Natsume Yuujin-chou ep.02

July 16, 2008 | 20 Comments

Man, I've been too busy trying to keep up with E3 news that I couldn't even write this without being distracted every 5 minutes, trying to see if there is interesting news I should read. Also, if you've been emailing me about the past series that I covered last season, I'll try to finish them one by one, starting with one episode of Osen and one episode of xxxHOLiC Kei. The only series I'll probably not bother is S.A - Special A since no one seems to be interested in that anymore. Anyway, this is a pretty good second episode although it's not as powerful as the first one. It's kind of nice to see Natsume getting some friends though so it's a bit sad to see him losing it so quickly in the end. Having said that, I think what he really needs are some real human friends not just the spirit types. Otherwise, he wouldn't be any different from Reiko.

Episode 02

While talking to his friends, Natsume is freaked out when he notices that there's a spirit nearby. He tries to run away the minute the spirit approaches but the spirit manages to catch up with him, strangling his neck. It thinks that Natsume is Reiko and demands that he gives it the book of friends. Before the spirit can go ahead with the threat, Nyanko-sensei tells the spirit that book of friends is not something that weak spirit can handle and besides, Natsume promised to give the book to him. Nyanko-sensei then transforms into its original form and attack the spirits, causing it to run away in fear. Later on, Natsume explains how lately the number of spirits who come to him to ask their name to be released has increased. The problem is that this usually tires Natsume. One day, Nyanko-sensei comes home to find Natsume feeling tired again. He easily guesses that Natsume has done some name-releasing. This causes him to wonder outloud if he should just eat Natsume right now. A pissed off Natsume tells the cat that he can hear what the cat said.

During dinner, Natsume explains how he's been taken care of by the Fujiwaras and therefore, he doesn't want to burden the family. Because of this, he can't help but being embarrassed when Nyanko-sensei refuses the food that has been given to him and only accepts when they throw him a fine chunk of tuna sashimi. Before Natsume can eat, he's also surprised to see his croquette looking like it's been partially bitten. At first he thought it's a mouse but he quickly spots a mini spirit standing next to his glass. After overcoming his shock, Natsume talks to the spirit about what he wants. Nyanko-sense immediately recognizes the spirit as "Tsuyukami" although apparently the spirit was actually bigger back then. In reverse, Tsuyukami recognizes Nyanko's voice as "Madara" and wonders why he got stuck in that Maneki-Neko (lucky cat) form. Nyanko, however, asks Tsuyukami to shut up so Natsume begins the process of trying to return Tsuyukami's name. Unfortunately, the page where Tsuyukami's name is written is stuck to another page.

Nyanko believes it's a leftover rice since Reiko tends to eat while flipped through the book. Natsume tries to peel the pages apart but that only causes Tsuyukami to scream in pain. Nyanko reminds him how if the pages are torn, he'll rip the spirits apart and if he burns the pages, the spirits will get burned as well. Natsume apologizes to Tsuyukami but he suggests that Tsuyukami gives up the idea of getting his name back. The next day, Natsume and Nyanko go to Nanatsu forest. On their way there, they encounter an old lady who dropped a bunch of Peaches. Natsume helps her picking up the fruits so she thanks him by offering one of them if it's not damaged. Natsume, however, can't come up with any other words to say apart from "Thank You" even after the old lady tells him how the weather is nice that day. After the lady left, he wishes he could be more responsive with the conversation. All of a sudden, Nyanko tells him that the lady won't last long since her smell is not that good. :o Anyway, the two eventually arrive at Tsuyukami's shrine so Natsume wonders if Tsuyukami is a real God.

Tsuyukami laughs and tells Natsume that he's just a wandering spirit. At one point, there was a drought at the village and they pray at that shrine for rain. The next day, it just happens to rain so ever since then they've been praying at the shrine and call him "Tsuyukami" (God of Rain season). The next thing Tsuyukami knows, he's grown more powerful and bigger. However, as the faith that made him grow faded, he became small again. After hearing this, Natsume offers Tsuyukami the Peach that he got from the old lady but Tsuyukami tells him that he already got one. It turns out Tsuyukami knows the old lady that Natsume met. Her name is Hana and she's the only person who still come to the shrine to pray to him. Anyway, Natsume tells Tsuyukami that he probably can release Tsuyukami's name if they can find the other spirit whose name is written on the other page stuck to Tsuyukami's page. The problem is, they don't know what kind of spirit it can possibly be. Tsuyukami thinks it's easy because he's seen the spirit before and tries to draw it on a piece of paper.

Unfortunately for him, Natsume and Nyanko end up laughing at his drawing, which admittedly looks funny. Despite this, the three start looking for the spirit that day. Unfortunately, they can't find the spirit in question. The next day, Natsume goes to visit Tsuyukami but is surprised when he sees Hana praying to the Tsuyukami. Hana then tells Natsume that when she was younger, she actually saw Tsuyukumi. She heard him saying "It's a nice day" but she pretended that she didn't see him because she was afraid that if he knows that she sees him, he'd disappeared. On a hindsight, however, she now feels that maybe she should have replied. That night while Natsume was sleeping he's thinking about loneliness and how sad he felt when he was lonely. When he wakes up, he finds his head in the middle of Nyanko-sensei's mouth. He immediately punches the cat, ordering it not to be half-asleep/sleep-walking. The next day, Nyanko-sensei comments on Natsume's nightmare, claiming that supernatural stuff can mess someone's heart.

Natsume, however, doesn't want to hear this and threatens to cut Nyanko-sensei's tail fur the next time he's sleep-walking. Their conversation comes to a halt when Tsuyukami knocks on the window, telling them that he's found the other spirit. It appears that the spirit lives in the same mountain. All of a sudden, Nyanko-sensei warns Natsume that he smells something dangerous. From outside the bushes, come a spirit that looks like a ghost. Natsume is shocked to see the spirit and even more so when it disappears and reappears behind him. Eventually the spirit manages to capture and strangle Natsume, in the process allowing Natsume to see his past. In the past, the spirit was one of those spirits who beg for foods from people. Instead of getting food, however, he got pieces of ripped papers from Reiko. She wanted to compete with the spirit and if the spirit wins, it can eat her. In the present, Nyanko-sensei transforms into its large form and fight against the spirit, allowing Natsume to do his chants. He immediately calls for "Susugi" and "Tsuyukami".

Upon doing this, the page flips to the right pages, releasing both spirits at once. By doing this, Natsume gets to see Tsuyukami's flashback when he was talking to Reiko. Back then Reiko told him that offering would not continue forever, pointing out that he didn't even get a peach today. She felt that people are selfish and cruel so she suggested that he looks for a new dwelling if he has the power to do so. Tsuyukami thanked Reiko but he believed that even if he's only loved once, it's hard to forget about it. In the present time, Natsume passes out due to exhaustion. A few days later, however, he's back walking around the village, telling Nyanko-sensei that "Susugi" spirit was probably the spirit that travels around mountain shadow to a village. He'd wash a person's dishes in exchange of getting some food scraps. These days, however, there are few people who can see spirits and mountain shadows don't reach town anymore. Nyanko doesn't mind this because he believes that the spirits will be better off with their connection to human cut off.

The two eventually reaches Tsuyukami's location but when they find the spirit, they realized that he's become smaller and shiny. Tsuyukami guesses that this means Hana has passed away. She was the last person who believed in Tsuyukami and therefore after she passed away, he will fade out as well. Natsume is shocked to hear this and tells Tsuyukami that he'll believe in Tsuyukami and will come everyday to pray. Tsuyukami, however, refuses because he considers Natsume as his friend. He feels like he's been watching for a long time but now he feels as if he can finally touch her. Before they part ways, Natsume tells Tsuyukami that Hana heard his voice. Tsuyukami then disappears after telling Natsume that humans are precious both in the past and present. In some kind of alternate past, Tsuyukami greets Hana and Hana responds back to him. In the present, Natsume brings offering to Tsuyukami but one of them ends up getting eaten by Nyanko-sensei. Natsume is unhappy about this so he goes off to chase the fat cat.

Impression

Nyanko-sensei turned out to be far more creeptastic than I thought he'd be. Was he really sleepwalking/half-asleep as he said he was? I thought he looked pretty alert and his eyes were wide open too. And he already said on more than one occasion that he entertains the idea of eating Natsume. It's a good thing that Natsume actually puts some kind of a fight but I think he was pretty shaken after that night, which is why he threaten to cut the cat's fur the next time he sleepwalks again. On the other hand, Nyanko-sensei did automatically help Natsume when the later was in trouble with Susugi. Although it can be argued that he probably just want to make sure that he's the one who eats Natsume. And then there's the part where he can smell that Hana is about to pass away soon. It makes him sound like some kind of Shinigami. Having said that, I have to admit that he's pretty entertaining when he's in that fortune cat form of his. It's interesting to hear Tsuyukami calling him "Madara". I tried to google the name hoping to find some kind of mythology relating to the name but instead I got the name of a bad guy from Naruto. -_-;; And he's an Uchiha too. X(

Anyway, I was wondering if there's something going on between Hana and Tsuyukami. Maybe more on Tsuyukami part since he keeps talking about being loved. I was wondering if he fell in love with Hana since there was that montage of him watching her as she got married. It's interesting to know how Hana's worship was the only thing that keeps him intact in the world. Once she died, he too disappears. Speaking of disappearing, I wonder why some spirits like Susugi disappears right away after getting their name while some like Tsuyukami still sticks around for a while. I like the explanation that as time goes by, people start to lose their faith in spirits and therefore, their numbers start to go down as well. Moving along, we saw two different types of personality in Reiko. The first one was quite unpleasant since she actually teased a spirit who was begging for food by giving it torn papers. The second one seems to be nicer since she tried to warm Tsuyukami about the lack of offering he's been receiving. At the same time, it shows that she didn't have much trust in other human beings.

Preview

Poll

Can you interact with strangers easily the first time you meet them or are you more like Natsume, who finds it hard to go beyond "Hi" and "Nice to meet you"?

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