Natsume Yuujin-chou ep.05

August 6, 2008 | 13 Comments

The jazz music in this series is just beautiful. I was especially impressed by the track that was playing when Natsume agrees to accompany Santo. Come to think of it, the majority of the soundtrack in this series are the kind of music that I like to listen to so I think I'll get the OST once it comes out. Anyway, this is a really nice surprise for the series. When one thinks of original episode, one usually associate the idea with 'filler'. However, this is more than a typical filler. The storyline is actually interesting and offers some perspective on youkais behavior according to Japanese folklore. And although the youkai doesn't appear in the manga, Santo is actually looks cute and well-designed. In addition to this, it's nice to see Natsume finally making friends with the people that he encountered in the previous episodes, namely his two classmates, Tanuma, and Sasada. It's kind of funny because Natsume doesn't actually make that much of an effort to be friends with any of them but they come to him anyway. Also, is it just me or does everyone else thinks that Sasada has a crush on Natsume?

Natsume narrates how when he returns the youkai's name, their memory flooded into him and lets him know about Reiko a little bit. While looking through her items, Natsume finds a book which wasn't returned to the library and within it, a train ticket. The next day at class, Natsume's two classmates are having arguments about Kitsune Udon (see additional notes below for explanation). One guy says the "Kitsune" (the fried bean curd skin) must be eaten first, the other says it must be eaten last. Natsume tells them that for him, it doesn't matter when he eats it. Moreover, he believes that "Kitsune" is not the right term for the fried bean curd skin. The guys, however, don't care about that. Later on, the nosy Sasada hands Natsume the ticket that he dropped somewhere. She points out that the ticket is old and wonders what Natsume wants to do with it. Natsume tries to lie but she sees right through it and when he tries to sneak out after school, she already waits for him near the bus stop. She believes that Natsume is going to the place listed on that ticket and wants to tag along.

Thankfully for Natsume, Tanuma then appears and tries to distract Sasada by pointing at something. While Sasada is not looking, Natsume sneaks into the bus and leaves with it. Sasada is not happy about this and wants to scold Tanuma for tricking her but the guy has also disappeared. After a short bus trip, Natsume arrives at the departing train station which is mentioned on the ticket, Mizuguchi. Much to his surprise, Nyanko-sensei is already waiting for him there. The two then check the station, which hasn't been used for a while. As they head out towards the waiting area, they spot a youkai sleeping in the chair. The youkai looks extremely happy when he spots Natsume, thinking that the youkai is Reiko, who finally comes back to him. Nyanko tells the youkai that Natsume is not Reiko but after sniffing Natsume, the youkai is still convinced that Natsume is Reiko and proceeds to give him a bear hug. Later on, however, the creature finally get the news that Reiko has passed away. Nyanko explains that because Natsume is Reiko's relative, his body odour is similar to her.

As it turns out, Reiko promised this youkai that she'll go together with him to Kiriganuma. Upon Nyanko-sensei's suggestion, Natsume decides to release the youkai from the book of friends. After calling the youkai's name, Santo, Natsume gets a flashback of the time when Santo was talking to Reiko. As it turns out, Santo had a fight with a friend of his, Mikuri. Even though Santo likes his friend, Mikuri claimed that it no longer wants to see Santo. Reiko tried to figure out what Santo had done to make Mikuri angry but Santo doesn't seem to know. Reiko, however, kind of suspected why Mikuri is angry and looks regretful about it. She asked Santo where Mikuri is currently located and was told that the creature lives in Kiriganuma, the next station after Mizuguchi. Because of this, Reiko promised Santo that she'll come with him and help the big lug. However, because it was already late, she promised to come with the guy the next day. In the present time, Natsume understands that Reiko couldn't fulfill her promise. Cut to a close-up of Nyanko-sensei's face.

Natsume tells Santo that he'll come with the youkai tomorrow since it's kind of late now. Upon seeing the disappointed look on Santo's face, however, Natsume decides to go right away. Nyanko thinks Natsume is an idiot since he has no idea how long it'd take if he walks. Much to Nyanko's frustration, Natsume decides to do just that. As the three walks along the train track, Nyanko points out that Santo could have gone on his own since Reiko didn't come so he wonders why Santo kept waiting for her. Santo simply replies because it was a promise. Halfway through the destination, Natsume asks Santo what he'd say to Mikuri once he met the other youkai. Natsume is surprised to know that Santo hasn't thought about it, pointing out that if the youkai wants to make peace with his friend, not saying anything is not good. Instead of answering, Santo just stuff his mouth with some wild berries, causing Nyanko to think that maybe it's better if they don't meet the youkai. Natsume, however, refuses and instead tells Santo to think of something before they arrive at their destination.

Natsume gets interrupted when the ground starts to rumble. Nyanko-sensei identifies this as "grudge". All of a sudden, a bunch of trees with red eyes surround them and wraps their vines around Santo and Natsume. Nyanko immediately transforms into Madara and destroys the vines that strangle Santo and Natsume before fleeing with the two. Madara tells Natsume that their target is Santo and that Mikuri is somehow possessed by Chirei (underground youkais), explaining that these creatures like anger and hatred. This causes Natsume to wonder if Mikuri is this angry at Santo. All of a sudden, the land in front of them starts to collapse so Madara asks Natsume if he still wants to go ahead with this. After Natsume confirms it, Madara flies over the collapse area. Eventually, the three arrive at a swamp that is surrounded by fog. Natsume points out how it's unusually cold, as if it's no longer summer. Madar believes that this is the work of the grudge. Natsume then asks Santo about Mikuri'size so the youkai tries to explain using various stone sizes.

All of a sudden, the ground shakes again and out of the swamp, a bunch of tentacles appear. Madara immediately bites them and pull it to the shore, ordering the creature to show itself. Because of this, a giant Namazu (cat-fish) appears out of the swamp and heading towards their direction. Natsume is surprised when Santo identifies the creature as Mikuri since the stones that Santo used earlier was big but not THIS BIG. All of a sudden, Mikuri grabs Natsume using its tentacle, thinking that he's Reiko. He demands the book of friends and unties the belt pouch that Natsume uses to keep it. Before Mikuri can take it, however, Santo manages to grab it, telling Mikuri that the item belongs to Reiko. Santo then apologizes to Mikuri, asking the creature to come to its senses and return to being Mikuri. The creature, however, responds by whipping Santo using its tentacles, demanding the book of friends. Santo, however, takes the beating and continues to protect the book. At the same time, Madara manages unrestrained himself from the tentacles by transforming into Nyanko.

Nyanko then transforms back into Madara and jumps into swamp, pouncing on Mikuri. He manages to bite the cat-fish and in the process, destroying Mikuri's grudge form. Madara thinks Mikuri has disappeared to the bottom of the swamp along with the Chirei but then a small cat-fish makes it to the shore, looking surprised when it notices Santo's presence. Santo immediately runs to the swamp and gives his friend a bear hug, prompting Mikuri to protest in vain. Later on, Natsume and Nyanko find out that the reason of their fight is actually Reiko. Mikuri was unhappy that Santo gave his name to Reiko since a youkai's name represent its pride. Mikuri claims that if Santo wants to apologize, he should have come earlier but as expected Santo is a bit thick headed. Despite the argument, Nyanko believes the two youkais have reconciled for a while now. Santo then returns with Mikuri to the mountain after thanking Natsume for returning his name. The episode ends with Natsume's two friends reconciling as well and now they annoys Sasada by asking her if she eats the Ebi in Tempura Soba first or last. LOL. Natsume also thanks Tanuma for his help the day before.

Kitsune Udon

Kitsune is actually a Japanese word for Fox. However, there's a popular udon in Japan that is called Kitsune Udon. It's basically noodle soup with Aburaage (fried bean curd skin) in it. The guys in Natsume's class refer to the fried bean curd skin as "Kitsune", which according to Natsume is the wrong way to refer to it. The guys, however, don't care and more interested in arguing whether they need to eat the Aburaage first or last when having Kitsune Udon.

Impression

Once again the series impressed me with little details that at first looks unimportant but when you watch it for the second time, you realize that it means something. When Reiko said that she thinks she knows why Mikuri is angry, she must have known that her writing Santo's name into her book of friend is the reason. However, it's not until the second viewing that I noticed the regretful look on her face. This makes me wonder what actually happened to her that she forgot to come to the train station the next day? Is she really that lousy of a friend? It's really slack of her to let those youkais waiting for her but she never came at all. Unless she somehow got killed one day after she promised to help Santo, I see no reason why she couldn't come to help the youkai. Bear in mind that Reiko met Santo when she was a school girl. She actually got married and ended up having a grandchild so she couldn't possibly be dead one day after she promised to help Santo. Because of this, I can't help but thinking that she's just a lousy friend whose promise means nothing.

Having said that, on a second viewing, I noticed that when Natsume said that something must have happened that Reiko can't fulfilled his promise, the camera is fixed squarely on Nyanko-sensei's face. Maybe in order to seal Nyanko-sensei, Reiko must not be in contact with other youkais? It's just my guess but I can't think of any other reason why Reiko could not visit other youkais afterwards. Speaking of Nyanko-sensei, he really works his ass off trying to save Natsume and Santo in this one. Despite what he often says, I often wonder why he spends so much time trying to save Natsume from extreme danger even though Natsume is the one who often puts himself in this kind of danger. I wonder if he feels guilty about something that happened in the past and as an atonement, he decides to protect Natsume. Another interesting element of this episode is the concept of a 'grudge'. Those who have seen horror films like Ju-On would know that the Japanese believes that a grudge can causes normal youkais to become cruel and twisted, wanting others to join in their misery and creates never-ending loop of suffering/anger.

I find the concept to be frightening and creep-tastic. However, this pretty much explains why the normally small Mikuri transformed into a large and frightening creature in this episode. The scary thing about the grudge is that while youkais are in their grudge form, they usually don't see anything else apart their own anger and sadness. This is why Mikuri barely recognizes Santo when he was still in his grudge form. However, I'd argue that subconsciously, Mikuri still knows that it's Santo because he could have killed the big lug but instead the cat-fish just whips Santo with its tentacles. It makes me wonder if Madara is Nyanko-sensei's real form. Anyway, I like how this week's episode focuses on what happens when friends turned into enemies due to difference in opinion. Mikuri clearly likes Santo but at one point, that like turned into hatred because he felt that Santo abandoned their friendship by giving his name to Reiko. In a way, it's like when your best friend suddenly becomes good friend with another person that you don't know really well. It can be a bit hard and the only way to bridge the gap is to become friends with that other guy as well.

Poll

If your best friend suddenly have a new friend would you also try to make a friend with this new person? Would you be annoyed with your friend?

© memento 2003