Just like how Konami owns Metal Gear, and without Kojima they can make pachinkos and Metal Gear survive now... Disgusting.

They can make as many pachinko machines and toys and lunchboxes as they want, regardless of who the director is for the anime (or game, or whatever). They didn't need to fire the guy to accomplish that. Konami marketed pachinko machines while Kojima was the game's director, and they kept doing so after getting rid of him. It's 100% completely irrelevant.

So your "let's fire this guy so we can expand the merchandising" theory makes no sense whatsoever. They already had a monopoly on merchandising and full control over it. It has literally nothing to do with who they hire to produce the anime, game, etc. If anything, Tatsuki did a great job of increasing their ability to sell Kemono Friends-related products, by creating a show that attracted new consumers to the franchise.

I think it's a somewhat interesting question as to why they actually switched directors. Since Kadokawa is a profit-seeking, publicly-traded corporation, it's safe to assume that they saw it as a way to increase revenue or decrease costs. This is somewhat curious - by the looks of it, Kemono Friends was not an expensive show to produce, and it was wildly successful, so you'd think that keeping the same team would be an obvious decision. Clearly, something must have happened to change that calculation. Maybe they thought they could find someone else who could achieve similar results for cheaper, or maybe Tatsuki demanded more money for the second season. There are many potential reasons, since the relationship between studio and license-holder is incredibly complicated.

Also to the post above, "No one cares" ... Please don't speak for everyone, I'm super worried about the adaptation of Onepunch man s2, the manga adaptation by Murata doesn't even have enough for 12 episodes of new content so unless they work with the original source everything can go really really bad! We're talking about the people who made the fillers for Railgun uggh.

Of course. What I meant with "no one cares" as a hyperbole is that there's not such a dramatic reaction over it, even though it's the same situation. It happens all the time and people just accept it.
I for one won't watch second season of Kekkai Sensen since Rie Matsumoto was the only reason for me to watch it.

Maybe what you mean was that even if we care, it doesn't matter because we have no control over these things but at least I have the choice to avoid something based on information like this, and those companies don't care about me as individual but they care about the rage from all the fans in Japan.

Do they? People might boycott KemoFure S2, and Japan really do those things. But do you think they'll give up on other series they love that Kadokawa owns? KemoFure was not a thing for them since some time ago. It dying won't have any impact in the company.
People won't stop buying Illya's manga, Index novels. In fact, if they do that, they're hurting the author more than Kadokawa itself. So yeah, this will be just a minor controversy for them. People are wasting energy in this. If they care that much, they should focus on support Tatsuki saying they'll follow his next project instead of seeking vengeance.

There are a number of theories flying around the internet in Japan that there were actually darker motives behind the situation.

Never believe rumours, though. Like someone that said on ANN comments that maybe sexual harassment was the cause. Of course, they had no basis at all to claim such thing. Saying things like that is dangerous.

When I say "rumors" I don't mean just people coming up with arbitrary explanations, but fairly well-researched and reasoned theories.

With nothing beyond vague comments from those actually involved, though, it's impossible to judge.

Edit: and normally I would agree that a lot of the claims sound dubious, but among the people I see supporting and helping spread these claims there are a number of big names from the anime and manga industry.

last edited at Sep 28, 2017 1:09AM

On the Matter of the Kemono Friends Scandal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Dr7Vbu5xYLtulxIQN0BMf0VGwFwAcU8_SA9HdlfztU/edit

"The Betrayal", lol. Good unbiased reporting there.

Top 10 Anime Betrayals

What a drama.
I wonder how many people making this document know how these things works. There's some clear absurds there like the creator giving Tatsuki freedom to do what he wanted. What doesn't matter because the brand is Kadokawa's, not his. He can't decide that by himself.

Is it so hard to criticize something without trying to create a huge drama out of it? Yeah, it sucks this happened, but this whole conspiracy theory is just insane and based on lots of confirmation bias by the persons angry at Kadokawa. I know faceless companies are easy to bash, but would be good to have actual complaints instead of blowing things out of proportion (seriously, Kadokawa's stock is completely fine and this won't hurt Nico Nico too).

"The Betrayal", lol. Good unbiased reporting there.

Yes, stick to your happy thoughs. Ignorance is indeed a bliss

https://scontent.fntr6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/fr/cp0/e15/q65/22096149_1919461274736401_8118546205570075478_o.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=997dd61594ec9496a2ec0e6741d47210&oe=5A84E183

... Keep it up, EvilDevil you're doing good

"The Betrayal", lol. Good unbiased reporting there.

Yes, stick to your happy thoughs. Ignorance is indeed a bliss

https://scontent.fntr6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/fr/cp0/e15/q65/22096149_1919461274736401_8118546205570075478_o.jpg?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=997dd61594ec9496a2ec0e6741d47210&oe=5A84E183

... Keep it up, EvilDevil you're doing good

I bet they eat babies too!

Right, because giving season 2 the benefit of the doubt can only mean you're a shill. Only explanation.

... Keep it up, EvilDevil you're doing good

I bet they eat babies too!

No, but if that's how they treat their fanbase I just don't see any real reason to defend or care about them

... Keep it up, EvilDevil you're doing good

I bet they eat babies too!

No, but if that's how they treat their fanbase I just don't see any real reason to defend or care about them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sKMnhQWp6w

THEY POISONED OUR WATER SUPPLY, BURNED OUR CROPS, AND DELIVERED A PLAGUE UNTO OUR HOUSES!

Right, because giving season 2 the benefit of the doubt can only mean you're a shill. Only explanation.

Those are YOUR words, not theirs

Why, Kadokawa turned me into a newt!

Right, because giving season 2 the benefit of the doubt can only mean you're a shill. Only explanation.

Those are YOUR words, not theirs

Actually "lets wait for season 2" WAS a response most of the bots were spamming on niconico

Kadokawa CEO tweets update on the situation (twitter.com)

https://www.reddit.com/r/KemonoFriends/comments/73ygw2/kadokawa_ceo_tweets_update_on_the_situation/

https://archive.is/Sks8V
https://archive.is/KOpo0
https://archive.is/rq23O

last edited at Oct 3, 2017 3:29PM

But wait, how does this tie in with Kadokawa being the evilest evil who ever eviled an evil?

What about The Betrayal!?

from /a/

Ok. Here's my own rough summary of the said article.
The source is Save Japari Park Discord.
https://discord.gg/uWRMfn
Thank the Japanese guy who actually paid for the thing.

If I am reading this correctly, this Nikkei Veritas article is saying that the entire concept of Anime production committee has been riddled with problems, and Kemono Friends has only exposed those problems.

The article first started with a basic summary of Tatsuki's tweet on the 25th, and then it went into how JRA and Nissin had to clarify in public that they got permission to work on their advertisement campaigns
and then it pointed out that taiwan, korea also reacted to this event, then the article mentioned about how nico Nico Douga's likely see even worse performance from membership decline as a consequence of this mess.

And it looks like that that the committee system, been first established by Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa movie of 1980, is a system where the director really had to give up any personal right to the integrity of the IP and that the real beneficiary is the IP holder (publishers such as Kadokawa or Bandai Visual)

There's also uneven distribution of salary where animators essentially starve.
The ending to this article sounds kind of bitter as the editor said that this crisis of Japari Park really is the crisis of the whole anime industry, and others outside of it should take heed.

anime is dead rip.

Tatsuki made a new tweet

but the three Irodori people are alive and well

Should we assume that there were assassination attempts considering that he uses the word "alive" and not just well ?

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-10-10/kemono-friends-tatsuki-tweets-for-1st-time-in-2-weeks/.122490

Kadokawa how low are you willing to fall for pachinkos?

but the three Irodori people are alive and well

Should we assume that there were assassination attempts considering that he uses the word "alive" and not just well ?

It's a common phrase.

but the three Irodori people are alive and well

Should we assume that there were assassination attempts considering that he uses the word "alive" and not just well ?

It's a common phrase.

Blink twice if ninjas from Kyoto are making you type that.

but the three Irodori people are alive and well

Should we assume that there were assassination attempts considering that he uses the word "alive" and not just well ?

It's a common phrase.

Blink twice if ninjas from Kyoto are making you type that.

I admit nothing!