Natsume Yuujinchou San – 05 (31) Review

Episode 5 (31)

This was not one of the more heartwarming episodes, but it was still a good one and we did get to see Taki and Tanuma again in this episode. It is always nice meeting the old cast.

Episode Summary

Natsume and Tanuma decide to stop outside Taki’s house to take shelter from the rain. Just as they were leaving, Taki opens the door and invites them in with Nyako-sensei in her arms. Tanuma and Natsume then help Taki to clean out the storage room in Taki’s house and whilst there, Natsume tears down a image of a Kappa that was hung upside down.

This is when the trouble starts and Natsume starts to see an extra kimono when clearing the storeroom. The kimono then attacks Natsume and Natsume tries to fight him off and the Kimono disappears. Hidding in one corner is a small yokai who just happened to be visiting the house and who knew Shin’ichro (Taki’s grandfather). Apparently what Natsume tore down was a upside-down seal put up by Shin’ichiro and the Yokai that was sealed by Shin’ichro had been released by Natsume. After being sealed for so long and finally having freedom the Yokai is now collecting its body parts that got dispersed when it was sealed to get back its powers.

We learn that Shin’ichiro was someone who had some spiritual powers but not enough to see the Yokais and had spent his life copying seals and wishing to be able to meet a Yokai. Always watching over him were a few small Yokai’s who had grown attached to him over the years despite not admitting it.

Just when Taki, Natsume and Tanuma started to search the house for the Kimono Yokai, Natsume gets kidnap. Nyanko Sensei comes back looking for Natsume and a fight between Nyanko and the Kimono Yokai over Nyanko Sensei’s dessert (aka Natsume) breaks out. The small Yokai friends of Shin’ichiro helps Natsume out just as Natsume passes out, waking up to the fight having been resolved.

Review

I am sorry for being so incoherent in my episode summary but I am tired after a long day at work.

This episode feels like it was meant to be before the last episode due to the way Natsume acts towards the whole idea of Yokais. Throughout the episode Natsume keeps stating that he does not wish to see any Yokai and tries to avoid them as much as possible. This is very different from how Natsume actually seeked out the Yokai from his childhood in the last episode. Sure, seeking a spirit that you once knew is different from meeting a new spirit, but it still felt like the progress that Natsume has made towards his acceptance of Yokais in this season had been forgotten in this episode.

I did like how the Yokai’s were portrayed to not be any different from humans in the fact that they kept saying that they too did not want to see and interact with humans because nothing good ever comes out of it. Yet in the end, they still helped Natsume and his friends. I find it really similar to how Natsume says he does not want to see Yokai’s but at the end of the day, the still cares for them.

I also like the creepy mood of the episode and how this episode’s Yokai was really scary with his missing limbs which were for some reason hidden in dark corners despite no one without spiritual powers should be able to see them. I also like how the Yokai started to turn all ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ on us by wanting to slash off Natsume’s arm.

The character development for Natsume with regards to his relationships with people was nice to see as well. Natsume did not push Tanuma and Taki away while trying to protect them but rather accepted them as being on the same level. (Because from my point of view, if you think you should/have to protect someone, you basically are thinking that they are weak, even if you don’t mean to imply that)

The typcal Nyanko sensei comedic moments were just as funny in this episode. Nyanko being called Ponta was such a cute moment. It was also a breath of fresh air that the new friendly Yokai seemed to adopt a grandmother-like personality, which means that there were definitely some funny moments of craziness.

One thing that I felt was bad about this episode was that the ending felt rushed. I thought that the build up in the story was nice and the development of the plot was really good, yet the ending felt rushed with Natsume blacking out and everything being resolved by the time he woke up. I was really disappointed by that and thought that it was going to be perhaps a tw0 episode long arc.

Overall, it was still a good Natsume episode and while it was touching and heartwarming and had a nice creepy tone to it, I felt that last episode was still better and connected more with the viewer than this episode did.

Rating: 7/10

Natsume Related News:

I found this intersting news, here is an except for you:

“Natsume’s Book of Friends Promotes Hot Spring, Fireworks Fest

…The director and staff for the Natsume Yūjin-Chō anime series visited the cities of Kuma and Hitoyoshi, and the show features actual places from Kumamoto Prefecture. The “LaLa Natsu Fest” event’s website offers a downloadable map of locales shown in the anime, and fans can use the map to visit the referenced scenery… “

You can read the rest of the article here.

-ra out! =)