Reviews Anime / Kemono Friends

A slog from start to finish

Yeah, I'm gonna be that guy. This was duuuuuuuuuuuuull. I mean literally physically draining. In almost every episode, for every minute that is spent actually doing something, there are 3-4 minutes beforehand talking about what needs to be done. This would be acceptable in the first two or three episodes, but this glacial pacing persists until episode 11, when things finally start ramping up. To get to that point, though, you have to sit through 10 episodes of animal trivia and boring problem-solving plots, and occasionally a tease of something more interesting to come.

Frankly, I would've preferred this series as a straight-up edutainment show. No Ceruleans, no hinting of and later confirming some post-apocalyptic setting, introducing background plot points that are far more interesting than the main story and never significantly expanding upon them, just a fun journey through a fancy zoo/wildlife reserve meeting and learning about animals.

Buuuuut apparently this show ended up saving the whole damn series, so what do I know? *shrugs*