S1E05: Lake Shore

Episode 5 - Lake Shore
こはん (Kohan)
Episode Data
Air Date		February 7, 2017
Introductions		Black-Tailed Prairie Dog, North American Beaver
Previous		Episode 4 - Desert Area
Next		Episode 6 - Plains

Lake Shore (Japanese: こはん) is the fifth episode of the Kemono Friends anime series. It introduces Black-Tailed Prairie Dog and North American Beaver.

Summary

Lucky follows the road driving the Japari Bus to the Lake Shore. He explains that the lake the area is based on was presumably built by beavers, and that the moderately warm temperature allows for the flourishing of vegetation, offering a stunning view to all who drive through it.

Curious about the driving remark, Serval and Kaban ask Boss how he can drive the Japari Bus without touching it. He says that the bus is semi-automatically driving through a wireless link to him but can still be manually driven and asks Serval and Kaban if they want to try. While Kaban rejects the offer, the ever-excited Serval jumps in the front seat and takes control of the Bus. She finds it to be a lot of fun until her less-than-ideal driving skills accidentally lead to the Bus hitting the trunk of a tree, which ends up hitting more trees like dominoes until a good amount of them fall in the lake, making a new Friend immediately scream in panic.

The Friend introduces herself as North American Beaver, nicknamed Beaver. She plans to build a wooden house on the Lake based on a picture she found, and the instincts carried over by her animal self give her an idea on how to do it, yet her anxious nature makes her tilt before starting any physical work. Moreover, she already gave away her last house, and the resources she just lost in the lake come from the professor, whom she paid with three months worth of Japari Buns, a fact that makes Serval feel very guilty. As Beaver starts to lose hope, Kaban and Serval decide to help her to find more resources in the nearby forest.

North American Beaver inside the Japari Bus

As the group hops onto the bus to visit the forest, Beaver starts getting anxious about leaving her place alone before they even start going, showing her tendency to overthink matters. During the journey inside the forest, Lucky, being the guide he is, educates the passengers on the forest's details, such as a long-tailed tit's and a megapode's nest. Talking about nests prompts Beaver to talk about how she likes the idea of having a small house, yet her new Friend body, being larger than her animal equivalent, requires a larger house. Kaban sympathizes with Beaver's love of smaller living spaces.

When they reach the perfect place to collect the resources and get off the bus, Serval accidentally trips on a hole. As she gets up, the group notices many other similar holes, and then a sound of a unknown Friend screaming for help. The voice comes from a Friend, who is half-buried in one of the many holes, is helped by the group. Initially, she gets angry at them, thinking they tried to bury her alive, but quickly apologizes when she realizes it was her fault. She presents herself as Black-Tailed Prairie Dog, before kissing the three girls in what she calls a "greeting in the prairie tradition,"x much to their shock and embarrassment.

Black-Tailed Prairie Dog's special greetings

Prairie Dog also was also trying to build a home with a nice view, however, every time she tries to dig holes, the ground keeps collapsing on her. Worried, Beaver explained how the large quantity of holes weakens the ground, a comment which leads Prairie Dog to praise her judgement. The group decides to give assistance to prairie dog after they cut the necessary trees for Beaver's house, and Prairie Dog decides to help them in return.

Beaver gets stressed thinking about having to find the right trees and cutting them at the right spot. Prairie Dog, on the other hand, charges ahead and begins to cut trees, which fall dangerously close to Kaban and Serval. Beaver stops Prairie Dog and teaches her the proper way to cut a tree, which allows her to choose where the tree falls. Prairie Dog follows her advice and cuts more than 100 trees in seconds, to the surprise of everyone.

After that is done, the group returns to the Lake Shore. While Beaver takes some time to plan the construction of her house, Prairie Dog visits the area to find a good place for her own dwelling. Beaver starts getting anxious again, and asks Kaban and Serval to watch over Prairie Dog instead. They find her once again buried in a hole she made. Kaban and Serval return to see Beaver, but discover that she hasn't even started work on her house because of her anxiety. Kaban suggests her to make a small model of the house to visualize it before the construction. Both Beaver and Prairie Dog's situations get worse each time Kaban and Serval make round trips, the former getting stuck making models of the models of her house and the latter getting literally stuck in every hole she makes. Demoralized, they all decide to rest together and eat Japari Buns. While Beaver and Prairie Dog share their woes, Kaban comes with the idea of having them work together to reach their goal, with Prairie Dog doing the physical work, while Beaver concentrates on giving directions and making models.

They decide to build a house on a small island in the middle of the lake, to be reached through an underground passage dug by Prairie Dog, and with a ladder reaching the main room of the house. As the group follows Beaver's instructions on what to do, Prairie Dog and Beaver realize the strong affinity between each other.

Once the house is completed, the Friends take their time to visit it and have fun together before they share a few parting words. Kaban and Serval then leave Lake Shore on the Japari Bus, heading towards new adventures.

Meanwhile, Fennec Fox and Raccoon climb the mountain, the former on the ropeway and the latter with her hands and encounter Suri Alpaca and Crested Ibis, who tell them that the girl they're chasing already went back down the mountain, much to Raccoon's dismay. While drinking tea, she briefly mentions a "treasure" waiting for her.

As the main duo continues on their trip, Serval enjoys the bed that Beaver and Prairie Dog built for them before they left when suddenly the bus gets assaulted by two unknown Friends.

Major Events

• Discovery of the Lake Shore.
• Encounter with North American Beaver and Black-Tailed Prairie Dog.
• Beaver's House construction.
• Assault of the unknown Friends.

Animal Talk Segments

Black-Tailed Prairie Dog's animal talk

North American Beaver's animal talk

Casts

Major Characters

• Kaban
• Serval
• Lucky
• Arai-san
• Fennec Fox

Minor Characters

• Black-Tailed Prairie Dog
• North American Beaver
• Aurochs
• Arabian Oryx
• Crested Ibis
• Suri Alpaca