Kemono Friends Tatsuki Firing Controversy

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Overview

Kemono Friends Tatsuki Firing Controversy refers to the reaction to the sudden firing of Kemono Friends writer and director Tatsuki and animation studio Yaoyoruzu by publisher Kadokawa Shoten after the anime's surprisingly successful first season. The move sparked outrage among the anime's fans, in part due to the unclear reasoning behind the firing.

Background

On September 25th, 2017, Kemono Friends director Tatsuki announced on Twitter that he had been suddenly removed as director from Kemono Friends via a notice from Kadokawa Shoten, noting that he was extremely disappointed.^[1] The tweet has been retweets over 300,000 times (shown below).

Developments

Fans voiced their support for Tatsuki, who fans saw as integral to the first season's charm and success.^[2] In response to the backlash, Kadokawa posted a statement on the firing,^[3] pointing to an issue of copyright that the animation studio, Yaoyoruzu, had violated, though details were vague. The relevant passage from the notice reads:

However, there are works that Yaoyorozu, the studio that handled production, used without contacting or sharing information through the appropriate channels. In order to keep the next project going, we proposed to normalize sharing information in advance, but Yaoyorozu could not accept these conditions and declined.

According to a Google Document about the controversy created by user KITA,^[4] Tatsuki had shared some art and a side episode known as episode 12.1 after the anime's end in March. Kadokawa also stated that Tatsuki and Yaoyoruzu had declared their intent to pull out of the show in August of that year, contradicting Tatsuki's statement. Some reports indicated that the Yaoyorozu staff had quit the project after Tatsuki's firing in solidarity, though that is unconfirmed. On September 26th, 2017, YouTuber Chibi Reviews covered the controversy, reacting to reports that the staff had walked out.

A Change.org^[5] petition was created to bring Tatsuki back. It gained over 54,000 signatures. The voice actresses for the show appeared and apologized for the controversy, though Anime News Network^[6] notes they had very little to do with the controversy, and hypothesized they were pressured to issue the apology by Kadokawa.

On October 3rd, Kadokawa Shoten CEO Shinichiro Inoue announced via Twitter that he did not anticipate the backlash and was in talks with Yaoyorozu looking for a resolution.^[7] On December 27th, Kemono Friends producer and Yaoyorozu exec Yoshitada Fukuhara announced on Twitter that the negotiations had failed and that they had failed to overturn the decision by Kadokawa, and added that would be the final update with regards to Tatsuki, Yayorozu, and the second season of Kemono Friends.^[8]