There will be no yuri in My Deer Friend Nokotan, warns author

The creators of the popular manga series "My Deer Friend Nokotan" break down the absurd comedy of the series in a new interview following the debut of the anime, one of the most anticipated premieres of the 2024 summer season. The manga's creator, Oshioshio, and its editor, Igarashi, chatted about the series' extravagance and aspirations in an interview with Comic Natalie.

Igarashi mentioned that the decision to make the anime adaptation, which has gone viral, was made shortly after the release of the manga's first volume, and Oshioshio found out about it after the second volume. During the interview, the two joked frequently; Oshioshio told WIT STUDIO, which animates the series, "I don't want it to be a soft thing. If you're going to do it, do it terrible." In addition, the idea for the anime's popular opening, "Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan," was apparently conceived in "about three seconds" by the PR team.
The absurd humor of the manga was a central point in the interview. Igarashi noted, "It's hard to put it into words, but Oshio-sensei's jokes are not 'incomprehensible' in the sense that they don't reach us, but rather 'we don't understand what kind of thought process led him to write them.'" Oshioshio disagrees: "I don't think it's that bad. I don't feel like I'm drawing something weird, I try to draw something straight like 'ONE PIECE'."
They were encouraged by a popular deer mascot in Japan, Sento-kun, to aspire to be one of the most popular manga series, the 'Kodansha One Piece.' Oshioshio also ruled out romance for Noko. "This time, I wanted to do a comedy manga," he said, "not a romantic comedy, so I decided to do it with only girls."

"My Deer Friend Nokotan" is part of the Summer-2024 catalog (July-September) and appeared on several lists of most anticipated series, especially after going viral with a song. Their enthusiasm has translated into praise after their debut episodes, but the anime has also had a rocky start with its subtitles and English dubbing script by Crunchyroll, criticized for poor AI-like translations. Although no official explanation has been provided, the current popular opinion is that the scripts were probably translated by a person without proper quality control processes.
This unique blend of absurd comedy and quirky characters has captured the attention of both manga fans and new anime viewers, cementing "My Deer Friend Nokotan" as one of the hits of Summer-2024.
Source: Comic Natalie