Ever wanted to see a funny anime series featuring a girl-deer hybrid (horns and all) who’s treated normally in a classroom, with only one tsundere woman with a dark secret being the only one bewildered by the absurd concept? Well, this adaptation of a recent manga series may answer whatever pressing questions you have.

Buck Wild

My Deer Friend Nokotan is a slice-of-life comedy anime in the same veins as Nichijou, where the absurd meets reality with crazy situations revolving around school life. Tsundere material Torako “Koshitan” Koshi is a model student who was a former gang lord, and wishes to keep that part of her life a secret. A chance meeting with the aforementioned girl-deer hybrid named Nokotan -with her horns tied up at the top of electric cables to make it look like she hanged herself in one of the series’ attempt at dark humour- ends up jeopardizing Koshitan’s life. However, Nokotan takes a shining to Koshitan and they both hang out together, even forming clubs and partaking in off-kilter school activities.

Also for some reason, the deers in the show are rendered in 3D, making their inclusion in the show’s 2D aesthetic purposely jarring and surreal. The ominous spooky-like “shika” chants  (“shika” in Japanese for “deer”) also pop up in hilarious moments, like when Nokotan barges into the classroom door with her horizontal antlers, wrecking the walls around it. Or when the students in Koshitan’s classroom are inquisitive about her virginity. The humour is all over the place, but it mostly hits because of how absurd it can get. Our main characters Koshitan and Nokotan do have chemistry, and the additional cast members do add some extra colour to the proceedings, like with the possessive Anko or the super-encouraging-to-a-fault homeroom teacher who wants Nokotan to pursue her deer clubhouse dreams.

There are only two episodes out, but there’s a lot of potential brimming in My Deer Friend Nokotan. Most of it will tickle your funnybone, just for its audacity alone, with even the show’s narrator jumping in and breaking fourth walls like it’s going out of style. The anime’s humour is the kind that jumps in when least expected, yet doesn’t overstay its welcome. Still, I rather judge the whole show for its entire season alone, so I can’t pass quick judgment just yet. But I like what I’ve watched so far.

Japanese With Subs Or English Dub?

The JP version is better, but the English dub has some bright spots here and there, though not to the high standards as Delicious in Dungeons or even Suicide Squad Isekai. Check out the comparison between the Japanese version and English dub version to see & hear which one feels more authentic.

My Deer Friend Nokotan is available to watch on It’s Anime YouTube Channel, as well as on Amazon Prime.