Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Shinichi Matsumi and based on Paru Itagaki’s eponymous manga, ‘Beastars Final Season’ concludes the story of Legoshi and his friends, who struggle to find common ground in a world where herbivores and carnivores must coexist. While Legoshi is madly in love with his schoolmate Haru, the fact that he is a gray wolf and she is a dwarf rabbit makes things complicated. Legoshi is far from a ferocious beast, however, which is what makes his matchup with Melon all the more thematically potent. A mix between a leopard and a gazelle, Melon bridges the two extremes of this animal kingdom and doesn’t shy away from inciting terror and violence wherever he sets foot. By the end of this coming-of-age thriller anime, he and Legoshi turn the dark market into a stage for their definitive showdown, only for things to belie all expectations. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Melon is Still Alive but Missing, Leaving Things Ambiguous as Ever
The mid-credits scene of the ‘Beastars’ finale confirms that Melon survives his suicide attempt, but also that his present whereabouts are unknown. That in and of itself is an odd conclusion for the series’ antagonist, considering that Yahya’s allies are right at the scene when Melon shoots himself and passes out. As such, the more likely explanation for all of this is that he is currently deep underground in custody, with the police keeping a tight wrap on his case to prevent yet another fiasco. Melon already has two successful escapes under his belt, and even in those moments, he treats being jailed as, at best, a minor convenience. The police probably don’t want to risk another breakout, but doing so is itself a misinterpretation of what makes Melon such a fierce target.
The foundations behind Melon’s psychotic drive can be traced back to two moments from his childhood: the first, when he was bullied into nearly jumping off a building, and the other, when he killed his own mother. The two events are complementary in the sense that they target his two sides, herbivore and carnivore. Back then, he was pressured into a leap of faith to test whether his feline side could get him to land safely. Instead of going with the bullies’ whims, he threw them off the building, drawing blood for the first time and immediately getting a taste for it. In the case of his mother, he was, and still is, both enchanted by and wary of her obsession with his gazelle side. As it is implied that she ate her husband, it is likely that Melon felt that the same fate awaited him and took the initiative instead.
After facing rejection from both sides of his being and retaliating in kind, Melon grows up to feel an increasing sense of hostility from everyone around him, which forces him to literally wear a mask and create a fake persona for the most basic of human relationships. However, beneath all this lies a persistent layer of self-hatred and suicidal ideation, which almost comes to the surface in episode 19, aptly titled ‘Feline Fall.’ Here, Melon admits that a part of him has always craved the idea of jumping alongside the children he first killed, which clearly translates to a desire to end his own life. In the show’s finale, that desire comes forth in all its might, as Melon, facing defeat, decides to end things his own way, even if it is through death.
Melon’s Arc is Designed to Conclude With a Twist
Melon’s suicide attempt has yet another layer, that of giving the story an unexpected ending. As he explains himself, a wild-card character like him is known for disrupting everything right at the end, and that is what he is truly after. By choosing to kill himself, he hopes to snatch away Legoshi’s shot at an acquittal, and possibly even bring the town to ruin with his poison balls. Neither of these goals makes it to reality, however, as his shot turns out to be non-lethal. Ironically enough, this is almost a running gag about Melon, as both his attempts to shoot and kill Legoshi earlier this season end in failure. As a beast who has relied on his physical prowess this entire time, he is never quite able to command a gun, which is likely what contributes to his surviving at the end.
The last time we hear about Melon in the finale, there is no accompanying visual of how he is right now, or who he might be with. Instead, we see an empty hospital bed, with a carton full of bouquets lying by its side. While this can mean that he has been ushered away by the authorities, another deadlier possibility is that Melon has managed to escape yet again and is most likely back on the hunt for Haru, the elusive white rabbit. Both characters are alike in the way they perceive life on a razor’s edge, and so long as that is true for either of them, Melon’s hunger isn’t likely to be satiated. As such, whether or not he is alive, in custody, or secretly dead, his footprint on the story is not getting erased any time soon.
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