The End of the World

[Categories: Anime Reviews]

Natsume Yuujinchou end: except it isn’t. Great

Posted by Martin  [Tags: Natsume Yuujinchou]

The summer season turned out to be quite a good one, assuming you don’t mind watching two or three excellent series while ignoring countless others because you’re such an elitist you think that most of it was made of Fail. I know I’m being a bit harsh but I actually welcomed this because it’s easier to keep up with a minority I enjoy rather than fall behind with a larger number. I’m sure I missed out on too much (the subbing of x365 was out of my control since Spoonsubs seemed to run into problems, which was my biggest disappointment since I was loving it in widescreen) but as some form of compensation for having a rubbish summer IRL with only one or two memorable highlights, there were a few great shows this summer, such as this one. I enjoyed Natsume Yuujinchou. A lot.

Drunkcat is DRUNK

The best news of all is that in the new year a second season is planned - just as I was lamenting on how the characterisation and the premise in general had so much mileage, it appears that the story will indeed continue. It’s heartening to think that this show was popular enough with domestic audiences to warrant it, because I wasn’t sure that its subtle charms would be picked up by a wider audience. In any case, we have more of Natsume and his spiritual lolcat Nyanko-sensei to look forward to in January. Excellent.

The final episodes of the first season are of course the reason why this is such welcome news. What started off as an episodic “boy meets spirits, gives the spirits their names back, laughs at Nyanko-sensei” pays attention to the situation and mindset of its protagonist, and keeps its focus on his own perspective. Some of the spirits were funny, some were frightening and some were endearing; what pushed Natsume Yuujinchou into the Outstanding category was how it carried the viewer along for the ride and experienced the ups and downs with him.

Convincing characterisation and great imagery…Brains Base deliver again

Since I’m neither female nor gay I can’t comment on Natsume’s attractiveness but as central characters go he’s one of the most engaging and likeable I’ve seen in a fair while. When we’re all complaining about the same old archetypes of spineless loser, gar bonehead or angst-ridden bishie, there’s a lad like Natsume who turns up and earns your sympathy just by being an honest and decent guy. His suffering borne from being a social outcast because of his ability to see youkai is brought up often enough to alert us to the significance of certain incidents but is never overplayed; the reason why this comes across as courage in the face of adversity rather than emo self-pity is that we see Natsume use his second sight to help others and re-affirm his faith in fellow humans along the way.

This variant on the Hedgehog’s Dilemma was handled brilliantly and really made me feel sorry for the younger Natsume, which in turn made his friendship with Tanuma and Sasada all the more heartwarming; after all, there’s nothing better than seing a good person in the company of good friends. I can’t wait to see what the second season does with this, since Tanuma is now a trusted confidante and Sasada is an almost-but-not-quite romantic interest. As Sasa suggested after reading some of the original manga, the writers of this show wisely decided to retain the story’s unusual but satisfying brand of character relations that are a refreshing break from the norm.

Did this scene remind anyone else of this one?

One little surprise was The Fox’s Hat episode, which featured a young kitsune who was not, as I initially thought, female but a young male (which meant it wasn’t a loli episode…it was, um, a shouta episode then). Bringing him back for the last ep was a nice touch, since he’s a prime example of how this one thoughtful human helps humans and youkai alike. There were some more touching and even tragic moments of course: such as meeting the man who once shared the ability to see youkai and fell in love with one, before he lost the sight and even after finding happiness with someone else longed to see her again for one last time. This episode additionally presented Natsume with the question of whether he would miss the ability too, but also reminded us how close the spiritual and human worlds can sometimes be.

Another latter highlight was a youkai who possesses Natsume’s body in order to fulfil her final wish to perform in front of her former master; in the end she instead plays her song to the humble umbrella-holder who had taken care of her for so long. Alongside the amusingly uncomfortable misunderstandings that resulted from Natsume giving off an, how shall I say, androgynous aura was a rather sad but ultimately uplifting tale that didn’t pan out entirely how I expected.

Her eyes speak loud but actions speak the best[*]

Another reason why I think this show was such a winner was this knack of squeezing a tear out of you in this way, between tears of laughter. Nyanko-sensei was absolutely hilarious but the material always struck a perfect balance between the moving and just plain funny. The final episode, in which Natsume and Tanuma are discussing how Tanuma is unable to see more of the spiritual pond in his back garden than a mere reflection on the living room ceiling, was one of my favourite of such moments. Just as the conversation is heading in a downbeat direction with Tanuma wishing he could see the youkai as clearly as Natsume can, our hero wishes he could see the festival fireworks as clearly as Tanuma can…”because there’s a big youkai standing in front of me.” The serious implied meaning, masked behind a punchline of brilliantly-timed wit, sums up why I enjoyed this series so much.

The final episode ended on the most appropriate of notes: like the setting I watched it in, it was a cool autumn evening with golden leaves on the trees and a sense of hope for the future. The reunion with characters from earlier on in the series rounded things off nicely and left things open enough (Natori’s return for instance) for a second season to impress as much as the first. Fireworks, friendship and a great warm fuzzy feeling were the parting shot for my surprise highlight of the summer.

[Filed under Anime Reviews]  [Tags: Natsume Yuujinchou]

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