My Deer Friend Nokotan

Episode 12

There's a critical theory that goes that the best joke is one that's played on the audience. In this case, the audience is me, and I'll admit that My Deer Friend Nokotan got me pretty good here at the end. After building up a backward-looking, almost affectingly sentimental story and a gimmick of a potential finish last week, here the anime immediately disregards that concept, calls attention to disregarding it, mocks the audience for expecting that to be the ending, the jumps antlers-first into a different, utterly unforeshadowed concept of a capstone. It is precisely the kind of irreverent, meta-adaptational whiplash I'd been hoping for from this show since the season started, and it got the biggest laugh out of me since too.

Where the anime goes from there I don't think really matters. Especially since, even with the defining deadline of Shikanoko getting deported driving things, this episode is still effectively business as usual for My Deer Friend Nokotan. It's even down to reusing assets from previous episodes, which is admittedly kind of a funny bit to bring up in this context. The main escalation is the way it pointedly brings back everyone it can for the finale (and calls attention to this fact, natch). That lends the anime some of the manic energy it's inconsistently been able to use, which ups it a bit. Plus I pettily enjoy the series itself calling out how no one cares about Bashame's bullshit anymore. Why does this character exist?

As the explanation goes, though, all those character cameos really only are there at the narrative's behest—and narrated as such! That basically goes for this episode's whole deal. The detail about Shikanoko being an escapee from a syndicate of local mascots is a fun idea that allows a cavalcade of cameos (including the infamously endearing Sento-kun), but is clearly a basic bonus not meant to inform the character or go any further. There's a throwaway moment where Koshi and Nekoyamada almost understand how alike they are, but it's just that—throwaway. Even the concept of Koshi's true delinquent self having been revealed for a few episodes now doesn't merit much beyond a single line here. I'm not saying a show like this has to have continuity or acknowledge its own lore. But anime like Pop Team Epic and Dropkick on My Devil! demonstrate how far you can get with properly paced, built-up stacks of material that actually culminate in things. My Deer Friend Nokotan doesn't have that, ending instead as its main character does coasting by on the bullshit excused by its supposed genre, capping off as but a silly little shaggy deer story. I'd put it at 50/50 odds that this anime could pull off a second season, but I don't know if that's fair to it, or us, to see it shuffle along like this.

Everyone, watch closely. This is how you kill a Shikanoko.

Rating: Don't Deer the Reaper

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.