“Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan / Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan”
You might remember this iconic line from a few videos on the I N T E R N E T .
Well, it came from “Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan,” otherwise known as My Deer Friend Nokotan. I watched episode 1, and this is how it went.
(spoilers for episode 1)
Right from the beginning, a narrator describes the setting, an average school, like yours or mine, before introducing Koshi Torako, who appears to be perfect at everything she does, despite formerly being a delinquent. But little does she know what’s to come next.
SHI-KA. SHIKASHIKASHI-KA. SHIIIIII-KA.
When Koshi walks across a street to her school, she sees a girl with antlers high up in wires. Koshi assumes that this girl is doing something very dark, before thinking that the TV show that apparently makes up her life should’ve gotten a late-night slot. Yes, she knows that she is in a TV show.
After saving the girl, Koshi goes into school. She then learns of a new foreign exchange student, who just so happens to be the antlered girl! She introduces herself as Shikanoko Noko, Nokotan for short.
A bunch of increasingly weird things happen between Koshi and Nokotan, until Nokotan suddenly falls off a ladder and bleeds quite a bit. You’ll just have to see for yourself.
I expected more of the show, feeling like some scenes went on for a bit longer than expected, but that’s because the last anime I had watched was Pop Team Epic.
Uhh, 8.5/10?
Synopsis from Seven Seas, the manga publisher:
“No one knows Torako used to be a delinquent. All of her classmates only know her as the perfect student. But everything changes when Nokotan, a transfer student with antlers, enters her life. Antlers aren’t the only thing strange about Nokotan. Her deer nose can sniff out Torako’s secret past! Whether it’s at school or the zoo, chaos follows this doe-eyed girl’s every step. Torako has so many questions! Is Nokotan a deer, a girl, or something in-between?”
