Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Natsume Yūjin-Chō Roku
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3563 Location: Finland |
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Kaoru? |
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Typo. It's been corrected. |
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razberry_yum
 Posts: 169 |
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I have always thought that there is a chance Madara is the yokai Reiko got together with which ended up in her getting pregnant and giving birth to Natsume's mother (since Reiko is his maternal grandmother). I know we're used to seeing Madara in his Nyanko form or his great yokai form, but we also know he is able to take on human form. Although nowadays it's usually a human female, a facsimile of Reiko no less, if my memory serves, it was either stated or implied that he knew Reiko very well, enough to be able to mimic her. I can imagine that at one point maybe he took on a male human form and that's when he met Reiko. It would also explain why he's so attached to Natsume. Sure, he says it's because of the Book of Friends, but at this point, how many opportunities has he had already to steal it? He could easily do so when Natsume's asleep. I really feel there is more to his and Reiko's history and I hope we get that reveal. Actually, I hope we always get a new Natsume Yuujinchou season, if not every year then maybe every other. I love this series; it never fails in moving me to tears during almost every episode. I hope they never give up on producing new seasons for it even if we have to wait a few years for more source material. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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I think Madara just found Reiko interesting, so he kept an eye on her until he got sealed away. As for Takashi, I think it's just as he's said: humans don't live long and he can wait, since Takashi is interesting too and it relieves his boredom. But he's clearly grown more attached to him through daily exposure. Whenever he's in trouble or sick or passes out, Nyanko-sensei is always there, quite concerned for him. If all he wanted was the Book, Takashi getting sick or hurt and dying would work in his favor, so he ought not to be worried at all.
I admit I was surprised that Nyanko-sensei seemed to be in favor of this episode's couple. He's usually more cynical about such things. But I wonder what Aoi and Kaoru will do about the bird youkai that keep coming after him, when Natsume and Sensei aren't around? Anyway, it was a beautiful episode all around. |
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tophg
Posts: 22 |
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Hehe, I just saw this as Nyanko-sensei thinking with his stomach again, as he suddenly became all sweetness and light after hearing that Aoi had access to a sake spring in the forest he guarded. Reason enough to immediately invite him home for tea! Just as we've seen him be nice as pie in the past to anyone who promises food or drink, regardless of any other complications. Although he does seem to have mellowed somewhat this season and appears more content to let Natsume fumble his way through his various scrapes wihout constantly sniping from the sidelines or actively sabotaging him. Also that most cat-like moment at the edge of the scene on the park bench, where he wiggles his butt and jumps up to catch the passing butterfly ... only to crash immediately to the ground with derp face because he's just too fat to fly .. classic!  Or when he summersaults and lands slap bang on top of Natsume's head, I couldn't stop laughing ...
Last edited by tophg on Thu Jun 01, 2017 11:46 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Certainly, I agree about his sake springs motivation, but once he learned the whole story, he was still on board with it, even though that would mean his "in" to the springs would vanish if they were successful at getting the two together. And his advice to live the way he wants to, once he meets that special person, wasn't about his stomach.
 I suppose he could be thinking long term, assuming Aoi will return to his apprenticeship once Kaoru dies and owe him one, but I'm not sure how Nyanko that is.
Loved the blue flames of the burning letters. @ razberry_yum: I've been thinking some more about your theory, and I agree there's some history between them I'd like to know more about, but I think I don't want it to be that, since that would make Natsume's mother InuYasha, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence or rumors that she had any powers. And on that subject, I would love to see Natsume dig into his mother's history a little. It seems odd that he's only curious about his grandmother, but not his mother. I guess he's got enough glimpses at Reiko's life to pique his curiosity (plus the Book), but you'd think he'd want to learn more about the mother he can't remember at all. |
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Merida
 Posts: 1946 |
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Another beautiful episode. As for "relationships between youkai and humans never working out", it might be different if the human can actually see the youkai? Also, Kaoru was already aware of Aoi being a youkai when she fell in love with him. And last but not least, isn't falling in love always about taking a risk, even when both partners are human? Of course, there's still the difference in lifespans, but even in long-lasting relationships between humans, somebody will always get left behind, eventually...
And i think Nyonako-sensei just honestly liked Aoi and sympathized with him, even though he may have had reservations about the relationship? Of course, Aoi being associated with the sake spring might have helped... |
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razberry_yum
Posts: 169 |
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Ah, but perhaps the powers skip a generation? Remember a few episodes back with Natori's mentor who lost his yokai sight? From all appearances, his daughter didn't have any abilities even though her father was strong enough to be an exorcist? I think it's entirely possible that Natsume's mother was just a normal human being, due to the generation skip, and that's why Natsume ends up with Reiko's powers instead. But yeah, I'd love to learn more about his parents too. I guess he's most interested in Reiko because of the yokai's accounts of her, whereas nobody seems to mention his parents much at all, other than they passed away. That part's rather odd too; it's like his parents made no impression on anyone at all to be worth talking about. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Skipping a generation in a human lineage is quite different from actually being half youkai. If anything, I'd think that, plus having a mother as powerful in her own right as Reiko, would make it almost impossible for her not to have powers. Heck, she should have been even more powerful than Reiko!
Powers or no, I imagine Natsume's mother probably had almost as rough a childhood as Reiko's, being illegitimate and having a "crazy" mother - assuming Reiko even stuck around to rear her. |
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chaccide
Posts: 295 |
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Natsume has had a couple of straight up horror episodes. The one that sticks with me the most is the one where that slow-moving featureless thing was coming for him and it kept getting closer every day until it was on the verge of killing him. That was scary!
This was kind of a lesser episode for me. It was sweet seeing how everyone cared for him and how he turned to people for help, but the background story wasn't all that moving to me, maybe because we didn't get any facetime (haha) to get to know the supernatural characters. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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More than the episode that actually featured them, this one made me think that Kitamoto and Nishimura must be like the best people in the world (next to Touko and Shigeru). It's not actually clear to me why they like him, all things considered. He hangs out with them, but doesn't seem to interact with them all that much, at least not enough to make up for all the weirdness and TLC he requires.
Just look at his behavior toward Nishimura this episode from Nishi's pov! He shakes him, shouts in his face to get away and that he'll pay if he hurts his friend, looks around wildly and runs away. Fear of "bugs" doesn't quite explain that away (talking like that to bugs is still weird). Yet they never hold any of that against him or even really question it, other than worry if he's ok. It's beyond saintly.
Not to mention Natsume keeps stealing his "girlfriends" away... |
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Northlander
 Posts: 911 |
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Honestly, I like both kinds. The one you mentioned I certainly remembered as one of the best horror-ish of story plots, but I like Natsume's Book of Friends the best when it has these quiet moments inbetween, like most of the episodes based on manga chapters that were chosen to be season enders where there is no lethal (or other kinds of) danger, but rather, said episodes spends most of the runtime examining some of the side cast, or even Natsume's relationship with either of them. (And I'm kind of sad that they seem to have abandoned that fox child. I wonder how he's doing.) Like... season 5 had the story I wanted to see the most as the penultimate episode, but the last episode was a damn good one too. Episode 9 felt more like a filler episode that they kind of thatched together out of various story elements from earlier episodes, and I found it a bit ridiculous that spoiler[the four gods (of which only one remains now) spent so much time looking for a special thing for their mountain Goddess, and then Natsume just finds it after searching for a couple of minutes because it reflects some light. That poor mask had spent lord knows how long searching for that thing, but here comes Mr. Beginner's Luck and solves the problem in a heartbeat.  ] That said, I enjoyed myself watching most of it, even if it's one of the "weaker" episodes. It's just such a great show, and season 5 was a particularly strong one at that, so when any episodes aren't top-tier, they stand out just because of that. (Granted, it might turn out that episode 9 ISN'T filler -- some of the episodes in this season has been based on manga chapters in the most recent volumes that I got, so... yeah, might be proven wrong about this.)
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Not that much longer. Only the day after the rain. Yeah, he got lucky, but I think the mask spirit just panicked when it couldn't find it right away and tried to enlist help.
What I didn't get was the water in the hallway. Why did that happen? What did it mean? Also, I find it hilarious that after all the times Sensei has been insulted by being called a pig-cat or a pig-mochi, he chooses a piglet as a disguise.
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endallchaos
 Posts: 213 Location: Sin City |
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How is DBS always getting better scores than this show? This is so much better!
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chaccide
Posts: 295 |
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I think Natsume is hoping to find something about Reiko because the old man and his grandmother would probably be of the same generation. If that guy had contact with a lot of youkai and it seems like he did, then he may have known something about Reiko and about Natsume's grandfather and about their children. They would have been too powerful for him not to take note.
Also there may have been rumors about the book of friends that she was creating, and there may be some more information about the sort of specific contracts contained within the book. He might find an easier way to release the names. |
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