#beastars asks

[beautifulstarsbeastars]

Do you like Manga Melon or Anime Melon more? And why? 🤗👀✨

I like BOTH!! 😅

Manga Melon shows a lot more trauma. Plus while I do like Melon’s look in the anime, I prefer his manga look personally (he looks a lot cuter ok? 😂).

He becomes more unhinged in the Turf War chapters (I don’t know if that was due to the ‘bloodlust fun’ he was having or if his trauma was influencing that but still fun to watch).

Anime Melon on the other hand feels much more of a threat to anyone and everyone around him. He’s already unhinged as heck but it’s more out of hatred for society and not wanting to be to be underestimated or overlooked.

Side note here but I do wish Melon’s voice changing was utilized as a sign of his body changing. I do like both his old and new voice but I think it could have been used to emphasize the ‘leopard growing within’.

[beautifulstarsbeastars]

If Melon is interested in performance art, what type of performance art would he be in?

I remember one your drawings of Melon being a dancer in a music video

Knowing Melon, he’d probably center his performance art around societal hypocrisies (so like the ‘live together’ movement in the anime but schools are segregated, the Black Market existing yet eating meat is considered wrong, and probably other political issues like that).

I can also see him doing performance art stunts to deliberately get a reaction from people; using his own blood to paint on walls, walking around in a bathing suit and various ‘meat cuts’ written all over his body while raising both middle fingers up in the air, him holding up a sign saying ‘I should have been aborted!’, etc.

His goal would be to make people uncomfortable-whether it be onlookers, people reacting online, or paparazzi. To make them angry so that he could then make fun of them for it. But part of it also has to do with making a statement (much like in canon with the cutting of someone else’s throat and ranting about love of meat to a crowd but in this case) without causing violence or actively killing someone.

..He has much more restraint and control of himself in this AU than he does in canon..

I really don’t know anything about performance art or what genres there are, but his would be loud, vulgar and ‘fuck you all!’ if that makes any sense. 😅

[beautifulstarsbeastars]

Your AU about Gosha and Yahya adopting Melon made me wonder about a couple of things.

Since Melon would be adopted as a baby, how different would his personality be like since he would have a loving and supportive family right from the start?

And how would his relationship be like with his two adopted dads and sister? Especially Leano since both are hybrids.

I love this ask so much!! ❤️

I think Melon would still feel cynical and bitter about society’s treatment of hybrids but he wouldn’t be as hateful of the world of hate himself as much.

Knowing Gosha, he’d love and support Melon just as much as he would Leano and Legoshi. Species differences and what society thought wouldn’t matter in their family, only that they had each other.

They’d be equally protective of Melon but I think Yahya would be much more likely to kill or severely harm someone if they dared to hurt his son (not that Gosha wouldn’t do the same but he’d probably try a less extreme approach before using violence).

So basically, Melon would have a lot more of a ‘who cares?’ attitude about society. He’d likely still have body dysmorphia issues and food insecurity (mainly that he can’t taste anything) but again, he’d have support for that.

Since Leano is (I think) a good couple years older than him, I can see her being a loving and protective big sister to him. Maybe she’d scare off anyone who’d try to bully Melon in school and walked him home from school to protect him. Being both hybrids, I think Melon and Leano could talk about things that they felt their fathers couldn’t fully understand.

For this reason, I think Leano’s death would be especially devastating to Melon but maybe in this AU she doesn’t die(?). I kinda want her in the AU so maybe in just ‘AU’s of the AU’ she does die but not in the main AU? 😅

If my math is right, Melon (being 24 canonically and Legoshi 17 to 18), Melon would be about 6 or 7 when Legoshi is born. They’re technically nephew and uncle, but they’d be more like brothers here. Melon would tease Legoshi over his relationship with Haru but he’d also give him a heads up when Yahya and Gosha are angry with him (“Legoshi, did you really eat someone’s leg? Dad and Papa are freaking out right now”).

Actual dialogue here:

Legoshi: “I’m grounded am I?”

Melon: “You’d be lucky if they let you out when you’re 30.”

Side note: Leano would totally stand up for Legoshi after he eats Louis’ leg, fights Riz, and drops out of school. Arguing that Gosha and Yahya instilled in him a ‘sense duty and hero complex’ and Yahya saying: “He’s Gosha’s grandson alright.” Lol

TLDR: Yahya and Gosha are loving dads to Melon and he’s close to his adoptive sister and nephew. Yeah their family dynamic is a little strange but they wouldn’t have it any other way.

[beautifulstarsbeastars]

Kept thinking about Melon abuse foreshadowing in season 3. I watched the season in japanese fyi and am currently going through Melon's scenes in the english dub.

First there was the few seconds we got in Melon's POV as he attacks the mouse and knocks out Free (damn he can throw a punch), specifically after Free falls to the ground Melon says "Don't touch me, you stupid cats!" then immediately tells the Shishigumi to call him boss in a more collected tone.

Then there's while I was watching Melon and Legoshi talk in the announcement booth in the dub. When Legoshi calls Melon beautiful, Melon looks so uncomfortable, shivers and hugs himself. Right after this Melon drops his act and kills Legoshi. Either this made him remember his mother or it clashed so heavily with his self-image of a repulsive freak of nature that it made him physically unwell.

There might be more, but this is all that came to mind.

It was so much fun to watch those scenes with Melon! I’m not sure if the foreshadowing there were nods to his childhood or something unique to the anime but even without context from the manga, those moments with Melon still speak a lot about his character.

- “Don’t touch me, you stupid cats!”

It’s clear here that Melon doesn’t like being touched (in this scene here) but this moment could also hint that Melon has never had any good experiences with physical connection (years of bullying and abuse, learning to fear touching).

- Legoshi calling him beautiful.

Like you said, Melon seemed very uncomfortable with the idea of someone finding him beautiful. Like he’s either completely repulsed by the idea of that or he believes that’s a lie meant to get his trust in order to use and abuse him somehow (not that Legoshi would ever do such things; it’s just that Melon likely learned to expect the absolute worst out of people and (probably) had been manipulated before in his life and now wants to be the one in control rather than the one being manipulated if that makes sense!)

In any case, I’m so excited for what part 2 of season 3 will bring us! It’s too early to say how/what they’ll do with Melon’s backstory involving his parents (abuse from his mother and abandonment from his father) but everything we’ve seen so far looks promising.

Now if only they’ll do something about that stinking Turf War thingy! 😆

[beautifulstarsbeastars]

So far what was your favorite aspect about writing Melon's Redemption?

Personally I adored to see all the Shishigumi and Melon shenanigans and how he grew to care about them. And even tho my own Fanfictions are about Melon x Sebun and their son, I really, reallyyyy love the dynamic you set up between Melon and Agatha! The slow burn, their little gestures of expressing love for each other, all the experiences that bounds the two together is just sooooo wholesome as a whole!!! 🥹💕💕💕

Also all the characters feel so Canon like, love your Melon fics!!! ✨🥰🥰

Probably just exploring Melon’s character in romantic settings and reflecting on his trauma!

If Melon were to fall in love (with anyone) and be in a relationship, it would challenge his whole philosophy on love (predation and love being the same thing). While this wouldn’t really be a ‘life rethinking crisis’ it would force Melon to question his own idea of what love is (he doesn’t want to eat someone and that person doesn’t want to eat him but it’s still love?).

Even when I’m not writing him in a romantic relationship, I like exploring how deep his trauma is and (while I do not go into detail about it) how far the abuse he suffered as a child went (and if it continued even after killing his mother).

I think his trauma would also impact his relationships too. Not just romantic ones either but what makes his romantic relationships more complex is if they become ‘active’ and if they have kids (which is a whole other rabbit hole). That is the scenario that would really force Melon to come to terms with his childhood trauma and confront any fear or insecurity relating to that that would impact his new family.

I do love Melon in all his villainous glory but he’s so much fun to write romantically!

Thank you for all your lovely comments!!! 🥰❤️❤️ It makes me so happy that you enjoy my fanfic so much

[beautifulstarsbeastars]

Have you ever thought about au's or different timelines for Melon or for your oc's?

Timelines no but I do have this OC:

I can’t remember if I ever posted this oc or not. 😅 I got the idea to make a saber tooth character from rewatching Walking With Prehistoric Beasts and Walking With Dinosaurs (both childhood favorites of mine!) a few years ago.

Basically she’s a clone made from ancient DNA of a saber tooth who lived between the time of dinosaurs and prehistoric animals.

Anyway, she somehow escapes the lab facility where she was created and (presumably because the lab made a fake-prehistoric enclosure or something for her to live in) she is completely lost and overwhelmed by the chaos of the modern times and…I guess she ends up in Gouhin’s place as a patient (sort of?)? Or maybe she became a secret weapon for Yahya? I didn’t really get far there lol.

I like to think Legoshi would have named her ‘Rita’ as she likely never got an actual name from her creators.

I also have a unicorn OC named Iduna and a dragon OC named Ariel (got the inspiration from The Last Unicorn and Game of Thrones) who are immortal from an AU where unicorns and dragons are the mythical ancestors of horses and Komodo dragons but haven’t done much with that either.

[beautifulstarsbeastars]

In the sad version of Gosha and Yahya adopts Melon, how would Melon deal with Leano's death?

I think Leano’s death would particularly hurt Melon because she was the only one (that he felt) truly understood what it was like being a hybrid. I’m not sure if he’d resent his fathers for her suicide but I do think Melon would develop more of a hatred of society for how it made his sister feel about herself and her self-worth.

Melon would also likely become much more protective of Legoshi than he used to be. While Yahya and Gosha would worry about Legoshi’s physical safety and his grades, Melon would be a lot more concerned about his nephews mental wellbeing (he’d probably know that Legoshi has/had depression issues but I’m not sure if that would be something they’d talk about-Legoshi not wanting Melon to worry about him and Melon not wanting to push the issue).

Side note: While Melon still wouldn’t turn to crime in this AU, he would develop a weird attitude about death. Nothing morbid, but would say things like ‘we’re all destined to die anyway’ or ‘people die every single day and the world keeps on moving. Why? Because it doesn’t matter’ (and yes this attitude would alarm Gosha and Yahya would start keeping a closer eye on his son-maybe having him come with him to the police building sometimes, just to make sure he’s ok…And of course Legoshi joins them when Yahya is on that ‘last difficult case that replaces Melon as the villain’ and Legoshi and Melon work together to help their dad/step grandfather capture this dude!).

[beautifulstarsbeastars]

Hello, I hope you're doing well! I hope this doesn't come off as mean since I'm genuinely curious, but why is Melon your favorite character?

I’m doing good, Anon. Hope you’re doing ok. This isn’t a mean question at all! 😊

I just find him very complex and interesting. Visually, his design (both before and after his body change) encompasses both herbivore and carnivore characteristics and it (to me anyway!) makes him look uniquely beautiful.

His very existence in the manga also challenges the society of Beastars: Herbivores and carnivores can never be together, yet they can fall in love and have children. Hybrid animals are unnatural, yet here is Melon walking around and just trying to live his life just like everyone else.

On a more personal level, Melon is also my go-to muse for writing. Everything about him from his personality, his reasoning for killing and devouring meat, the way he thinks, and even his background and relationships with Legoshi and the Shishigumi spark my imagination.

I love writing how he’d express love or compassion for another person or how his experiences would have impacted his relationships and what could have happened to him had he been loved or had a similar childhood to Legoshi’s.

I don’t necessarily relate to Melon but there are some things about him that I can relate to (him wearing a mask to hide his hybrid features and me masking my own Autistic trait).

I do love Melon but my love for him is more maternal than anything else. I want him to be happy and not have to hide himself. I want him to feel loved and to be loved if he found someone who actually cared for him.

I also think Paru should have utilized him more. Maybe hybrid animals could have played a major role in the final storyline of Beastars and Melon was only a piece of it? I would have loved a Beast Complex chapter of him and Yahya after the manga’s end (just to know what happened after that).

TLDR. Melon is my baby! 🍈❤️