Natsume Yuujin-chou ep.03

July 23, 2008 | 10 Comments

I think I'm getting slower these days. It took me forever just to finish this one post. There's always something that distracted me from completing it until now. Either I was too tired/sleepy to finish the post or there's an interesting series/movies that I wanted to watch. Anyway, this is another nice albeit slow-paced story although I feel that it's not as powerful as the first or even the second episode. Speaking of story, I wonder if the series will just end like any other one-off series, with no overarching arc whatsoever. I don't see the manga finishing off anytime soon and I really don't want the anime to come up with weird ending that conflicts with the manga storyline, especially if it has anything to do with Nyanko-sensei.

Episode 03

A flashback shows a young Natsume crying on his own in a playground, wondering if he's weird because he can see strange things. A girl then approached him wondering if something is wrong. She knows that he lives nearby and always alone. After seeing Natsume looking afraid, she told him that as she thought, he can see strange things. In the present day, a boy is seen looking for Natsume while the person in question is sleeping on top of his table. However, when one of his classmates awakens him, the guy in question has already disappeared. That night when Natsume tries to sleep, he's awakened by some kind of a noise in front of his window. When he opens the curtain, he finds out that a spirit wants him to release her name. If that's not bad enough, Nyanko-sensei comes home smelling like a drunkard, claiming that he's bringing home souvenir. The souvenir in question turns out to be a small toad, which is now hopping all over his bedroom. Natsume eventually manages to catch the toad and releases it back into the wild.

The next day, two spirits barged into the house, apologizing for the intrusion but they want Natsume to help them. Nyanko immediately assumes that they want their named to be released from the book and is not happy about this. He was hoping that a real spirit will come and eat Natsume. While Nyanko trashing around like Cartman when he's upset, the two spirits explained that they got it wrong. They know Natsume has strong spiritual power so they want him to get rid of an exorcist. Apparently there's a human who's been using his power to exorcise spirits just for fun. The spirits are not happy about this because they just want to live happy and carefree. Natsume refuses, explaining that he can get into a lot of trouble if he kills another human being. Nyanko-sensei disagrees and drools as he tells Natsume that killing human is his specialty. Natsume, however, tells the cat to shut his pie hole and wonders if this exorcist can see the spirits as well.

The next day, Natsume is surprised when he sees that the two spirits who asked him for help have come to escort him all the way to school like he's some kind of royalty. This continues right at school, which annoys Natsume to no end. During the break, Natsume notices that a guy with dark hair has been looking towards his direction but he doesn't do anything else apart from smiling. When Natsume is about to go home, the same two spirits continue to follow him around so eventually he gives up and promises to talk to the guy. Unfortunately, the spirits have never seen the guy before because he sends off wave of energy that makes it impossible for them to get close to him. Having said that, he smells like human. While looking for the guy, Natsume remembers his past again, back to the time when he asked the older girl if she could see spirits as well. In the present, Natsume gets gang-up by a bunch of spirits who think that he's the exorcist in question.

After a little scuffle, he manages to convince the spirits that he's not the one they're looking for. All of a sudden, everyone becomes terrified. It seems they sense the exorcist in question. Because of this, Nyanko-sensei transforms into Madara and asks Natsume to come with him. It seems the guy in question has released an energy wave to purify the area. As a result, this forces the small spirits to flee. In the aftermath, Natsume becomes interested to know what kind of guy this person could be, exciting the two spirits who always cheer him up. The next day, his classmates are worried about him because he looks tired. Natsume, however, is more disturbed with the fact that he sensed someone observing him. Upon asking his classmates, he finds out that the guy in question is called Tanuma. When he finds out that Tanuma has just moved to Yatsuhara very recently, Natsume becomes alarmed because he thinks there's a connection between the exorcist and this new student.

A flashback shows how the family who previosly adopted by Natsume weren't happy with his ability to see things. Natsume became upset and ran to the playground. Over there, he met the same girl who comforted him earlier. Unfortunately for him, Natsume later on finds out that the girl is actually a spirit as well because a relative only sees him all alone in the playground. In the present, Natsume's classmates are surprised to know his interest in Tanuma since Natsume rarely shows much interest in others. They think he and Tanuma are actually similar: always alone, jumpy, and look pale as if they've seen something horrifying. When Natsume returns to the forest that day, he finds that the two spirits who always follow him are flat out on the ground. They seem to be okay but not in good condition. Before he can do anything else, Natsume senses that something is coming. As it turns out, that something is just Misuzu, a centaur-shaped spirit who wants its name to be returned.

Natsume apologizes because he can't do it today and explains his attempt to find the exorcist. Misuzu offers to help because Natsume saved his servant, which turns out to be the little toad he released back into the wild earlier in the story. Misuzu then runs into the forest, hellbent on finding the exorcist in question. Natsume panics, realizing that if Misuzu finds the exorcist first, the guy would be dead. Because of this Nyanko tells Natsume to use Misuzu's name to order him to stop. Natsume manages to do this in time before the spirit attacks the exorcist, who turns out to be a priest. As it turns out, the spirits have been lying a little bit to Natsume. They knew the person is just a priest who's been doing random spiritual cleansing. Since they're worried about him, they decide to ask Natsume to help them. Natsume also finds out that the priest can't even see the spirits and the only reason he's been doing cleansing is because he's just moved into the area with his spiritually sensitive son.

He's heard that the area is full of ghost stories and because of this, he decides to do a little bit of cleansing with the hope that it'll ease his son's feeling. In addition to this, his power is not spiritual power at all but a simple buddhist power. Upon hearing this, Natsume explains that the spirits in this place are not bad so he'd appreciate it if the priest can tone down his cleansing act. The priest is surprised to hear this and wonders if Natsume can see spirits. Upon seeing Natsume's hesitation in answering the question, he tells Natsume that Natsume doesn't have to answer the question. Having said that, he'll be grateful if Natsume can talk to his son. On that note, the priest's family name is Tanuma, just like the family name of the new student at Natsume's school. In the aftermath, Natsume tells Nyanko that how he met that female spirit back when he was a kid. Although he was upset at her for lying to him, on reflection, he's glad he met her.

The next day, Natsume approaches Tanuma Jr, asking the guy if he can see the weird things below (the two spirits who are waving at him). Tanuma Jr admits that he only sees two weird shadows. He aplogizes if he sounds crazy but he's heard Natsume can also see those things so this is the reason why he wanted to talk to Natsume. Natsume tells Tanuma that he indeed can see the weird things but it's a secret. He figures the two of them are probably the only weirdos who can see weird things. On a reflection, Natsume thinks that it doesn't matter if something is human or spirit as long as they have a heart. He also believes that the first step is the most frightening. That night, Natsume is awakened by Misuzu, who wants its name to be returned. However, Natsume apologized and asks the spirit to come back the next day because he's tired. The next morning, Natsume is pleasantly surprised when he finds out that the two spirits that he helped earlier have given him some flowers/fish as presents.

Impression

I finally realized why Nyanko-sensei looks so hilarious to me: it's because he reminds me of Cartman from South Park. He even has the same tone of voice when he bitches about how the book of friends are getting thinner. Instead of him saying that, imagine him saying "Mooom, where's my pot pie!!". On a more serious side, Madara, aka Nyanko-sensei's original form must be a frighteningly strong spirit because the exorcist energy couldn't even drive him away. I'm starting to think that if he wants to, he can probably kill Natsume and the only reason he hasn't is because he's amused that this small guy actually dares to hit him or because of a more sinister reason. What if that the thing that he wants the most is not really the book of friends but rather the power that Natsume inherits from his grandmother? After all, the book of friends will become meaningless after all of the spirits have been released. Because of this, what's the point of getting an almost empty book once Natsume passed away?

Anyway, the episode tries to build a little bit of mystery (and misdirection) about the exorcist and the mysterious new kid at Natsume's school. Due to the way the scenes are cut, at first it's easy to get the impression that the kid is evil. However, that turns out to not be true. In the end, he's just a shy guy just like Natsume and wasn't sure if he should tell a stranger that he too can see spirits. Personally, I think he gets a better deal than Natsume. All he sees is just shadows while Natsume can see the full shape of the spirits. I think it takes a mentally strong person to be able to handle such thing (if such things actually exist). As for Natsume, it's good to know that his friends, both humans and spirits, are starting to grow in numbers. I never realized it before but he actually talks to his two classmates quite often and now he knows Tanuma as well. On the spirits side, he now gains two followers on top of Nyanko-sensei. Although the later's motivation is a bit dubious.

Preview

Next week: Another girl who can also see spirits? Those furball spirits look like refugee from Spirited Away.

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