(Thanks to my notifications I suddenly remembered this old Rizna x Looney Tunes meme I made.) It's okay Riz, he'll come back to visit you again soon.
Reference:
Ofc it's funnier and cuter in the latin dub because Bugs/Pina call Lola/Riz a "rosebud"... though the original makes it seem like Pina is going to take him out of juvenile
I genuinely can't believe that people read the whole Beastars manga and still think that Riz & Pina's friendship was unnecessary and came out of nowhere when the whole Murder Resolution Arc points in that direction:
Because Riz & Tem's relationship is meant to be a representation of everything wrong in Beastars. Their society fears conflict, so they try to avoid it, BUT they do it wrong.
When the other boys of the drama club leave the school, Legoshi notices that carnivores and herbivores coexist and live together in peace. Later on, when they end up in the BAM, Bill tells him that they are happy BECAUSE of the BAM, because they can have a place where they eat meat.
Basically, what Bill is saying is that carnivores and herbivores can live together and be in peace, as long as carnivores still have a space for themselves to show their real instincts. It is the same idea their whole society has: carnivores want to eat meat, so even if it is wrong, as long as they do it in a hidden place away from herbivores, the peace outside the BAM will remain.
Later, Juno comes up to a similar conclusion. Yes, the infamous "What's wrong with segregation?" For some reason, she's been criticized a lot for that lol, even though she's just saying what everyone else thinks is the right thing.
And, even if she's wrong, her reasoning does make sense (from a logical point of view). She understands that predation cases reinforce herbivores' bad views about carnivores, and in consequence, it makes carnivores' lives harder. So, she sees the same solution Bill and society see: as long as each has their space, and as both sides hide the worst parts of themselves while being kind on the outside, they can maintain peace.
However, that doesn't work, and Tem's death is the perfect example of this.
Riz believes that other animals like him just because they think of him as a "cute, nice bear". But the thing is, Riz doesn't want to be liked just because of his virtues, he wants to be liked completely as he is, to be accepted despite not being perfect. That's why, when he tells Tem about the pills, he feels happy: he has just admitted that he can be a lot more intimidating, and Tem offers to spend more time with him regardless. Riz believes that, since Tem already seemed to be fine with that information, then he would accept him and love him even if he saw him as he is naturally— bigger and stronger.
Now, of course, the execution goes terribly wrong, BUT, Riz's reasoning is actually right. The thing that can solve all their problems and make them all happy is to accept the other completely, with their flaws and all, and not just ignore that which they might not like.
In fact, that's exactly what Els does with Bill: she calls him out on ALL his mistakes, but she admits that, despite his flaws, he's a good guy at heart. She's not ignoring his wrongs, instead, she acknowledges them, and accepts him as a friend regardless.
THAT is what Riz wanted. For someone to see him as flawed as he could possibly be, as dangerous as he could possibly get, and still love him anyway. Beastars is not the typical "oh, you're not so bad after all!", nor the "I guess we are not so different, huh?" NO. That's not how true acceptance works. Beastars is the exact opposite: it is "Yes, we are different, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to understand each other". It's a "Yes, you are flawed, terribly so, but that doesn't mean you're undeserving of love".
Riz was happy when Tem pointed out he was scary and when he called him a monster, because it was the first time that someone, FINALLY, saw him as something more than a cute bear. Someone, finally, saw him as something else than perfect, and that is good! Because no one is perfect, because we are all flawed. The point of the story is to accept that imperfection is good, and is part of the beauty of life.
Riz, in his fantasy, believed that Tem had seen him as monstrous as he possibly could be and had still seen him as a friend worthy of love. Unfortunately, what truly happened was that Tem, who up till then had never actually seen carnivores as a real threat, suddenly had to face what everyone else told him: that carnivores hide their true, dangerous self.
The big tragedy about their story is that none of them are wrong. Tem did exactly what society taught him to: be nice and friendly to carnivores, and they'll be nice to you. He just saw Riz as another classmate, another boy just like he was, not even aware of their differences.
But that's the problem with the whole Beastars' world: you don't truly accept someone until you know everything about them, and that includes the negative things. Ignoring stuff you don't like solves nothing. As Riz realized, the way to shorten the distance between carnivores and herbivores is to show yourself as you are, with all your virtues and flaws, and hope for others to accept you as such. You can't hide what you're afraid to show others because you don't wanna be rejected, because it will eat you from inside, and that's what ends up causing carnivores to lose it: the stress from trying to be what others want you to.
And that's exactly why Riz's headaches and side effects went away when talking to Tem: the pills are just a narrative device that works to show how, the more "likable" carnivores try to be around others, the more it hurts them. It's not a placebo effect, but it is only an example of how things get better when we just talk and listen to one another.
Seriously, if you paid attention to the whole story, you'd see that Pina was literally the only one who could give him the relationship with a herbivore that Riz longed so much for:
Pina, who knew that he ate Tem. Pina, whom he threatened more than once, Pina, whom he literally hurt just to get Legoshi mad. That sheep, who saw the worst of him, accepts him anyways, deems him deserving of forgiveness, and befriends him. Pina is what Riz always wanted: someone who could see him as a complete monster and love him regardless.
Herbivores' and carnivores' relationships are about taking that risk, accepting that things may go wrong, but trying to be better together anyway. Yes, Riz does deserve to be in juvenile because he made a mistake, BUT he also deserves kindness, and someone willing to help him, and Pina is the one animal that can do that for him. Just like Riz & Tem's relationship represent the mistakes most make, Riz & Pina's represents the way to do things better.
