Initially streaming for global audiences with the original Japanese voice cast as part of the summer 2024 anime season on both Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime Video, the English dub of offbeat slice-of-life anime series My Deer Friend Nokotan was originally exclusive to Amazon Prime Video. However, in a bit of a surprise announcement, Crunchyroll has announced that all 12 episodes of the anime are available in English as of October 10, 2024. As of this writing, all 12 episodes are currently available on both streaming services in both Japanese and English.
The English cast consists primarily of relatively new voice actors, though the performances they give are generally pretty solid. Crunchyroll has also provided a cast list for the English dub:
• Trina Deuhart as Noko
• Roo Ryder as Torako
• Sarah Thomas as Anko
• Bay Doxey as Bashame
• Meagan Johnson as Neko
• Nickolette Kong as Kinu
My Deer Friend Nokotan is a quirky serious with a unique style
My Deer Friend Nokotan follows former delinquent high school student Torako Koshi after she randomly encounters a strange girl dangling from the neighborhood power lines — by her antlers. The strange girl is the half-deer, half-human Noko Shikanoko, the Nokotan mentioned in the title. After meeting and befriending Noko, Torako ends up being nominated the leader of their school's Deer Club and the bulk of the series is devoted to following the activities of Noko, Torako and the other members of the Deer Club.
For the most part, My Deer Friend Nokotan is a slice-of-life series following its cast of characters as they go about their day-to-day lives doing normal things. The anime series, however, establishes a quirky unique identity for itself with an idiosyncratic cast of characters (especially Noko), art direction that frequently exaggerates the characters' appearances and emotions for comedic effect, photorealistic images of actual deer to create surreal visual moments, all while the narrator sarcastically breaks the fourth wall as comments on the events unfolding on screen.
Crunchyroll describes the series like this:
"Koshi Torako has everyone fooled. Her classmates see her as the perfect honor student, unaware of her secret delinquent past. But her new picturesque school life is thrown into chaos when she bumps into Shikanoko Noko, a girl with antlers! Mayhem seems to follow this strange doe-eyed girl. Who, or what, is she?"Crunchyroll
Other series for fans of My Deer Friend Nokotan to check out
My Deer Friend Nokotan is one of the most quirky and unique slice-of-life series in recent seasons. Luckily, fans of the genre have plenty of options about what to watch after finishing the 12 episodes of My Deer Friend Nokotan. Viewers. who enjoyed My Deer Friend Nokotan will also want to check out the following slice-of-life series:
• Azumanga Daioh (streaming on HIDIVE): another offbeat slice-of-life that often uses exaggerated character designs to brilliant comedic effect.
• Nichijou (streaming on Crunchyroll): despite being set in an outwardly normal high school, Nichijou is filled with frequent, completely off the wall surreal scenes and events — most famously the moment where the school president gets into an epic fight with a deer.
• How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? (streaming on Crunchyroll): overall, the series is much more grounded and realistic than My Deer Friend Nokotan, but fans of the sarcastic narrator will love the show-stealing performance of this series's own narrator.
• Kaguya-sama: Love is War (streaming on Crunchyroll): significantly more serious than My Deer Friend Nokotan or the other recommendations, Kaguya-sama still has frequent hilarious moments and follows the activities of the school's student council and various clubs, something that should be familiar to fans of My Deer Friend Nokotan .
My Deer Friend Nokotan is now streaming on Crunchyroll and Amazon Prime Video in both Japanese and English voice tracks. Both platforms provided subtitles in multiple languages.
Keep checking back here on Anime Away from all the latest news about new and upcoming releases for fall 2024 and beyond.