Kemono Friends à la Carte returns with a second volume, featuring even more manga stories from Japari Park by various artists. Kemono Friends has a lot of fans, and all of the artists enthusiastically contributed to this anthology.
Yen Press licensed the manga for an English release.
Front cover of the second volume of Kemono Friends à la Carte, featuring Serval and Kaban.
Every day’s a blast for Kaban, Serval, and the rest of the Friends in Japari Park! Whether they’re playing together, trying out new recipes, pranking one another, or working out, these cute critters are always getting into new and exciting adventures!
With the first volume of Kemono Friends à la Carte, I though that it was somewhat biased towards the Japari Café, and that perhaps other Friends would get more time in the spotlight in this second volume.
I was wrong. In this volume, the Friends from Japari Café are the most recurring characters, as well as Northern White-faced Owl and Eurasian Eagle Owl Naturally, Kaban and Serval frequently appear as well.
Common Raccoon and Fennec once again get little more than a cameo appearance, despite their recurring appearances in the anime.
It is a shame, but the stories that are on offer in Kemono Friends à la Carte are all a lot of fun, even if there is a bit of bias towards certain Friends. Volume two has an extremely strong start with Rei Idumi’s I Love You!!, which is about Kaban and Serval discovering new games to play together.
One thing that makes this anthology a joy to read is that the stories all feel like that they could have come right out of the Kemono Friends anime itself. Besides the aforementioned I Love You!!, a few of the other standout stories for me include: The Professor, the Assistant & the Body Pillow by Tomohiro Marukawa; Laugh So Rough by Kabocha; I’ll Be the Best Ninja I Can Be Today! by Kanaineko and Muscle Friends by Kyousuke Nishiki.
The temptation is to just list every last story in the anthology, since they are all worth reading for anyone who considers themselves a fan of Kemono Friends. It isn’t just stories that artists have contributed to this anthology, though. There are also colour illustrations, which all look amazing. Koruse’s illustration of Jaguar and Small-clawed Otter is my favourite of the bunch.
It is clear that every artist that contributed to Kemono Friends à la Carte feels a great deal of passion towards Kemono Friends, and that shines through in their work. A wonderful addition to the world of Kemono Friends.
Rory Muses 