Kemono Friends game story:

>Japari park had a division for research and recovery of extinct species even before the Sandstar stuff (led by Kako).

>Kako, the assistant director to zoological research lab of Japari Park tended to Serval who got seriously wounded as an animal

>the hospital that Serval's at got attacked by Cerulean during the initial invasion

>Oinari-sama, a major Japanese god, called the friends into action as she defends the park from Cerulean invasion

>Cerulean queen is trapped by a barrier created through Oinari-sama and park staffs, channeling Kemo Harmony.

>Serval awakens from Kemo Harmony, turns into friend, leads fellow friends out of danger

>Cerulean Queen wanted to cause a Cerulean Harmony and use that to break free of Oinari-sama's barrier

>Mirai and Serval paired with each other from the very start

>Cerulean can steal sparkles, intangible qualities such as hope, speechcraft

>Cerulean can evolve as they wish after having stolen such sparkle

>Serval lost memory of her hospital encounter

>Cerulean queen caused Serval's memory loss through Cerval, who stole Serval's 'sparkle' in order to duplicate the 'Kemo Harmony'

>Other friends couldn't distinguish between Serval and Fake Serval, who got named 'Cerval' by Serval

>Kako entered into a comatose state from a Cerulean attack

>Fake Serval gained friendship from Serval, becomes unique and eventually opposes the Cerulean queen and fully evolves into a complete being

>Cerulean queen claimed that all sparkles will eventually disappear

>Queen claims that sparkle can be preserved if they are consumed and evolved through Cerulean

>Queen was not a copy of Kako. She was mindless.

>Serval almost did a mercy kill on Cerval by using purifying salt on Cerval. This wasn't needed as Cerval broke free of the queen and gained her own sparkle.

>Cerulean Queen devolves from pushing her evolution too much

>Kako wakes up after the defeat of the Cerulean queen

>Mirai came to love animal because of Kako. She greatly respects Kako.

>Cerulean queen attack occurred on the day that she first reported to Japari Park as the park guide.

>Mirai leads the control team as well as being the park guide. She doesn't like the command center much, citing that the tech's too complicated for her

>Cerulean Queen wanted to cause a Cerulean Harmony and use that to break free of Oinari-sama's barrier

>The player in game was given a charm that boosts offensive power of the friends, allowing them to fight the Cerulean evenly.

>Mirai concludes later through Tachikomas that the Sandstar builds their forms based on the AI and stored data, not their bodies

>All friends will lose all traces of personality changes from Sandstar if they return to their original forms after leaving Japari Park. Friends from pure stored data and memories will disappear

>Japari park had a division for research and recovery of extinct species even before the Sandstar stuff (led by Kako).

>The four gods exist in the game as physical friends. You had to defeat them before they join.

>four gods are: Byakko (white tiger, West), Genbu (black tortoise, North), Seiryu (Azure dragon, East) and Suzaku (Vermillion bird, South)

>There are also two Okinawan lion deities called Shisa aside from the 4 gods, Oinari-sama and Kyuubi Kitsune (ninetail)

>Mirai was promoted from rookie Park Guide to Veteran Park Guide after the battle against Cerulean Queen

Sandstar has the following effect when it reacts with matters

>Turning animals into friends

>Turning animal tissue, alive or dead, into friends

>Turning inorganic matter into Cerulean

>Turning active AI into something inbetween friend and Cerulean depending on level of sentience

>Turning stored data into something inbetween friend and Cerulean depending on level of sentience of said data

>Human tissue does react with Sandstar just as with any animal

On Cerulean:

>Sandstar rho (ρ) is absorbed by Black Cerulean

>Cerulean subsists on Sandstar

>Cerulean's core crystal is its weak point

>Cerulean is weak against salt or saline

>Cerulean relies on Friend's 'sparkle' in order to further evolve its form, which it absorbs through consuming Friend.

>Digested Friends turn back into what animal it was based on regardless of what object they came from

>Friends turn into animals regardless of source

Yoshizaki Mine Nico livestream comments:

>4 gods are shown in ep.1 (at the mountain)

>Sofa shown when they took a break is a piece of Japari bus

>A friend was eaten by Cerulean

>Japari bus is the newest model, controllable by boss

>Sandstar prevents deterioration

>Clothes can come off if the friends consciously wish to do so, otherwise it remains a part of the animal

>Weapons materialize at will of the friend

>There's more Friends at tropical zone

Animate Interview of Feb 2017

>Kemono Friends started with Yoshizaki Mine visiting the Singapore Zoo and getting inspiration from Serval cat

>Yoshizaki Mine was explicit on the franchise being kid-friendly

>Originallly there would've been male and female friends

>Franchise was planned early on with Yoshizaki Mine. Kadokawa Comic's Editor-in Kaji Masa was heavily involved

>Anime character proportion is in-between the game design (Mine, 3 heads) and the manga design (7-8 heads)

>Yaoyorozu studios (Tesagure!, Minarai Diva) got involved with the promotional video of Kemono Friends before anime

>Kemono Friends IP is completely open to doujin work, including making new friends, new manga, novel, cosplay.

>Not allowed to do doujin work for profit, not allowed to directly use published material (infringe copyright)

>Yoshizaki Mine didn't want his name to be featured prominently

>Kemono Friends world allows for many kinds of friends, cryptids, mystical animals and non-organic friends included

>Original plan was 100 characters, but Mine kept adding to that number

>Guide book vol3 will contain Mine's drawings of the back view of the characters

>Airing time at 1:35 midnight slot took the production committee by total surprise

>Reproduction, herd behavior and gender differences have to be avoided

From the guidebook vol1

>The cry came from an animal girl who got eaten, and you go back to being an animal after that, and you lose your memory.

>Boss is called as such because the beast gives out the Japari bun

>Japari Park was originally set to be Bonin Islands, but android version sets it to be an island that resembles Pangaea.

>It's been a few years after the trial opening of the park

>Yoshizaki Mine wanted this franchise to be something that everyone including children could watch

>Mine got the idea after visiting a zoo

>Characters don't die

>Ep1's Savanna is the place of origin for human and the first 7 episodes trace the path of humanity's evolution

>Mirai has survived

>This is a world where humanity was destroyed once

>Kaban's actually spawned from Sandstar reacting to Mirai's hair strands in her hat