Kemono Friends (2015 Mobile Game)

Kemono Friends
Mobile Game
Japanese Title: けものフレンズ Romanized Title: Kemono Furenzu Publisher: Nexon Genre: Roleplaying Game Platform: Android, iOS Released: March 16th, 2015 (Android) March 19th, 2015 (iOS) Service Ended: December 14th, 2016

The Japanese mobile game Kemono Friends, published by Nexon, was the first entry in the Kemono Friends multimedia franchise.

Story

Prologue

The player finds themselves in Japari Park with no previous memories. There, they meet Mirai, depicted as a rookie Park Guide, as well as Serval. The player learns that Japari Park is a massive, open zoo where visitors can play with animal girls known as Friends, but that the park is currently closed due to an outbreak of Ceruleans. It is during this prologue that the party first encounters the strange, Serval-like Cerulean named Cerval.

Chapter 1

The party meets Caracal, who claims that Serval stole her Japari Buns. However, Serval has been unwittingly framed by Cerval, the true culprit. They accost and do battle with her, after which she mumbles something about "going back to the Queen". Fearing that Cerval will cause more mischief that Serval will be blamed for, the party follows the Cerulean to the next region. Additionally, Caracal joins the party.

Chapter 2

Pursuing Cerval, the party seeks help from the "Wiseman". On the way, they meet Crested Ibis, a troubled singer. The ibis explains that her she's troubled not only that her singing is terrible, but also that it apparently attracts Ceruleans. The party suggests that the Wiseman may be able to help her too, so she tags along.

Once they finally meet this "Wiseman", it turns out to be a pair of owls, specifically Professor Konoha-chan and Assistant Mimi-chan. They give Crested Ibis medicine to improve her voice, but it doesn't work at all, attracting even more Ceruleans than before. The discouraged bird Friend is about to give up singing for good, but the party encourages her to keep with it. She then gains the ability to heal in combat using her voice (although she still sounds terrible). It turns out that Ceruleans were attracted to her voice because her singing was so bad that even they couldn't bear it and tried to stop her by force. But with its newfound healing ability, the effect is mitigated, lending to a (relatively) happy ending for the chapter. Afterwards, Professor Konoha-chan informs the party that she saw Cerval heading to the desert area.

Chapter 3

The party arrives in the Sankai Region and finds that all of its oases have dried up. Not missing a beat, the heroes set out to find out what's going on. There, they meet Arabian Oryx, who is looking for her missing friend Lulu, a Thomson's gazelle Friend. As it turns out, Lulu set off on her own accord to prove herself useful to Arabian Oryx by solving the problem of the desert's empty oases herself. She and the party locate a large Cerulean that drank all of the water in the desert. They defeat it, and Lulu joins the player's party permanently. Unfortunately, Cerval gets away in the process and the group follows her into another region.

Chapter 4

The party continues their journey through the Waterfront. After battling a Cellien, Serval finds she is no longer able to speak, and can only communicate in animal cries. They meet Black Rhinoceros and White Rhinoceros, who explain that Serval has a disease plaguing the Area called "Gaogao Disease". The disease is rumored to be caused by Cerval, who was seen being friendly towards Celliens. The party apprehend her, but she insists she knows nothing.

Crested Ibis catches the disease after noticing a trail of rainbow-colored slime. Mirai sends a sample of the liquid to a nearby Maintenance Center to analyze, leading them to a giant snail Cellien which is the source of the slime and disease. Silver Fox appears from the shadows and gives a vaccine to the party so they can safely fight it, before the Cellien attacks her and knocks her out. The group defeats the Cellien, and Serval and Crested Ibis are found to have been cured by the vaccine. White Rhino joins the party as they follow Cerval through the Snowy Mountain Area, bringing the still-unconscious Silver Fox with them.

Chapter 5

When Silver Fox finally wakes up, she seems to have amnesia and can't remember why she was following the protaganist. The party meets Capybara, the hot springs specialist, who tells them of a hot spring with the effect of helping restore memories.

As the group travels, Mirai explains research about Celliens, including how they can steal Sparkle and copy forms. Along the way, they run into Cerval in a hot spring. While White Rhino is still suspicious of her, Serval wants to bring her along, and she doesn't seem dangerous in her current state. So far the party has referred to her only as "Fake Serval", but Serval insists on giving her a name of her own - "Cerval", a name which appears to make her happy.

Serval finds a "Super Secret Hot Spring" which is in reality just a cold fountain. Silver Fox jumps in and regains her memory, but it is unclear if this is caused by the spring itself or the protaganist's amulet, which glows while they have a dream inside the water. Silver Fox explains that she was ordered to secretly protect the party by Oinari-sama. Oinari-sama is staying in Park Central, which has been shut down due to the Celliens. Afterward, Cerval goes into a trance as she is controlled by the Queen, summoning a giant Cellien. The Cellien is defeated, but Cerval escapes and the group begins to see how much danger she can pose.