BEASTARS Manga Volumes: All 22 Books Guide (2026)

If you’ve stumbled onto BEASTARS — maybe through the Netflix anime, maybe through a friend’s recommendation, maybe through a weird algorithm rabbit hole at 2 a.m. — you’re probably wondering how big this story actually is and where to start. Good news: BEASTARS is a completed manga, all 22 BEASTARS manga volumes are out in English, and you can read the whole thing without ever waiting for the next release. This guide walks you through every volume, breaks the story into digestible arcs, and helps you figure out the best way to read and buy it.

BEASTARS Manga Volumes at a Glance: All 22 Books in a Completed Series

BEASTARS is a manga written and illustrated by Paru Itagaki (板垣巴留). It was originally published chapter-by-chapter — a process called serialization — in Weekly Shonen Champion (published by Akita Shoten) from September 2016 through October 2020. Over that run, Itagaki produced 196 chapters, which were then collected into 22 volumes (each volume gathers roughly 9 chapters into a single book). The English edition is published by VIZ Media, the company that translates and releases manga for Western readers.

Here’s a quick snapshot:

Detail	Info
Author	Paru Itagaki
Original Publisher	Akita Shoten (Weekly Shonen Champion)
English Publisher	VIZ Media
Total Volumes	22
Total Chapters	196 (~9 chapters per volume)
Serialization	September 2016 – October 2020 (Vol. 22 released January 2021)
Status	Completed

The story follows Legoshi, a large grey wolf attending Cherryton Academy — a school where carnivores and herbivores coexist under a fragile social contract. After a herbivore student is murdered and Legoshi has a life-changing encounter with a small rabbit named Haru, the series launches into a story about identity, instinct, prejudice, and what it actually means to live alongside people who are fundamentally different from you.

It’s categorized as shonen (a category of manga aimed at teen boys — it ran in a shonen magazine), but the themes hit closer to seinen territory — seinen being manga aimed at older teens and adults, with more complex and mature storytelling. The world-building is dense, the character psychology is layered, and the social allegory is anything but subtle — in a good way. BEASTARS doesn’t talk down to its readers.

And because the series is finished, you get the rare pleasure of reading a complete narrative from beginning to end. No hiatuses, no cancellation cliffhangers, no “the author might come back someday.” The whole story is here.

Story Arcs by Volume

BEASTARS doesn’t use formally named story arcs the way some manga do, but the story moves through very distinct phases. (An arc is a stretch of chapters that forms its own contained storyline within the larger narrative — think of it like a season of a TV show.) Each one shifts the setting, raises the stakes, and pushes Legoshi further into uncomfortable questions about who he is. Here’s how it breaks down.

The Murder Mystery and Cherryton Academy (Volumes 1–4)

This is where everything begins. A herbivore student named Tem is killed at Cherryton Academy, and suspicion falls on the carnivore students. Against this backdrop, Legoshi — a quiet, self-conscious grey wolf who tries to take up as little space as possible — has a nighttime encounter with Haru, a dwarf rabbit. Something awakens in him, and he can’t tell whether it’s love or predatory instinct. That uncertainty is the engine that drives the entire series.

These first four volumes establish the world of BEASTARS beautifully. You learn the rules of this society: carnivores suppress their instincts, herbivores live with constant low-grade fear, and everyone pretends the arrangement works. The drama club at Cherryton serves as a small-scale mirror of this tension, with the red deer Louis standing as Legoshi’s opposite in every way — charismatic, ambitious, and determined to prove that a herbivore can stand at the top.

If you only read four volumes of BEASTARS, you’ll still walk away with a complete emotional experience. But you won’t stop at four.

The Back Alley Market and Riz Arc (Volumes 5–9)

The world expands. Legoshi ventures beyond the safe walls of the academy and into the Back Alley Market — an underground district where the carnivore-herbivore social contract doesn’t apply. Meat is sold. Predation is commerce. It’s the dark underbelly that polite society pretends doesn’t exist, and it forces Legoshi to confront parts of himself and his world that the academy kept hidden.

Meanwhile, the mystery of Tem’s murder tightens. Riz, a brown bear and fellow drama club member, emerges as a central figure in the investigation. Without spoiling the specifics, the Riz storyline — which builds across these volumes and carries through to its climax in Volumes 10–11 — delivers some of the most emotionally intense sequences in the entire series. It asks hard questions about what forgiveness means when the harm is irreversible, and whether understanding someone’s pain excuses what they’ve done.

Legoshi’s relationship with Haru also deepens and gets tested here. Their dynamic is one of the most honest depictions of a difficult relationship in manga — two people who genuinely care about each other but can’t escape the power imbalance built into their biology. It’s tender and uncomfortable in equal measure.

The Interspecies Coexistence Exam and Melon Arc (Volumes 10–17)

This is the longest stretch of the series, and it’s where BEASTARS swings for the fences. Legoshi drops out of school and enters the wider world, which immediately strips away the safety net that Cherryton provided. The story introduces Melon, a hybrid character (half-gazelle, half-leopard) who becomes the primary antagonist for the back half of the manga.

Melon is a fascinating villain because he embodies the failure of the society BEASTARS has been building. He’s what happens when the system’s contradictions collapse into a single person. His presence pushes the story toward bigger questions: what does the title of Beastar — a leader who can bridge the carnivore-herbivore divide — actually mean? Is it achievable, or is it a fantasy that society tells itself?

Legoshi trains, fights, works odd jobs, and grows through these volumes. The pacing is different from the tighter academy arcs — it’s more sprawling, more self-contained at times, and some readers find it uneven. But the character work remains strong, Itagaki keeps finding new angles on her central themes, and the payoff in later volumes rewards the patience these chapters ask for.

The Final Showdown and Resolution (Volumes 18–22)

Everything converges. The confrontation with Melon builds through these final five volumes, and Legoshi’s journey reaches its climax. The question the series has been asking since Volume 1 — can a carnivore and herbivore truly coexist, not just as a social arrangement but as something real and chosen? — gets its answer.

Key character relationships resolve. Louis, Haru, Juno, Jack, and the rest of the cast get their moments. The ending is… well, it’s the kind of ending that sparks discussion. Some readers find it deeply satisfying. Others feel the final arc rushes certain threads. That’s a conversation worth having after you’ve read it yourself.

What’s undeniable is that Itagaki commits to her themes all the way through. BEASTARS doesn’t flinch from its own questions, even when the answers are messy. That’s rare and worth respecting.

A Marathon Reading Plan for BEASTARS

Twenty-two volumes is a solid commitment, but BEASTARS reads fast. The panels are dynamic, the dialogue is sharp, and the page-turning momentum in the action-heavy sections is genuinely hard to resist. Here’s a reading plan that works well if you want to pace yourself without losing the story’s momentum.

Session 1: Volumes 1–4

This is your entry point. The academy setting, the murder mystery, the Legoshi-Haru dynamic — it’s all established here. Four volumes is about two to three hours of reading, and the end of Volume 4 provides a natural stopping point as the first major conflict finds resolution and the story prepares to open up.

Session 2: Volumes 5–9

The Back Alley Market and the Riz arc. This is where the series shows you what it’s really capable of. Five volumes, maybe three hours. The end of Volume 9 is a reasonable pause point — the Back Alley Market storyline has developed significantly, though the Riz arc carries into the next stretch and reaches its climax around Volumes 10–11.

Session 3: Volumes 10–17

The longest stretch, and the one where you might want to break it into two sittings if eight volumes feels like a lot. A natural midpoint exists around Volume 13 or 14 as certain subplots resolve and new ones begin. After Volume 17, pause before the final stretch — you’ll want to be fresh for the finale.

Session 4: Volumes 18–22

Read these together. The final five volumes accelerate hard toward the conclusion, and stopping mid-arc here would be frustrating. Set aside an afternoon, get comfortable, and let the story take you to the end.

Total reading time for the full series is roughly 15–20 hours depending on your pace. Very doable over a long weekend if you’re feeling ambitious.

BEASTARS Manga vs. the Anime Adaptation

Studio Orange produced the BEASTARS anime adaptation, which is available on Netflix. The anime is genuinely impressive — the 3D CG animation style (computer-generated imagery that gives characters a three-dimensional, almost puppet-like quality, very different from hand-drawn 2D animation) gives the characters a tactile, physical presence that works beautifully with the material, and the voice performances (in both Japanese and English) are strong.

The anime spans three seasons. Season 1 (12 episodes, October–December 2019) and Season 2 (12 episodes, January–March 2021) cover the academy and Back Alley Market arcs. A third and final season followed, split into two parts: Part 1 debuted on Netflix in December 2024, and Part 2 premiered in March 2026. This Final Season adapts the Melon arc and the concluding stretch of the manga. Between the three seasons, the anime covers the manga’s full narrative arc, though as with any adaptation, certain scenes and subplots are condensed or rearranged along the way.

There’s also something the manga does that the anime simply can’t replicate: Paru Itagaki’s art style. Her linework is loose, expressive, and full of energy. The way she draws Legoshi — hunched, self-conscious, too big for every space he occupies — tells you as much about the character as any line of dialogue. The manga panels have a raw, almost sketchy quality in places that gives the series a distinctive visual identity. It’s worth experiencing on the page even if you’ve already seen the anime.

If you’ve watched all three seasons and are curious about the source material, starting from Volume 1 is still the recommendation. The manga moves quickly in the early volumes, and you’ll catch details, internal monologues, and subplots that the adaptation necessarily compressed or omitted. For those who’ve only seen the first two seasons, the manga from Volume 1 onward fills in everything those seasons covered and continues well beyond them.

Which Edition of BEASTARS Should You Buy

VIZ Media publishes the English edition of BEASTARS as 22 individual paperback volumes, matching the Japanese release one-to-one. These are standard-size manga paperbacks — the same format you’ll find for most VIZ titles.

Here’s what’s available:

Standard Paperback Volumes (1–22)

This is the primary and most widely available format. Each volume collects approximately 9 chapters. They’re stocked at most major retailers, both physical and online, and they’re easy to find. At typical retail pricing, the full 22-volume set represents a meaningful investment — expect to spend in the range of several hundred dollars at list price for the complete collection, though deals at various retailers can bring that down. If you’re building a shelf, the 22 spines look great lined up — Itagaki’s cover art is consistently striking.

Digital Editions

All 22 volumes are available digitally for e-readers and apps. If shelf space is a concern or you prefer reading on a tablet, digital is a solid option. The art translates well to screen, and digital editions are typically priced lower than their physical counterparts.

As of this writing, there is no English box set (a bundled collection of all volumes in a single package) or omnibus edition (multiple volumes combined into one larger book) for BEASTARS. The single-volume paperbacks are your main option for physical copies. VIZ hasn’t announced alternate format plans, so if you’re waiting for a collected edition, you may be waiting a while — and in the meantime, the individual volumes are right there.

For buying strategy, the simplest approach is to pick up Volumes 1–4 first. If the series hooks you (and it very likely will), then grab the rest. Twenty-two volumes is a meaningful investment, so there’s no shame in testing the waters before committing to the full set.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many volumes of BEASTARS are there?

There are 22 volumes containing 196 chapters. The series is complete — every volume has been published in both Japanese and English.

Is BEASTARS finished?

Yes. Serialization in Weekly Shonen Champion ended in October 2020, and all 22 English volumes from VIZ Media have been released (the final English volume (Vol. 22) was released by VIZ Media on January 17, 2023). You can read the entire story right now with no waiting.

What order should I read BEASTARS in?

Straight through, Volume 1 to Volume 22. There’s one related series to be aware of — Beast Complex, a short-story anthology by Paru Itagaki set in the same world — but it’s a standalone companion and not required to follow the BEASTARS story. It’s one continuous story from start to finish.

Who is the author of BEASTARS?

Paru Itagaki (板垣巴留) — she wrote and illustrated the entire series. Fun fact for manga fans: she is the daughter of Keisuke Itagaki, who created the long-running fighting manga Baki the Grappler. Very different series, very different styles, but the creative talent clearly runs in the family.

Is the anime or manga better?

Both have real strengths. The anime’s CG animation from Studio Orange is visually stunning and gives the world a unique texture. The voice acting adds dimension that print can’t. The manga is the complete story as Paru Itagaki created it — 196 chapters with every subplot and internal monologue intact. Even with the anime’s Final Season now adapting the concluding arc, the manga offers details and depth that the adaptation condensed. Many fans enjoy both and recommend experiencing the anime for its presentation and the manga for its completeness.

Is BEASTARS appropriate for younger readers?

BEASTARS deals with mature themes including violence, predation (which functions as an allegory for various forms of societal harm), and complex emotional and romantic situations. It ran in a shonen magazine, so it’s aimed at teens and up, but some content — particularly in the Back Alley Market sequences and certain character arcs — trends darker than typical shonen fare. If you’re a younger teen, you can handle it, but know going in that it doesn’t pull its punches. If you’re picking this up for someone else, previewing the first couple of volumes is a reasonable move.

How long does it take to read all of BEASTARS?

At an average reading pace, expect roughly 15–20 hours for all 22 volumes. It’s very doable over a weekend or across a week of evening reading sessions. The pacing keeps you moving — this isn’t a series where you’ll find yourself slogging through slow volumes.