Friends

This page is a work in progress. Please excuse the incomplete nature of the information. Bird (talk) 04:42, 9 July 2017 (EDT)

Friends (Japanese: フレンズ Hepburn: Furenzu), created by Sandstar and native to Japari Park, are the titular focus of the Kemono Friends multimedia franchise. They are animals, mythological creatures and artificial intelligence that have become anthropomorphized into human girls, retaining the most distinguishing features and capabilities of their original form.

Characteristics
Physical characters vary greatly from Friend to Friend, as a natural result of the plurality of creatures from which they are formed. Their outfits as well as their non-human physical features (additional ears, tails, wings) are directly inspired by their original forms in both shape and coloration. For instance, bird Friends that are capable of flight all have a pair of wings connected to their heads, which matches the surrounding hair. All Friends are female, resembling healthy human girls roughly from their preteens to their late twenties.

Friends are capable of speech and demonstrate a high capacity for learning comparable to that of humans, though they do not appear to be innately literate, and upon "birth" it does not seem they are instinctively aware of what kind of animal they originally were. Their abilities differ greatly depending on their animal of origin, and often easily surpass humans in raw physical aptitude. Due to Kemonoplasm's unique properties, their animalian body parts are able to phase through their clothing, provided they are not aware they are wearing clothes. Through sheer force of willpower, they can also make said body parts vanish if they believe with enough conviction that they are fully human.

Biology
Friends are created by the interaction of Sandstar with animals, living or dead, including "remains" as miniscule as a single strand of hair. The transformation process is nearly instantaneous. Though the chances are slim (comparable to that of a real life multiple birth), two or more Friends of the same original species are able to exist concurrently. It has been observed that species of Friends born closer to the center of Japari Park are born wearing clothes resembling that of ready-made human fashion, compared to the costume-like appearances of those born in the outskirts of the safari.

All Friends are comprised to some extent of Kemonoplasm, although Friends born of extinct animals or mythological creatures have a higher ratio than their regular animal counterparts. Friends' "animal parts" (tails, wings, etc.) are entirely comprised of Kemonoplasm and cannot be removed, although through sufficient force of will they can be vanished on command by their owners. Their clothing, while removeable, is also formed by this mysterious substance.

It is unknown if Friends show signs of aging or are even capable of growing older to begin with, but they are vulnerable to "death" by both Ceruleans and unrelated accidents. Unlike humans, whose bodies become lifeless and decompose after death, Friends revert to their original beastial forms. Upon reversion, their lifespans are reset to the point immediately after they became Friends, clearing any memories they may have gained in their humanlike form. It is unknown whether or not a creature which became a Friend a second time would regain said memories, as no known example of this exists.