February 19, 2026

"Beast Complex" by Paru Itagaki

1 hour 35 minutes

Today, your panelists wonder: what does it look like to tell a story about prejudice but divorced from real-world analogues? What does it mean to tie concepts of hunger and desire together inexorably? Just how much money is cow bathwater going for these days? And wait, is that-? Oh my god, it's Legoshi, my close personal friend Legoshi!

(00:00) - “Beast Complex” by Paru Itagaki

(00:43) - Front Matter

(03:47) - Plot Overview

(04:42) - Short stories

(05:48) - The world of Beast Compkex vs Zootopia

(14:14) - How the book improves over time

(16:24) - What is doujinshi again?

(17:48) - Is the mangaka a nepo baby?

(19:26) - “Devouring”

(25:45) - SPOILERS!

(25:48) - Our top 3s

(31:06) - The Tiger and the Alpaca

(34:05) - The Pig and the Peacock

(36:13) - ERROR ⚠️

(43:17) - The Wolf and the Rabbit

(54:02) - The Chipmunk and the (Mountain Hare)

(01:01:08) - Relationships vs Events

(01:03:39) - The Shiba Inu and the Shiba Inu

(01:08:28) - The Alligator and the Cow

(01:14:47) - The Wolf and the Seal

(01:20:11) - Some of the stories that don’t work

(01:26:29) - Final thoughts

(01:27:37) - Further Reading

(01:32:33) - Back Matter

Further Reading
- Beastars by Paru Itagaki
- Sanda by Paru Itagaki
- Taika's Reason by Paru Itagaki
- Dungeon Meshi (aka Delicious in Dungeon) by Ryoko Kui
- I Will Survive by Borba (aka the Zootopia abortion comic)

A comics podcast for everyone, proud to be a part of The Worst Garbage network.

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This week’s panelists can be found at:

Matt

Scout

Jillian

Editing this week by AJ Fillari.
Cover art by Scout Wilkinson.
Intro/Outro music by Boqeh.

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