Top 10 Adaptable Kemono Friends Characters

Let’s have a bit of fun after watching Kemono Friends, an anime that was under the radar, but was very fun to watch. Kaban, Friend Serval and a robot animal named Lucky Beast, traveled throughout Japari Park’s large areas in search for clues to Kaban’s identity and uncovering the mystery behind the park devoid of human presence. Throughout their adventure, they met with various Friends, a hybrid of animal and human, or animal girls, that helped them move forward like building bridges, flying up the mountains and crossing snowy fields. Of all the Friends we met, who do you think is the most adaptable to any situation and why?

For today's topic, we’re going to list 10 Friends who are the most adaptable. We’re only going to focus on friends who had helped Kaban and the gang traverse obstacles and exclude those who were just eye-candy or didn’t do anything. There are some spoilers ahead, so tread carefully.

Now let’s get this started! This is the Top 10 Adaptable Friends in Kemono Friends!


10. Crested Ibis

Throughout the series, Crested Ibis didn’t do much, but we know she has some exceptional stamina when flying. Despite her very short wing span, Crested Ibis effortlessly carried Kaban up the mountains. Though they did take a quick break and munching on them delicious Japari buns, Crested Ibis carried her passenger without breaking a sweat. It wasn’t really shown that Crested Ibis can fly through snow and hot environments and is not a fighter, but she can carry any Friend around even in high altitudes and her shrieks—singing can definitely stun anyone, and her pitch frequency is so high, it even stunned Lucky Beast, a robot.

Despite the shortcomings, Serval is adaptable enough to help Kaban in any situation and environment. If it wasn’t for Serval’s set of skills and experience, it would have been very difficult for Kaban to traverse Japari Park on her own.


9. Jaguar

Unlike most cats, Jaguar is a capable swimmer and has the stamina to swim through rivers while pushing a raft with passengers on board on a daily basis. And like most cats, Jaguar is fast, agile, can jump really high and a powerful fighter though her size makes her not as agile as other cats like Serval.


8. Sand Cat

Another cat friend. Sand Cat is a very curious Friend who gets easily wowed at new things but is quick to lose interest after her curiosity is sated. Sand Cat, as the name implies, are cats adapted to hot desert areas with an ability to change their body temperature and avoid getting overheated. Sand Cat’s paws are layered with extra fur so they can travel around scorching hot rocks and sand. While they’re very adaptable, they still prefer to avoid direct sunlight by digging burrows and then go out at night.


7. African Wild Dog

Wild Dog, like the actual African Wild Dogs, hunt in packs and she’s a natural team player and is one of those types of Friends who are good at fighting the Cerulean, a type of creature roaming around the park attack and eating Friends. Having long slender legs, superhuman stamina, and big ears, they’re very adept at hunting, and in turn adept at fighting monsters. Though her only drawback is they cover less distance compared to the big cats. Still, Wild Dog’s disadvantage is compensated by being in a group of other Friends good at fighting like Golden Snub-nosed monkey and Brown Bear.


6. Northern White-faced Owl and Eurasian Eagle Owl

The owls are quite intelligent and living in the dilapidated but still functional library kind of make sense for them. Bird Friends aren’t as adaptable as ground based Friends, especially the cat's variety, but they don’t really need it since they’re smart enough to negotiate with other Friends and outsmart them by leading them to a confusing labyrinth. Plus, the library is a natural home against weather, with running water, food supply, and books to read like cookbooks, to make a variety of meals.

Japari buns have the right amount of nutrients to keep a Friend healthy, but the owls need more oomph to their meals to keep their brains running. Being intelligent does require a lot of energy. However, the owls aren’t defenseless. They’re birds of prey with sharp claws and can sneak up on intruders.



5. American Beaver and Black-tailed Prairie Dog

These two friends met from a silly circumstance and both ended up living together as partners because they’re good at building and digging. Beaver is an expert builder but is a worrywart with a lack of self-confidence in building her home, and the Prairie Dog is the exact opposite but is careless with no real direction at home building and ends up getting buried in her own burrows.

By working together, they overcome their shortcomings and ended up creating a home that is close to the river for Beaver to tend to her dam and has a tunnel underground for Prairie Dog to cross the river. And with the endless supply of Japari buns, a staple food for Friends, these two can live like kings… or in this case, like queens.


4. Silver Fox and Ezo Red Fox

Snowy regions are very harsh with very cold winds, freezing waters, and prolonged walking through the snow will turn your legs into popsicles in no time. One of the Friends, Kaban and the gang, we meet from Japari Park’s polar area are Silver Fox and Ezo Red Fox. To everyone, a snowy field is lifeless, but to the foxes, it’s teeming with life that is buried under snow.

They have a sharp hearing, sense of smell, and touch to detect prey that when they find their target, they stick their heads to the snow and grab their food. The foxes may not be able to adapt in certain regions, but in the polar areas, they’ll have no problem moving around and finding food. Though, in this case, they really don’t need to hunt since Japari buns are everywhere.


3. Lion

In order for a Friend to be adaptable, having a great set of skills like strength, stamina, dexterity, body features to cope with the environment, are needed but having social skills is also great. Lion is a large and powerful cat with a very imposing figure and since lions are social animals, Lion gained a lot of followers to form a functional pride and is living comfortably in a fortress. But Lion is actually a very chill Friend who'd prefer to play games and laze around instead of going to battle with her rival Friend, Moose, who always loses during their frequent battles to claim the fortress.

In terms of power, Moose is definitely stronger than Lion, and she has some powerful followers like the Giant Armadillo, African Porcupine, and White Rhinoceros, but why are they losing every time? If Moose has the communication skill to tell her followers to engage in battle by not falling in line when charging and letting the slower but powerful fighters catch up, then maybe they wouldn’t have lost 51 times in a row.


2. Serval

Serval is the main companion of Kaban and she’s the most adaptable Friend given how sharp her senses are: agile, can jump very high, can climb up trees and cliffs very quickly, high stamina and a capable fighter with her powerful claws. Also, just like actual servals and most cats in general, Serval is nocturnal and can also do well during nighttime.

One of Serval’s feats is being able to carry a heavy object, like the Japari Bus, by jumping to the other side of the river. The only disadvantage is she’s not too good going around in thick jungles, and not good at swimming.


1. Kaban (Human)

Technically, Kaban is a Friend because she was born from the Sandstar, a mysterious material with the power to create life like the Friends we meet throughout the series. If you compare Kaban to other friends, she is the weakest. She can’t run fast, jump very high, isn't strong or has a specialized body part to adapt to cold, humid or hot environments, but she is very dexterous, intelligent and inventive. She can create tools and create fire to her advantage and no Friend can come close to her in terms of intelligence. In fact, throughout the series, Kaban has helped everyone in overcoming challenges and obstacles and was the one who came up with the plan on defeating the seemingly indestructible giant cerulean.


Final Thoughts

Humans cannot naturally adapt to every environment like most animals, but humans have the tools needed and the mastery of fire to change the environment and suit their needs. This is the basis of human civilization and there is no doubt humans are the most adaptable animals on the planet.

And that’s our list. The list is predictable, but there’s no denying Kaban deserves to be number 1. Due to the short length of the series and with so many characters, the anime didn’t have enough time to flesh out each Friend. Hopefully, with season 2 over the horizon, we’ll get to see more Friends with more screen time.

Kemono-Friends-wallpaper Top 10 Adaptable Kemono Friends Characters

Writer

Author: Antoine Rizal

I've been an anime fan for as long as I can remember. Actually, anime is very much a part of me now for I have extended my reach beyond just watching them. I am a fansubber for more than 8 years now and contributed a lot to the anime community. Me and my group has translated shows, manga, drama CDs and doujinshi. Right now I'm learning Japanese so I can better serve the community and read interesting stuff about the Japanese culture as well.

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