My Deer Friend Nokotan

Episode 6

*Whistles* Whelp, here I go, just enjoying my day. Man, having all my reviews on Sunday really frees up my week—

*SurPRISE, motherfu—*

Oh, what the HELL?! That's a fine how-deer-you-do. After weeks of streaming My Deer Friend Nokotan on Sundays, my deer friend Crunchyroll has bumped the show to its early-airing schedule on Wednesdays for the second half of its run. I guess the overwhelming popularity of the would-be shitpost deer cartoon necessitated such priority posting. Some reason Love Live! Superstar!! couldn't have been afforded this same treatment back during its airing?

Whatever. It's just one episode, and it's not like this series has ever been dense enough that I have to spend that much time on-

Deer Christ.

Okay. *cracks knuckles* Settle into that grassy meadow as I actually review all 18 short films about Hino City.

I Seriously Don't Get the Trick: I'm pretty sure deer antlers can't do that. Rating:

You're Probably Gonna Stand Out for Various Reasons: You notice how much of the stuff Nokotan does has little enough to do with deer? Producing coffee is more of a civet thing. Rating:

Better Than Selling Off Some Organs: I'm surprised it took them this long to do an episode about the characters being broke. The Mercari bit got me pretty good. Rating:

She's Not Killing Anyone with Those Winks: This one actually felt enough like a quick Pop Team Epic bit. Rating:

This Is Definitely Messed Up: Actually insanely funny that the show acknowledges the fading of its own zeitgeist. Rating:

I Think Just My Antlers Might Grow Every Night: They are totally going to make that dakimakura for real, aren't they? Rating:

I Sure Hope You Make This into Merch:I genuinely like the design of this stupid t-shirt, and the bit with Nokotan trying to wear it was pretty funny. Rating:

It Shines in Seven Colors: What in the sweet merciful funk is a "gaming antler"—ooohh like RGB lights on a gaming PC, I just got it. Rating:

No Boba for You: Okay I know this is the deer show but I am detecting a distinct antler-shaped through-line along most of these episodes. Rating:

Hand-Me-Downs: As a Monogatari fan it's probably hypocritical of me to denounce incest jokes, but I'm going to do it anyway. Rating:

Ta-hay-sty: The shaving of the antlers onto the rice got me doing that good ugly-laughing. Deerlicious. Rating:

Basically Inventory Disposal: I bought enough of "Tanaka's Amazing Commodities" in Persona that I can relate to this one. Rating:

Locally, a Huge Hit: Oh dang yeah there's like a whole story arc to these. Rating:

At This Rate, You Could Get Them to Buy Anything: This is just like another part of the previous episode, I think we've started to lose the plot on this whole individual mini-episode gimmick. Rating:

Powerful Enemy: This would've worked better had Nokotan and Bashame Kool-Aid-man'd through a wall to make their declarations. Rating:

Koshitan Is Studying: Koshitan Is Studying Rating: Koshitan Is Studying

Surprisingly Athletic: I do think it's pretty funny the way Tsunoda-san the deer just wanders in regularly now. Rating:

DEER CLUB THE ROCK: A vuvuzela reference? How timely. Rating:

*Whew* That was something, but at least I got it all out of the way despite them getting the drop on me and—what do you mean there's still half the episode to go?!

Honestly, that opening half of this week's Nokotan pretty well understood the assignment. It's exactly the kind of pacing patch I criticized way back when this started: keep the comedy moving at a rapid-fire clip, and viewers won't be able to lapse into latency in the downtime. It's kinda too bad all that got paired up with a whole other chunk of the episode that can't match that energy at all. They speed through the summer itself in the show in a pretty good gag (referencing the manga source material in a manner that almost approaches the level of Dropkick on My Devil!). But then it's back to a meandering approach that nearly had me drifting off after that first half got me so jazzed. Maybe I was just overwhelmed. Or maybe My Deer Friend Nokotan would work better as a show in a shorter time slot.

Anyway, the second half of the second half of this episode was marginally better, though maybe it was just me being bewildered that both this show and Wonderful Precure! did episodes this week involving tsuchinoko. I hope that horrendous antler-ball abomination sticks around as a recurring "character" just like Tsunoda-san the deer.

Rating: DEEEEER SHAAAAAANK!!

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.