Matt Schley
December 27, 2017 
It’s a confirmation Kemono Friends fans have been dreading for months, and now it’s finally here: the director and studio behind the first season will not be a part of the second.
The news came from studio Yaoyorozu producer Yoshitada Fukuhara, who posted on Twitter yesterday:
“This is the final confirmation: we weren’t able to overturn the decision about not being involved in season 2. We tried hard with [Kadokawa president Shinichiro] Inoue to live up to everyone’s hopes, but couldn’t succeed. I’m very sorry.”
In subsequent tweets, Fukuhara explained that the studio was set to animate the second season as of March, but heard in a meeting in August their services would not be required. The producer explained this was a sudden and surprising development.
The official reasoning for the removal of Yaoyorozu from season two, according to the Kemono Friends website, was the unlicensed use of Friends material on the part of the studio. In yesterday’s tweets, Fukuhara defended his studio, saying permission had been granted for its doujinshi it sold at Comic Market and unofficial episode 12.1.
Kemono Friends season 2 will go forward elsewhere, but it remains to be seen whether another director and studio can recreate the magic of the original.
今回はお騒がせをしまして誠に申し訳ございませんでした、皆様を不安にさせてしまった事をお詫び致します。最終的な報告になりますが、2期を外れる事に関しては覆りませんでした。井上専務と共に皆様のご期待に応える為、精一杯取り組んで参りましたが、力及ばず大変申し訳ございませんでした。
— エンタメ情報をつぶやく福原慶匡（8millionの代表） (@fukuhara_ystd) December 27, 2017
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