Natsume's Book of Friends Season 7

Episode 6

So far, this season of Natsume's Book of Friends has been gentle and nostalgic. But this latest episode reminded me that it can do horror expertly as well. “The Abandoned Station, Two Wheels” was darker than our usual fare and filled with surreal, perilous scenes. It's no coincidence that this creepiness returned in an episode featuring Matoba, the antihero leader of an eponymous exorcist clan. Matoba hasn't appeared in the anime since season five (season six skipped right over the guy), but his role as a foil to Natsume made it easy for me to remember exactly where he fits in the Natsume's Book of Friends universe.

It's been a throwback season for Junichi Suwabe—first the voice actor returned to his role as Grimmjow in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War and now he's back as Matoba. Like Natori, he's an exorcist whom Natsume is familiar with, but unlike Natori, Natsume is reluctant to share a room with this guy—even in the middle of a downpour. At the beginning of the episode, Natsume would rather take his chances in the rain than share an abandoned train station with Matoba. Perhaps it's this frisson of adversity that makes me prefer Matoba as a character to Natori. (Or maybe I just think he's more handsome, I'm not above admitting that. And he looks great in a Western-style suit!) The point is, Natsume and Nyanko-sensei are so suspicious of Matoba's antics up to this point, they're not even sure the man they're looking at is actually him. It could also be the hitokubi, literally “human head,” in the birdcage playing another trick. There's hardly any time to contemplate this, however, before something terrifying emerges from the train tunnel. We are well versed in both Natsume and Nyanko's OP abilities, so the visual use of fisheye lens, twisted angles, lighting and warped sounds go a long way toward effectively expressing how even they are in immediate peril.

What connects the train station to the Hakozaki mansion? A visual comparison of the train tunnel to the far-more-inviting covered walkway entrance to the mansion attempts to join these two disparate parts of the episode. It took me a while to remember the specifics of the last time Natsume visited this mansion: in episode 11 of the 6th season, “What Matters,” he and Natori, along with their familiars, participated in a treasure hunt for exorcists all searching for a secret study. What really connects this segment to the former though, is Matoba's presence. He's here with his clan this time, including his ever-present assistant Nanase, ready to exorcise a man-made doll yokai. It's interesting to me how often human-made yokai have figured in season seven—from the scarecrows imbued with strong human feelings, to the bookshop filled with old items that eventually drew yokai toward it, to the bird sculpture given life through human care in episode one. But in this case, the doll yokai is a distraction from the real threat: our first look at the powerful monster who has forever been after Matoba's sealed right eye. It's not coincidental that this yokai has poor eyesight and is easily thwarted by eye-shaped parasols.

It's not until the end that the connection between the two settings in which Natsume encounters Matoba is made clear. In a villain-like monologue, Matoba lets it drop that the powerful yokai has a rarely-used ability to impersonate people relevant to the Matoba clan… but it isn't effective, because it has no right eye. Right then, a convenient gust of wind turns Matoba's grin malevolent, lifting his hair so we can see his concealed right eye. This sharply harkens back to the train station where Nyanko-sensei accused Matoba of being the hitokubi, or perhaps something else, in disguise. In a world where Natsume can see things that aren't there, what is real? This strange, dreamlike episode calls everything into question.

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Natsume's Book of Friends Season 7 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about model kits at Gunpla 101. She spends her days teaching her two small Newtypes to bring peace to the space colonies.