I think that a key factor that has helped Kemono Friends' popularity is its appeal to young audiences interested in learning about animals and the natural world. I know that as a child, I loved learning about different species of wildlife and the different habitats they live in across the world. I especially enjoyed media that presented this factual information with a creative flair to keep things interesting. Trouble is, it's really hard finding ones that are creative enough to be interesting yet still take the matter seriously. It's been a serious pet peeve of mine that lots of zoos and the like only have extremely childish stories and videos available, ones that don't actually teach you about nature.
Kemono Friends, on the other hand, is at just the right level for avid young learners. It has a warm, friendly feel to it that makes it kid-friendly, but it doesn't reach a condescending level, instead providing lots of neat, factual tidbits throughout about different animals and environments. I know that if this had been around when I was a kid, I would have loved to watch it. I think that the producers of the anime recognize this, too, as their publicity campaign at the Tobu Zoo demonstrates.
I just really hope that they continue to reach out for that niche when it's exported abroad. For me, an English dub is essential if this is going to be released in America. You see, the different animals of Japari Park identify themselves as their specific species, a nifty way to learn about wildlife. The trouble is, most of the official names for those species have English origins, such as Thompson's Gazelle and Humboldt Penguin. So the Japanese names are generally katakana renderings, such as Saabaru for Serval. This is fine in Japan, but if you try to do the same in the U.S., the difference between the names you hear and the subtitles provided will confuse children and inhibit their engagement in the story. That's why there needs to be an English dub for things to work.
I'm a little worried that this won't happen, though, seeing as it would be an extra expense and the production was already low budget. I'm thinking of trying to contact the Japanese producers as well as U.S. distributors like Viz and Funimation to express my thoughts on the subject, but I'm not sure if they'll listen. What do people here think the best approach to this should be?
