A Japanese multimedia franchise about the fictional Japari Park, where various animals—both real and mythological— have been anthropomorphized into animal girls, referred to as Friends, by the mysterious power of a curious substance called Sandstar.
Originally envisioned as a multimedia project, a mobile game published by Nexon was released in 2015, with a tie-in anime series set after the events of the game due to air some time later. The project was not without its turbulence, as the mobile game ended its services in late 2016—just one month before the anime aired in early 2017, the first season of which was financially restricted, resulting in poor animation quality and mixed reviews from initial critics and viewers.
Despite the 2015 game being closed down early—thus failing to give anime viewers context as had been planned—the anime was a surprise hit, due in no small part to scripting by director Tatsuki; the show received very high ratings and viewership, miraculously reviving the dying franchise into a breakout success.
In 2017, Nexon sold the Kemono Friends franchise to Kadokawa who held the rights to the franchise ever since.
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TV anime series Kemono Friends by Yaoyorozu (Winter 2017)
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