Episode 4: Desert Area

**Desert Area** is the fourth episode of the *Kemono Friends* anime. It premiered on February 1st 2017.

## Episode Summary

Kaban and Serval are heading through the desert area on the Japari Bus. After a rough ride over some sand dunes, Lucky Beast notices a sandstorm and decides to get them out of there. However, the bus is stuck in the sand.

Suddenly, another Friend is flung out of the sandstorm and hits Serval right on the head. It's Sand Cat, who had approached the sandstorm out of curiosity. They get the bus out of the sand and Sand Cat joins Kaban and Serval.

Lucky Beast explains that Sand Cat can change its body temperature between hot and cold levels at will. When transformed into a Friend, this resulted in her quickly shifting from being interested in things to losing that interest, moving between hot and cold.

As the desert gets too hot for Serval and Kaban, the bus stops by Sand Cat's home. Sand Cat lives in a cave and the group sit down to eat. Lucky Beast mentions that it will get very cold during the night because they're in the desert, which worries the group more.

Sand Cat suggests they leave through "the hole in the back" and shows them a rather large cracked wall leading to the park's bypass. She digs out the sand covering up the path and the bus gets through, but Sand Cat decides to stay behind because she's tired and her curiosity for one day has been stated.

After moving through the bypass for a bit they find a strange entrance. Kaban asks if they can stop and check it out, finding a dungeon built in stone on the other side. The door closes behind them and they're shocked as Tsuchinoko appears behind them, just as scared of them as they are of her. A recorded voice from the speaker tells them they've entered a Japari Park attraction; the Underground Labyrinth.

Tuschinoko explains that they need to find an exit out of the ruins. She smells her way to an emergency exit but it's clogged up with hardened lava rock. Due to the abundance of Red Cerulean in the labyrinth, the Friends suddenly find themselves chased by a handful of large ones. Tsuchinoko identifies part of a bridge as weak and they lure the Cerulean to fall down into the chasm below.

After escaping the Cerulean, Tsuchinoko discovers a Japari Coin. She explains that Japari Coins used to be the currency used in the park and would let you buy Japari Buns and more. Her excitement fascinated Serval and Kaban, causing her to feel embarrassed.

Eventually they find the real exit of the labyrinth, which too has been clogged up with lava rock. Kaban manages to identify a nearby emergency exit hidden behind a wall, which prompts Tsuchinoko to ask her what kind of Friend she is. Kaban explains that she doesn't know yet and they leave the labyrinth.

Tsuchinoko is overjoyed by them finding the exit area, a part of the park that is not on the map and that she has yet to research. Lucky Beast approaches Kaban and congratulates them on completing the attraction. Tsuchinoko is surprised by Lucky Beast speaking and nearly suggests what kind of Friend Kaban might be.

While at the exit area, Lucky Beast starts playing another recording. This time it's the inauguration of the labyrinth, giving the Friends an idea of how old the recordings might be. As they leave on the bus, Tsuchinoko is relieved by the idea that Kaban, whom she has identified as human but decided to keep secret, wasn't annihilated.

After the credits, Common Raccoon is caught up in the jungle area's river and nearly went downstream. She was saved by the bridge platforms that Kaban had helped the Friends build. Fennec tells her to be more careful as Jaguar and Small-clawed Otter tell them that Kaban built the bridge.

Raccoon says that she owes Kaban her life and Fennec asks them if they've seen anyone with a hat on their head. Jaguar says that the Friend with a hat on their head went to the mountain but before she's able to talk about how she came back down or that it's the same Friend as Kaban, Raccoon rushes off to their next destination.

## Characters

In order of appearance.

* Lucky Beast
* Kaban
* Serval (Second Generation)
* Sand Cat
* Tsuchinoko
* Common Raccoon
* Fennec
* Small-clawed Otter
* Jaguar

## Trivia

* Mewhan, who voices Sand Cat in this episode, is also the artist performing *Boku No Friend*, the ending theme song of the series. In fact the Sand Cat hums part of this song in this episode, when she is digging into the sand at about 9'.