If there’s something I’ve realized after seven seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou it is this: once they escape “Daidaiiro no Toki,” buckle up, Buttercup. That piece of music is at all times accompanied by one of many collection’ heavy gamers, and this episode was definitely no exception. It additionally occurs to be my favourite piece of background music Natsume Yuuijinchou (which has maybe the perfect background music in anime), and maybe my favourite piece of interval anime BGM. It has an virtually Mozartian high quality to it, and that is not a reward I give out usually (or calmly).
This episode additionally reminds us why I get a little bit pissed off with these exorcism episodes (though the final one was one of many higher ones). Merely put, no anime does that this type of story higher than Natsume (and once more, that is not reward supplied calmly). This can be a collection that basically blossoms when it is poetic and the exorcist episodes are prose. It could possibly try this nicely, however the magic is lacking. With episodes like this and the Nishimura doll episode, the present achieves that poetry. They’re so easy and chic, so melancholic and exquisite. The trimmings of conventional tales should not current and never essential. With them and solely them Natsume Yuujinchou escape the sullen bonds of earth and dance via the air on laughter-silvered wings.
I feel what ties these episodes collectively is that they’re virtually at all times about loneliness. For instance, I am considering of the Kogitsune eps they usually definitely match. Loneliness is a personality on this forged – maybe the principle character in its personal method. It is definitely on the coronary heart of Natsume Reiko’s story, and her grandson’s as nicely. However the distinction, after all, is Nyanko-sensei, and that’s each unhappy and exquisite in its personal method. Reiko by no means had a Madara in her life and as such she was (virtually) at all times alone (so far as we all know). However it was her loneliness that made her begin the Ebook of Pals, which introduced Madara and Takashi collectively. And that’s fairly unhappy and likewise stunning.
I feel this story asks the basic query Natsume Yuujinchou. To wit: Is Natsume’s skill a blessing or a curse? How would Reiko have answered that, I ponder? It opens up a brand new world, a gorgeous and mysterious world that individuals are virtually by no means allowed to see. However it’s a world the place human kids don’t belong. It is filled with risks and it drains the life power from individuals who keep too lengthy and too shut. However how will you watch Soranome (Tsuda Kenjirou) tries in useless to attach with Souko (Yui Ishikawa) and never mourn his incapability to take action?
These two are the guts of this episode: her, and Natsume Reiko, after all. Natsume has gone to a forest the place a legendary reclusive monster has proven up, considering it would wish to take again his identify. Soranome and Natsume cross paths quickly sufficient – he is aware of who this human baby is, as each youkai who knew Reiko at all times is aware of. Soranome asks if Takashi will give his identify again, and he instantly agrees. When Soranome tells Natsume that he’s the truth is the very first identify within the guide, Natsume asks the youkai to inform him a narrative about his grandmother, and Soranome agrees. Time is one thing he has had sufficient of.
I would say this episode stuffed in additional blanks with Reiko than any earlier one. The obvious factor is that we now know the place the thought for the Pals Ebook got here from. It was Souko, the woman who stored exhibiting up in Reiko’s forest – the one Reiko fled to as an escape from the gossip and whispers that was her one fixed companion. Souko is all the pieces Reiko just isn’t: reverent, hesitant and subdued. Reiko primarily tries to get her out of the forest, partly for her personal safety. However reverent or not, Souko has a robust will. She returns to the identical cairn day-after-day and reads her guide, and Reiko takes a nap subsequent to her to guard her from the considerable native youkai.
It is good to see that Reiko had a minimum of one human good friend – and it was these two, there is no denying it. Even when Reiko by no means advised Souko her identify regardless of repeated questions. Lastly, Souko proposes a sport with the reply being the stakes, beginning with throwing stones at a distinguished stone with a triangular carving. Reiko by no means loses, and he or she by no means tells Souko her identify. Particularly after Souko warns her a few scary woman named Natsume Reiko who wanders the forest and scares folks away (I assumed Souko linked the dots, however it does not appear that method). And all of the whereas, Soranome watches, sometimes exchanging bemused observations with Reiko after Souko returns house.
Soranome can be lonely. He can learn the minds of others (human or youkai), albeit momentarily, and the barrage of feelings and ideas is greater than he desires to bear. He remoted himself within the mountains and chased away different youkai, however Reiko definitely thinks nothing of that, and her thoughts is closed to him. Souko is weak, and after proposing a race with Reiko on a wet day, she falls sick and lies in mattress. That is the day she lastly beats Reiko in a match (whether or not Reiko would have gone forward and brought a dive, we could by no means know). She does not present up for a couple of days, and Reiko assumes she is aware of why and ultimately provides up. However Souko do again, just for Reiko to be gone ceaselessly. Soranome desires to inform her, however cannot. He should carry this information with him, undivided.
It is all a gorgeous, horrible unhappiness. And nobody can try this like Seres. Natsume Yuujinchou is the story of creatures who journey via their lives alone, and the temporary intersections with others that add coloration to their existence. Like the sphere of blue flowers that Reiko wished to share with Souko, and ended up sharing with Soranome. And eventually with Natsume who, maybe due to Soranome’s skill, noticed them himself (and longed to indicate them to Nyanko-sensei). Soranome will probably be alone once more, however he’s entire once more – and he might lastly share what he had carried with him for therefore a few years. And in doing so, to convey Takashi a little bit nearer to Reiko.
