Beastars #5

A massive panda dressed in a casual yellow shirt dominates the cover of this fifth volume, gripping bamboo stalks with an air of quiet menace — equal parts gentle giant and something more unsettling. Paru Itagaki's character designs continue to walk that fascinating line between the mundane and the primal, and this tanuki-free, strikingly composed cover makes a strong case for the series' singular visual identity. If you've been following Beastars through Akita Shoten's Shōnen Champion Comics line, Vol. 5 looks like an essential continuation of this wholly original world.