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My Deer Friend Nokotan #2
My Deer Friend Nokotan Vol. 2
Koshitan and Nokotan's dreams of a thriving Deer Club are on the line! Their club room has been wrecked and a mysterious hunter wants Nokotan's head. Only one thing can save the Deer Club. A... trivia contest? That can't be right. What about a fashion show? A MyTube channel? Surely, a livestream of cute deer Nokotan will help. Whatever Koshitan and Nokotan come up with, one thing is for they'll need a lot of deer crackers.
142 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 12, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 1, 2023
When scrambling about the craggy surfaces of absurdist humor, the risk of being wounded by the narrative's own preposterousness is as welcome as it is obvious. But what happens when a modicum of structure is introduced? MY DEER FRIEND NOKOTAN v2 needles itself; the manga toes the line of a freewheeling comedy whose petulant characters thrive on directionless mischief and the guided absurdism wrought from reasonable characters trapped in a cycle of unreasonable decision making.
The foolish errand of debating the goodness of either storytelling approach may well illustrate how thoroughly niche absurdist comedy manga truly is. MY DEER FRIEND NOKOTAN v2 introduces a third recurring character to the hijinks: Anko, sister of the lead character, Torako Koshi. Anko's indubitably awkward, hyper-fetishization of her elder sister drives much of the current volume. Anko outright lusts for Torako, which manifests as violence, jealousy, shadowy and murderous intent, and an array of sinister promulgations that can only be defied by someone who traffics in ignorance from sunrise until sunset (e.g., Nokotan).
The obsessive little sister trope isn't particularly engaging and threatens to pull the comic book closer toward the sourer end of the comedy spectrum. Otherwise, there are no other named classmates. No true secondary characters. And only one semi-relevant adult character. One could theorize this manga only occurs in the in-between moments of regular life, exposing readers to the strangeness of two teen girls when the rest of the world isn't paying any attention, but such a theory, assuredly, gives the author far too much credit. Perhaps this is to be expected from a manga so heavily invested in random, episodic encounters, all of which possess neither a true beginning nor an end.
The book does offer a nod to its genre underpinnings: Absurdist craft is best elucidated from a lone character whose grasp or discernment of reality is challenged, and further ridiculed, by her continued engagement of, or quest to understand, said discernment of reality. That is to say, MY DEER FRIEND NOKOTAN v2 excels when it hews closer to episodes in which Torako doesn't understand something, tries to rationalize it, and only ends up way more confused than when she first started out.
The best example in the current volume occurs when Torako attends a New Year's festivity at a local shrine. Nokotan is late, so the Torako goes in alone. But wait, was this temple always dedicated to a deer god? Why are all of the shrine omikuji (paper fortune) related to deer health? What the hell is this so-called, blessed "antler broth"? And why does the evening conclude with a bonfire of deer crackers and an oversized antler? Torako stares blankly, sweats, curses her fate ("What is this weird ritual…"), and is slowly driven insane by the whole series of events.
MY DEER FRIEND NOKOTAN v2 is more deliberate with its oddness, but the book still contains a few traces of its square-peg, round-hole humor that some readers will surely enjoy. The art is sharper and the dialogue is more directional than in the previous volume, but in a series like this, if the jokes don't land, then everything else is forgettable.
The foolish errand of debating the goodness of either storytelling approach may well illustrate how thoroughly niche absurdist comedy manga truly is. MY DEER FRIEND NOKOTAN v2 introduces a third recurring character to the hijinks: Anko, sister of the lead character, Torako Koshi. Anko's indubitably awkward, hyper-fetishization of her elder sister drives much of the current volume. Anko outright lusts for Torako, which manifests as violence, jealousy, shadowy and murderous intent, and an array of sinister promulgations that can only be defied by someone who traffics in ignorance from sunrise until sunset (e.g., Nokotan).
The obsessive little sister trope isn't particularly engaging and threatens to pull the comic book closer toward the sourer end of the comedy spectrum. Otherwise, there are no other named classmates. No true secondary characters. And only one semi-relevant adult character. One could theorize this manga only occurs in the in-between moments of regular life, exposing readers to the strangeness of two teen girls when the rest of the world isn't paying any attention, but such a theory, assuredly, gives the author far too much credit. Perhaps this is to be expected from a manga so heavily invested in random, episodic encounters, all of which possess neither a true beginning nor an end.
The book does offer a nod to its genre underpinnings: Absurdist craft is best elucidated from a lone character whose grasp or discernment of reality is challenged, and further ridiculed, by her continued engagement of, or quest to understand, said discernment of reality. That is to say, MY DEER FRIEND NOKOTAN v2 excels when it hews closer to episodes in which Torako doesn't understand something, tries to rationalize it, and only ends up way more confused than when she first started out.
The best example in the current volume occurs when Torako attends a New Year's festivity at a local shrine. Nokotan is late, so the Torako goes in alone. But wait, was this temple always dedicated to a deer god? Why are all of the shrine omikuji (paper fortune) related to deer health? What the hell is this so-called, blessed "antler broth"? And why does the evening conclude with a bonfire of deer crackers and an oversized antler? Torako stares blankly, sweats, curses her fate ("What is this weird ritual…"), and is slowly driven insane by the whole series of events.
MY DEER FRIEND NOKOTAN v2 is more deliberate with its oddness, but the book still contains a few traces of its square-peg, round-hole humor that some readers will surely enjoy. The art is sharper and the dialogue is more directional than in the previous volume, but in a series like this, if the jokes don't land, then everything else is forgettable.
July 5, 2024
Silly, really something best experienced chapter by chapter as totally separate episodes. It sometimes starts what looks like an overarching plot, but drops it as soon as the chapter ends.
It's not what I'm in the mood for right now, and felt like it was not for me today. May come back and update the review if I reread and reconsider.
It's not what I'm in the mood for right now, and felt like it was not for me today. May come back and update the review if I reread and reconsider.
January 5, 2025
4.2 Stars. Absurd comedy done right. This volume continues the hilarity with nonstop jokes and the often jarring change of art styles that only add to the jokes. I am a big fan of this series and am excited to see where it goes from here.
October 31, 2024
oh deer, an explosive turn of events (I already forgot what volume that actually was) (fire chapters though)
January 12, 2025
This is a weird series, but the reactions of the characters are funny! 🤔 😅
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews