Kemono (ケモノ) is a genre of Japanese art and character design that prominently features anthropomorphic animal characters. It is used widely in visual arts, especially drawing and painting, and can be found in manga, anime, and video game works. Anthropomorphic animal characters in the kemono genre are frequently called Jūjin (獣人 or じゅうじん, "therianthrope"; alternatively, these characters are also sometimes read as kemonobito "beast-human"). Their design differs from artist to artist, but they generally employ animal traits considered cute and endearing. However, most kemono characters retain a fundamentally human personality, seldom behaving as the actual animals from which they have been anthropomorphized; as such, kemono are typically depicted living as humans do.
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