Episode 7 begins with Nokotan receiving an advert from a deer. I guess this is just how Nokotan gets her mail? Anyway, the advert is for Deer Collection (DeerColle for short). As Bashame puts it, it’s basically a dog show but with deer. Naturally, Nokotan wants to participate in the event and she wants Koshitan there with her as her human owner. Koshitan refuses but she doesn’t have a choice in the matter since Anko and Bashame have already signed her up for the event. She does eventually give in anyway when Nokotan mentions all the fame and glory they could all get if they win. Nokotan sure knows how to play her best friend like a fiddle.
We then see the two girls strengthen their bond for the competition. Aside from the concept alone, what’s funny about this scene is that this sort of training is 100% necessary, considering the incredibly dysfunctional relationship between these characters. I particularly laughed when Nokotan does some sort of interpretative dance that seemingly evokes the bond she has with Koshitan. That’s a stretch in and of itself and what elevates the joke even more is that the flashback montage accompanying the dance are all clips of all the weird crap we’ve seen up until now.
Honestly, this whole plot about DeerColle could’ve been an entire episode so it’s really surprising that it ends in about 8 and a half minutes (and that’s counting the OP). We don’t even get to see the competition itself; it entirely happens off screen and the results are instead shared by the narrator. Cutting the segment short and anticlimactically announcing that the Deer Club lost does make all effort shown earlier a funny waste of time. But I don’t know, it still feels like a missed opportunity not showing the competition at all.
The second segment has Koshitan hosting a livestream to promote the Deer Club, per her homeroom teacher’s suggestion. Right at the start, there’s a very funny conundrum to this scenario. Koshitan just wants to introduce the club and she therefore needs Nokotan present, what with her being the one and only deer at the club. But because she has Nokotan, she is setting herself for anything but a normal livestream. Sure enough, things quickly go south due to Nokotan doing her own thing and pushing Koshitan’s buttons. The chaos soon peaks when Nokotan’s antlers decide to go into Eldritch mode and grow at a freakishly rapid pace. Another good joke here is Koshitan deliberately doing the stream while Anko and Bashame are away but being the creepy stalkers those two are, they are of course watching the livestream. A neat little detail is that you can notice these two before they reveal themselves by looking for their profile pictures and comments in the chat.
Personally, I think the third and final segment in the episode is my favorite out of the bunch. In this one, Koshitan and Nokotan visit a cafe, which just so happens to be run by Chiharu’s older brother Yoshiharu (Takuya Eguchi). Surprisingly, Yoshiharu is one of the saner characters in the show as he actually is completely shocked to see a girl with deer antlers on her head. After seeing so many people treat everything involving Nokotan like it’s completely normal, it’s very refreshing to see someone have the same reaction as Koshitan for a change.
Yoshiharu’s quirk is that he strongly believes in providing quality customer service at his cafe. Suffice to say, Nokotan throws a giant wrench at this plan when she asks for stuff such as an antler rest and some deer crackers. Obviously, it’s a bit unreasonable for Nokotan to make such requests to a cafe that seldom gets deer-like customers but because Yoshiharu prides himself on treating his customers well, he can’t help but feel like he’s letting the deer girl down. It’s that self-inflicted element that makes this trainwreck hilarious.
Shot in the dark but I kind of expected Yoshiharu to salvage his service by making boba tea for Nokotan. The past two episodes established the drink as a favorite of Nokotan’s so it’d be funny if Yoshiharu figures this out by complete coincidence. Either that or he rips some grass from his backyard. What the manager instead does is make a deer-shaped head on the strawberry parfait Nokotan orders. I love the complete confidence Yoshiharu has in this idea when it’s very obviously a bad one. Like, why would Nokotan find it charming to see her own species(?) in her food? Really, Yoshiharu shouldn’t be shocked when the parfait has no effect on Nokotan and she proceeds to instead poke at it violently with her spoon.
I love how the ending is funny by simply trying to be endearing. Before leaving, Nokotan encourages Yoshiharu not to feel so down by more or less giving him an A for effort and the manager then promises to provide deer crackers for her next time. I really like how mature Nokotan is here but it is a very unusual demeanor for her. Plus, this whole conflict only arose because Nokotan’s demands were completely out of the blue and the manager takes his job way too seriously. As a result, I can’t help but chuckle at this rather emotional outcome. The fact that Koshitan is also confused at what’s going on makes this scene even better.
Watch My Deer Friend Nokotan on Amazon and Crunchyroll
Xenodude Scribbles 