Kemono Friends might be considered one of the biggest oddballs in the last 10 years in Japanese animation, being a low budget show created with almost no motivation other than their staff just wanting to share a story. Being part of a failed multimedia project, this anime had no purpose or expectations from fans and viewers alike.
Its first episode is incredibly rough on the edges, being the main responsible of its negative reception in both Japan and mainly west. Such a strong dislike that even its premise of cute animal girls couldn't save it from its initial flak. However, this episode also works as a filter: those who decided to ignore the show just because of the visuals, will just keep consuming the average template anime regurgitated by anime studios in desperate attempts of getting a quick buck. Those who kept watching however will be rewarded with a show that improves with each episode, adding new entertaining elements and a quite interesting backstory. Maybe the part where the show triumphs easily over the rest of shows is the way it delivers its story and information to the viewer, relying on the viewer's attention to details in the background, keywords being said from characters who make not a big deal from it, and not a single trace of information dumps or ridiculous explanations delivered by a character explaining the setting (a common trope in anime). It has an incredibly long cast of characters, yet all of them have their own distinctive personalities, which is another good feat this anime achieves. And the story has heavy shifts while staying consistent: from just a nice adventure, to dramatic situations, but always keeping the core element of "all characters being nice" which is refreshing to witness, compared to other shows.
The visuals are a complete turn-off for the average anime consumer and that's to be expected since they have been accustomed to this. However, the passion of the staff with the show is shown with quite appealing scenes and camera angles, showing that budget didn't interfered with creativity. Voice acting is also a surprise: with most of the cast being newcomers, they start with grating acting on episode 1, but they improve with each episode, to the point where they deliver some quite heartbreaking lines in the last 2 episodes.
Kemono Friends is the most pure definition of a "dark horse". A show with no expectations, competing with big titles as Konosuba S2 and Maid Dragon, and surpassing all of them at the end of the day. The massive popularity it had after its airing is well justified and deserved. This anime saved the whole franchise from its demise, even transforming it in the anime equivalent of Final Fantasy.
