My deer friend Nokotan Episode 6 is out and what did it bring us? Well, it brought us a series of mini-episodes and some cryptozoological speculation. And how do you review a show like this? By briefly mentioning the main points, of course!
1) Antlers: They are practical. You could even call them the Swiss Army knives of body parts.
2) Slice-of-life comedies are not for everyone.
3) Koshitan can suck on antlers as if it were her God-given destiny.
Summer is just a moment
Over the last few episodes, I’ve noticed that Koshitan’s once bright eyes have fallen by the wayside. Slowly, they’ve been replaced by a lackluster version of her former self. Life brings out the best in all of us, that much is true. It happens to everyone, including Koshitan, but I’d be lying if I said this isn’t emotional. Poor Koshitan, her joy has withered like leaves as summer leaves the world.
Now that we are already talking metaphorically about summer, it is summer in My deer friend Nokotan Episode 6, and Nokotan is sick? Well, not really; Nokotan is just shedding his skin. Well, at first I took this without much of a problem until I realized that her uniform was part of her coat. But before I could take a moment to process that fact in my soul, Bashame was wearing Nokotan’s discarded coat like a full-body suit. For a brief moment, shorter than the blink of an eye, I fully understood what makes a fur coat so appealing. Because wearing a waifu like a full-body suit sounds like a lot of fun.
Bocchi of the Tsuchinoko
I love cryptozoology because at its core it is the study of aberrations. Accepted science needs reproducible results to prove something, cryptozoologists only need to record something once. This blatant disregard for time-honored traditions makes me happy. Look at it this way: Scientific discoveries rarely make the front pages. A new species discovered? Nobody has time for that. But the day someone shoots and kills a chupacabra (not the mangy American kind) it will make headlines around the world.
Or maybe not? We live in a timeline where Congress said there were aliens out there and nobody batted an eyelid. But that’s it, and that’s just the way it is. In My deer friend Nokotan In episode 6, we see an appropriate reaction to a cryptozoological discovery: anger, skepticism, and emotionally damaged people finding it cute. As Nokotan marches into the student council club room, she stops everything around her by presenting the discovery of the century, a Tsuchinoko.
But is that really the case? Nekoyamada doesn’t think so. Things that look like something else are pretty common in nature; convergent evolution is a common thing. For example, spurges look like cacti, but they’re not. So if you’ve never seen a tsuchinoko, how do you know you’re seeing one? What if you see something tsuchinoko-like instead? That’s an answer I can’t give you, and it’s not one the show gave either, so I guess you’ll have to try again next time. But at least you can take comfort in all the cute Nekoyamada moments; just remember to never trust anyone with bushy eyebrows.
My deer friend Nokotan Episode 6 – Comments
To say that this show has dropped sharply in our weekly rankings is an understatement, but it’s not remotely unexpected. The problem with hype is that very few people bother to check out the basic minimum that comes with the experience.
For example, I love tarpon fishing in remote inland waters. When I show people the videos and photos, they jump headlong into the experience, thinking they’ll get a great Instagram picture and bragging rights. In reality, however, there’s a 95% chance that not only will they not catch a tarpon, they probably won’t even see one. Plus, the trips are anything but fun. They’re long and arduous, and you’d be lucky if you got mild heatstroke, malaria, or dengue fever at worst. Still, the hype draws people from far and wide. Word of advice: never trust the hype. But for a SOL fan like me, the show remains as exciting as the first episode. And I still find myself eagerly anticipating each episode.
Screenshots via Crunchyroll
© Oshioshio, Kodansha / Hino Minami High School Deer Club
