Episode 8’s first half takes place during New Year’s so naturally, the Deer Club pays a visit to a local shrine. Because Nokotan is seemingly running late, the girls decide to go without her. To Koshitan’s surprise however, Nokotan is actually at the shrine but not as a normal visitor. Rather, she appears as the so-called Deer Goddess. Every element at the event ends up being deer-themed, the strangest of which being the soup made with Nokotan’s antlers. It reminds me of that joke in Ms. Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid where Tohru tries to serve a meal made with her tail. Because the main ingredient is from one of the main characters, you can’t help but share Koshitan’s revulsion.
Much like Nokotan’s first day of school and that one time we see her at the zoo, everyone aside from Koshitan treats this as normal. Part of me is getting a little frustrated at the lack of an explanation for why people don’t bat an eye but then again, trying to find internal logic in My Deer Friend Nokotan is proving to be a lost cause. I do like the more refreshing spin on Koshitan being the straight man. Like, she’s confused as per usual but she can’t really call the insanity out because one of the shrine maidens (coincidentally, the old lady from the zoo scene) will yell at her for disrespecting the Deer Goddess.
Throughout the whole segment, Nokotan acts like she doesn’t recognize Koshitan or any of the others, giving the impression that the Deer Goddess is indeed a real person separate from our titular deer. This seems even more likely when Nokotan appears at the end in her regular clothes and she apologizes for showing up late. Koshitan does however realize this is all a bit when her friend offers the same soup made at the shrine. No explanation is really given as to why Nokotan did any of this so my only guess is she felt like messing with Koshitan or this is a very convoluted way for to get the latter to try her soup. While definitely a funny moment, I kind of wish the episode didn’t give a clear answer. The back and forth on whether or not Nokotan and the goddess are the same is funny so it’d be appropriate to just end with a paranoid Koshitan struggling to make head or tail on the matter.
The second segment has Koshitan, Nokotan, and Anko play a deer-themed parody of The Game of Life board game. Instead of money, the girls have to collect the most antlers in order to win. Bashame is present but she busies herself with making mochi (that she later chokes on). I find it a little weird that Bashame isn’t playing the game, seeing as she is training to be an honorary deer. A game involving the life of a deer ought to be up her alley. To be fair, keeping the player count to three helps tighten up the comedy and the excuse for keeping Bashame out of the game fits well with her character.
Just so that we’re not just watching the girls play a board game, the show provides us with fantasy scenes in which the girls envision what happens to them at each turn. Not that Nokotan really needs it but I find it refreshing that the show actually justifies its absurdist humor for once. I quite like the jokes themselves as well. Some of the events are callbacks to previous scenes in the show. The student council and even some of the most minor characters make some pretty cheeky cameos throughout the game. Definitely the highlight is the careers the girls pick for themselves and the respective end result. Anko decides to dominate the animal kingdom with sheer force, Koshitan becomes an idol, and Nokotan decides to live out in the wild. I love that Nokotan’s choice is about the only realistic scenario and even that veers into insanity when she somehow calms a wild beer with her antlers and this earns her nationwide acclaim in not Japan but the United States instead.
Obviously, this game would have to end with Koshitan losing at third place. This show can’t make her too happy after all. I appreciate then that the show doesn’t immediately make her lose. It instead lets her have the most antlers for a good chunk of the game (kind of funny that she makes more “money” than Anko, who’s a queen in the game). How funny then that Koshitan gets screwed over at the last minute by the last space on the board.
Despite her frustration, Koshitan admits that she had fun. Like with the stakeout scene in Episode 5, this is a rare moment where it actually feels like Koshitan and Nokotan are friends. Even Anko is taken more seriously as she just acts happy for her sister without going into her usual degeneracy. I suppose Bashame choking on her food kind of undercuts the moment but I kind of figured the show would still end the episode on a joke.
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