I could come up with a whole list of story plot point that were left unresolved/ignored, and how so many of the other side characters were also ignored, and left out of the epilougue, but why bother.
I honestly think Melon as a character ruined this manga. I think the story was still doing pretty okay after the RIz arc finished. But once Melon got introduced, the story only kept getting worse and worse.
There was zero pay off for Melon being taken down as an antagonist too. Other than the fact that the BAM was destroyed an that herbivores and carnivores can get along I guess. that was also so rushed and stupidly handled. Okay, the market is gone, so herbivores and carnivores are going to immediately live peacefully among each other now that the market is gone?? GUess so! But Melon still didn't change his worldview. He stayed rotten and sociopathic to the very end. But maybe that was the point. Introducing his deadbeat dad was also totally pointless. If Melon had met his father and had his whole worldview shattered, I wouldn't have been so disappointed.
This whole final arc and lame final chapter reminds me of Demon Slayer. The second half of the final arc was pretty underwhelming and the final chapter was super lame. I was left pretty disappointed with Demon Slayer after it ended, and hoped that Beastars would pull through and get better as the Melon arc went on. But it really didn't. Beastars is just another example of a mangaka not being able to end their story well at all. Just damn. Really frustrating to see a manga start off so good, and then turn into a complete dumpster fire because of one arc.
Still looking forward to the second season of the anime though