If it does the problematic herbivore/carnivore = gender/race shit that Zootopia did then I’ll pass.

When the anime came out on netflix there was a lot of analysis of that to go around because it feels like it’s trying to be allegorical, but imo it’s completely incoherent and just a side effect of the author being horny for Scar from the Lion King and shaping the worldbuilding around wanting there to be a bunch of scary, dangerous carnivores around (because the author thinks that’s hot) and trying to make that work with an otherwise peaceful and mundane society. The carnivores are generally sort of masc-coded and the herbivores femme-coded, but in a very incoherent way that circles back to the author’s own tastes (literally for Scar from the Lion King, I’m not joking about that she actually said that was her inspiration for the series).

Just talking about the predator/prey dynamic, it’s certainly problematized, but in an ambiguous and multifaceted way. It’s not an allegory for any one social phenomenon in particular. It’s a dynamic that reflects various social phenomena and divisions, but it doesn’t map cleanly to any one thing in specific. I think it’s this lack of straightforward allegory that makes the show interesting, and basically purely up to interpretation. The show is good, but it is weird and I think it’ll make most viewers uncomfortable at various points.

I dug Beastars; I felt it does the predator/prey dynamic with a WHOLE LOT MORE forethought than Zootopia could ever dream of-- but that also may still not be your speed if you approach the whole concept from a paradigm of problematicism

I have heard it argued that it does it better than, for example, Zootopia, but my own experience is kind of the opposite. I found myself at times wondering whether a story element was meant to be promoting segregation or justifying pedophilia. Maybe I am missing another way that specific part could be read, but the most realistic option is that there was simply no thought put into how it would be read, which is not great.

One of my friends recommended it to me a few times, but she also recommended me Dragon Maid (which I ain’t watching) so I’m not convinced.

It’s not really a straight allegory for real world hierarchies of oppression, but I think gets at something deeper about desire, power, and predation in human societies by considering how a society of intelligent animals would actually work.

ngl I just got the impression it was someone worldbuilding around their vore fetish