Natsume Yūjin-Chō Go

Episode 8

Natsume may live in a podunk town in the sticks, but his world is more vast and richer than we could have imagined. Take this week's episode, “A World Unbent,” which tells the story of how Natsume's older friend Natori Shuuichi first became an exorcist, a history that is surprisingly intertwined with antagonist matoba Seiji's own backstory. Their origin stories solidify the foundations of Natsume's modern world by illuminating the ways they choose to veer from the true path that Natsume follows so intuitively. It's a revealing episode, but without Natsume to narrate, it's less engaging than usual.

This episode takes place almost entirely in late afternoon and twilight settings, as it tells the story of Natori's origins. We learn that Natori has some angst of his own through a father who is quick to blame him for everything. His good looks are a distraction, earning him attention at school when he'd rather be left alone. (He even sits in the exact same seat in his classroom that Natsume does today.) The parallels to Natsume keep coming, but Natori's life is often found wanting in comparison. For one thing, he's not as naturally talented as Natsume and decides to emulate his exorcist mentor Takuma by wearing glasses he doesn't need a prescription for, the better to glimpse yokai through the distortion of the lens.

“The world probably seems warped and bent because you try to look at it with these, right?” matoba asks Natori. There are a lot of ways to take this statement, especially when it comes from matoba, a gifted exorcist even in his youth. Though he's a year younger, matoba is always looking down at Natori from his smug pedestal of talent and confidence. Natori is weak partly out of circumstance—as the only living Natori family member who can see yokai, he's forced to peer at old scrolls in the storehouse to learn the family exorcism techniques—while matoba is privileged and primed to inherit his family business from the start. I choose to interpret this line as matoba criticizing Natori's view of the world as distorted. Natori sees the world pessimistically, as the source of his problems and something he wants to grow strong enough to protect people from. Meanwhile matoba's got rose-colored glasses because he's been handed everything on a silver platter. Even though they cooperate in this episode, it's obvious why matoba and Natori aren't friends today. Despite sharing similar talents, they have totally different perspectives on the world. Or as Natori puts it: “We have different paths.”

Nearly every scene in this episode features autumn leaves, marking it as a season of change. Combined with traditional shamisen music that securely establishes these events as taking place in an earlier time period, the world-building in this episode is strong. However, it's simply not as compelling as an episode that stars Natsume. With five seasons and counting, I've grown accustomed to seeing the world through Natsume's view. He's a likable guy who always tries to do the right thing and usually has the talent and connections to succeed at it. Comparatively, Natori and matoba are unreliable—especially knowing how they have both tricked Natsume before in the present day. “Will I be able to meet someone someday?” Natori muses near the end of this episode, and Natsume immediately comes to mind. When Natori finally meets that person, the show will be at its best.

Rating: B

Natsume Yūjin-Chō Go is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about geek careers at Otaku Journalist