The creators of the popular manga series “My deer friend Nokotan” unravels the series’ absurd comedy in a new interview following the premiere of the anime, one of the most anticipated premieres of the summer 2024 season. The manga’s creator,. Oshioshioand its editor, Igarashispoke about the extravagance and aspirations of the series in an interview with Natalie in comics.

Igarashi mentioned that the decision to make the anime adaptationthat went viral, was taken shortly after the release of the first volume of the manga, and Oshioshio discovered this after the second volume. During the interview, the two joked frequently; Oshioshio commented WIT STUDIOthat animates the series: «I don't want it to be soft. If you're going to do it, make it terrible.“. Also, the idea for the anime’s popular opening, “Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan“, was apparently conceived in “about three seconds” by the PR team.

The manga’s absurd humor was a central point of 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'm trying to draw something straight forward like 'ONE PIECE'».

They were encouraged by a popular Japan's deer mascot, Sento-kun, to aspire to be one of the most popular manga series, Kodansha's 'One Piece'. Oshioshio also ruled out romance for Noko. «This time I wanted to make a comedy manga", he said, "It's not a romantic comedy, so I decided to make it just with girls».

“My deer friend Nokotan” is part of the Summer-2024 catalog (July-September) and appeared on several lists of the most anticipated series, especially after going viral with a song. Their enthusiasm translated into praise after the premiere episodes, but the anime also had a rocky start with its subtitles and Crunchyroll's English dub script., criticized for poor translations resembling those of an artificial intelligence. While no official explanation has been provided, the current popular opinion is that a person likely translated the scripts without proper quality control processes.

This unique blend of absurd comedy and quirky characters has caught the attention of both manga fans and new anime viewers, cementing “My deer friend Nokotan” as one of the hits of summer 2024.

Source: Natalie in comics