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Crunchyroll to Stream Kemono Friends Anime
posted on by Karen Ressler
Media distribution service Crunchyroll announced on Wednesday that it will stream the anime of Nexon's Kemono Friends smartphone game as it airs in Japan. The series will premiere streaming worldwide outside of Asia on Tuesday, January 10 at 2:05 p.m. EST.
The series will premiere in Japan on TV Tokyo and TV Osaka late at night on January 10 at 1:35 a.m. (effectively on January 11), and the website lists the episodes with half-hour runtimes. The series will also air on TV Aichi and AT-X, and it will stream on the d Anime Store. Although the anime's premiere is slated for January, the original game will end service on December 14.
The anime's story takes place in Japari Park, a "gigantic integrated zoo." In the zoo, due to the mysterious "sand star" substance, the animals start turning into human-shaped creatures called Animal Girls. Japari Park is a place where many people visit and have fun at, but one day a lost child wanders into the park. The lost child starts a journey to return, but because so many Animal Girls join in on the quest it becomes an unexpected grand adventure.
Mine Yoshizaki (Sgt. Frog manga creator) is credited with the character concept designs. TATSUKI (Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono, Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono Encore animation director) is directing the series at studio Yaoyorozu (Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono, Minarai Diva). Shigenori Tanabe (Danchi Tomoo) is both writing and overseeing the scripts, Nobuyuki Abe (The Highschool Life of a Fudanshi, Bananya) is the sound director, Yoshihisa Isa is the animation director, and Yūko Shiromizu (background artist for Ghost in the Shell Arise, The Eccentric Family) is the art director.
Eight members of the main cast — Serval, Fennec, Common Raccoon, and the five PPP idols — will perform the opening theme song "Yōkoso Japari Park e" (Welcome to Japari Park). Singer-songwriter Miyuhan will perform the ending theme song "Boku no Friend" (My Friend).
Nexon launched the smartphone game last year. A manga adaptation by Furai titled Kemono Friends: Yōkoso Japari Park e! began in Kadokawa's Shōnen Ace magazine in May 2015.
