Natsume Yuujin-chou ep.07

August 24, 2008 | 11 Comments

Hmm, this turns out to be spirit-festive weekend for me because in addition to watching this, I'm also watching the US remake of The Grudge 1 and 2. In case you're wondering, yes, I've seen the original version. I just want to see how different the remake turns out to be. So far, they're not as scary as the original for some reason. Maybe it's because I've seen the original and already know what's going to happen. Anyway, when I first saw the preview for this episode, I really thought that the chibi Kitsune is actually a girl. I should have know better than that but it's not until 'she' said that one day she'll become a man, I didn't have a clue. I think it was the long hair and the voice that confused me. Moving along, the series continues to impress me with the soundtrack. They really good and I wish that they have been backed up with equally good animation. I can't help but thinking what this series would have been like if it actually has Mushishi's animation style and quality.

A little fox finds a hat and becomes excited about it, wanting to show it to his mother...until he remembers that his mother has passed away. Meanwhile, Natsume is also excited that he gets to go to an onsen study trip with his friends. Before Natsume left, his guardian, Shigure, asks to pick up tea cup from a place near the onsen. Natsume seems glad that someone asks him to do a favor and decides to use his class break to pick up that said tea cup. On his way, he spots the little fox getting bullied by two other youkai so Natsume defends the fox and beats up the bullies. Before Natsume can say anything else, however, the little fox already runs away. Although the little fox hates human, he can't help but being interested in Natsume. Because of this, the fox ends up following Natsume and learns about his name. The fox also notices that although Natsume laughs a lot, he thinks it looks kind of fake. The fox thinks that maybe Natsume is not human either and hopes that he can stay in the forest as well. The next day, Natsume goes to get the tea cup again since it wasn't finished the last time around, unfortunately the day starts to rain. The fox ends up throwing a large piece of leaf to Natsume so the later can use it as an umbrella.

In response, Natsume comes over and thanks the fox, making it very happy afterwards, believing that it no longer useless as everyone seems to think he is. However, the fox gets bullied again by the two big youkai who want him out of the forest. As usual, Natsume appears and protects the fox again. While doing so, he hears a voice calling him. The thing turns out to be a large tree called Sawarabi, who wants Natsume to return its name. Although the tree mistook him as Reiko, Natsume ends up returning its name anyway. The two youkai who bullied the little fox saw this and become afraid, thinking Natsume is going to take their name so they decide to run away. The little fox, however, offers his name and wants to follow Natsume. Natsume, however, refuses it and tells him that he doesn't want them bound like this. He thinks they have an entirely different relationship. In the aftermath, Natsume manages to get the tea cup to Shigure and in the process gets one of them for him. Meanwhile, the little fox still want to see Natsume when all of a sudden a large youkai appears in front of the fox, saying that if the fox gives him some fish, he'll tell the fox how to find Natsume. After doing this, however, the fox finds out that the large youkai was lying to him.

Despite this, the youkai decides to give the fox a pill to turn into human for one day so the fox can see Natsume. Thankfully this pill actually does what the youkai claims it does so the little fox does turn into a little boy. With his new body, he sets to find Natsume by taking a train all the way to Natsume's hometown. Unfortunately, the fox ends up getting lost on his way to look for Natsume. Unknown to him, Natsume is currently at a river, having fishing trip with his friends. The fox, however, eventually reaches Natsume's home but upon entering the house, he realizes that Natsume already has a good family and not lonely like him. While running away from Natsume's house, the fox trips on a rock and falls over, dropping his hat in the process. Much to his surprise, the hat rolls over and the one who catches it is Natsume. Natsume thanks the fox for visiting him and takes him to have dinner before taking him back home using the train. Natsume thinks the fox is brave because it travels far just to find him whereas when Natsume was lonely, he didn't even think of doing anything. He thinks this is probably why he didn't notice it before.

Impression

I thought it was interesting that the fox thinks Natsume's happiness with his friends wasn't sincere. I assume this was simply the fox's projection instead of Natsume's own. It seems that because the fox was unhappy about his own life, he also wishes that Natsume is in the same place so they can be friends. I think it's very easy to project one's own feeling towards someone else's life even though the reality may not be the case at all. This is why it's not a good idea to assume what another person feels when one first meet them. As for Natsume, it's good to know that he gets more involved/hang out more often with his human friends and family. I really hope that the part about him not looking happy was just the fox's projection and not the reality because I honestly think that he's a lot better off than someone else in his position. As for Reiko, I can't help but wonder that maybe she's a cruel person after all. I don't think Nyanko was lying when he off-handedly commented about how Reiko always do this (promising some poor youkai that she'll see them but ends up not seeing them at all). It was such a fleeting comment so I don't see him lying about it. So far the series doesn't seem to suggest that there is other reason for her not to see them at all.

© memento 2003