×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Interest
Kemono Friends Producer Confirms Yaoyorozu Will Not Return for New Anime

posted on by Jennifer Sherman

Despite fan protests and a response from Kadokawa's CEO, it appears that the case is closed regarding director TATSUKI and anime studio Yaoyorozu's removal from the planned second season of Kemono Friends. Yoshitada Fukuhara, producer of the first anime, confirmed on Twitter on Wednesday that his anime studio Yaoyorozu will not return for the upcoming season.

Fukuhara said, "This is the final report, and regarding our separation from the second season [of Kemono Friends], it wasn't overturned. We strove with all our might to respond to everyone's hopes together with [Kadokawa President and CEO Shinichiro] Inoue, but we couldn't pull it off, and I'm very sorry."

He added that Yaoyorozu was set to participate in production of the second anime season as of March, but key people behind the production decided in August that the studio would no longer be involved. Fukuhara said that he was bewildered by the sudden decision and did not receive a full explanation.

Fukuhara explained that Yaoyorozu had official permission for all of its Kemono Friends projects, including collaboration videos and the unofficial "episode 12.1." He said that the franchise's conceptual designer Mine Yoshizaki had approved the dōjinshi that was distributed at Comic Market.

Finally, Fukuhara thanked Inoue for his rapid response to the matter. Fukuhara also thanked fans for their support and said, "It was only a short time, but I'm proud of what we were able to do together."

TATSUKI reported in September that, per a notification from publishing and production company Kadokawa, he is no longer working on the Kemono Friends project. Soon after, the anime's official website announced that Yaoyorozu would no longer be involved due to communication problems related to copyright permission.

Despite his removal from the new Kemono Friends anime, TATSUKI has remained active and continued to pursue his own anime projects. TATSUKI and his Irodori team released their second new anime project in October and recruited background artists for an unspecified project. TATSUKI appeared in a penguin mask as he accepted the Twitter Trend Anime of the Year award for Kemono Friends last week. After drawing a huge crowd at Comic Market 92, TATSUKI will return with a booth at Comic Market 93 this weekend.

[Via Otakomu, Hachima Kikō]


discuss this in the forum (27 posts) |
bookmark/share with: short url

Interest homepage / archives