In 2017, Yorgos Lanthimos directed a movie called "The Killing of a Sacred Deer." Just like this anime, it has "deer" in its title.
So, what's the point of me bringing that up?
Well, despite the deer in its title, the movie barely shows any actual deer. This anime, on the other hand, makes sure to show you DEER EVERY. FCKING. MINUTE.
DEER, DEER, EVERYWHERE. DON’T YOU DEER FORGET THAT THIS ANIME IS ABOUT DEER.
IN THE OPENING: DEER
IN THE TITLE FRAME: DEER
IN THE WALKWAY: DEER
IN THE CLASSROOM: DEER
IN THE RANDOM WAREHOUSE: DEER
And in the ending, YOU FCKING GUESS IT: DEER.
AND IT DOESN’T STOP WITH JUST DEER. YOU'VE GOT DEER BISCUITS, A DEER CLUB, A DEER GIRL HANGING ON AN ELECTRIC POLE, A GIRL THAT ENVIES A DEER, AND MORE DEAR SHENANIGANS. DEER GOD, IS THERE ANYTHING BUT DEER?
Surprisingly, there is. This anime actually has a story: a bizarre encounter of a seemingly high-profile and well-mannered student with a seemingly female high schooler with deer antlers. Then the story goes from there. We learn that she is a delinquent, a tsundere, and a virgin—a tsundere virgin. This tsundere virgin has a crazy sister who loves her too much. There are a few sprinkles of shoujo ai spices in here, but not much—too little even. Then this anime shows you that all of that is just a side plot because the main plot is and will always be DEER.
"This ain't about you girls; this is about DEER."
The animation is awesome. The character design is cute, charming, and pretty. Sometimes the animation looks like the budget jumped from "yeah, just some standard CGDCT animation" to "holy shit, how much does that cost?" Overall, very good animation—very fluid. Also, this anime has one of the best blood splatters I've ever seen so far this season, despite the fact that it's not really necessary. So, good animation, above average.
Then, there's the deer. They seem so out of place. They look like they don't even belong in this anime, but again, it's definitely made on purpose because they're trying to make the deer seems like a sentient natural forces spying on the MC's life like a watchful god.
The song is bopping. The ED song is very catchy, and adding a deer cracker-making video in the background just adds extra deer-iness to the show.
And the OP song is catchy, too catchy even. So catchy that it still plays even when I’ve already turned it off. Sometimes it appears in my dreams. Sometimes it haunts me in my nightmares. Sometimes it just digs its way into my head, making me sing it without my consent. Sometimes I bang my head to stop it, but the voices keep getting louder and louder. But overall, it's a very catchy and enjoyable song.
This show is the Deer-est deer anime that ever deer-ed, and giving it a 10 is merely a fraction of my thankfulness to the deer god for blessing me with this peak cinema.
