As stated in my first impression post of Natsume Yuujinchou, I was drawn to the anime via the poster. It was a very pretty poster. The summary did nothing for me, really but let me know what was going on.
In essence, what actually kept me watching the entire series from beginning to end would have to be the feeling I get from viewing Natsume Yuujinchou as a whole. It's almost like reading about a majestic legend, or some form of old folklore. The mood is relaxing, the music and artwork help with that, and altogether, without being over exaggerated or flashy, Natsume Yuujinchou delivers a very fascinating, amazing story for the viewers.
This may be a horrible comparison, but I get a slight feel for Hayao Miyazaki when I see the stories of each episode unfolding and hear the music playing softly in the background.
Like works by Hayao Miyazaki, Natsume Yuujinchou sort of plays on images and feelings more than the actual action of each storyline of each episode. And also more so than words.
The storyline is cliched, but the way it's executed is simple and soothing for a supernatural anime. The characters, though limited, are interesting to follow. Natusme Takashi and Nyanko-sensei are really the only two that we get to follow throughout the series and we learn a lot about the two as the thirteen episodes progress. Natsume Reiko, Takashi's grandmother with the same ability as Takashi, is mentioned infrequently, and a plethora of ayakashi are presented each episode along with their sentimental stories.
With this anime, I hate that I can't seem to relay the exact feeling I have of each and every episode. But I can still try to describe how I feel...
It's almost like watching the sun rising-- something phenomenal, yet at the same time so natural is taking place. The scenery is wonderful, but at the same time it's not loud or flashy. It is simply one simple event. But it's wonderful nonetheless.
This is Natsume Yuujinchou in a nutshell.
Many would not be drawn to it because it is so quiet and simple as an anime filed under fantasy. But in essence, this anime is more so a slice of life drama hidden within all the beautiful supernatural phenomena it boasts as it's central theme.
Up to the ending of the thirteen episodes, the only conflicts we encounter are very realistic and everyday normal, even for a storyline that plays on a boy being able to interact with supernatural beings where no one else can.
As others have stated before, Natsume Yuujinchou delivers its central theme much differently than many would expect. Natsume Takashi is living in a life where he is the only person who can see youkai, ayakashi, ghosts, spirits, and the like. No one believes him because of what he can see and instead he is shunned by his family and tossed around until he is finally taken in by Touko-san wherein he does what he can to keep others from suspecting what he can do.
For Takashi-kun, it is hard for him to explain his strange behavior, and at the same time, his personality does what can be done to remain a good person, which is what Natsume Takashi is from beginning to end. Even though he may refuse to help certain youkai, he cannot help but to butt his nose into their business when he feels he needs to help.
After all, as he reasons, he can see them after all. There's no reason for him to pretend that they don't exist.
Overall, Natsume Takashi is a very kind person.
But going through life seeing youkai does not mean a walk in the park. Others who don't see these spirits and demons have nothing to fear because of such. Because as the saying goes, when you look at someone or something, there is always the possibility that he, she, or it will look right back at you. In Takashi-kun's case, because he can see youkai and youkai can see all humans, when it is known that he can see youkai, they don't simply just look right back at him. They also act, as is revealed by all the dangerous youkai who make a habit of chasing Takashi around.
Up to this point, I've made no mention of the second central theme in this series. The Book of Friends is the item that brings Takashi and Nyanko-sensei together, as well as propels the series' beginning. The Book of Friends is a small pamphlet of papers recording the names of various youkai, big and small, calm and dangerous. This book was passed onto Natsume Takashi by his grandmother, Reiko who had made a habit of collecting these contracted names assumingly because she was lonely and wanted friends.
But as the anime progresses, less is mentioned about Reiko and her Book of Friends. Instead, the producers seem to have forgotten about the book altogether and decided to focus more on other issues of Takashi surrounding his ability to interact with youkai... as well as his long, lonely childhood past.
The anime itself seems adamant on featuring Takashi-kun's morbid life from day one of being able to see youkai and being shunned from his family because of the "strange things" he keeps saying. A lot of the latter episodes of this series pays strict attention to the worries and the emotional turmoil that kind and caring Natsume Takashi has had to endure from past to present.
His most important worry being whether or not he can continue to remain with Touko-san in his current home, and whether or not he will ever find a place he can feel like he belongs in.
Takashi was lonely and abandoned since childhood, as was his grandmother. His grandmother created a Book of Friends for her own sake, and from the beginning of the series, Takashi is dead set on scrapping his grandmother's Book of Friends by returning all the names contracted. His only few human friends are merely background noise, and when he meets others who know of his plight, nothing seems to be as he had expected.
Tanuma is a boy who is curious about Takashi because he can see the shadows of youkai, though not the actual youkai itself. Natori-san is an older man who can see and interact with youkai, had the same horrible and lonely childhood as Takashi, but who takes action against youkai in a way Takashi would have never even dared do.
The only true close friend Takashi could probably boast would be his fat cat, Nyanko-sensei (also known as Madara in his true form) who gets a beating from Takashi regularly. The relationship between this youkai and Takashi is hard to consume in that how they act towards each other seems rather unbelievable... at least until you realize that the cat is always going to be on Takashi's side.
After all, when transformed into his true body as Madara, I really doubt that it would be extremely hard for him to simply pluck Takashi off the ground and eat him. Had Nyanko-sensei been a little less caring for Takashi, there would probably be no story to tell.
What youkai as powerful as Madara would allow some mere human to beat him over the head all the time?
Everything that is part of the true episodic adventure of Natsume Yuujinchou comes around to develop the character of Natsume Takashi and his relationship with both the youkai world and the human world. And as his own story is told from childhood, you feel with him and you feel for him.
To be able to be such a kind and calm young boy after all that's happened to him... it's a little hard for a viewer to grasp. But in the end, I am personally glad that Takashi-kun is the way that he is. He brings much needed optimism to such a morbid fate and at the same time he conveys the reality of his own fate.
Natsume Yuujinchou is a success because of the way in which it ties together the theme with the main protagonist. The series itself is a distinct and grade-A expample of, "So you can see youkai? Well this is the reality of what your situation would be like if this were a possible occurence." And it has little to do with action or comedy-- this series is pure slice of life drama.
The drama, the angst, the action, and even the comedy is all natural rather than artistically timed for best effect. This is real life at its best concerning a boy who can see things that others cannot. This is not a horror or thriller, and this is not forced comedic timing nor is it forced action and adventure just because supernatural beings are a part of the scenario.
As I already stated, Natsume Yuujinchou plays on the emotions of the viewer and relates to us everything that is Natsume Takashi.
It wasn't until episode three when we see a flashback of Takashi as a child that I realized just how emotionally damaged Takashi could have become. Realizing that he is the only one who sees strange things, realizing that no one believes him, and realizing just how lonely he is becomes a tremendous, sad stone sitting on his shoulders. When he meets a nice onee-san who claims that she "can see them too," little Takashi is thrilled because he no longer has to be alone anymore. But then the reality struck when he was asked what he was doing all by himself at the park.
I could feel my own breath catching at the realization of what Takashi's friendly onee-san really is. At that point in time, with the color of the setting sun showing in animation as well as the expressive look on little Takashi's face, I probably couldn't feel what the child was feeling, but I knew just how surprising and saddening the situation had become.
Once again, Natsume Takashi was all alone. It was absolutely a wonder that Takashi grew up to be the kind and caring kid he is.
This could have turned out into some other type of series if Takashi-kun had some sense of romanticism in him. But no, we remain pure and innocent.
There are a lot of very touching moments in all of Natsume Yuujinchou, many of which involve the simple guest appearances of many youkai per episode.
No matter how, each story interrelates with Takashi's own feelings of self-worth, of loneliness, of understanding, and of his relationship towards the youkai and his human friends and family. Aside from that, we also get to see a slight bridge in the similarities and differences between youkai and humans, which is yet another insight of Natsume Yuujinchou that is rarely brought up in more action/adventure-packed supernatural series.
We are brought to the attention of various questions that have always plagued Takashi since the beginning of time, and one by one, the questions are asked, but the answer is so vague that there's no way that even Takashi himself could answer no matter how thoroughly he's thought them over.
How does he view the youkai in his life? Who else in this world has the same ability as himself? Is there really that big of a difference between youkai and human? Will he see youkai for the rest of his life, or will he lose that ability at some point in time? Why is it that only he can see these youkai?
So many questions and no answers are given. Instead, the viewers are indirectly given the chance to think over these issues. Because as far as I can tell, Natsume Yuujinchou focuses on the here and now, taking from the past in slight, and only speculating about the future that is to come.
I thoroughly enjoyed this series as I had predicted in my first impressions post. I pegged it as a Wagaya no Oinari-sama, but much better. I don't know how to comment on that assumption, because both series are on completely different levels of supernatural awe. While I believe that Natsume Yuujinchou is indeed better than Wagaya-- and better than a lot of other anime I've seen recently-- there is no way to compare.
Natsume Yuujinchou is in a league of it's own.
The ending wraps up quite well by bringing back a few of previous episode guest youkai and human, but somehow, it definitely is missing something. It feels as if it's just another episode and that it hasn't really ended yet. Like others have mentioned, it's like a recap or an intermission curtain call for all the viewers to reminisce in the reappearances of some of the series' cameo youkai and human.
And then what's this, Natori-san and some secret gathering? A scene that is shown only briefly but left to the wonderings of the viewers.
Takashi and his friend Tanuma spend a good portion of the ending episode searching for Takashi's "fat cat" who is held hostage by Takashi's classmate Sasada in an attempt to keep him around her for her amusement. But overall, the ending had the same soothing feel as the rest of the series.
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Season two of Natsume has been announced to begin broadcast in January of 2009, and so we know for a fact that the series has yet to reach its end. I'm glad, because although there is very little to keep you hanging at the edge of your seat to look forward to, Natsume is a good enough anime series to keep you hooked as each episode rolls out slowly.
Though without action or adventure or over the top comedy or exaggerated storytelling, Natsume Yuujinchou is definitely a must see anime. Not bad are the visual affects, the background music, the theme music, and even the seiyuu of each character.
Natsume Takashi's seiyuu Kamiya Hiroshi is not familiar to me, but he does an excellent job portraying Natsume's calmness and his kind demeanor. Included in the voice cast role call are Inoue Kazuhiko as Nyanko-sensei and his youkai form Madara, and Kobayashi Sanae in her few appearances as Reiko.
If I were to describe Natsume Yuujinchou to someone, I don't think I would ever be able to fully give an appreciable account of the anime as a whole. Maybe one of these days I'll just go through and give more thoughts about various parts of Natsume Yuujinchou that are notable, but then, that'll be quite a lot of different posts.
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