What makes Beastars unusual is that the animal setting is never just decoration. Species, reputation, attraction, class, and instinct shape every conversation. The series can move from school drama to crime tension to dark comedy without losing sight of its characters.

If you found Beastars through the animated adaptation, the manga offers the fullest version of Paru Itagaki’s visual storytelling. The books below follow different parts of its appeal: uneasy animal societies, dangerous secrets, identity struggles, striking artwork, and stories where tenderness and threat sit side by side.

Quick Picks

If you liked this part of Beastars Try this Format Why it fits Best for
Paru Itagaki’s art and animal world Beast Complex by Paru Itagaki Manga short-story collection More animal-society stories from the same creator Readers who want the closest follow-up
Mature talking-animal mystery Odd Taxi by Kazuya Konomoto and Takeichi Abaraya Manga An urban crime story with dry humor and tightly connected characters Readers who want less school drama and more mystery
Hunger, fear, and self-control Tokyo Ghoul by Sui Ishida Manga A supernatural identity story built around frightening needs and social fear Readers looking for darker, more violent material
Adult animal noir Blacksad by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido European graphic novel Crime, corruption, investigation, and expressive anthropomorphic characters Readers drawn to visual storytelling and detective fiction
Quiet identity-focused drama Our Dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani Manga A compassionate story about belonging, isolation, and self-acceptance Readers who connected with Beastars’ vulnerable characters
Strange violence and wild world-building Dorohedoro by Q Hayashida Manga Grotesque humor, chaotic alliances, and a bold visual voice Readers who enjoyed Beastars at its most bizarre
Serious animal society in prose Watership Down by Richard Adams Novel Animal characters with social rules, danger, and emotional stakes Readers who want a prose or audiobook break

What to Look for After Beastars

A good follow-up does not need to feature wolves, rabbits, or a school full of animal students. The stronger matches understand why the animal premise matters in Beastars.

The series makes ordinary moments feel loaded. A crush can become frightening. A joke can expose cruelty. A private hunger can carry social consequences. That tension is what connects these recommendations, even when they move into supernatural horror, noir, fantasy, or prose adventure.

Choose Beast Complex when you want more of Paru Itagaki’s voice. Pick Odd Taxi or Blacksad for animal characters in a crime-focused world. Go with Tokyo Ghoul when the predator-and-prey tension was your favorite part. For the more emotionally intimate side of Beastars, start with Our Dreams at Dusk.

Several of these books include violence, distressing situations, or unsettling imagery. Our Dreams at Dusk is the gentlest entry here; Tokyo Ghoul and Dorohedoro are better for readers comfortable with graphic material.

Beast Complex by Paru Itagaki

Beast Complex is the clearest next read after Beastars. This collection of shorter manga stories uses animal characters and social rules to explore attraction, prejudice, fear, awkward relationships, and public expectations.

The format is different from a long-running series. Rather than following one central cast through an extended arc, each story arrives with its own situation and emotional pressure. That means less time with familiar characters, but it also gives Itagaki room to approach animal-society dynamics from several angles.

Read this first if what you miss most is Paru Itagaki’s perspective: expressive art, uncomfortable humor, and characters trying to navigate rules that do not always make sense.

Odd Taxi by Kazuya Konomoto and Takeichi Abaraya

Odd Taxi is a strong match for readers who liked the feeling that every character in Beastars might be hiding something. Its animal-populated city becomes the setting for a mystery and crime story built from conversations, connections, and competing motives.

Compared with Beastars, the tone is more grounded and dialogue-driven. The animal cast gives the story its distinctive atmosphere, while the central pull comes from how separate characters and incidents begin to connect.

Choose Odd Taxi if you want an adult urban story with animal characters, dry humor, and a more focused mystery than school-life drama.

Tokyo Ghoul by Sui Ishida

Readers who were most interested in Beastars’ predator-and-prey tension should look at Tokyo Ghoul. Its story centers on appetite, secrecy, fear, identity, and the pressure of belonging to a group that other people see as dangerous.

This is a supernatural horror manga rather than an anthropomorphic-animal story, and it is much more violent than Beastars. Still, it reaches for a similar kind of discomfort: a character’s instincts have real consequences, and hiding part of yourself can become its own form of danger.

Pick Tokyo Ghoul when you want the hunger, dread, and moral uncertainty in Beastars pushed much further.

Blacksad by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido

Blacksad is a European graphic novel series rather than manga, but it belongs on this list for its adult use of anthropomorphic characters. The books place animal figures inside noir stories of crime, corruption, power, and investigation.

Its painted artwork is a major draw. Readers who linger over Beastars panels for character expressions, clothing, and body language may appreciate how much visual storytelling Blacksad puts on the page.

The mood is closer to classic detective fiction than coming-of-age drama. Read it for stylish animal noir, not for another school story or a similar manga pace.

Our Dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani

Some Beastars readers are less interested in its violence and mystery than in its vulnerable characters. Our Dreams at Dusk is the best choice for that side of the series.

This manga is a thoughtful story about identity, community, isolation, and finding space to live honestly. It has no animal cast and none of Beastars’ crime-story momentum, but it shares an interest in people trying to understand themselves under difficult social expectations.

Choose Our Dreams at Dusk when you want emotional character work, compassionate storytelling, and a quieter read than the rest of this list.

The Girl from the Other Side by Nagabe

The Girl from the Other Side offers a more fable-like kind of unease. Its black-and-white art, creature designs, isolation, and quiet sense of danger create a story that feels tender and ominous at once.

The pacing is slower than Beastars, and the story is built around mood rather than a busy cast of competing personalities. It spends its time on silence, mystery, and the relationship at its center.

Read this when you want haunting manga art and creature imagery without another urban drama or a fast-moving crime plot.

Dorohedoro by Q Hayashida

Dorohedoro is for readers who loved how strange, brutal, funny, and unpredictable Beastars could become. Q Hayashida’s dark fantasy is full of strange magic, rough humor, chaotic alliances, and an immediately recognizable visual style.

It is far more graphic and absurdist than Beastars. The world is deliberately messy at first, and its rules reveal themselves gradually. Readers looking for a tidy school drama should skip it; readers ready for violent weirdness may find its energy irresistible.

Start with Volume 1 and let the story establish its own logic. Its mix of horror, humor, and strange affection is the reason it makes such a good left-field follow-up.

Watership Down by Richard Adams

For a prose alternative, Watership Down is an excellent choice for readers who want animal characters treated as members of a serious, complex society. The novel follows rabbits whose world has its own customs, conflicts, stories, fears, and survival pressures.

It is an adventure and survival epic rather than a social thriller, and it does not offer manga-style artwork or panel pacing. Its connection to Beastars lies in the emotional weight it gives to animal behavior, community rules, danger, and belonging.

Choose Watership Down when you want a complete prose story with serious animal-world stakes.

Best Audiobook Pick

Best audiobook pick: Watership Down by Richard Adams

Manga depends heavily on artwork, panel layout, and page turns. Audio can be useful for accessibility, but it cannot reproduce the visual rhythm that makes manga distinctive.

Watership Down works especially well as a listen-next choice because it was written as prose. It gives you animal characters, social tension, danger, and a fully developed world in a format built around narration rather than panels.

It is the strongest pick here for commuters, audiobook listeners, and readers who want a break from graphic storytelling without leaving animal-society drama behind.

A Reading Path After Beastars

  1. You want more Paru Itagaki right away
    Read Beast Complex. It is the closest match in voice, visual sensibility, and animal-society perspective.

  2. You want animals, crime, and city life
    Read Odd Taxi, then move to Blacksad. One gives you a tightly connected urban mystery; the other delivers richly illustrated noir.

  3. You want hunger and instinct turned up
    Start with Tokyo Ghoul. Follow it with Dorohedoro when you are in the mood for something stranger, bloodier, and more chaotic.

  4. You want emotional character drama
    Read Our Dreams at Dusk, then The Girl from the Other Side for a quieter, darker fairy-tale mood.

  5. You want prose or an audiobook
    Pick Watership Down for serious animal-world storytelling away from manga panels.

FAQ

What is the closest book to Beastars?
Beast Complex by Paru Itagaki is the closest match. It comes from the same creator and returns to similarly complicated animal-world relationships.

Are all of these recommendations manga?
No. Most are manga or graphic novels, but Watership Down is a prose novel and Blacksad is a European graphic novel.

What should I read if I liked the Beastars animated adaptation?
Read the Beastars manga if you have not already, then move to Beast Complex for more work by Paru Itagaki. Odd Taxi is a strong follow-up for a mature animal story with mystery and dry humor.

Which pick is darkest?
Tokyo Ghoul is the best fit for readers seeking darker material about appetite, identity, danger, and social fear. It is also more violent than Beastars.

Which recommendation is the least violent?
Our Dreams at Dusk is the gentlest choice. It focuses on identity, connection, and emotional honesty rather than action or graphic violence.

Are audiobooks a good way to experience manga like Beastars?
Audiobooks can support accessibility, but manga’s art and panel pacing are central to the experience. For an audio-friendly follow-up with animal-society stakes, choose Watership Down.