Behind the Scenes: Entire Kemono Friends Anime Staff Dismissed

Before we begin, I'd like to offer an apology. I've been sick for much of the past week (plus I had a much-needed scheduled day off 😷 ), so most site duties outside the dailies have fallen on the back burner. We're back in full tomorrow, though, and ready to talk nerdy again!

Original Title:  Entire Kemono Friends Anime Staff Dismissed; Kadokawa to Restart Anime Project from Scratch

Publication Date: 9/27/2017

Author: Samantha Ferreira

To be honest, this was one of those topics that any reporter just knows they have to follow. A bit of background, though, before we begin.

In March 2015, Nexon launched a smartphone app, Kemono Friends. The title was zan unspectacular free-to-play RPG, which proved to be fairly unpopular overall. It ran its 18 months, and Nexon shut the game down a month before the anime adaptation launched.  

No, really. It’s super dead. 

The anime, meanwhile, was something else. The Winter 2017 series was written and directed by then indie director Tatsuki at studio Yaoyorozu. The title became a near-instant hit, becoming a top pick of fans and critics alike for the period. Characters like Serval and Kaban became iconic for many, and it seemed like the world couldn’t get enough of the show’s adorable antics. 

Heck, there was even a Humboldt Penguin named Grape-kun, who found himself utterly smitten by one of Kemono Friends’ penguin characters!

In short, this series was huge. Kadokawa had greenlit the project for a second season, and things seemed to be progressing with no problems. 

Meanwhile, fans were eagerly awaiting more antics with Serval and the others. To an outsider, it seemed like the gravy train was set to coast along on biscuit wheels, with no brakes to stop it.

Then September 25, 2017 came, which changed everything. On that day, director Tatsuki took to Twitter to announce that he was no longer attached to the franchise.

This went over about as well as one would expect, with fans flying into a figurative rage wherever they could. Nico Nico streams were defaced, and staffers were posting angry tweets.

Honestly, it was at this point, that I was keeping my eye on things. Usually, when a director leaves a project suddenly, it means that a shoe is about to drop. I kept a close eye on various Japanese sources, as well as the Twitter feeds for key members in Yaoyorozu to see if I could nab updates.

Funny enough, my good friend L.B. caught the story on Otakomu while I was at work. He forwarded the link, which led me to start digging in on my lunch break. Seeing the notice in full, I got to work on translation… for better or worse. I had to get the full statement written out, as this felt like it was something super important at the time. The entire translation took somewhere between one and two hours, with about 20 minutes of clean-up afterwards.

I'll be honest: my Japanese kind of sucks. 😛

In the heat of the moment, though, we saw people start to unleash their fury as the dismissal appeared to be increasingly less rational in the eyes of fans. Things boiled down to a dispute in communications between the production committee, and the team behind the show. And, well, social media erupted again as the news hit the web. 

I didn’t know it at the time, but this quickly became one of our longest-running news sagas, taking us through literal months of corporate intrigue and business wonkishness.

In October, Kadokawa issued a statement to stem the tides of anger. In December, we found out that Yaoyorozu would not return to the Kemono Friends franchise. Even now, we’re keeping our eyes on the franchise, to see what will arise when the second season is inevitably re-announced. 

Will people welcome this new version of Japari Park as warmly as they had Tatsuki’s? Will this turn into “business as usual” as fans turn a blind eye to the goings on?

As of now, it’s impossible to say. Consumers are curious things, often driven to ignore toxic elements as they embrace the things they love. And, while I have my own thoughts on what will happen, I’ll keep those to myself for now.