Headscratchers / Kemono Friends

• Why would Kadokawa screw the pooch on such a massive Sleeper Hit?
  • I feel that the Kadokawa situation, looking at it, is due to how they saw their copyright. Effectively, they declared the Cup Noodle and Animelo Live shorts to be done outside of copyright, and the production staff, director and voice actresses all wilfully breached their copyright, therefore were dragged out in front of the fanbase for their terrible crime of doing something for the fanbase. Which is why the fanbase are furious.

• Why is the idol group made from penguins? Penguins are ungraceful while on land, and they aren't known for their beautiful signing.
  • Probably because of how many variety of penguins are there, and how liked they are by humans, just look at Grape-Kun.
  • Real life explanation: Because the franchise’s tie-in band is called Pop People Party.

• I presume that the owls at the library don't know how to read, since if they did know how to read they'd either cook for themselves or give directions to a Friend who was unafraid of fire. But if they can't read, why are they so knowledgeable? Does the transformation from animal to Friend stuff knowledge into the heads of owls since owls are supposed to be wise?
  • The trick to force Kaban and Serval to go through the Quiz course implied otherwise since if the owls couldn't read at all they wouldn't have known what the Quiz course was, it's more likely that they were just afraid of fire and they were searching for a friend who was unafraid of fire and yet could also read the directions.

• So why do the Owls ask for Water and not Milk when they think the curry is too spicy? I know this is animation, and that their wiseness might be just them boasting, but given the rest of the episodes and how accurate they are to animal facts, going as far as to explain camel's humps actual function, this just strikes me as odd.
  • Well, what would they have had available otherwise? Even if there were non-Friend cows/goats/etc in a nearby area to produce milk, you'd still need someone able to milk the animals comfortably, refrigeration to store it so it won't spoil as quickly, and so forth. Water may not be the best to counter the spicy curry, but it's just what they had access to.
    • They've got a cafe, I'll assume they've got refrigeration and milk there, even if it's far away the technology exists, and they'd need to get a way to keep the ingredients for Japari Buns fresh anyway, and the owls had gathered the materials on the same day, so I don't think flying to the cafe for some milk would have taken that long
    • The cafe has power, but there's no indication that even if it has refrigeration capabilities that it has milk or such. The only thing Alpaca offered, even during the party in the finale, is various teas, with no additions (sugar, lemon, milk) being suggested. As for keeping Japari buns fresh, there doesn't seem to be a need to do so beyond the packaging, as they're just pulled out of wherever when characters have them. The closest we see otherwise is just Sand Cat having buried hers in her cave, which could just have been a habit/instinct rather than actually needed. The Library didn't seem to have solar panels or such for power, and since the Owls didn't know what they'd be having would be spicy beforehand, would have no reason to have milk transferred from far off (if they were even aware that it would help).
    • It could be an act. In the supplementary material its revealed that the owls from the anime inherited their positions from the owls of the game and have some awareness of their predecessors and how they acted. It's possible that the whole "We are most wise" thing is just a tradition that was carried from the days of the park.
  • Word of God said they can read hiragana and katagana, but not kanji.
• How did the Cryptid/Mythical Friends… BECOME Friends, exactly? Are they implying that the mythical creatures those Friends are based on really exist in their world?