Natsume Yuujin-chou ep.06

August 14, 2008 | 13 Comments

This episode reminds me of various Japanese horror films where a person finds out that a ghost has been latching onto their neck/back all of these times *shudder*. Come to think of it, it was extremely nice of Natsume to help the youkai despite what happened earlier. I think most people would rather flee than having to deal with youkai. Especially since the youkai in question looks like Sadako from ', The Ring.

Natsume and his two classmates are visiting a dam which was built on top of a land that used to be a village. During the visit, Natsume notices that there's a person waving at him from one of the house in the villages but his friends can't see it. All of a sudden Natsume pass out and when he wakes up, he's back at home. Much to his dismay, a bunch of Youkai have followed him from the dam, wanting to get their name back. They also explain that they normally can't get out while the dam is full of water so now that the dam is dry, they want to get their name back before the dam is flooded with water again. Natsume agrees to do so and in return, the lead Youkai asks him to see through a mirror because something has apparently been possessing Natsume ever since his visit to the dam. Nyanko-sensei decides to help Natsume by headbutting the guy so the youkai will leave him. The youkai tries to possess Natsume again but Natsume punches her in the nose, causing her mask to fall down.

Later on, the Youkai apologizes for possessing Natsume but she had no way of getting out of the dam and she wants to see someone no matter what. Because of this, she begs Natsume to allow her to possess him for a while. Nyanko refuses her request but she tells the cat that she didn't ask his permission and goes on to call the cat 「古狸」(Furudanuki: old fox/schemer). Nyanko is pissed off and the two end up in a hilarious scuffle. The next day, the Youkai in question ends up following Natsume around and eventually tells Natsume that the guy she wants to find is called Taniozaki. He was a resident of the Futaba village, the village that's now being used as a dam. He was in his 20 so she figures right now she must be around 40. After asking around, Natsume finds out from his classmate, Kitamoto, that Kitamoto's father was once from the village as well. Later on, the girl asks if she can hold Natsume's hand. Through conversation between the two, Natsume eventually figures out that in her past life, she was a 「燕」(Tsubame: Swallow).

The girl tells Natsume that when she was a small swallow and couldn't fly, she fell into the ground. A kind man picked her up and returned her to the nest. However, due to the scent of a man, her parents refused to come back to the nest. Eventually all of her siblings die one by one, leaving her as the only one who survived. She became very sad and before she knew it, she became a youkai. While she was an evil spirit, a human came and always offer her a food. She believes the reason he did it is probably because he thinks she's a dog (he can only saw her eyes glowing in the dark). Thanks to Natsume's friend, they eventually find the man that the girl was looking for but despite her effort, Taniozaki can't see her. Because of this, the girl decides to return to Futaba, feeling that she just wants to go back to Earth to meet her siblings. When Natsume returns home one day, the Youkai who showed him the mirror tells him that there'll be a festival in Futaba tonight.

Upon finding out that the prize of the festival is a Yukata that will allow the wearer to take human form for one night, Natsume decides to get the Yukata for the girl. Nyanko, however, stops Natsume before he can go there. He transforms into Madara and tells Natsume that if he goes there, he'd be eaten by the Youkai. All of a sudden the dog-looking Youkai transform into a humongous-size dog similar to Madara. The dog scolds Madara, asking it if it has turned soft due to spending so much time with humans. Madara denies it, claiming that he has an agreement with Natsume that he's the one who gets to eat Natsume. Natsume tells Madara that he doesn't want to get eaten by the Youkai but he'd like to get the Yukata for the girl. Natsume tells Madara that the reason is because he cares and he sees nothing wrong with wanting to do something for a friend. Despite being pissed off about it, Madara agrees to accompany Natsume to the festival.

The dog-looking Youkai eventually also agrees to help Natsume to hide his human identity. He puts a white cloth in front of Natsume's face. The cloth has「目」(Me: eyes) written in his blood so that the Youkai do not recognize Natsume. When Natsume wonders why the big Youkai, Tarusaru, is helping him, the Youkai tells him that it's because it's more fun than eating him. During the race, Nyanko turns into Madara and scoops Natsume from the crowd before flying towards the tree, letting Natsume take the Yukata. In the aftermath, Natsume gives the Yukata to Swallow and thanks her for not hating humans. The girl assures her that she loves warm things and that means she loves humans. That was the last time Natsume saw her. A few days later, the dam is filled with water again and Nyanko explains that youkai that are tied to a place can't leave that place. After asking Taniozaki if he met a girl with a blue Yukata, however, Natsume finds out that Taniozaki did meet a girl that night and has a picture of the two of them.

Impression:

It looks to me that Natsume has some kind of a crush on the Youkai. Unfortunately, the girl is in love with someone else. Speaking of the guy, I wonder if Taniozaki is not only the guy who gave the girl a food but also the same guy who picked her up when she fell from her nest. The story seems to imply that these two are different guys but it'd be neater if they turn out to be the same person. It's interesting how the youkai festival in this one has similar rule to the one that was shown in xxxHOLiC. In that one, Watanuki and Doumeki must be holding some kind of chawan so that the youkai do not recognize them. In this one, Natsume must be wearing some kind of veil in front of his face. In both cases, the human will be in great danger if he is seen by the youkai. It was nice of Madara to stop Natsume from going there in the first place and for him to go out of his way to help Natsume getting the Yukata. I'm starting to believe that Madara starts to see Natsume as a friend and just like any friend, he doesn't want Natsume to be in harm's way.

© memento 2003