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Natsume’s Supporter’s Battle For Supremacy Round 3 Part A

Posted on March 8, 2018January 15, 2019 by Karandi

This is a collaboration between Karandi and Irina.

If you need to catch up:

Be sure to check out Irina’s blog tomorrow for the conclusion to Round 3.

Matoba vs Natori

Krandi: Irina, why did we do this to ourselves? Seriously, what were we thinking?

Irina: Clearly we weren’t...

Karandi: After two rounds it has come down to exorcist vs exorcist. Both complex and interesting characters walking different paths along the moral spectrum and yet at this point in the anime, neither one has had their overall motive or character fully revealed leading to plenty of speculation.

We have said good-bye to some truly fantastic characters in rounds one and two and I think that is what needs to be remembered most about this show. While it is Natsume’s Book of Friends, the story that unfolds is made truly interesting by the love and care put in to each and every member of the support cast, no matter how minor a role they may seem to play within a season. These are characters we can relate to, can sympathise with, be wary of, be annoyed at, and characters we might want to meet ourselves. So this series of posts has accomplished its goal of shining the spotlight on this series and one of its core strengths, the supporting cast of characters.

For this final round, we’ve decided to reflect on our views of both characters rather than going head to head. But if you take nothing else away from this series, I’m taking away that I won the first round.

Irina: Pffth second place is just first loser unless I lose this round in which case second place is awesome, better than first even! Somehow…

For this round Irina will make her final case for Matoba.

Irina: Through six reviews for the various seasons of Natsume’s Book of Friends, Matoba has been my favorite character twice, a distinction only shared with Nyanko and even then only in specific incarnations (Nyanko as Natsume forever!) There’s a reason for that and a reason my boy Seiji made it all the way to the final round. He rocks.

Matoba is a slap in the face of a character, a spark thrown into the Natsume story that makes everything more exciting. I have always enjoyed characters in series that I would not necessarily like to meet in real life. Although this may not be the case here… I got a soft spot for attractive troublemakers. Matoba is definitely ruthless and singularly determined. This leads him to act in ways that can appear brash. He lacks the gentle touch everyone else in this series seems to possess. But when considered as a whole, he is undeniably rational and, if nothing else, diligent.

His entire life, Matoba has carried the burden of responsibility. The responsibility for the livelihood and safety of his clan, the unique duty one has when they are one of the few who can see Yokai and the weight of his particularly well developed talent. All these elements have made him into a man that cannot afford to take chances. A man whose misplaced kindness could end up hurting those who depend on him, and so he is sparring and greedy with it. It is unfair to ask others to pay for your altruism and that is a lesson Matoba seems to have learned well. He isn’t flighty or selfish. Childishly pursuing whatever strikes his fancy or playing the good guy. Matoba does what needs to get done. It may not be as instantly likable but it’s a trait that deserves respect and one that makes the story so much more affecting.

The characters that push aside emotionality in favour of common sense are absolutely primordial to framing the story and putting everyone else in proper context. Matoba’s perfectly justifiable conflicts with Natsume become that much more interesting because they are not a question of right and wrong. They allow for introspection and questioning that ultimately make the story much deeper than it otherwise would have been.

Moreover, Seiji knows when to take a bow. There has never been a moment when Matoba was onscreen and I was bored. His appearances have been used to such optimal effect that his simple presence confers a sense of excitement and anticipation. You know something’s going to happen if Matoba’s there and he always leaves you wanting more.

A lot more in fact. We have only gotten crumbs of his backstory so far and clearly there’s a lot more left to tell. What we do know is that this man holds most of the secrets of the Natsume Universe and exploring his character will unlock a whole new world for both the viewers and the actors.

At the end of the day, most stories, even ones as peaceful and sensitive as Natsume’s, need some form of conflict and few things can elevate a narrative quite like a worthy and interesting antagonist. Matoba is exactly that. He is build with the same care and nuance as any hero. He manages to be relatable or at least understandable, while still undeniably menacing. The element he brings is completely unique in the story and no one else can play this role.

Karandi: Is Irina right? Tomorrow, I’ll make my case in part B on Irina’s blog.

Natsume’s Supporter’s Battle For Supremacy Round 2 Part A

Posted on March 6, 2018January 15, 2019 by Karandi

This is a collaboration between Karandi and Irina. If you are just catching up the previous posts are:

Be sure to check out Irina’s blog tomorrow for Round 2 Part B. Or, you know, just check out some of her great posts in general.

Irina: We said goodbye to some truly lovely characters in round 1. It speaks to the quality of the story that both of us found it so painful to cut anyone out. It’s very tough to argue your case when you truly love the other character as well but we did what we had to. This said, we had a clear winner in round 1 as 3 of Karandi’s characters advance to the second stage but Matoba is a strong contender! He may save me yet!

I’m not sure who will make it out of round 2 but there’s a chance neither of *us* will survive it. After ripping Natsume away from all his peers and actual friends in round one, the cruel hand of fate (a random number generator) now demands that we further shatter the boy’s social circle and support structure by pitting all the closest and most important people in his life against each other.

The mysterious and slightly ominous Matoba will take on our last Yokai and one of Natsume’s strongest allies: Hinoe, while the closest thing he’s even had to a family will be torn apart as Touko and Natori face off. I’m not going to lie, this is going to be way harder on me than it is one any of you…

Matoba vs Hinoe

For this match Karandi will be arguing for Matoba and Irina has taken on Hinoe.

Karandi: For all that Matoba has had a significant influence on Natsume and the plot of Natsume Yuujinchou, he’s all up appeared in 6, maybe 7 episodes. However, that just speaks of how notable his presence is. Amongst a pastel sea of sweet and misunderstood characters, Matoba represents something quite a bit darker and his fixation on power and later on Natsume always adds a bit of a thrill of danger to an otherwise placid story.

In fact, Matoba didn’t appear in the show until season 3, though the idea of exorcists and those that were not even as nice as Natori (who was definitely already a fairly grey character) had already been clearly established. And Matoba did not disappoint. Generally clad in black and with his eye covered, Matoba looks every bit the part of someone with shady intentions. His callous disregard for his servants (human and yokai alike) has been demonstrated several times, as has his overall ambition and desire to become more powerful.

While his view can be understood, the exorcists are serving a fairly important role in keeping dangerous yokai sealed, there’s always a sense of malice about him and a question about what he is truly seeking in the long term. The way he looks at Natsume and desires Natsume joining his family certainly has some darker undertones.

One thing that has become certain for me is that when Matoba makes an appearance, I’m going to love the episode. And it is going to get dark. Whether it is because Natsume is going to find himself captured and confined once again needing to escape or because there are going to be more yokai deaths, these episodes stand out from the others and yet perfectly compliment the darker themes that are constructed throughout the series. Over and over again, Matoba has proven himself a force to be reckoned with and as his views directly contradict Natsume’s views about yokai, the two are going to clash again and again. The episode where Natsume grudgingly helped Matoba was really interesting as it didn’t paint Matoba in a favourable light, but Natsume started moving toward understanding him a little bit more.

As much as I love Hinoe, and argued for her case in round one, I would strongly suggest that Natsume needs Matoba’s character and this is one character where despite limited screen time, he has made his presence felt and it sends tangible ripples through the entire rest of the series.

Irina: Hinoe is not a mere character, not a simple emissary representing the Yokai in this grand competition, more than any other person in the series, Hinoe is the living embodiment of the thread of faith that binds Natsume’s legacy to the turmoil he yet faces. As Karandi deftly pointed out in round 1 “Hinoe also forges a direct connection back to Reiko”, and this may prove much more important than we have been led to believe.

Reiko’s shadow looms large over Natsume, it always has. She is the only one he can truly relate to even though he has never met her and in a very real sense, the one responsible for everything in Natsume’s life, both good and bad. Unraveling the riddle of Reiko’s life will be primordial to Natsume’s continued growth and evolution. Without gaining a better understanding of what came before, he will be stuck repeating old mistakes or ultimately throwing away what makes him unique. The ominous repeated fact that Reiko died young and *alone* may also prove to be an omen that Natsume cannot afford to ignore.

The only person that is still in a position to offer any real insight on Reiko’s life and the lessons she had learned, is Hinoe. Without her, Natsume is set adrift.

Moreover, you cannot simply disregard the fact that she is a Yokai. I don’t want to sound specieist or anything, but how exactly can we think of Natsume’s Book of Friends and not have a single “friend” to speak of. The Yokai, their presence, influence, simple existence, are the singular most formative and important element of Natsume’s entire experience. They are a completely inextricable part of his world. Of course, Hinoe is hardly the only Yokai but she is one of the closest and kindest.

Because of her unusual willingness to interact with humans, Hinoe has managed to have one of the greatest impacts of Natsume that any of her kind (save Nyanko) have had. She has been a reliable big sister, a gentle guide and a comforting helper whenever Natsume has needed one. There is absolutely no one else that can bring these elements to Natsume’s life and without her, the Yokai side of the story becomes dreadfully unbalanced.

Yes Matoba’s influence is a catalyst and an important narrative element, but it is useless without the counterbalance of kind hearted Yokai to pull Natsume’s loyalties their way, and Hinoe is chief among them.

Karandi: Okay, if we’re arguing their knowledge of past events, Matoba and his clan have certainly indicated they have had past links with Reiko and have already done quite a bit of digging into Natsume’s past – a plot thread I definitely want to see developed. However, the point is well made that Hinoe has been one of Natsume’s strong links to the past and to the yokai from the beginning.

Irina: I’m sure that sneaky Matoba clan knows a whole lot more than they let on but are they willing to share? What good is that knowledge if it remains locked away?

Karandi: I don’t know. I like them both. They are both needed.

Honestly, I’d cast my vote for Matoba for the simple reason that he does bring those darker elements to the forefront of the show and I just truly love his episodes. Irina?

Irina: Yeah it’s Matoba. Let’s face it I always knew it was going to be Matoba but you have to admit, Hinoe put up a good fight!

Natsume’s Supporter’s Battle For Supremacy Round 1 Part A

Posted on March 4, 2018January 15, 2019 by Karandi

A collaboration between Karandi and Irina. Be sure to check out Irina’s blog tomorrow for Round 1 Part B. We’ll be posting each day this week.

Karandi here: Toward the end of last year I started thinking I’d really like to put together some sort of feature about Natsume Yuujinchou. I’m completely in love with the show and have certainly written a number of posts about it previously, but I wanted to do something different. Knowing that Irina had recently watched the show and had also fallen in love with the series, I reached out and asked if she was up for a collaboration and so after many emails an idea was born.

I don’t think either one of us quite knew how challenging this would be when we picked the idea of a tournament style match up between members of the support cast to determine who the best supporting character was. (I think we both thought this would just be a bit of a laugh but eliminating anyone from this list has been incredibly tough.) Just coming up with the entrants was a killer task as there are just so many great characters who appear throughout the course of six season. To make it a bit easier we agreed that they had to have appeared in more than one season to be considered and we ruled out Nyanko-Sensei and Reiko as being main characters from the start.

Still, we finally cut it down to 8. However, there were dozens of other characters we’d have liked to include (I think both of us would have loved Aoi to appear in the list but he was a one episode character, and I know that cutting how Shigeru was harsh but at least Touko made the cut).

We ended up with:

Then we had to decide on a criteria for the matches. Ultimately we decided to discuss character design, character growth, their interactions with Natsume, and their impact on the plot (at least for round one).

Finally we were ready for round one. We each had our four contestants to try to defend and we knew who they would be matched against, still some of these contests were just harsh. And can I point out how hard it is to argue in favour of one character when you are hopelessly in love with the one you are about to throw out of the tournament. And yet, I wouldn’t really have wanted any of these characters to lose their match (except maybe Satoru, but Irina made a pretty good case and made me see him a little differently).

However, through working on this project with Irina I definitely gained a deeper appreciation of just how well this show has built up its characters, even the fairly minor ones. All of them bring something amazing to the show and losing any one of them would leave Natsume somewhat worse off. I also realised once again what an amazing person Irina is. I loved working on this collaboration with her and I’m glad we got to spend some time sharing our thoughts on such an incredible anime.

Anyway, that’s it from me in terms of an introduction. We’ll get to the first round of matches and see which characters make it through to the semi finals.

Round 1:

Taki vs Hinoe

For this match Irina is defending Taki and Karandi is taking on Hinoe.

Character Design

Irina: I’m starting off at a bit of a disadvantage. Humans in Natsume’s universe all tend to look very similar and a little bland in contrast to the Yokai but Taki does have one big thing going for her, she’s a redhead! We all know gingers are special and both Satoru and Natsume seem to have noticed as well.

Karandi: True enough, Taki is a redhead and they are awesome, but Hinoe is rocking that gorgeous blue hair and sporting quite the adorable hairpin. Throw in her outfit and her pipe and she strikes quite the distinct figure even amongst the yokai.

As much as I love Taki, I would definitely say Hinoe wins for design.

Irina: This is a though one. Hinoe has one of my favorite designs and cosplay goal but I’m going for a last ditch attempt here – Taki’s design is special precisely because of how normal it is. She represents a visual cue for normalcy and stability in Natsume’s world….Ok Hinoe rocks….

Karandi: I’ll just take that as a win for Hinoe on design.

Character Growth

Irina: Admittedly, Taki hasn’t undergone any dramatic transformations, most of her personal evolution really takes place during her first appearance and even then it’s more a question of her getting out of a bad situation and being able to relax and be herself again, rather than her evolving through lessons learned. But she’s so lovely as is, why should she need to grow.

Karandi: In the present day, we haven’t really see Hinoe grow at all. She’s a yokai and they kind of pride themselves on long lives and not really changing. However, we did see a flashback with Hinoe before she met Reiko and while we don’t know all the ins and outs, she did go from hating humans to being fairly accepting of her friendship with Natsume.

Still, I would probably have to concede this criteria to Taki.

Irina: Like Karandi – I do think we have clues to indicate the Hinoe has undergone some pretty radical evolution but we haven’t *seen* it. I agree Taki.

Interactions with Natsume

Irina: Taki’s influence on Natsume is undeniable. She’s is one of the gentless and most understanding people in Natsume’s life which is saying something as he is literally surrounded by love. Taki is clearly in the human camps as she can’t naturally interact with Yokai in any way but her family history has given her a much better understanding of the spiritual world than most. As such, Taki essentially represents the possibility for Natsume to have completely honest relationships with “normal” people. She is completely unique in that regard and absolutely essential to Natsume’s acceptance of himself. She’s also a lovely age appropriate human girl which opens up a wealth of potential interactions not available to anyone else!

Karandi: Her human appearance not just for show, Hinoe is one of the more calm, collected and certainly more understanding of Natsume’s situation than most of the other yokai. That said, I do recall a scene where Hinoe came running with a scythe after Natsume got kidnapped so she’s proven herself to be fairly loyal as well. Ultimately Hinoe offers guidance and advice to Natsume on many issues and while she still pretends to be fairly aloof she’s clearly very interested in Reiko’s grandson and in making sure he stays safe.

I honestly can’t call this one. Irina, your thoughts?

Irina: I love Taki and I’m so very glad Natsume has her friendship but if we are to be completely honest, her role is a little redundant with Tanuma’s. On the other hand, Hinoe is the closest thing he has to a big sister. I think Hinoe for this one. She has his back in a way no one else does.

Karandi: I’m glad you mentioned that her role is a little redundant given Tanuma plays much the same role. It would be different if more of her grandfather’s knowledge came into play as that would give her a more unique role. Still, Hinoe it is.

Impact on the story

Irina: Not only has Taki had an impact so far by being a human that can’t see Yokai but is still fully accepting of Natsume but considering the hinted at wealth of interactions, her possible impact on future plotlines is probably one of the most important of any character in the series.

Karandi: Hinoe has literally saved Natsume’s life from being consumed by a curse and continues to watch over him, providing guidance when needed and makes some attempts to keep the middle ranked yokai in check (when she’s not drinking with them). Hinoe also forges a direct connection back to Reiko and unlike Madara, she seems more willing to talk about her past with Natsume’s grandmother.

While I love Taki’s role, I’d say that Hinoe being a literal life saver back in season one kind of tips this one to her.

Irina: I agree, Taki’s impact is much less direct that Hinoe’s. Her absence would be less obvious.

Karandi: Taki vs Hinoe: I’d vote for Hinoe. Irina?

Irina: I’m honestly stumped. I’m going with pure subjective gut feeling here but I agree – Hinoe.

Karandi: We agreed. Fantastic. Let’s see if that can happen in the next match up which will be out tomorrow on Irina’s blog.

30 Day Anime Challenge: Day 20

Posted on July 13, 2017June 2, 2017 by Karandi

30 day anime challenge copy e1495940892299

Day 20 is my favourite supporting character and this one I have a clear winner for. It has to be Sunakawa from My Love Story (Ore Monogatari).

While Takeo and Yamato’s love story was adorable to watch, I think we all remember that without Suna that love story would never have started. He’s the one who listens to both of them when they are worried or concerned. He seldom actually intervenes or gives advice (except when it is absolutely needed) but he is the rock and the support that both characters need.

However, what makes him even better than just being the considerate friend is that Suna actually is a real and fleshed out character. He has family drama of his own, his own reasons for having turned down every girl ever, and as the story progresses he even develops a little bit and starts to let other people in to his life a bit more. Suna was definitely the most valuable character from the series and he was a character I grew to love while watching the show.

Who is your pick for favourite supporting character?

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