Kemono Friends

I don't think anyone expected much after the first episode. Indeed, the first episode was a very much dull program, there was some cute stuff in, but not much to justify continuing with the series, Kemono doesn't really start until you sit through the credits of the second episode, until which the true nature of the show finally starts revealing itself to you. It's slow it's subtle, but it doesn't bog you down with exposition dumps every five minutes (*cough*LittleWitchAcademia*cough*). Which is even moreso impressive considering this was meant to be a low budget collab for a failed mobage that's so bad it makes Kancolle lookcompetent. However, unlike Kancolle, which seems like soulless corporate drivel designed to pander to as many people as possible, there's a real heart to Kemono Friends and a real passion behind its team. So yes, the animation is pretty crap and the anime gets pretty cringy at times, but keep in mind the target audience for this is for really young kids and the fact that adults can get a kick from the surprisingly deep lore hidden in the subtext or enjoy the show for what it is proves the strengths of this anime. And all in all, the charm of Kemono Friends is simply impeccable. It ain't perfect, but watching this genuinely made me happy, it reminded me of simpler times and simpler shows for babies. Perhaps that's the secret after all. An enjoyable piece that relaxes the mind and puts it to ease without being condescending as most media aimed at a younger audience do. For what it's worth, it's worth checking out.

I have a confession to make. When I watched the first episode of Kemono Friends with my friend we ended up setting the playback speed to 2x to get through the episode. Mind you this was back at a different time. Before anyone knew that Kemono Friends was going to be good, or be as popular as it was. Actually, it was on the day it came out. Me and my PV and studio ignoring self looked at the summary and I liked it. Kemono Friends was actually one of the shows I looked forward to this season. Before we started my friend said hehad a bad feeling about it. I told him not to jinx it, but he did. So I thought... Kemono Friends is the perfect example of why you shouldn't drop shows. Or at least you should give shows more of a chance. I was close to dropping it myself but I didn't, and I think it was all the better for that. For each week that I watched the show, the more attached to it that I got, and the more it became to grow on me. The animation was bad but the rest was so great and so enjoyable to watch. The first episode may have been terrible but each one after that only got better and better. Under the crappy animation and lackluster art there is a really good show here. What the show is able to do is build up this impressive lore and backstory while also exposing the viewer to the comfy times of the friends that live on the island. This gives it the feel of a children's show but it has much more to it. The comfiness on its own is nice but it's the mixture of both the darker undertones and that comfiness that really allows this show to shine. Because the two are pitting against each other in a way it creates a unique atmosphere that the show surrounds itself. Even more impressive the show was able to foreshadow the events that would happen later as well as slowly leak out information relating to it. They are experts at doing this I would say and many things that you may pick up on early may be important later down the line. In Kemono Friends things aren't throw in haphazardly, they are there for a reason. Their ability to do this hints towards Kemono Friend's wonderful storytelling and narrative abilities. All of the characters on Kemono Friends are likeable. They aren't the deepest but they do develop and grow over time (or for most characters over their episode). While I'd love for more depth what Kemono Friends has worked well for itself and what it's going for. As bad as the art is it'd be expected the sound would be too. However, I really like not just the OP and the ED but also the OST. It may not be much but they do a geat job of picking the right songs to fit the right moods. Their chilling music is quite chilling and I like the use of dubstep for the cerulean moments. The playful sounds that they have during the happier moment all match the mood as well. The OST works so well together I even really like Serval's voice as well. It may look like a bad show but Kemono Friends is anything but. It's able to provide both high moments of hype and soft moments of comfy. The balance between the lore and the comfy is just stunning. Kemono Friends took some of the best aspects of children's shows and worldbuilding lore shows and shoved them together. And the result was something well worth watching.

Question: Should I watch Kemono Friends? Answer: If you have any interest at all in Kemono Friends, then you should watch the first episode. If you get through the first episode and like it at all, or still have interest in the series, then you should watch the second episode. If you get through the second episode without dropping the series because it looks bad or seems too childish or simplistic, then you will have no trouble watching the whole thing, and let me tell you, the viewer who sticks around for the whole show is in for an absolute treat. Dig inand enjoy. So, what is Kemono Friends? There are two main answers to this, depending on what you focus on. Firstly, Kemono Friends is a show made with the idea of being enjoyable for everyone. It is made in a style similar to that of a children’s show, and the producer has said that it was done that way with the intention of it being family-friendly, which it succeeds at, with only a couple of points that could even be considered questionable throughout the entire series. It is a story about Kaban-chan going on an adventure across different biomes of an expansive zoo; meeting various animals-turned-people, called Friends, along the way; and overcoming the various challenges that present themselves along with the Friends’ support. The story is charming, which even the 3D CG ends up contributing to. Kemono Friends is definitely not the best looking show of the season, but the artists did a great job of bringing what they made to life. The Friends aren’t humans who look like animals, they’re animals who look like humans, by which I mean they maintain their animal traits and behaviors. The Friends don’t know how to read, they don’t know how to use or make tools, and usually they’re found doing things you would expect them to do if they were still normal animals. It’s a kind of characterization that I’ve never seen in anime before, and it works well. Secondly, Kemono Friends is a mystery series; not the kind of mystery where there’s a crime to solve, but rather it’s a mystery about what exactly is going on. I don’t mean that the series makes you feel lost or confused in the moment, this was never the case, instead the series makes you wonder about larger questions, such as where is this all taking place, is there something more going on here, and what, exactly, is a Friend. There’s a subtlety to the writing and the setting that I’ve never seen anime do as well as Kemono Friends. Gradually the pieces of the puzzle are put into place, episode by episode, rather than in huge lore dumps that fill the whole picture in at once. This means that while the picture is slowly being filled in you can make guesses as to what it will turn out to be, which makes the story engaging. To wrap things up, I want to say that Kemono Friends has earned its popularity. The series exploded in popularity in Japan essentially overnight, a third of the way into the season. That outpouring of fan support is what originally got me to give the series a second chance myself, and I’ve been hooked ever since. The first episode can be rough at times, but trust me that the staff has succeeded at polishing it into a gem of a show. To those of you willing to give Kemono Friends a chance, welcome to Japari Park.

Just watched the finale, it made me cry and I'm still crying half an hour later. This show is clever, in its writing, in the way it strategically employed the scarce resources it had. in the way it uses it's setting to educate, in the way its plot development mirrors the development behind the show, in the way it builds intrigue and spurs discussion with its more subtle elements. And it all does with a cute simple story and characters that anyone can love. All this make the show great and promise a great future not just for the series itself but for the series it will inspire.

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