Kemono Friends

Japari Park is an untamed paradise where many humanoid animals, known as "Friends," live their everyday lives in all corners of the natural environmental park.

One lazy afternoon in the savannah area, the energetic Serval encounters a peculiar new Friend. Curious, she swiftly takes down the Friend, named Kaban, to try and discover what species she is. To Serval's disappointment, not even Kaban herself knows the answer.

The two become friends and set out on a grand adventure through the many habitats, landmarks, and attractions of Japari Park. Their destination is the park library, where they hope to shed some light on Kaban’s identity. Along the way, they meet many other Friends, looking into their lives and helping them out. However, they soon begin to uncover the sinister reality behind the park and their own existence.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Kemono Friends won the Animation of the Year award in the Television category at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival in 2018 and the 50th Seiun Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 2019.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Kemono Friends: Youkoso Japari Park e!
Sequel:	Kemono Friends 2, Kemono Friends: Bus-teki
Other:	Uma no Friends, Anisama, Nissin no Donbei x Kemono Friends, Youkoso Japari Park, Chokotto Anime Kemono Friends 3

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Serval

Main

Ozaki, Yuka
Japanese

Kaban

Main

Uchida, Aya
Japanese

Lucky Beast

Main

Uchida, Aya
Japanese

Hashibirokou

Supporting

Komori, Misae
Japanese

Tsuchinoko

Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu
Japanese

Araiguma

Supporting

Ono, Saki
Japanese

Toki

Supporting

Kaneda, Tomoko
Japanese

Tairikuookami

Supporting

Itou, Kanae
Japanese

Fennec

Supporting

Motomiya, Kana
Japanese

Humboldt Penguin

Supporting

Chikuta, Ikuko
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Hosoya, Nobuyuki

Producer

Kudou, Daijou

Producer

Ishigaki, Yoshihiko

Producer

Tatsuki

Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Series Composition

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Opening Theme

	"Youkoso Japari Park e (ようこそジャパリパークへ)" by Doubutsu Biscuits [Common Raccoon (Saki Ono), Serval (Yuka Ozaki), Fennec (Kana Monomiya)] x
	PPP [Rockhopper Penguin (Aina Aiba), Humboldt Penguin (Ikuko Chikuta), Royal Penguin (Mikoi Sasaki), Emperor Penguin (Ruka Nemoto), Gentoo Penguin (Kyouka Tamura)]

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Ending Theme

"Boku no Friend (ぼくのフレンド)" by Mewhan (みゆはん)

More reviews

Reviews

Mar 28, 2017

Reinhath

Recommended

You might have heard that Kemono Friends, a CGI full length anime, is the most popular show of the Winter 2017 season in Japan. It took a LONG time for any western anime fans to even notice this show, yet alone take it seriously. But after giving it a fair chance, I truly believe that Kemono Friends is one of the most special and unique anime we have.

First, I'll get a few things out of the way. The animation and art style are lacking in massive ways. I don't think anyone will try to argue with that. The voice acting is also pretty shoddy in ... a few places. However, there is so much more to Kemono Friends than just that.

The biggest draw of the show is that it has some of the best world-building I have ever seen in anime. Kemono Friends truly understands "show, don't tell." As the series goes on, viewers start to learn more and more about the weird and mysterious world this seemingly simple story takes place in. If you're reading this review, it's probably too late for you now, but the theory-crafting and discussions had around Kemono Friends in Japan and the western world were so much fun. By drip-feeding us information about the world, fans were able to come together week to week to discuss their new ideas and knowledge. The mystery of the park might make this one of the best mystery anime too!

The story seems simple at first; a lost girl and an animal girl wander around a park filled with animal girls trying to find out what the lost girl is. Every week, they meet other animal friends and help them with their problems as they progress towards their own goals. But the aforementioned world-building is what draws this all together. In the background of each episode, new things are added to the viewer's knowledge-bank about this unique and interesting world. As your interest in the world grows, so does your love for these relatively simplistic, but fun characters. You grow to love watching them simply have fun, as the dark past of the world unfolds.

It may sound pretentious, but Kemono Friends is not a show that you'll get the full enjoyment of just by watching and forgetting it. Kemono Friends was a show that I spent HOURS thinking about and talking about, because it was simply so amazing that I couldn't get it out of my head. I watch a lot of anime, so usually I'll watch an episode and immediately forget about it, even if it's something I love. I simply couldn't do that with Kemono Friends. It's one of the first shows of the over 300 that I watched that I wanted to discuss in-depth and engage with on all levels. And I know for a fact that it wasn't just me that felt this way, because it has truly become one of the most popular anime in Japan.

I honestly cannot predict how enjoyable this show will be outside of the special environment that existed while it was airing. Thousands of fans, albeit mostly Japanese (luckily, I understand Japanese!), came together week after week to theorize and enjoy the wonderful world of Japari Park. You might not be able to get over the art or voice acting and that's fair. But watching Kemono Friends is the most special experiences I have ever had in my life-long anime career. I don't know if anything will ever be able to replicate this feeling, but I hope that future creators take notes from Kemono Friends.

Give this show a shot, at least until episode 4. If you watch to that point and still can't get into it, it might not be for you. I 110% advise you to make your own theories about the show and THINK about it as you watch, taking breaks when possible. Go back and read the episode discussion threads on Reddit to get a sense of what people thought at different points in the show. Enjoy the wonderful fanart and other creative pieces that the huge, dedicated fanbase of Kemono Friends have made. I hope that this show gains more traction in the west, because it is so disappointing that so many western fans missed out on the magic. If anything, push through it to get ready for the inevitable (considering those sales) season 2 and prepare for a new round of magic!

Welcome to Japari Park!

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Mar 28, 2017

SanaeK10

Recommended

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 look ...

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Mar 28, 2017

Fircoal

Recommended

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 he ... had 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.

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Poll: Kemono Friends Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Aversa - Jan 10, 2017	81 replies	by Strikr98 »» Mar 19, 3:30 PM
Poll: Kemono Friends Episode 3 Discussion Aversa - Jan 24, 2017	39 replies	by HatsuneYugi39 »» Jul 24, 2022 3:16 PM
Poll: Kemono Friends Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Aversa - Mar 28, 2017	134 replies	by Mat2468xk »» May 21, 2022 5:35 AM
Terrible first episode? ShadowMonkey - Aug 23, 2018	3 replies	by WatchTillTandava »» May 12, 2022 1:04 AM
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Kemono Friends

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Characters & Voice Actors

Serval

Kaban

Lucky Beast

Hashibirokou

Tsuchinoko

Araiguma

Toki

Tairikuookami

Fennec

Humboldt Penguin

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Ending Theme

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Kemono Friends

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

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Recommendations

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