My Deer Friend Nokotan

Episode 8

I can officially say I misjudged My Deer Friend Nokotan. Perhaps the true measure of a series shouldn't be how often its comedy actually makes you laugh or the perceived persistence of its pacing. There are more pertinent criteria. Some series can be carried entirely by the quality of their production, story be damned. Others present writings that so speak to the human soul that even the most basic production allows their gospel to still reach masterpiece status. And Nokotan? Why, this humble deer cartoon has risen to the top of my personal heap by virtue of pointedly avoiding doing a Christmas episode.

That's right, via whatever non-Euclidean timeline My Deer Friend Nokotan is living in, its activities bring the Deer Club into December in this week's episode—and without even a mention of that damned holly jolly hellscape jumps straight to a story about New Year's instead. I cheered. I wept. I pre-ordered ¥3,000 (that's $27.50) worth of official Nokotan merch. This is Anime Of The Year and I will brook no argument against it.

Sort of like having a lead character in an isekai condemn slavery, not doing a Christmas episode out of season should be an easy bar to clear for so many anime, yet those same so many fail. The number of shows that trot out a skin-crawlingly dissonant winter wonderland in the likes of friggin' August is too high to count. Every time I am greeted with the sight of light-decorated pine trees and brightly packaged boxes, all my hair attempts to crawl out of my body, my teeth itch uncontrollably, and I am possessed of an urge to burn the spiteful realm of Santa and all his Satanic spawn to the ground.

It's actually more impressive that Nokotan, specifically, did not do a Christmas episode. The main character is a goddamn deer. That opens the door for all sorts of reindeer gags and sleigh-towing shenanigans to be distractingly driven over me while I'm sweating my ass off here in the valley. That avenue for theming and the subsequent seasonal skip-over is so conspicuous that I can only conclude that the fine folks behind My Deer Friend Nokotan hate out-of-season Christmas episodes as much as I do. It's amazing that I can come to such an understanding with an entity I previously held hostility for. But maybe that's what Christmas is all about.

Really though, this was a generally good episode. The deer puns and their subsequent translations were extra on–point this week, for one. The shrine visit finally properly sees them use the name "Deer God" which it feels like I've been waiting weeks for them to deploy. But you also have stuff like a fortune slip that promises "Great Mis-fawn-tune" or the phrase "hold on for deer life". It's forced in the best way, and it just keeps going.

My hatred of Christmas and love of terrible puns aren't the only wavelengths that My Deer Friend Nokotan is on with me this week either. The humor really seemed to consistently tick up to that more bizarre level I'd been hoping it'd broach for a while now. The entire Deer God routine at the shrine during the New Year's visit is one thing, but the Game of Deer Life that fills out the episode's second half is something else entirely. It's basically built to bring in aside after non-sequitur, featuring antler body-horror and detours to Alaska. By the time Nokotan had evolved into "the highest class of deer: the moose" (my exact flavor of nonsense) and negotiated with a grizzly bear to win America's freedom, I was completely on board (game) with everything this episode had done. My Deer Friend Nokotan put out a unilateral winner this week—and all it had to do to get there was murder Santa Claus and bury his body in the cold, cold ground.

Rating: Velvet

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.