and old ones are gradually pushed away. In this case, it was a monotheistic religion replacing a polytheistic tradition. When I stopped watching the anime, the church of this world was starting to be suspicious of Horo, but nothing had come of it yet. Now that I know both seasons are on Crunchyroll, this is a series I’d like to revisit sooner or later.

 

8. Guin Saga| Production Company: Satelight | Year Released: 2009

When Guin Saga was first announced in 2009, it felt like the show should have been a bigger deal than it was. It was to be an adaptation of the longest epic novel series ever released, and it featured music from the venerable Nobou Uematsu. Around the time it aired, I wrote about Guin Saga not once, but twice for two different features. This show came out just before streaming TV took off in North America and fansubbers were slow to pick it up. Additionally, the anime blogs I visited didn’t really cover it either. I eventually did watch the entire series via fansub before buying it on DVD when it received a proper release from Sentai Filmworks.

For this summary, I’m just going to copy what I wrote back in 2009. It fits pretty well aside from having to clean up some incorrect names from the fansubs.

One day the Kingdom of Parros is invaded by the Mongaul army, and the king and queen are slain. The two twin heirs to the Kingdom, Rinda and Remus are spirited away to safety before they can be cut down by the Mongauls. While escaping with the use of magic, they are accidentally sent to the Forest of Roodwood in Mongaul. There they are once again pursued by Mongaulian Black Knights until a mysterious man with the head of a leopard intervenes. The man manages to kill the entire squad with his bare hands before crying out in anguish and collapsing. Remus wants to take the opportunity to escape, but Rinda refuses to leave the man’s side. When he comes around the twins discover that his name is Guin, he doesn’t know why he has a leopard’s head, and he only remembers the word “Aura.”

Though I watched Guin Saga in starts and fits, Guin was the most interesting aspect of this relatively routine fantasy show. At least it sported gorgeous animation and character designs. I suppose reading the original novels would have been more impactful, given how long of an epic it is versus the short length of the anime. The series of novels were first penned in 1979 by Kaoru Kurimoto. The series took a several year hiatus with her death in 2009, and resumed in 2013. The last volume to be released was 145 in 2019. One can only wonder if Guin Saga had influences on other franchises such as Berserk or Tekken.

Of course, the anime is what I watched, and it was mostly for Guin. Though he was mostly human, I loved how cool his leopard’s head looked. Watching him fight was another fun thing I enjoyed. The majority of the show was Guin keeping Rinda and Remus safe, as they searched for safety from Mongaul, while the leopard-headed warrior searched for answers regarding his true identity. In terms of the anime, it wasn’t nearly as memorable as Berserk (hello Eclipse!), or as irreverent as Bastard. This show had music by Uematsu, and I can’t remember any of it outside of him being the music composer. I feel that if Guin Saga had gotten more than its initial run of 26 episodes that roughly covered the first dozen or so volumes of the novels, the show might have been more memorable. When the story left off, it felt like the grand adventure was only just getting started. At nearly 15 years since its initial run, I doubt we’ll see any more of this epic series animated, but stranger things have happened.

 

9. Wolf Children| Production Company: Studio Chizu | Year Released: 2012

After chatting with someone on Mastodon hoping that I’d coverWolf Children, I realized I needed to give the movie a second watch. The first time I saw this film, I came away deeply disappointed. I believe it was another case of it not being what I expected. Earlier today I made time to rewatch the movie (thankfully it was on Crunchyroll), and enjoyed it a lot more the second time around. My first viewing was in a group chat while a friend streamed Wolf Children fansub. My second viewing was of the dub without the distraction of a group.

Hana is a college student with a part-time job to support herself. One day, she notices a man in her class that stands out. She chases him down after the lecture only to find out that he’s not actually a student. He’s a mover who works in the area. The two spend more time together and eventually hit it off. One night he reveals to Hana that he’s actually a werewolf. She doesn’t care and the two deepen their relationship. Eventually Hana becomes pregnant and the two move in together. Their daughter Yuki is born and a year later, Hana gives birth to their son, Ame. Everything comes to an abrupt end when her boyfriend doesn’t come home. Hana takes both children along as she looks for him. She discovers that in his full wolf form he’s been killed and unceremoniously dumped into a trash truck.

Distraught but determined to keep going, the now single mother raises both children on her own. They can transform into wolf pups at will and end up causing a lot of trouble in their small apartment. So Hana takes the savings her lover left behind and moves into a remote rural village where she can raise her wolf children away from prying eyes. She eventually thrives among the neighbors. As Yuki and Ame grow, they choose their own paths in life.

My initial issue with Wolf Children was that I was expecting the movie to cover more of the wolf side of the children, and I was also hoping to see more of Hana’s lover. When I saw the film in 2012, I wasn’t prepared for what the story actually was. A love letter to single moms and the difficulty of raising children alone. Yuki and Ame being werewolves were just a bit of a fantasy element. Take that away and this story could be about the struggles of any mom (or single parent) trying to raise their children the best they can. Although, I feel like Hana had an unrealistic level of patience especially for a single parent. She only takes a harsh tone once.

At the same time, the movie was very much about Yuki and Ame trying to discover who they were. It makes me wonder if their outlook on life would have been any different had their father not been killed. At the very least, I could feel for Ame (even though I didn’t like his character much), because he didn’t have the benefit of even getting to know his father. Hana was simply unable to help him understand his wolf side, even though she tried her best. In the end, I feel like both kids were an interesting mix of their father in terms of how to address their werewolf heritage.

I’m glad I gave Wolf Children a second watch. The werewolf was as cool as I remembered him being, but I was able to appreciate the story for what it was. A single mother doing her best to raise her kids, and the kids finding their own paths in life. It’s a simple, yet beautiful drama.

 

10. Aggretsuko| Production Company: Fanworks | Year Released: 2018

It’s funny, I’d seen the promotional materials for Aggretsuko when it released. The show also a hit with all my furry friends and other friends who weren’t into furry. However, 2018 was a particularly rough year especially around the holidays. It wasn’t until my then fiancé, now husband insisted that I take a moment to relax after a particularly stressful weekend. We ended up watching the show as a way to take my mind off of everything I was going through. I would have loved the series regardless of the circumstances that caused me to watch it. Aggretsuko held a double meaning for me. Not only was it a show that featured furries, but it was an anime that focused on the lives of adults. That made for an incredibly relatable series.

Retsuko is a 25-year-old red panda that hates her office job. Sure, she has friends to lean on such as Fenneko and Haida. However, her boss Ton is a massive, misogynistic asshole (and I’m not talking about the fact that he’s literally a pig). Many of her senior co-workers give her grief on top of what she takes from Ton. Her one major love and a source of release is the fact that she performs heavy metal karaoke after work most nights. Retsuko mostly does this in secret, until some of her co-workers including higher ups Gori and Washimi discover her talent. This discovery by others ends up taking her in a variety of places in her work and personal life.

Aggretsuko ran for five seasons for a total of 51 episodes. What I loved is that each season covered a different aspect of Retsuko’s life. Her adventures ranged from her trying to escape office life via marriage and finding a toxic boyfriend, to dating a tech mogul, to moonlighting as an idol, and even running for local office. Admittedly, some of her adventures are a little less than relatable at times, but I personally understood the chaos that came from holding multiple jobs at once. Plus having relationships that didn’t work out, and even spending an unhealthy amount of time gaming.

Take away the cute anthropomorphic animals and this show would still work if everyone were human. That said, the fact that they’re all animals in the Sanrio art style makes Aggretsuko stand out from other similar office comedies. On the surface this show looks like it could be for younger kids, but this cute comedy cloaks biting social commentary regarding younger adults and all the hardships they face in Japan. Even though the show is very Japanese, many of those issues are relatable to international audiences. That’s where the real charm of this series comes from.

 

11. Beastars| Production Company: Orange | Year Released: 2019

Beastars is yet another show that I heard about from multiple friends from different circles. Furries, non-furries who rarely watch anime, animal fans who don’t consider themselves to be furries, and ordinary anime fans all found something to enjoy. The crossover appeal of this show was perhaps only matched by Aggretsuko on the anime side, and BoJack Horseman for general adult animation. (As a fan of all three of these animated series, it’s kind of amazing they all ran around the same time.) Going in, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Beastars other than absolutely loving the character designs all around.

The prestigious Cherryton Academy is rocked by a shocking crime. Tem, a herbivore student is murdered one night by a carnivore student. The alpaca is mostly devoured, and the mood is tense. The herbivores don’t trust the carnivores who are just trying to get along. Among this tension, Legoshi is a wolf that keeps to himself. He’s a member of the drama club’s stagehand team. One night while walking back to his dorm, he smells the delightful scent of a rabbit named Haru. In the darkness he pounces on her and has to hold himself back as his hunter’s instincts awaken. He eventually lets her go, and she escapes without knowing he was her attacker.

Later the pair meet again, and Legoshi finds himself conflicted. Is he in love with Haru? Does he want to devour her? Or is his sudden attraction a mix of love and hunger? Meanwhile, Louis, a red deer is gunning for the top spot of Beastar, and is the lead in the drama club’s big play. Jealous carnivores seek to harm him, so his enlists Legoshi to protect him until after the play is finished. Things become complicated when Louis breaks his leg during a rehearsal.

Beastars is a show that hit all of my sweet spots as a furry. Great character designs, great fight scenes, and an intriguing story that only got better with each season. If you had told me the daughter of the creator of Baki the Grappler would pen her own furry-themed manga that would be adapted into an anime two decades ago, I wouldn’t have believed you. Though I can definitely see how Paru Itagaki was inspired by Keisuke Itagaki’s work.

The characters in this world are mostly teenagers, but seeing their stories unfold was a lot of fun. It also helps that the world is an intriguing place, although I’d never want to personally live there. On the surface it shares a lot of similarities with Zootopia, though the execution is a lot darker. You have herbivores and carnivores trying to co-exist and an argument for an allegory pertaining to race, gender, or sexuality can be made. I’m not here to make that argument, though the show is a wonderful candidate for exploring what it means to be considered a “dangerous other,” and how co-existence is tough.

Unlike Aggretsuko, the story wouldn’t work if the animals in this show were replaced with humans. They are the kind of anthropomorphic types that mostly act like humans, but very much keep their animal traits. For example, herbivores can’t eat meat and carnivores can find meat substitutes, but they really thrive on herbivore flesh. It’s not surprising there are murders where people are devoured by their killers, black markets exist filled with enslaved herbivores just waiting to be purchased and eaten, or some herbivores willingly selling parts of themselves for food to make money. In this world, it is surprising that Haru and Legoshi can potentially be a couple, though their instincts make that task difficult. Even on the mundane side, something as simple as a deer buck shedding his antlers is an issue, so prosthetics are thing.

If I had one complaint about Beastars it is that carnivores are always more powerful than herbivores, even though that absolutely shouldn’t be the case. Louis a red deer, should be able to wreck almost any predator that comes his way, save for bears or big cats. So Juno or Legoshi being able to overpower him should not have been an issue. It’s just a small gripe in an otherwise excellent series. Season three can’t drop soon enough.

 

12. Brand New Animal| Production Company: Trigger | Year Released: 2020

Even though Netflix had both Beastars and Aggretsuko as furry themed anime series, they were able to squeeze in Brand New Animal as well. Unlike the other two series, I found this one on my own because of my love for Studio Trigger. After all, I had just seen the exquisite Promare in theaters before the pandemic hit. So of course, I’d dive head first into Brand New Animal. Unfortunately, this show was one of Trigger’s misses. I didn’t regret watching it, unlike Kiznaiver a show I couldn’t bring myself to finish, or Darling in the Franxx, a show I couldn’t bring myself to start. (Fortunately Alex took one for the team in his review.) BNA’s fantastic character designs and sporadically good episodes carried me through the finale of this show.

As I did with Guin Saga, I’m just going to copy and paste my synopsis from Quarantine Control #19 with some light edits.

In this version of Earth, the world is populated by regular humans and human-like animals called beastmen. Both species co-exist to a degree. Many humans fear and despise the beastmen, so the latter live segregated in Anima City for their own protection. Michiru Kagemori was a normal human teenage girl. One day she suddenly turned into a tanuki beastman and flees persecution from the humans. She makes it to Anima City and meets a powerful wolf beastman named Shirou Ogami. He’s dubbed himself the protector of the city. Once there, she seeks a cure for her condition. Instead, she finds herself in possession of unusual shapeshifting abilities as she gets involved in a series of mysteries and misadventures in Anima City.

BNA’s biggest issue is that much of the show meanders until it finally gets to the point. For much of the series, it is a slice-of-life anime with a bit of mystery sprinkled in from time-to-time. As we explore Anima city, we learn about the everyday lives of the beastmen. It’s very similar to the best and worst parts of human society, except the beastmen can take on a regular human form at times. In terms of its anthropomorphism, it lies smack dab in the center of the opposing ends of Aggretsuko and Beastars. Aspects of the show can work if all of these characters were human, but they don’t fully work in other ways.

Too late in the show, we learn there is a disease that makes beastmen violent and there’s also a villain that feels like he came out of nowhere. There’s no proper foreshadowing. Brand New Animal is in a strange place where the writers needed to get to the main point faster and yet needed a second season to expand upon the reveals from the later half. At this point, we’re nearing four years since the show aired on Netflix and I doubt a second season is happening.

As a furry this show was stunning for the character designs Studio Trigger is best known for, combined with fantastic anthro designs. Also add this studio’s fast-paced, chaotic action, and you have a series that is memorable. Too bad it wasn’t very good. I still believe it’s worth checking out if you’re a fan of the character designs or a fan of Trigger in general. Just set your expectations a bit lower.

Honorable Mentions:

 

Princess Mononoke – I can’t believe I didn’t include this one on the list. While I didn’t see the movie when it released in theaters in 1997, I did catch it in 1998 on VHS. It was easily my favorite movie of the year, and remains my favorite Miyazaki film. (Granted, I still need to see some of his newer works.) The furry appeal namely came from the forest gods. Moro and her children were a delight. Lord Okkoto was terrifying post-demon transformation. I’m leaving the Great Forest Spirit at pure uncanny valley nightmare fuel.

Summer Wars – This was the second Mamoru Hosoda film I had the pleasure of seeing. The first was Digimon: The Movie and the third was Wolf Children. If you had told me the guy who worked on Summer Wars also directed a Digimon movie, I wouldn’t be surprised. My only regret is that after a long day of hanging out at Otakon a decade ago, I fell asleep when the group decided to put this film on. I saw some of the epic battles, but I couldn’t put this film on the main list without having seen the full movie.

Digimon – Speaking of Digital Monsters, I have to shout out the first three seasons of this franchise. The designs of WereGarurumon, ExVeemon, Renamon, Kyubimon, Leomon, and Growlmon were important during my formative furry years. Awesome character designs aside, I bounced during Digimon Frontier. It just wasn’t for me.

 

Tiger Mask W – This anime is a straight-up wrestling show. The furry appeal for me came from the multitude of wrestlers that donned variations of the tiger mask while in the ring. There’s Tiger Mask, Tiger the Dark, Tiger the Great the Third, Tiger the Black, King Tiger, Big Tiger the Second, and Spring Tiger. I can’t say there’s a ton of appeal outside of wrestling for this one, but the cool masks did ensure Tiger Mask W axe kicked its way into my heart. And if you’re noticing the resemblance of Tiger Mask to Guin, I’d like to note that the original Tiger Mask manga and anime predates the Guin Saga novels by more than a decade.

Misses:

Pokémon – Oddly enough, Pokémon wasn’t a series that really appealed to me as a furry. It appealed to my gaming and anime interests. Odd, given how many of the monsters themselves are animals or straight up anthropomorphic in nature. For me what separated them from furry was the fact that they don’t actually speak outside of saying their own names. I’m in the minority with this view, as plenty of people in the furry fandom have integrated Pokémon into their fursonas.

Dog & Scissors – Don’t do it. It’s a middling comedy that only gets worse during its 13 episode run. I actively regret watching this anime.