Considering that the Deer Club fully assembled last episode, it seems a bit early for My Deer Friend Nokotan to expand its cast. But whatever, the show has added in three new characters into the mix. First, we have Neko “Nekochan” Nekoyamada (Yurika Kubo), the vice president of the school’s student council and therefore Koshitan’s second-in-command. Next is Kinu “Tanuki” Tanukikōji (Rio Tsuchiya), the overly anxious secretary of the council. Last but not least is Chiharu “Tsubame” Tsubameya (Shinatsu Akasaki), the council’s mostly taciturn treasurer.
Neko is basically the Starscream in the cast. She has a one-sided rivalry towards Koshitan after she beat her in becoming the student council president and she plots to overthrow her. As part of her plan, she aims to get the Deer Club abolished. I imagine the running joke with this character is that she’ll come up with increasingly convoluted plans to sabotage the Deer Club, only to fail miserably every time. Mind you, this episode in particular doesn’t have Neko doing any of that. In fact, there’s a scene where Neko realizes too late that she spent afterschool doing her job like she’s supposed and completely neglected to do anything to the Deer Club. As funny as that is, it’s kind of an odd move on the show’s part to not have Neko twirl her mustache in her first major appearance.
After introductions, the episode divides its remainder into two segments. In the first segment, Chiharu pays the Deer Club a visit, after Koshitan brings it up to her. Koshitan initially spends her energy trying to keep her yankee past a secret and maintain her image in front of Chiharu. Definitely the funniest joke in this scene is Nokotan breaking the fourth wall and pulling out a recording of the deer scene from last episode in a misguided attempt to show Chiharu how cool Koshitan is. That’s a very clever way of bringing up the meme shot one more time. To Koshitan’s surprise, Chiharu gravitates more towards Nokotan. Afraid that Chiharu doesn’t like her, Koshitan tries in vain to regain the former’s attention. When Chiharu returns home, she reveals that she is actually a huge fan of Nokotan. I don’t really get the rationale but the show seems to be aware of that since it uses the least flattering face for Nokotan when Chiharu thinks about how cute she is. It’s also revealed that Chiharu giving Koshitan the cold shoulder is unintentional and it’s born out of jealousy at how chummy Koshitan is with Nokotan. That it’s all a misunderstanding is both reassuring and funny.
The second segment has Koshitan helping Kinu with one of her errands in the school’s storage room. Koshitan attempts to get a nearby Nokotan’s attention for help and that’s of course easier said than done. Per the usual cliche, this results in the two getting locked up. I enjoyed this segment more than the previous one. A lot of that is because of Kinu. The over the top doomsday scenario she imagines for herself and Koshitan and her constantly blaming herself when she isn’t the least bit responsible is hilarious. Another reason is Nokotan’s role in the scenario. Really, all the show needs to do is have Koshitan do a bunch of silly things to get her deer friend’s attention. Instead, we have Nokotan sing a love ballad about deer crackers before heading into the storage room by coincidence, to cultivate some mushrooms she’s been growing in a vaulting box. The random humor in this show never ceases to amaze me. I love how much more reverence is given to Nokotan’s song than the vanity project performed by Koshitan last episode. At least this one has some instrumentals.
Episode 3 gave me the impression that Kinu and Chiharu are in cahoots with Neko but that isn’t the case in Episode 4. Chiharu being a huge Nokotan fan means it’s unlikely she’d try to get the Deer Club abolished and Kinu overthinks and overreacts so much that there is no way she could scheme against anyone. By the end of the episode, it appears that both girls have joined the Deer Club so it looks like Neko is all on her own in getting rid of the Deer Club. A simple yet effective joke out of this is Neko being alone in the student council room, wondering where everyone else is. It’s only been one episode and she’s already the outlier. Knowing this show, I can see it doing the SpongeBob meme where Squidward looks through his window and sees SpongeBob and Patrick running around and having fun, just with Neko in Squidward’s place and everyone else in SpongeBob’s and Patrick’s.
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