Subculture Anime Blog

OP: “Ano hi Time Machine” by LONG SHOT PARTY – This song is a lot more lively than the previous OP’s, and the animation echos the same feeling. I dig it.

Summary:

Natsume recalls how he occasionally sees things that others can’t, yokai, but his thoughts are interrupted by a soccer ball being kicked in his direction by his friends. When Natsume goes to retrieve the ball, he is attacked by an ayakashi who is after the yujin-cho in his possession. Nyanko-sensei reveals himself while Natsume is in a dire situation, but refuses to help in favor of acting like he does not care. Natsume takes care of the ayakashi himself, then being reminded by Nyanko that he is only body-guarding him until he can take the yujin-cho for himself. After returning home and having dinner, Natsume seems to see Nyanko return in a very dirty state. Despite his cleaning him, however, the black appearance he has now dawned does not disappear. Further more, he refuses to speak back to him.

When Nyanko truly returns home, he reveals that his impostor is actually an ayakashi. It seems rather harmless at first, but when Natsume takes the yujin-cho from his bag as Nyanko requests, the black cat quickly takes it while escaping outside. Despite Natsume’s desperate attempt to catch the thief, Nyanko convinces him to pursue when it is not at night. To answer Natsume’s confusion, Nyanko expresses his belief that the ayakashi is not a harmful one. By chasing after it and revealing that his book of friends has been stolen though, more harmful spirits may appear to make things worse. The two soon see a light in the distance, which Nyanko sees is a kitsunebi. When some of the spirits attending sense a human scent, Nyanko transforms into Madara to hide Natsume.

An old acquaintance of Madara’s eventually appears, who is introduced as a woman named Beniyo. Mirroring an all too familiar reaction, she mistakes Natsume as Reiko. To avoid trouble though, Madara shuts her up before explaining the circumstances to her. Madara also asks Beniyo about the gathering from earlier, which she explains were spirits attending a nearby banquet. Beniyo further reveals that the black cat from earlier was near the gathering, causing Natsume to request to attend the banquet. Despite the possibility of being eaten, Natsume still suggests that he will go in disguise. On the way to the banquet, Natsume recalls when he first received the yujin-cho from his disturbed parents.

While the group attends the banquet, some of the spirits notice that Natsume smells of human. This leads them to the story of a spirit known as Nushi who was particularly attached to humans because of their kindness to him. The group also mentions that Nushi would have competition with Natsume Reiko. Natsume becomes obviously interested in this, but the conversation is interrupted by a challenge to the human world made by some of the spirits elsewhere. As they learned the location of Nushi’s containment, they would assault the humans for revenge. Natsume sees no reason to have an assault on humans for a single capture, and then reminds Beniyo that he can hear and see the yokai around him.

Natsume finally sees the black cat from earlier, and chasing him this time, he successfully retrieves the yujin-cho back. When Nyanko and Beniyo catch up to him, however, Natsume guesses that the cat purposely took the book in order to lure them to the banquet. Beniyo uses her powers to learn the cat’s objectives, and then guessing that it is in the form of a yorishiro, becomes shocked that the cat is none other than Nushi-sama. Wondering how Nushi was able to move despite being sealed, Natsume guesses that the rope he broke earlier in the day was what opened the barrier. The group remembers the conversation from earlier, about Nushi getting into competitions with Reiko, so Nyanko guesses that he may regain his powers back if his name was returned.

The spirits from earlier find Natsume and the others after being suspicious as to what they were doing, then clearly seeing that Natsume is a human. The spirits attack Natsume, but despite this, he does his best to listen for any spirit that knows of Nushi’s true name. He eventually hears that it is Riyo, and when Madara appears to save Natsume, he properly returns Riyo’s name. Breaking out of his appearance of a cat, Riyo embraces Natsume as an angel-like figure. Putting his forehead against his, Riyo shows Natsume the kind experiences he had with humans in the past. Riyo further explains that he visited Natsume’s home to find an old friend, but she had already passed away. Unable to do anything in his cat form, Riyo confirms that he stole the yujin-cho in order to lead Natsume to the banquet. Despite being sealed by humans, Riyo tells Natsume that he likes humans before disappearing.

With snow covering the city by the time Natsume and the others return home, Beniyo takes her leave. Despite her suggestion that Madara come with her, he decides to stay with Natsume. Recently, what has been troubling Natsume is the separations from people who he has had small encounters with. Of course, he wanted to keep all of these experiences precious.

ED: Another slow song, but I actually like this one a lot more than the first. The animation also has a bit more going on in it.

Preview: Snow bunnies!

Impression:

Hey guys, remember when I covered the first episode of the original series back in the summer? Well, my impression of the series really hasn’t changed since then. This was still as inspiring as every episode of the first season, leaving me wishing for more by the end. Natsume obviously needed a sequel, so I’m sure every fan of the show will be happy with the second production. Natsume Yujin-Cho is one of those stories that constantly has me close to tears and speechless, but as I have said before, it’s really one that I like to appreciate on my own time rather than trying to keep up with each week. I watched the first four episodes of the original series while they aired, but as for the rest of them…….well, I finished those last week. I’m almost certain that my second experience with the anime will follow a similar path, and combining the other selection of shows and lack of time I have, I’ll make the decision for the second time to pass on trying to write about this series.

I should probably talk a little about this episode though, in avoidance of leaving nothing but a rehash of what I said last time. There seems to have been a lot of improvements so far, with the OP and ED as I mentioned or otherwise. The name returning scene in this arc was very beautiful, and though the look could have been credited to the spirit that the cast was dealing with this week, it certainly avoided the typical display. As much as I loved the first series, we were clearly left with a lot of questions left about Reiko and her past. This episode seemed to suggest just a bit more about this, even revealing when Natsume received the book of friends. As usual, I also loved the several references to popular Japanese folklore. Looking up things like the kitsunebi and the meaning of nushi, I almost wanted to make a joke about anime being educational! It can only get better from here on, and I’m really anxious to see the return of old faces; all played by their underrated high profile seiyu.