This series attracted a lot of attention in the lead-up to its premiere, and it’s easy to see why. Michael Cimino’s directorial debut in the anime circuit is a bold choice compared to his seasonal contemporaries. Not only does the live-action presentation contrast vividly against traditionally animated series, but the subject matter of the Vietnam War is provocative in this instance, given that—

Mhm, mhm, sorry. I’ve just had a brimstone-scented message from my editor burn its way into my floor informing me that I’m supposed to be reviewing My Deer Friend Nokotan this season, not The Deer Hunter. Easy enough mistake to make, I think we can all agree. And hey, she forgave me for that time I got the lead dude’s name wrong in one of my Muv-Luv reviews, so I should be okay. Anyway!

*ahem*

Deer.

What is it about these creatures that compels human creativity to such outlandish exaggeration? Is it their unassuming, ubiquitous status as stately steeds (are they steeds?) of the forest? Is it the banality of a film like Bambi that invites so-called comedy creators to re-envision the animals as arbiters of abject chaos? It’s evident in so much media. The insistent DEEEER Simulator. That one episode of Regular Show with the weird deer. That one episode of Adventure Time that also had a weird deer that aired less than a month out from the Regular Show episode. Is there no clearer way to comedy than to do things odd with these great antlered beasts? Perchance.

The anime adaptation of Oshioshio‘s magnum cervus nobly seeks to answer all these questions and more. How it answers those questions, as with all literary efforts, is a matter of audience interpretation. It is up to us to determine if the titular Nokotan is as much a force of chaos as her exemplary fictional fawn brethren. Compared to the roulette of reset personalities that is her apparent paramour Koshi, or her psycho-siscon little sister Anko introduced in the second episode, Nokotan could be argued to be the normal one. She simply wishes to eat deer crackers and occupy the Deer Club. And deploy dinner from inside her detachable antlers. And make regular gags about not being able to walk through doors on account of her antlers, even as her remembering to turn sideways later in the first episode was honestly the more clever evolution of that gag. So why did Nokotan have that problem again in the second episode? Is she stupid?

The depths of Nokotan tempt my analysis further. Only through dense analysis of symbolism can I deduce its true meaning. Okay, so the reason the curtains in the Deer Club room are pink is—

Okay look, given that there is kind of an actual show here, I figure I’ve got to review My Deer Friend Nokotan for realsies, at least a little bit every week, lest my editor hexes my ass. And the fact is that this series, despite what its manufactured hype hoped to make you believe, is not the second coming of Shitpost Jesus such that would necessitate full-on avant-garde reviews like, say, Pop Team Epic. I reviewed three seasons and an OVA for Dropkick on My Devil!, for Shishigami’s sake, that show eventually ascended to being such an experience.

The thing is, if you can allow yourself to kick back and enjoy My Deer Friend Nokotan, it’s still a perfectly amusing little screwball comedy. I counted several “Pfffft”s from myself per each of the two episodes so far. The first one’s definitely stronger, if only because the surprise of some of the punchlines makes them more sputter-worthy. There’s only so often the series can cause Koshi to cringe by reminding her of her virginity before it starts to lose its ludicrous luster. That said, Koshitan is easily my favorite part of the show anyway. Partway through the second episode, I momentarily wondered if this girl was actually worth being fought over by these other two girls, one being a deer and the other her younger sister seemingly looking to go full Folgers-ad with her. But then I just had to remind myself that Koshi was a former badass delinquent turned easily flustered, regularly owned student council president, so the answer is yes, she’s perfect.

Honestly, the show’s biggest issue is that the humor’s uneven, and there’s not enough per volume to paper over the weak parts. That’s what makes stuff like Airplane! work—you have to move at a fast clip. My Deer Friend Nokotan is happy to deploy a tired old Ashita no Joe reference, which it should be better than, then linger on it for minutes before breaking out a much funnier joke about the “Shika Shika Network” (SSN). At least I can confirm that the rumors about this show’s subtitles being done by AI were greatly exaggerated. The second episode’s subs read a bit smoother than the initial effort, with fewer typos and spacing errors, and even have a few places of superlative adaptation, like using the correct number of characters in Anko’s quiz answer. So at least that hopefully won’t be dropping deer droppings on the proceedings moving forward.

Y’know, I was going to make a passing reference to “Deer God,” but then this anime actually went and included a Deer God. I don’t know if I should praise the show for being as smart or insult it for being as stupid as me.

Alright, that ought to be enough to keep me from being turned into a newt for at least another week.

Rating: This picture of deer in Washington my parents sent me a few days ago.

My Deer Friend Nokotan is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.

Chris doesn’t want to burn any decent deer puns in the footer here, lest he need to use them in the reviews over the coming weeks. If you’re really craving any extra aside goofiness, why not check out his Twitter or his blog? I think I saw some jokes on there the other day.