Beastars Studios Credits Animal Crossing New Horizons as an Inspiration

Beastars might be a few months away from arriving onto the streaming platform of Netflix, but the […]

January 14, 2021, 11:28am

Beastars might be a few months away from arriving onto the streaming platform of Netflix, but the second season of the series has already revealed its first episode in Japan, and the creators behind the animated adaptation, Studio Orange, have attributed their inspiration for the series from an unexpected source in Nintendo’s Animal Crossing series. Animal Crossing: New Horizons has taken the world by storm since being released on the Nintendo Switch last year, with fans using the game to honor several anime franchises, so it’s definitely amazing to see that the game is inspiring anime in turn!

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The second season of Beastars is set to return to the world of Legosi, Haru, and their fellow anthropomorphic characters that lead the charge in this “dark Zootopia”. Following the initial salvo of episodes from Studio Orange, the identity of the serial killer that had kicked off the anime franchise created by Paru Itagaki remains a mystery, with the second season focusing on a new mysterious threat that is definitely far bigger than anything we’ve seen before. As Legosi struggles with his new relationship with Haru, attempting to decipher whether or not they are in an official relationship or not, Orange is definitely attempting to live up to the expectations of fans following the first season.

Studio Orange took to Social Media to share a hilarious snippet from the game of Animal Crossing: New Horizons that has the creators of the Beastars anime using the unique platform to “map out” the movements of their characters that have helped push forward impressive series:

We aren’t joking, of course Legoshi is actually on ther side of the monitor but layout and actions are close as to what we actually do. (Of course there is months of work after this to complete the animations.)
— Orange: Anime Studio (@CG_Orange_eng) January 14, 2021

Animal Crossing: New Horizons gives players their very own island to run as they wish, harvesting resources to build unique environments. With the world being your oyster, Animal Crossing is sure to have a long shelf life on the Nintendo Switch and we look forward to seeing how anime fans make use of this sandbox!

What do you think of Studio Orange using Animal Crossing to help create Beastars? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of anime and video game animals!