Just from a single episode, My Deer Friend Nokotan is already living up to the hype it had been generating for weeks, and episode #2 looks to be a great follow-up to the premiere. Some technical difficulties are holding the series back that, unfortunately, may never get resolved, but beyond that, it’s still proving to be a great addition to the summer 2024 anime season.

My Deer Friend Nokotan stars Torako Koshi, a former delinquent trying to pass herself off as a dignified honor student after entering high school. Things have been going well so far and she’s amassed a massive fanbase among her classmates, but one day, Torako meets a bizarre girl with antlers hanging above her head from the telephone lines, and it all starts going downhill from there.

Episode #1 is a surrealist romp from start to finish, and overall, it leaves a lot to be excited about for episode #2’s release.

What Time My Deer Friend Nokotan Episode #2 Releases

Off the heels of the premiere, the anime seems to be going in a great direction

Wit Studio’s My Deer Friend Nokotan streams on both Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime, which can be accessed through their websites or directly from their respective apps. Going by the series premiere, My Deer Friend Nokotan episode #2 should premiere on Sunday, July 14 at 8:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (PST), 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST), and 4:00 PM British Standard Time (BST).

What Happened In My Deer Friend Nokotan Episode #1?

Produced by Wit Studio; Directed by Masahiko Ohta

My Deer Friend Nokotan episode #1, “Girl Meets Deer”, opens with Torako Koshi, a former delinquent now passing herself off as an honor student, suddenly running into a girl with antlers hanging from the telephone lines. After being guilt-tripped into helping the deer-like girl, the deer-like girl claimed that she could smell that Torako was a delinquent, and because of that, Torako ran away from her and decided that she would have nothing to do with her if she could help it.

Unfortunately for Torako, the deer-like girl, now identified as Noko “Nokotan” Shikanoko, was a new student in her class, with no one but Torako finding anything odd about her appearance or the wonton destruction she caused in her entrance. When Nokotan was seated next to Torako, she not only reiterated that Torako was a delinquent, but also claimed that her horns could sense that Torako was a virgin. Denying that she was a delinquent also meant denying that she was a virgin, so Torako, despite the embarrassment, was forced to admit to being both a delinquent and a virgin.

Surprisingly, everyone forgot about Torako’s confession later in the day, but as much as Torako tried to ignore Nokotan, she still kept dealing with one bit of absurdity after another. Nokotan even tried to convince Torako to join the Deer Club, a club of her own design dedicated to taking care of Nokotan, and Torako, being someone who can’t resist having people rely on her, agreed to be the president of the Deer Club. The episode ends with Torako reluctantly brushing Nokotan’s hair as a girl watched with extreme jealousy, something even the narrator said spelled trouble.

My Deer Friend Nokotan Knows How To Make Surrealism Work

Its rare for comedy anime to nail surrealism as perfectly as Nokotan does

My Deer Friend Nokotan is unabashedly a surrealist comedy, and it has a great understanding of how to make that sort of writing work. Rather than limit itself to just doing one weird thing after another, My Deer Friend Nokotan balances out its surrealism and absurdism with great comedic writing and character dynamics, thus allowing for far more variety and quality in the comedy. If the series keeps to that style of writing, then it’s certain to be one of the best hits of the summer 2024 anime season, and it will be great to watch that play out.

My Deer Friend Nokotan Has a Stellar Premiere Hampered By Technical Difficulties

Controversies surrounding the subtitling and translations for the series has the community up in arms

In terms of story and production, My Deer Friend Nokotan episode #1 succeeds on all fronts. Not only are the jokes and overall character writing great from the start, but it’s all perfectly complemented by wonderfully surreal visual comedy with equally wonderful animation and direction accompanying it in every scene. My Deer Friend Nokotan has one of the strongest debuts of any anime of the summer 2024 anime season, and overall, it more than lives up to all the hype it had been receiving.

Unfortunately, an otherwise great premiere is being brought down by some glaring technical difficulties. Rather than be subbed in-house by Crunchyroll, My Deer Friend Nokotan’s subtitles are handled by Remow, the licensing company for the anime in Japan, and as a result, My Deer Friend Nokotan episode #1 features nigh-incomprehensible subtitles filled with mistranslations and grammatical errors. Those sorts of technical issues bring down what should have been a flawless series premiere, so hopefully, future episodes of My Deer Friend Nokotan will improve on that front.

Be sure to watch My Deer Friend Nokotan episode #2 when it releases on Sunday, July 14.