Alternative title(s): Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan
Manga Adaptation by Wit Studio
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

A former delinquent has changed her ways and is now a perfect student living a perfect school life. All of this falls apart when she meets Nokotan, a bizarre girl with deer antlers who threatens to reveal her past.

Jel’s verdict: YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE

This is why I try not to get too excited about new anime until I see them. I’ve been starving for a really dumb (complimentary) anime comedy, and My Deer Friend Nokotan should fit the bill. The trailer made me think it was some combination of Nichijou and Pop Team Epic, absurd slice of life mixed with powerful shitposting energy. Instead we got something more like… I dunno, Dropkick on My Devil? So I guess that’s my bad.

To clarify for anyone that didn’t watch that series, My Deer Friend Nokotan is full of comically graphic violence and a lot of fourth wall breaking, which can be funny, but it leaves you asking to what end? It’s rare that any of the sight gags build to an actual joke. For example, there’s a bit where the main girl, Koshitan, finds Nokotan lying on the ground, a bloody gory mess with one her antlers jammed in her head, and it’s dramatically framed with slow motion cameras and emotional music. Then, very abruptly, we cut to a normal scene of Nokotan sitting down, applying a band aid to her knee, the rest of her is fine. What was the point of all that? Are we supposed to laugh strictly off shock value? It doesn’t work for me.

Unfortunately things get worse when we do get to the writing, which is full of lame virgin jokes at Koshitan’s expense. I’m actually hard pressed to remember any jokes that were NOT virgin jokes, maybe there was something in there about Koshitan’s delinquent past but nothing that stuck. And yet despite all that, I wouldn’t say My Deer Friend Nokotan is beyond saving. There are some good pieces to work with, especially the absurd visual gags, that could be really entertaining with a little tweaking. In my desperation for dumb anime comedy, I’m willing to watch another episode to see if this can improve. I’m just not feeling very confident after episode 1.

Aqua‘s verdict: Enjoy the following low-effort shitpost in honor of this show’s extremely low-effort shitposting