There isn’t anything more quintessentially anime than the kemonomimi. The term kemonomimi is actually a pretty broad one used to define mostly human characters that have certain animal-like physical characteristics. A very common example is the cat girl, or nekomimi, but kemonomimi covers all the animal characteristics.
While there is a certain subset of people that enjoy this a lot, and enjoy them for various reasons, the kemonomimi in most cases are designed to be cute. They rose with the same star of moe in anime, and have since stuck around. If you are a fan of these bit beastly types of characters, then here are a few anime recommendations that feature kemonomimi pretty prominently.
Best Kemonomimi Anime
Kemono Friends
When it comes to animal people, there is no show more prominent and possibly notorious than Kemono Friends. This series follows an environmental park that is fully inhabited by humanoids animals. They exist friendlier than their animal counterparts would if confined together in the same free-roaming zoo.
Dog Days
If you want kemonomimi, there is no more dense concentration of them in anime than Dog Days. It is set on a world like Earth, but only inhabited by kemonomimi where the characters engage in some very low stakes warfare. The purpose of Dog Days is undeniably to just churn out cute new animal people for audiences to enjoy, and it succeeds in every new entry.
Di Gi Charat
While pretty old now, Di Gi Charat is peak moe anime in every respect. Not just the art style, but the story about a princess trying to make everyone happy by doing random jobs too. Of course, many of the characters sport cat ears, though they may actually just be hats. Regardless, I’m counting it.
Nekopara
Nekopara takes cat girls and makes things a little more dubious by perhaps having too much world-building, at least in the H-games it is based on. In Nekopara, the main character is a chef who finds two cat girls that his family had been raising have decided to stowaway with him to his new pastry shop. From there is it nice slice of life antics, thankfully. The lore that Nekopara sets up for cat girls is what makes this dubious, but the anime doesn’t focus on that.
Konohana Kitan
Konohana Kitan is, simply put, a series about an inn ran almost exclusively by kemonomimi. Anime tends to insist that many spirits are kemonomimi, but none more so than this show. It is wholesome, soothing fluff where the characters are cute and the drama is minimal. It is one of those series you watch when you just want to unwind.
Spice & Wolf
While Spice and Wolf can wax on about medieval economics a bit too long, it does create a story akin to no other. It follows a wolf goddess who, after not being worshiped enough by the local populace, decides to go home. She manifests a kemonomimi form and hitches a ride with a visiting merchant. The tale is a slow one filled with much dialogue that builds out the world they journey through. However, the most charming part of the series is watching the pair grow closer as they travel.
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid
When you think of kemonomimi, you think of cat girls or dog boys, but any animal can represent. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid dares to do it with dragons from various mythologies. They have actual dragon forms, but their human forms are distinctly kemonomimi. While the dragon element is interesting and new, the slice of life element is wholesome and comforting.
Uma Musume
This series takes the bare bones premise of “what if race horses were reincarnated as cute girls with animal ears that run track?” and runs with it. It is cute girls doing cute racing things, but it is nice to see horse girls getting some love.
Killing Bites
Usually kemonomimi sit firming in the realms of moe and, while they can be in action anime, it is usually low stakes action at best. If you like your kemonomimi as vicious as animals, Killing Bites is for you. This ecchi battler is about kemonomimi being used as proxy fighters to settle disputes between business conglomerates. It is fine blood sport.
No Game No Life
Kemonomimi aren’t the focus in No Game No Life, but aren’t uncommon. Mostly you will see them as adversaries in the fantasy land where every dispute is settled by playing games. As the series focuses on the nation of humans, it is safe to say there are other kemonomimi nations out in the world, but with only one season, you only get a few samples.
The Rising of the Shield Hero
While there are series here that have kemonomimi in more abundance, The Rising of the Shield Hero probably has one of the more well-known characters because she plays a large role in the plot. Furthermore, since the beast people are rather oppressed, it is fun to see the Shield Hero as a champion for them.
These Problem Children are Coming From Another World, Aren’t They?
This low-key isekai series has three talented humans transported to another world where they use their special skills to thrive in high-stakes games. While the games are clever enough, this series is more a constant parade of cute girls, and many of them kemonomimi.
Demon Girl Zakuro
While there are plenty of yokai in anime, Demon Girl Zakuro suggests that most yokai are cute kemonomimi girls. The series follows humans and yokai working alongside each other to unravel a variety of paranormal cases.
Loveless
If your okay with boy’s love, Loveless tells a tale of a world where everyone is born with cat ears and a tail until they engage in sexual activity. That immediately should tell you all you need to know about the series, and it is one of the more problematic boy’s love series out there. Still, if that is for you, it is absolutely dripping with drama.
Meddlesome Fox Senko-San
Sometimes you just want someone to take care of you. Senko fulfills that fantasy by being about a fox deity that takes care of an overworked and under-loved salaryman. The series is mostly just wholesome fluff, but that can be great to unwind to.
Hataage! Kemono Michi
This lovely flip on an isekai has a wrestler transported to another world and tasked with monster extermination. Of course, being an animal lover, he declines the plea with a German suplex and aims to start a pet shop instead. On his journey, he is accompanied by a number of kemonomimi since he serves as a strong advocate for the misunderstood.
Utawarerumono
Imagine waking up with no memories and being taken in by a village of kemonomimi only to find that you are the odd one for not having those animal aspects. That’s how this series starts. It becomes more about unraveling that plot of why his memories are missing and why his mask won’t come off his face, but the kemonomimi are a cute accent.
Cat Planet Cuties
This a staple for the cat girl fans, though it admittedly has less cat girls than you would expect. However, it is a fun little rom-com about keeping an alien cat girl out of the hands of various shady organizations when it turns out that most of your friends and neighbors work for those various organizations.
Kamisama Kiss
This series follows a girl who ends up living at a shrine and caring for the land as a sort of deity. Her familiar that came with the shrine is a fox demon with a bloody past and a pretty cute set of ears. If you enjoy your shoujo romances, Kamisama Kiss is an excellent one where handsome kemonomimi boys occasionally crawl out of the woodwork.
Inuyasha
If you crave something with a little more action, the titular Inuyasha is a half demon who inherited some demonic powers and a set of dog ears from is dog demon father. You will see a variety of other demons in this twist on Feudal Japan that will occasionally have animal aspects to them. However, not all demons in this series are kemonomimi.
A Centaur’s Life
Have you ever wondered about the various difficulties of being a centaur school girl? No? Well, that’s what this series explores. It is a school life series that really highlights all the ways it probably would suck to be an actual centaur. The series also has a number of other kemonomimi in the diverse world as well.
Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits
After being sold off to an ogre and inn owner, a girl enters the spirit world to pay off the debt instead of settle it with marriage. While working at the inn, she encounters a number of spirits. Many of them look much like normal people, but you will spot a fair few kemonomimi here that correspond to creatures in Japanese mythology. The one you’ll see most often is Ginji, a nine-tailed fox demon.
Gugure! Kokkuri-san
This is a bit like gender-flipped Senko-san. In it, a fox demon is summoned suddenly by a girl that proclaims herself a doll. He is so shocked by her living situation that he starts to essentially be her housekeeper. It is a pretty solid comedy and one awash with handsome demon men, though not all of them kemonomimi.
My Hero Academia
While kemonomimi have visited shounen anime before, they have never been present in such abundance until My Hero Academia. This takes place in a world were almost everyone develops superpowers. Some of them are of a traditional nature and some of them are animal-like, such as manifesting the powers of a bird or the strong legs of a rabbit. However, this show goes above and beyond by having characters with all sorts of characteristics that relate to their quirk. Are they kemonomimi if they have non-animal heads?
Seton Academy: Join the Pack
This school life comedy follows a human guy in a sea of kemonomimi classmates. Of course, the comedy stems from ow much her hates animals and how one wolf girl is determined to make him part of her pack.
Show By Rock
Usually music-based anime tends to follow a similar sort of plot. Show By Rock is definitely an entry that really shakes things up in multiple ways. The first being that they are using music to battle darkness, and the second shake up comes from many of the characters having their cuteness accentuated by being some type of kemonomimi.
Do you have more kemonomimi anime recommendations that highlight anthropomorphic characters? Let fans know in the comments section below.
