Our deer friend Nokotan, having some deer snacks with some dear deer.
Popular, beautiful, and deeply embarrassed about her past as a Japanese Delinquent, Koshi Torako just wants to have an uneventful high school life. However, on her way to school one fateful morning, she walks past a bizarre girl dangling from telephone wires by the deer antlers sticking out of her head who claims she can "smell" Koshi's delinquent past. And, what's worse, she's wearing the same uniform as Koshi. Little does Koshi know her cozy, uneventful high school life is about to be upended by this fourth wall-shattering weirdo.
My Deer Friend Nokotan (しかのこのこのここしたんたん) is a surreal comedy manga by Oshioshio which began publication in 2019.
An anime series directed by Masahiko Ohta and animated by Wit Studio is set to air in July 2024.
My Deer Friend Nokotan contains examples of:
- Animal Gender-Bender: While the jury's still out on whatever the hell Nokotan is, in the real world typically only male deer grow antlers.
- Art Shift: A double page in chapter 4 specifically points out, as a gag, that the doe-eyed (pun intended) girl blushing behind a box of chocolates on one page is the same character as the dumpy Super-Deformed Pop Team Epic-looking moron with a Playful Cat Smile on the opposite page.
- Berserk Button: Koshi goes to great lengths to act the part of a model high school student. Anything that reminds her of her past as a delinquent, however, arouses incredible anger in her. Ironically, it also causes her to slip right back into delinquent mode.
- Big Word Shout: In chapter 4, when Nokotan pulls her antler out and opens it to reveal a banana tucked inside, Koshi (who's tailing her) shouts, "Baka-na!"
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: In chapter 3, when crying about the fact that she didn't get a love letter, she claims that she'll be getting a bunch of fan mail sent to the magazine instead. The manga magazine actually printed the address for fan mail in the margins.
- Breakout Character: Invoked. When Nokotan has a meltdown about not getting a love letter in chapter 3, she instead claims she's going to be incredibly popular with manga readers and get a ton of fan mail.
- Class Princess: Koshi is adored by everybody at her school for being a cool beauty. She is adamant nobody finds out about her past to avoid ruining their image of her.
- Frame Break: In chapter 3, Koshi coughs up blood that flies off the current manga panel and lands on her own head in the next panel.
- Gag Series: When Nokotan is around, all semblance of reality and logic go flying out the window in favor of surrealism and bizarre non-sequiturs.
- Japanese Delinquent: Koshi is mortified about her past as a "Yankee", a violent, crude street punk. In flashbacks, she's seen with the whole nine yards: long Sailor Fuku skirt, baseball bat with nails in it slung over her shoulder, face mask with an X on it.
- Lethal Joke Item: In chapter 3, Nokotan pulls off an antler and tosses it to Koshi to fend off some thugs. Koshi yells "Like hell I can use this!" and tosses it carelessly at the thugs. It then EXPLODES powerfully enough to destroy the school gym. Since this is a Gag Series, naturally Nokotan's antler has grown back next chapter.
- Little Bit Beastly: Nokotan has deer antlers sticking out of her head.
- Love Letter: The plot of chapter 3 revolves around Koshi finding a love letter in her locker and Nokotan imploring her to go through with it. It's Subverted, because it turns out it was actually a challenge to a duel made to look like a love letter just to fuck with Koshi.
- Only Sane Man: Koshi is the only person to have a sensible reaction to Nokotan and her bizarre antics. Their classmates clap for Nokotan when she first enters the classroom, even though her antlers crash through the sides of the doorway (and sends debris flying everywhere that bloodies them up in the anime). And when Nokotan says she can "smell" Koshi's past as a Yankee and that she's a virgin, they instantly believe it with no questions asked.
- Playful Cat Smile: Whenever Nokotan is acting like an idiot/troll (which is to say, 99% of the time) her lips are curled up like a cat's.
- Precision F-Strike: In chapter 2, when Nokotan is blabbering about giving Koshi a nickname, Koshi's patience runs out, and so too does her ability to maintain her facade of being the Class Princess.Koshi: So what's this "Koshi-tan" thing you've been talking about?!Nokotan: It's a nickname. So people can call us "Noko-tan" and "Koshi-tan".Koshi: You're full of shit! I don't need a nickname from you!Nokotan: Then ... Yankee onee-san—Koshi: FUCK OFF.Narrator: She snapped.
- Secret-Keeper: Nokotan can somehow smell the fact that Koshi used to be a delinquent, which terrifies Koshi to no end.
- Stalker without a Crush: Chapter 4 is about Koshi stalking Nokotan to uncover her secrets. It just leaves her with more questions.
- Surreal Humor: Nokotan defies any semblance of reality. She has deer antlers, although they can be detached easily, however she can also reattach them and use them as handles to remove the top of her head. Not in a gory way. She just a solid block of nothing where her brain should be.
