Natsume Yuujinchou Roku Series Review

Posted on by Karandi
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Overview:

After six seasons now, most of us know the story. If you are new to Natsume, check out the review of seasons 1 – 4 and the review of season 5. As much as I love this show, diving in at season 6 is definitely going to make this a fairly complex story as all of the relationships being dealt with are now pre-established.

Natsume can see yokai and because of this he was isolated for most of his childhood. Having made a new beginning when he was taken in by the Fujiwaras, Natsume has slowly been building connections with both human and yokai as he learns how to live and to accept himself for who he is.

I reviewed this show week to week so if you are interested in my episode thoughts click here.

Review:

I’m actually going to keep this one relatively short or otherwise it is just going to turn into a gush about how much I love this show. I think that’s the true beauty of Natsume though. Season after season and I still love just the sweet and relaxing nature of the story and just enjoy spending time with these characters. They really do feel like old friends a and a new season is just a chance to catch up with how they are all going.

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Getting the usual stuff out of the way, I am going to say that I absolutely loved the music and the art this season. While Natsume openings are always mello and relaxing, this season just added a slight bit of upbeat to it and I came out the otherside of the opening smiling every single week. I don’t remember who, but someone actually analysed the flowers used in every scene in the opening on their blog and there’s a lot of detail and thought that has gone in to that opening sequence. I wish I could remember the link to that blog post because that was a really great break down. The art is the usual style for Natsume so fairly soft and relaxing. It isn’t overly detailed but it isn’t overly simplistic either. It just strikes a nice balance.

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There were a couple of moments throughout the season where Natsume himself looked a bit off. Sometimes it was his face looking a bit too sharp or a certain movement didn’t quite fit with the scene, but for the most part season 6 looks amazing. At times there are some truly vibrant and dazzling colours but those darker moments still hit home, all of this contrasting nicely with the usual muted colour scheme.

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As usual the characters are the big draw with Natori and Natsume’s relationship stealing the lion’s share of this season. That isn’t to say we don’t still get the occasional yokai of the week, a return of a childhood friend, a focus on Natsume’s school friends, some Reiko and Nyanko-Sensei, but really there are a lot of episodes focussing on Natori this season and how he sees Natsume and Natsume’s relationship with Yokai. For me this is a major plus and probably part of the reason I would say this season is my favourite ever. Natori is a great character. He experienced a similar childhood to Natsume but rather than befriending a yokai he found his way to the exorcists. As a result, he has an understandable resentment toward most yokai and finds Natsume’s softer approach a little hard to understand. That said, he understands that Natsume can’t give up the connections he’s made at this point as they are a necessary part of Natsume. Anyway, the play between the two is fantastic and while this series doesn’t resolve Natori’s intentions, it certainly gives the audience a lot to think about in regards to the two characters.

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Reiko is also a common feature, as always, though I must say the Reiko focussed episode this season was possibly the weakest for me. I found myself not overly invested in her trial. While I’m interested in Natsume learning more about the book and I’m interested in learning more about Reiko as she got older, the episode just felt very much like a filler side quest. If this was live action I’d suggest the actor playing Natsume got sick and they rewrote the lead to be a flash back for his grandmother.

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Another win this season was the ongoing development of the themes of self-discovery, acceptance, and friendship. These are beautifully handled and while occasionally Natsume’s monologues may feel you are getting hit over the head with the message, you realise that Natsume is quite emotionally dense due to his strange upbringing so sometimes he needs to process what has happened and sort out his emotions. From that point of view, his observations make sense and don’t feel quite so forced.

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Basically, I loved this season of Natsume. I would love to know another season is coming and coming soon. If you’ve never tried the show you really should give it a go.

If you watched season 6, let me know your thoughts below.

Natsume Yuujinchou Season 6 Episode 11

Posted on by Karandi
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Review – Some spoilers:

Can we get a season 7 announcement, please?

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This episode resumes the hunt for the study and as usual Natsume’s keen eyes and a deeper understanding of yokai and those who can clearly see yokai find the necessary clues that eventually lead the group to the study door. That said, Natori does have a moment of doubt about whether he should hear what Natsume has to say regarding the Book of Friends later in the episode.

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So as much as Natori continues to play the understanding guy they are leaving his character and his relationship to Natsume ambiguous right to the end. I find it fascinating how this show didn’t resolve this point but still made this feel satisfying. We did take another step in this relationship with Natsume ultimately explaining the situation with Reiko to Natori and we heard Natori’s response. First the one he said clearly to Natsume:

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And then the one he made sure Natsume didn’t hear:

It isn’t exactly a declaration that Natori is going to try to take the book or destroy it, but it kind of indicates Natori isn’t just going to say, ‘cool, you’re grandmother left you a really dangerous book’. It will be interesting to see how this progresses, assuming of course we get more of this show.

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The other point that has to be mentioned is that for the first time a yokai has suggested knowing a male relative of Natsume. We kind of knew he had to have family other than Reiko and his dead parents but they’ve never been mentioned. And as Natsume wonders later, what connection did a former relative of his have with the exorcists? It is obvious that Nanase of the Matoba clan had some sort of relationship with Reiko other than the one childhood encounter we’ve seen, but is Natsume more closely tied to the exorcists than he realises?

So this season is done and I’m really happy with how it has gone but will do a full review soon. That said, this is a show I always want more of.

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Natsume Yuujinchou Season 6 Episode 10

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

Is there really only one more episode of this? Really? And the next season is…?

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For a second last episode of the season, episode 10 of Natsume Yuujinchou pulled out all the punches. We are dealing with exorcists again and Natori most definitely did not forget about the Book of Friends.

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That said, this episode seems to be positioning us to see him as an actual friend and given he’s been covered in shades of grey as to where his true motives lie for a fair while it would be nice to think that is true. Though there’s always the chance of another twist in the tale.

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But in case exorcists searching a mansion for a study full of spells while Natori gently probes Natsume for hints about what he has via Hiiragi is not enough to keep you entertained in what is normally a much more relaxing story, lets throw in some Reiko stuff just to bring everything together. About the only part of Natsume’s life that gets left out here is his normal school life and normal human friends but that probably would have been pushing it to incorporate that as well.

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That said, though, this is another two parter story so we’ll just have to wait until next week to see how this all plays out but I couldn’t be happier with how this season seems to be finishing up. My only complaint is that it is finishing.

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Natsume Yuujinchou Season 6 Episode 9

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

Natsume returned to its usual episodic formula this week. No returning characters of old, no Reiko flashbacks, just a strange shrine on a hill and a flood inside a building.

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Yep, nothing suspicious here.

That said, this isn’t a bad thing as Natsume uses its episodic format to its advantage creating a charming self-contained narrative even as the audience get to enjoy the results of the bonds Natsume has forged with his human friends. Nyanko-Sensei even gets a cute make-over for part of the episode pretending for some reason to be a boar piglet.

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Seriously cute. Anyway, I really enjoyed this episode but it is pretty standard Natsume. Then of course we got the preview for next week and it looks like they aren’t going to make us wait for another season to know what Natori is going to do now that he’s suspecting Natsume has something powerful. While it doesn’t give much away I’m now really excited for next week.

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Natsume Yuujinchou Season 6 Episode 8

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

After consecutive weeks of returning characters, season 6 delivered a yokai of the week story that went a different direction to what I was expecting. When Natsume first met the strange boy at the station, I suspected he’d be a yokai, but I didn’t expect that Natsume would simply tell him that he should tell people that upfront and that we’d move on from it. That kind of shows how much Natsume has grown because he used to get quite upset when someone he thought was human wasn’t.

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Anyway, given they get over that part of the story quickly we move onto the real story this week which is the romance between a human girl and a yokai broken off by the yokai either because he wanted her to have a normal life or he got scared about the fact that she will most definitely die before he will.

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It’s a really cute story and I really enjoyed getting to know Aoi, the yokai of the week. Part of me really hopes his character comes back again.

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Natsume Yuujinchou Season 6 Episode 7

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

Usually I love episodes with Reiko. Other than Natori, she’s the character I most hope to see an appearance from outside of Natsume and Nyanko Sensei. That said, this season’s Reiko episode kind of lacked bite.

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Part of the issue might be the yokai at the start of the episode that chases Natsume who never returns. Normally these ones show up later in the episode even if just to be punched in the face but at least that small bit of conflict is resolved. Instead we get a huge yokai that threatens to flatten the house if Natsume doesn’t come out and then after losing Natsume, doesn’t return to the house again for the duration of the episode. It seems kind of lacking.

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That isn’t to say this episode wasn’t charming. It is perfectly reasonable and we learn more about Reiko and the absolute contrast between her and Natsume when it comes to relationships. Reiko gave up on them whereas Natsume is definitely embracing the connections he has started to build since moving in with the Fujiwaras. However, not the best episode this season of Natsume has offered and coming after a couple of fairly strong episodes it feels like a little bit of a disappointment even though it is really sweet.

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Natsume Yuujinchou Season 6 Episode 2

Posted on by Karandi
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Review:

I don’t even know why Natsume reiterates the point that getting involved with unknown yokai is a bad idea. After 6 seasons we know he’s going to get involved so he may as well just accept that fact. Still, after last week really only mentioning past characters in passing, this week Natsume’s school friends, Touka, and the mid-level yokai all play a role as Natsume helps locate a missing stonewasher.

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While the hunt for a missing yokai is standard enough, this episode continues to look at Natsume and the fact that he doesn’t just blindly help whoever. Once again, Natsume relates to the yokai way too well as he thinks about his own loneliness and how happy he was at finding a home. It is that emotion which drives him to help find the lost yokai.

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Throw in another Natori reference and the fact that the yokai only got lost because of an exorcist and I’m still hopeful we’ll get more of the exorcists in general later in this season. Really enjoyed this episode.

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