Earlier this year, we wrote about Kemono Friends (literally, Beast Friends), the sleeper hit series that turned out to be inspired by a trip that creator Yoshizaki Mine had made to the Singapore Night Safari.

Kemono Friends takes place in a strange safari park, where the young female protagonist wakes up with no memory or knowledge and no idea who she is, but finds and befriends anthropomorphic animals, who call themselves "friends".

Voice actors in town

Recently, the voice actors of the series, who call themselves Doubutsu Biscuits (Animal Biscuits) were in town for Japanese culture event Chara Expo as special guests, and they were warmly received.

シンガポールで行われたChara Expo 2017に参加しました！
トークショー・第1話上映・ミニライブでは会場が一体となり、想像の遥か上を行く盛り上がりでした！
ご参加頂いた皆様、スタッフ・キャストの皆様ありがとうございました！#けものフレンズ　#charaexpo2017 pic.twitter.com/VPfGPwnd04

— けものフレンズ＠公式アカウント (@kemo_project) September 10, 2017

To commemorate the occasion, Yoshizaki drew our Merlion welcoming the voice-acting quintet to our shores.

But it wasn't our usual Merlion we're familiar with, it's a cutesy anthropomorphic one.

ようこそ、どうぶつビスケッツ！（がんばれ〜）　#charaexpo2017 #けものフレンズ pic.twitter.com/osWVfDGg66

— 吉崎 観音 (@yosRRX) September 9, 2017

Welcome, Animal Biscuits! (Do your best!)

[related_story]

Quirky details

The way Yoshizaki portrayed our Merlion was pretty loyal to the statue in real life, especially with the mane and the fish tail.

Her Merlion is also dressed classy, with a handkerchief in her breast pocket, designed after the Singapore flag, no less.

But why the green eyes though? The last we checked, the Merlion doesn't have coloured eyes.

Wouldn't it make more sense for it to just be brown or black, as with the average Asian eye colour?

Laser beams

Well, a Twitter user theorised that this was based on the Merlion at Sentosa, actually.

This is because the Merlion situated at Sentosa shoots green laser beams for light shows, which makes sense if it was the reason why Yoshizaki chose green as a colour for her version of the Merlion.

目が緑色なのはセントーサ島のマーライオンを意識されたんですね！
しっかりとマーライオンについて調べられていて尊敬します！ pic.twitter.com/9SivINn0LN

— おつきみどろぼう (@tuki3457) September 9, 2017

The eyes are green, so you must have noticed the Sentosa Island's Merlion! I really respect the fact that you researched about the Merlion so thoroughly!

Furthermore, Yoshizaki's Merlion has a slight rainbow hue, which may have been a nod to the projection mapping shows, which bathes the half-lion half-fish statue in various colours too.

Who knows, maybe this could translate into real merchandise, but more likely than not, this is just a one-off thing.

This is because Yoshizaki's characters are based off real animals, and we know all too well that the Merlion is a man-made creature.

Regardless, it could be the starting point for a Kemono Friends-centric tour of Singapore, or even an anime tour, as we are regularly referenced in anime, directly or indirectly.

Fun times we live in, indeed.

Top image adapted via Yoshizaki Mine's Twitter