History Anime / BNABrandNewAnimal

* ShoutOut: To "The Little Mermaid" (Disney film version) when Nina the dolphin beastman shows off her trove of human items to Michiru, and wants to visit the sparkling human city across the water.

''NA: Brand New Animal'' is a 2020 anime produced by Creator/StudioTrigger, directed by Yoh Yoshinari (''Franchise/LittleWitchAcademia'') and written by Creator/KazukiNakashima (''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', ''Anime/KillLaKill'', and ''Anime/{{Promare}}''). This is the first time Yoshinari and Nakashima have helmed a work together, as Nakashima is best known for collaborating with Creator/HiroyukiImaishi on directorial duties. The series also drew attention pre-release for TRIGGER collaborating with Western artists [[https://www.genicecream.com/ Genice Chan]] and [[http://www.jamesgilleard.com/ James Gilleard]] on visual development.

''BNA: Brand New Animal'' is a 2020 anime produced by Creator/StudioTrigger, directed by Yoh Yoshinari (''Franchise/LittleWitchAcademia'') and written by Creator/KazukiNakashima (''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', ''Anime/KillLaKill'', and ''Anime/{{Promare}}''). This is the first time Yoshinari and Nakashima have helmed a work together, as Nakashima is best known for collaborating with Creator/HiroyukiImaishi on directorial duties. The series also drew attention pre-release for TRIGGER collaborating with Western artists [[https://www.genicecream.com/ Genice Chan]] and [[http://www.jamesgilleard.com/ James Gilleard]] on visual development.

* {{Tanuki}}: Michiru is a raccoon dog, which thematically matches up with her unusual shapeshifting abilities. Early on, she even tries to use a leaf to transform.
* TanukiKitsuneContrast: Tomboyish Michiru became a raccoon dog while [[spoiler: her [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl girlier]] friend Nazuna ]] turned into a fox. Their approaches to mastering their transformation abilities have also reflected [[TechnicianVersusPerformer the typical styles of their mythical counterparts]]. The former struggles with conscious control while intuitively inventing {{Partial Transformation}}s as needed, while the latter finds sculpting total transformations easier, but lacks Michiru's versatility and inventiveness.

* FantasticRacism: Reactions from humans to beastpeople range from unintentionally insensitive public comments to intentionally insensitive comments made when they think beastpeople aren't in earshot, to ''attempted murder''. Both the mayor and Shirou advise Michiru not to go around telling others in the city that she used to be human, since if word spread that humans can turn into beastmen (or something like them) it'd lead to serious panic. [[spoiler:This exact thing happens in the final two episodes, when Nazuna is publicly revealed to have been formally human.]]

* ActorAllusion: This is not the first time we hear Creator/YoshimasaHosoya (Shirou) [[Literature/{{Twilight}} voicing characters]] [[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance related to wolves]].

* TheNewTwenties:
** Michiru was born in 2003 and Episode 4 is her 18th birthday, meaning that the story takes place in 2021.

* TheMindIsThePlaythingOfTheBody: Despite having become a Beastman until recently, Michiru was effortlessly able to move in more animalistic ways than a normal human should be able to.

''BNA: Brand New Animal'' is a 2020 anime produced by Creator/StudioTrigger, directed by Yoh Yoshinari (''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia'') and written by Creator/KazukiNakashima (''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', ''Anime/KillLaKill'', and ''Anime/{{Promare}}''). This is the first time Yoshinari and Nakashima have helmed a work together, as Nakashima is best known for collaborating with Creator/HiroyukiImaishi on directorial duties. The series also drew attention pre-release for TRIGGER collaborating with Western artists [[https://www.genicecream.com/ Genice Chan]] and [[http://www.jamesgilleard.com/ James Gilleard]] on visual development.

* ProductionThrowback: The series features several shoutouts to Yoshinari's previous directoral work, ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia'' (such as a Luna Nova hat appearing at one point in episode 4 and an Akko nendoroid appearing on a desk at one point) and several of its characters make cameos in a few episodes, most notably in episode 9, which has Akko, Lotte and Sucy appear as Beastmen in a crowd shot at one point.

* {{Kitsune}}: One character with a base fox form has kitsune theming: [[spoiler: Nazuna, Michiru's old friend, displays shapeshifting powers. Her deceit of the wolf god cult for her own gain falls in line with kitsunes being tricksters. Kitsune and tanuki are portrayed in Japanese folklore as being rivals.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** Alan's plan to [[spoiler:let Japan become the first country to "take care of" their beastman problem is to allow for Animacity to be destroyed by Nirvasyl Syndrome, and then to swoop in afterwards to turn all the beastmen into humans so that they can forcibly be integrated into human society. The deliberate erasure of their culture, heritage, and identity rather heavily invokes the ways certain countries treat their smaller native populations.]]

* FlintstoneTheming: Mixed with BlandNameProduct as many well-known real-world businesses have beastpeople versions, like Burger Kitty for Burger King.

* NoHuggingNoKissing: Michiru has no ShipTease with either Shirou or Nazuna.

* ADogNamedDog: Even ignoring the white wolf beastman named [[PunnyName Shiro Ogami]], a popular deity of this setting is a Silver Wolf called "Ginrou"... which means exactly that.

** Nazuna is an interesting example, she knows she is lying about being Ginrou, but believes the Silver Wolf Order is using the lie for good [[spoiler: instead of being part of a plot to exterminate the ("hybrid") Beastmen.]]

* PunnyName: "Shirou Ogami" counts as both ADogNamedDog or SpeciesSurname depending on how you read it. Shiro means white, which is his primary color, but in his case doubles as a homophone for "white wolf", much like the case of Ginrou the Silver Wolf. "Ogami" can be read as a pun on "Okami" which ''also'' means wolf, or [[spoiler:"Great God", which may reflect further ties with the aforementioned God the beastchildren taught Michiru about.]]

** Episode 8: [[spoiler:Not only is it revealed that Sylvasta Pharmaceutics and the Silver Wolf Cult are working together (presumably without Nazuna's knowledge) but Shirou turns out to be the PhysicalGod Ginrou, after he is forced to shift to his true from to defeat a heavily mutated Yaba.]]
** Episode 12 tops it all: [[spoiler: Alan Sylvasta is not only a beastman, he is a "pureblood" beastman with powers very similar to the ones of Ginrou and is also basically [[ANaziByAnyOtherName a beastman version of Adolf Hitler]], viewing "hybrid" beastmen as an inferior race worthy of eradication.]]

* WolfMan: Shirou is one, of the "actual anthropomorphic wolf" variety. Like the other beastpeople, he can shapeshift voluntarily into a human being. On top of his natural beastman strength and less natural immortality, he has a supernatural sense of smell that helps him track criminals.

* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: BeastMen are shapeshifters who have human and anthropomorphic animal forms; the latter is inherited from one of their parents. In ancient times, they pretended to be humans' animal-headed gods. Some of them have additional powers inspired by mythology; for example, Michiru the tanuki has PowerCopying

* OurWerebeastsAreDifferent: BeastMen are shapeshifters who have human and anthropomorphic animal forms; the latter is inherited from one of their parents. In ancient times, they pretended to be humans' animal-headed gods. Some of them have additional powers inspired by mythology; for example, Michiru the tanuki is a shape-shifter.

* CrapsackWorld: Throughout the world, beastmen face heavy prejudice and discrimination at best and regularly are killed by anti-beastmen hate groups. Animacity presents itself as a shining haven for beastmen, but those who make it there quickly learn that it's actually a place where crime is rampant, the mob has its paws in everything, news of the outside world is censored, poverty and unemployment is through the roof, and basic necessities like access to clean water and food are denied to people unless they can pay exorbitant prices. Beastman trafficking is a frequent problem that the police are basically helpless against. And the average citizen doesn't know it, but world governments are strongly tempted to simply wipe out the city because the beastmen have made themselves a convenient target. And beastman species who are migratory and therefore don't like staying in one place, like albatrosses, are liable to get shot just for crossing into a country's airspace. [[spoiler: And there's a conspiracy to wipe out all "impure" beastmen.]]

In a universe where anthropomorphic animals called "beastpeople" ("beastmen" in English) inhabit Earth alongside humans, an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent named Michiru Kagemori has her whole world turned upside down when one day she mysteriously turns into a tanuki. Searching for a cure to what she thinks is a disease, she travels to Animacity, the one place in the human world where the persecuted beastpeople can live freely. Or so she thinks; despite Michiru's previous assumptions and the best efforts of the mayor, Animacity is dominated by organized crime and outside pressure from humans who resent its existence.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Michiru, Nazuna, and Shirou have orange and blue, pink and white, and blue and white fur, respectively, setting them apart from all other beastmen, who have natural colorations. [[spoiler: This hints at how they're not normal beastmen, with the former two being humans-turned-beastgirls and the latter being the [[PhysicalGod Silver Wolf Ginrou]].]]

* NonhumansLackAttributes: {{Zigzagged}} throughout the show. Some beastmen are shown wearing undergarments (Michiru has a sports bra visible under her tank top, for example), but when Shirou [[spoiler: transforms from his Silver Wolf form back into his beastman form]] and is left without clothing, nothing is shown but fur. [[spoiler: Same goes for the all the beastmen affected by Nirvasyl Syndrome that burst out of their clothes.]]

* NoHuggingNoKissing: Michiru has no ShipTease with either Shirou or nazuna.

* TanukiKitsuneContrast: Tomboyish Michiru became a raccoon dog while [[spoiler: her [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl girlier]] friend Nazuna ]] turned into a fox. Their approaches to mastering their transformation abilities have also reflected [[TechnicianVersusPerformer the typical styles of their mythical counterparts]]. The former has struggled with conscious control while intuitively inventing {{Partial Transformation}}s as needed, while the latter seems to find sculpting total transformations easier, but lacks Michiru's versatility and inventiveness.

* WhatTheHellHero: Michiru gives this to Shirou in episode 2, when she realizes he knew that [[spoiler:Grandma Gran was going to sell her and the other beastchildren into slavery]] and did nothing to warn her or take them away from Rabbit Town until the last possible second. Granted he did it to catch the traffickers in the act, but, as Michiru points out if he'd even been a second too late she and the kids would have been on the boat and off to be sold.