18 - cartoon animals

For MicroBlogVember

Judging by Cohost's demographic, I assume everyone already knows about the Beastars manga, but it really is the best "cartoon animals" media I've seen. It broadly avoids the "hackneyed racism metaphor" pitfall by having the animal people still be animals fundamentally driven by instinct and reflex and exploring it in various (often totally unexpected or absurd) ways.

For example, carnivores naturally still need to consume protein, but eating another person is a taboo act ranging in severity somewhere from "hate crime" to "ritualistic necrophilia". So... they eat a lot of eggs. Normal enough. But remember, the cartoon chickens are people too; people who (perfectly legally) sell off their unfertilized eggs as a side gig. Might as well make some scratch off your body's inevitable reproductive cycle, right?

This is far from the most bizarre element in Beastars. Give it a look if it piques your interest.