The book's appeal is fairly evident from its cover and pun title: It's a comic about a high school girl who might also be a deer.
That premise is, of course, an insane one, but, given that this is a highly silly, slightly surreal comedy, that insanity is more of a virtue than it is a detriment.
Our point of view character is Koshi Torako, a seemingly perfect, model student. Her image as such has been carefully curated and diligently maintained, as she seeks to distance herself from her unsavory past. She used to be a delinquent, you see.
Our point of view character is Koshi Torako, a seemingly perfect, model student. Her image as such has been carefully curated and diligently maintained, as she seeks to distance herself from her unsavory past. She used to be a delinquent, you see.
Her facade of perfection is challenged one day on her walk to school, where she happens to pass the title character, who has somehow found herself hanging by her antlers from utility wires, snot dripping from her nose, birds pestering her and dogs and cats barking and hissing at her.
After the two girls make eye contact, Koshi tries to walk away—"Should I get involved?...I don't have time for this! As a model student, being late is unacceptable!!"—but the girl with the antlers guilts her into helping her down.
After the two girls make eye contact, Koshi tries to walk away—"Should I get involved?...I don't have time for this! As a model student, being late is unacceptable!!"—but the girl with the antlers guilts her into helping her down.
Once Koshi does so, Nokotan says, "Thanks a lot for getting me down, gangster girl!"
Does this weird deer girl know Koshi's closely guarded secret? How could she?
Well, apparently deer can sense juvenile delinquency...? As Nokotan says that Koshi smells like a gangster and says that even her antlers are tinging; indeed, they light up in Koshi's presence, as if they are some kind of former juvenile delinquent detector.
Well, apparently deer can sense juvenile delinquency...? As Nokotan says that Koshi smells like a gangster and says that even her antlers are tinging; indeed, they light up in Koshi's presence, as if they are some kind of former juvenile delinquent detector.
In the next scene, her antlers light up again, this time detecting Koshi's virginity...and this in school, in front of others in their class. For, you see, Nokotan has just transferred into Koshi's school, and, in order to keep Nokotan from inadvertently revealing her past to the rest of the school, Koshi finds herself reluctantly befriending her.
And thus begins a lot of weirdness.
And thus begins a lot of weirdness.
The next morning, Koshi's desk is buried under a pile of deer crackers, like those sold at the park in Nara to feed the deer, Nokotan's way of thanking her for helping her down from the wires the other day (That's a deer cracker in Nokotan's hand on the cover, by the way).
When Koshi refuses the crackers, Nokotan next plucks off one of her (detachable?) antlers and hands it to her. Pages later, she uses her antlers as if they were handles to take the top half of her head off. They can also be used as grenades or open up like a little suitcase in which Nokotan might carry a banana.
As Koshi seeks to unravel the mystery of Nokotan, she surveils her, following her to her after school job, where she works in the deer enclosure at the zoo...
...approaches passersby to buy deer crackers to feed the deer (including she herself) and then leads a deer parade.
Inextricably drawn into Nokatan's madness, poor Koshi eventually finds herself as one of only two members of the school's new Deer Club, which is a club devoted to taking care of deer. Nokotan will play the part of the deer, and Koshi, as the president, will take care of her.
And then we get to a cliffhanger ending, in which a mysterious dark-haired girl seems to be...hunting Nokatan...?
It's all very weird, made more so by the fact that not only does Oshioshio present Nokotan as something of a deer/girl hybrid, but is often extremely random in her depiction of the character, as seen in the suspicious deer facts that are often bandied about and the ever-changing, cartoon character nature of her antlers.
On top of this, no one seems to be quite as shocked by Nokotan's deer-ishness, certainly not to the degree that Koshi is, leading to lots of gags revolving around her reactions of extreme incredulity and exasperation (You can see her reaction to seeing Nokotan at "work" above, for example).
Based on what I've seen on YouTube, it seems Deer Club grows, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious to see what sorts of girls would want to join a club like this and why....
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