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A General Guide to Japanese Fursuit
3 years ago
A General Guide to Japanese Fursuit
What does the term “kemono” mean?
We (people in the west) usually say “kemono” when referring to the fursuits in Japan, but it might be a misnomer because “kemono” has nothing to do with fursuits in Japanese. “Kemono” is written as “ケモノ” in katakana or “獣” in kanji (usually written in katakana), which means “furry” (in fact, the literal meaning of “kemono” is “beast,” which stands for “mix of human and animal”). What makes the term “kemono” even more irrelevant is that there exists another term for “furry” called “獣人” (pronounced “juujin”), whose literal meaning is “beast man.” The difference between those terms seems to be subtle, but great enough for Japanese furries to tell the difference. What this suggests is that “kemono” cannot describe furries in general as furries fall into two categories: kemono and juujin. Both “kemono” and “juujin” can be used to refer to an anthropomorphized animal character, that is, an animal character with human traits (e.g., being able to speak, possessing human intelligence, and walking on two legs), but the differences are:
1. If we introduce a system called “animalization level” or “ケモノ度” in Japanese, which measures the percentage of animal/human traits a certain anthropomorphized character possesses, we can conclude that a kemono is more animalized than juujin. That is to say that, unlike juujin, a kemono looks more like an animal rather than a human. For example, a kemono is more likely to capture the traits of an animal – a kemono may possess an animal-like anatomy or in some rare cases, a kemono may even be quadrupedal while a juujin is more likely to inherit traits from Homo sapiens – a juujin may have an anatomy that is identical to that of a human, and they are always bipedal.
2. A kemono is usually cute while a juujin is usually cool and intimidating. This is because a kemono is created to capture the cuteness of an animal while a juujin is more like an actual beast or monster (e.g., werewolf). A kemono typically looks small and weak, but a juujin usually looks huge and jacked.
For further explanations, see the link below:
https://chigai-hikaku.com/?p=19387
Now, we see that furries (or ケモナー in Japanese) fall into two categories: kemono and juujin. If you are a big fan of cute animal characters, you might be classified as “ケモノ派” (pronounced kemono-ha) which means “a kemono person,” but if you love muscular animal characters, you are probably a “獣人派 (juujin-ha)” which means “a juujin person.” You may want to choose fursuit makers based on your category.
Kemono-ha’s Maker List
Atelier Amanojaku (アトリエあまのじゃく)
Official website: https://atoama.jp/en/
Atelier is a big corporation that has made over 1000 kemono suits across the globe, but their business is actually very limited – most of their clients are based in Asia. It is unclear why Atelier is less appealing to people from the west unlike their counterpart Kemono-Line (or in short, K-Line), but they have amassed a sizable fan base in Asia and thus they can maintain their unparalleled influence on the kemono community. Atelier is very well-known for their fursuits’ unique shape – the aesthetics of their suits is truly unrivaled, which is something that numerous people would die for. Their fursuit heads are highly customizable (especially the shape of the eyes) and can be made as per your request (based on the premise that they made your reference sheet correctly). Therefore, Atelier is the top choice for people who want a cuddly, cute fursuit.
Kemono Line (K-Line)
Official website: https://kemono-line.jp/top-en.html
K-Line is the most popular kemono suit maker in the west – if you attend a furry convention in the west, the kemono suits you see are very likely to be K-Line suits. Many popufurs (e.g., Sherbert Shenanigans) based in the west have K-Line suits. K-Line strives to improve their service for customers from the west and has the best English communication skills compared to their counterparts. Their fursuits are characterized by big plastic eyes, tiny muzzles, and heavy paddings, which is deemed cute by many. And many of their suits look more like Pokémon/Digimon suits than actual animal suits because it is hard to tell what species they are. If you have a creature that is small and cute with big shinny eyes, K-Line is your best option.
Milkpot (みるくぽっと)
Milkpot is closed infinitely for fursuit commissions. Before Milkpot was out of business, they were like the brother of Atelier because both have similar designs of characters. This is because an artist named Ichihi was in charge of the character design, and she was also a top contributor to the website named “Furstar” (and she still is), which is operated by Atelier. The shape of their fursuits looks very aesthetically attractive (one of the examples is Misoshiru’s character named “Light” or “ライト” in Japanese: https://twitter.com/misosiru1026) and their eyes look pretty distinctive.
Juujin-ha’s Maker List
Doggy Studio (犬工房)
Website: https://www.inu-koubou.com/
Doggy Studio has a considerably large fan base in their home country – Japan. That might be a reason why Doggy Studio is not very well-known in the west and they do not even have an English website. Their fursuits look distinctively Japanese – this is characterized by their angular eyes (at least most of their suits have angular eyes). Their fursuits look stylish rather than kawaii. The only concern is they may not be able to communicate in English as everything is written in Japanese (including the quote).
Kigurumi Kagetsu (きぐるみ花月)
Website: https://www.kigurumikagetsu.jp/
Kigurumi Kagetsu (or in short, Kagetsu) has a pretty decent popularity in the west. Kagetsu’s fursuits are distinctly juujin style, that is, all their characters are juujin characters. It is very interesting that they have very short fur around their chest and belly and some of them seem to have “chiseled chest” and “abdominal muscles” which is a kind of padding that makes the character look muscular. Their fursuits are very expressive, which kind of look like Mixed Candy suits.
Author’s comment on Japanese fursuits and fursuiters
Personally, I am 100% kemono guy. Juujin is not really my thing so I may not be that invested in terms of research on juujin type of fursuits. I think the sole reason why I bought a fursuit from Japan is that I like their aesthetics and the fact that they can make characters so cute and attractive, which is not something that people from the west are capable of. If I were to get another fursuit, I would probably get another kemono suit from Atelier (if I could get enough funding somehow in the future). K-Line suits, in my opinion, are not that attractive because their eyes are too big which is off-putting to me.
What does the term “kemono” mean?
We (people in the west) usually say “kemono” when referring to the fursuits in Japan, but it might be a misnomer because “kemono” has nothing to do with fursuits in Japanese. “Kemono” is written as “ケモノ” in katakana or “獣” in kanji (usually written in katakana), which means “furry” (in fact, the literal meaning of “kemono” is “beast,” which stands for “mix of human and animal”). What makes the term “kemono” even more irrelevant is that there exists another term for “furry” called “獣人” (pronounced “juujin”), whose literal meaning is “beast man.” The difference between those terms seems to be subtle, but great enough for Japanese furries to tell the difference. What this suggests is that “kemono” cannot describe furries in general as furries fall into two categories: kemono and juujin. Both “kemono” and “juujin” can be used to refer to an anthropomorphized animal character, that is, an animal character with human traits (e.g., being able to speak, possessing human intelligence, and walking on two legs), but the differences are:
1. If we introduce a system called “animalization level” or “ケモノ度” in Japanese, which measures the percentage of animal/human traits a certain anthropomorphized character possesses, we can conclude that a kemono is more animalized than juujin. That is to say that, unlike juujin, a kemono looks more like an animal rather than a human. For example, a kemono is more likely to capture the traits of an animal – a kemono may possess an animal-like anatomy or in some rare cases, a kemono may even be quadrupedal while a juujin is more likely to inherit traits from Homo sapiens – a juujin may have an anatomy that is identical to that of a human, and they are always bipedal.
2. A kemono is usually cute while a juujin is usually cool and intimidating. This is because a kemono is created to capture the cuteness of an animal while a juujin is more like an actual beast or monster (e.g., werewolf). A kemono typically looks small and weak, but a juujin usually looks huge and jacked.
For further explanations, see the link below:
https://chigai-hikaku.com/?p=19387
Now, we see that furries (or ケモナー in Japanese) fall into two categories: kemono and juujin. If you are a big fan of cute animal characters, you might be classified as “ケモノ派” (pronounced kemono-ha) which means “a kemono person,” but if you love muscular animal characters, you are probably a “獣人派 (juujin-ha)” which means “a juujin person.” You may want to choose fursuit makers based on your category.
Kemono-ha’s Maker List
Atelier Amanojaku (アトリエあまのじゃく)
Official website: https://atoama.jp/en/
Atelier is a big corporation that has made over 1000 kemono suits across the globe, but their business is actually very limited – most of their clients are based in Asia. It is unclear why Atelier is less appealing to people from the west unlike their counterpart Kemono-Line (or in short, K-Line), but they have amassed a sizable fan base in Asia and thus they can maintain their unparalleled influence on the kemono community. Atelier is very well-known for their fursuits’ unique shape – the aesthetics of their suits is truly unrivaled, which is something that numerous people would die for. Their fursuit heads are highly customizable (especially the shape of the eyes) and can be made as per your request (based on the premise that they made your reference sheet correctly). Therefore, Atelier is the top choice for people who want a cuddly, cute fursuit.
Kemono Line (K-Line)
Official website: https://kemono-line.jp/top-en.html
K-Line is the most popular kemono suit maker in the west – if you attend a furry convention in the west, the kemono suits you see are very likely to be K-Line suits. Many popufurs (e.g., Sherbert Shenanigans) based in the west have K-Line suits. K-Line strives to improve their service for customers from the west and has the best English communication skills compared to their counterparts. Their fursuits are characterized by big plastic eyes, tiny muzzles, and heavy paddings, which is deemed cute by many. And many of their suits look more like Pokémon/Digimon suits than actual animal suits because it is hard to tell what species they are. If you have a creature that is small and cute with big shinny eyes, K-Line is your best option.
Milkpot (みるくぽっと)
Milkpot is closed infinitely for fursuit commissions. Before Milkpot was out of business, they were like the brother of Atelier because both have similar designs of characters. This is because an artist named Ichihi was in charge of the character design, and she was also a top contributor to the website named “Furstar” (and she still is), which is operated by Atelier. The shape of their fursuits looks very aesthetically attractive (one of the examples is Misoshiru’s character named “Light” or “ライト” in Japanese: https://twitter.com/misosiru1026) and their eyes look pretty distinctive.
Juujin-ha’s Maker List
Doggy Studio (犬工房)
Website: https://www.inu-koubou.com/
Doggy Studio has a considerably large fan base in their home country – Japan. That might be a reason why Doggy Studio is not very well-known in the west and they do not even have an English website. Their fursuits look distinctively Japanese – this is characterized by their angular eyes (at least most of their suits have angular eyes). Their fursuits look stylish rather than kawaii. The only concern is they may not be able to communicate in English as everything is written in Japanese (including the quote).
Kigurumi Kagetsu (きぐるみ花月)
Website: https://www.kigurumikagetsu.jp/
Kigurumi Kagetsu (or in short, Kagetsu) has a pretty decent popularity in the west. Kagetsu’s fursuits are distinctly juujin style, that is, all their characters are juujin characters. It is very interesting that they have very short fur around their chest and belly and some of them seem to have “chiseled chest” and “abdominal muscles” which is a kind of padding that makes the character look muscular. Their fursuits are very expressive, which kind of look like Mixed Candy suits.
Author’s comment on Japanese fursuits and fursuiters
Personally, I am 100% kemono guy. Juujin is not really my thing so I may not be that invested in terms of research on juujin type of fursuits. I think the sole reason why I bought a fursuit from Japan is that I like their aesthetics and the fact that they can make characters so cute and attractive, which is not something that people from the west are capable of. If I were to get another fursuit, I would probably get another kemono suit from Atelier (if I could get enough funding somehow in the future). K-Line suits, in my opinion, are not that attractive because their eyes are too big which is off-putting to me.
