Natsume Yuujinchou Shi – 07

Natsume in a bottle

I could talk about Natsume here, but nah, Imma talk about Linsanity. Are you a Lindere? Cause this guy has taken the NBA by storm this past couple of weeks. I’m not the biggest basketball fan, but even I was watching when he dropped 38 on the Lakers. It’ll be very interesting when Melo comes back to see how the team looks at full strength.

ASDFGHJKL I’ve been waiting for this episode PATIENTLY and it’s finally heeeeeerrreeee. Bromance and some Natsume loveee!!!!!! Judging from the title, it’s obvious that this will be a tear-jerker episode. Audience, prepare for some manly tears!

A mysterious youkai meets Tanuma outside the youkai world building, and suggests he should go home. Tanuma makes sure not to show his full hand, so he justs seals his lips shut as Natori walks up the steps. Shortly after, he and Nyanko-sensei meet up to plan an escape route for Natsume.

Inside the building, a bunch of youkai gather around Natsume being curious about him. Kidnappers have planned that Omibashira-sama will be eating him, but not if Tanuma and co. save him before that. Tanuma dresses up in full youkai garb and claims he has the real Natsume in his jar. As Onizaru challenges Tanuma by opening the original jar, he sees an opportunity to get Natsume out by lunging toward it, which causes the jar to drop and Natsume’s finally free! Tanuma almost takes another hit to the head before Natori saves the two.

“Kids, repeat after me! B-A-L-L, BALL”

Tanuma, that ain’t no youkai! It’s just Natori. Nyanko-sensei (disguised as Reiko-sama) joins the group and they try to figure a way to get out. A barrier has been placed around the whole building, so it’s either destroy Omibashira or just exit through the front door. It’s later revealed by Natori that he was trying to seal Omibashira and also the fact that Onizaru’s had lured all the other youkai in so as to offer them as food.

“I even bought my sparkles with me!”

That moment when you enter the wrong room in a game

Natsume and Natori, team up to look for Omibashira, while Tanuma and Nyanko (Reiko), try to find the exit. Natori gives Tanuma an anti-youkai stone that would protect him, which comes to good use after he separates from Nyanko after feeling a strong presence.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Tanuma

Natsume, you know what to do if you find a sleeping princess, right?

Hiiragi locates the whereabouts of Omibashira. The plan is for Natsume to grab it by the butt and makes it chase after him, and when he goes to the first floor, he would land exactly in the circle of exorcism. Perfect planning leads to perfect results. All the human-hungry youkai that had been knocked out wake up, but Nyanko scares them off as a rather evil-looking Reiko with a suggestion of eating them if they don’t scram.

Natsume thanks Tanuma for saving him, but Tanuma knows exactly how he feels about how things went down. The guys talk and after a while head home, with Natsume getting his chance to complain tomorrow at school. After a long day, the home sweet home is so inviting that he almost falls asleep on the front steps.

JUST KISS

Bromance:

Valentine’s Day is just an excuse to get drunk

And all the yaoi fangirls squeal

Something is missing there

Natsume is sad because he didn’t get to kiss Tanuma

Obligatory Reiko

This is the kind of dynamic to Natsume and Tanuma’s friendship that I’ve been curious to see for sometime. Tanuma’s never been this involved in matters before, and it seemed like the episode really wanted to drive home the point of how Natsume really doesn’t want his friends involved in this, and displayed to a very mild degree exactly what could happen should they be thrusted into something such as a mansion full of youkai. Sure, Tanuma was protected by the stone Natori gave him, but the “what if” factor starts to loom over Natsume’s head and at the same time regret for telling him he can see youkai. The only thing that’s a bit of a letdown is that the conversation didn’t exactly come to the understanding I’d a liked it to, and I’d say that’s the fault of Natsume since Tanuma was the one letting his emotions come out a little more.

Also at the end, the episode brought Natsume back to a somewhat uncertainty about his stance on youkai. By the end of San, he’d come to accept youkai, but thinking about how Natori and Reiko couldn’t find that middle ground Natsume’s been hovering on for so long, he’s gonna have to make a choice, and his human friends will all be catalysts if that decision has to ever be made, especially Tanuma considering how much he knows (and sees) of the world Natsume knows. Omibashira seemed like one of the more violent youkai we’ve encountered yet in the series, with a rather bloody-looking room.

While I maybe could understand why anaaga would feel the way she does about this episode, there’s certainly much more to take away from this episode than perhaps any other this season. I do like how this 2-episode arc had a stark contrast from the comedic-centric episode 6 to the more serious and darker tones of episode 7. It also adds a hint of depth to Natori when you think about the life he lives. He’s an actor, but he’s not close at all to humans (not named Natsume at least) for either their own concern or for the competition of rival exorcists.

I did not like this episode. Well, I don’t hate it, but I wasn’t impressed with it. Yes, I’m not learning my lesson when it comes to having high expectation to anime, but this episode could’ve been better. Is this what can be called ‘The Gap between Anime and Manga’? Is it because of the art difference or pacing? The anime seems lifeless compared to the manga. It has less emotional investment. When I read the manga, I can feel Natsume’s despair knowing that he actually has to choose between the two worlds, and seriously from now on. After I watch the anime, I did not feel anything at all. It’s like passing through my head while I go all “wut.” His expressions were humanlike in the manga compared to his expressions in the anime, ESPECIALLY at the last scene where Natsume was sleeping. In the anime it’s as if Natsume is all like “Jeez another day with a youkai huhzzz.” But in the manga, his expression was all like “Oh shit oh shit I’m screweeedd what should I do!!??? I’M DOOMMEEDZZZZzzzz.” This could be better. Or maybe I’m just being a picky hipster. What’s a hipster anyway? *fixes megane*

The message is still the same though. Natsume takes the complication of friendship and miscommunication into a whole new level. It was able to portray the difference (or “gap”) of two people and two different beings from different worlds perfectly without drama for the spice whatsoever. There’s Natsume who doesn’t want his Tanuma to get hurt because of him, and there’s Tanuma who wants to help him no matter what. Tanuma did mention that it would’ve been better if Natsume didn’t tell him, but he said it out of concern so that their relationship won’t be strained if things get messy (which already happened). Not to mention that Tanuma feels useless now. It’s not hard to see though that Natsume misunderstood this by thinking that Tanuma is scared because of the brutality in the youkai world and then prefers to not have anything to do with the youkai world. Natsume’s worrisome nature and Tanuma’s awkwardness are the causes of this misunderstanding. It’s hard for two close people to have a serious and proper talk without any misunderstanding. Natsume’s and Tanuma’s lack of ability to converse properly is a proof of that. Unfortunately, this conversation did create a wall between them later on, and things get awkward between them. Yeah, I cheated. I read the translations and NOBODY CAN STOP MEEEEE.

This imperfect episode shows the damaging effect of Natsume’s relation with the youkai. If Tanuma can’t take the brutality, then most humans surely can’t. This mishap will cancel out whatever Natsume was planning about revealing his secret to someone he knows (though I doubt he has that kind of plan). He will be more paranoid about his secret, obviously. It would be nice if Tanuma can somehow make up with Natsume. Let’s face it, secret or not, Natsume needs at least one human friend that can share his secret and be with him for that. Having no friend to share secrets with hurts. Speaking about Tanuma, is that a hint of him planning to become an exorcist in the future? I hope so, it makes my OTP stronger. I just hope that this accident won’t change him back into his old self.

This mishap will make Natsume think about his choice seriously now. I don’t know if I like that or not because I love the Switzerland Natsume. Unfortunately, it’s a fact that Natsume can’t choose between the two. He has to choose one or the other, and when that day comes, I will surely cry.

Preview: Nyanko-sensei is caught by Matoba’s subordinate Nanase, and her story is finally told.

It’s like the older Nanase but with black hair

About Tag Team

We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.