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Old 04-14-2012, 08:44 PM   #76
Talon87
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Your replies are always so enlightening. Whether it's because it comes naturally to you or whether because you chew these stories over a dozen or so times with fellow fans online, I don't know, but I feel like I only see skin-deep when I watch these episodes whereas you'll often pierce to their very core. In this post, that example is the stethoscope scene. I completely neglected to mention that and indeed that was one of the highlights of the episode. You've put perfectly into words why such a scene is so good. And yet ... and yet I still felt like, overall, the episode was only "okay." ^_^; I dunno. It's always very fascinating to hear your take on these episodes.

Now, about Madara ... no, I don't think I'm giving him too much credit. I think you're the one who thinks I'm giving him too much credit. I'm well aware that Madara is likely not a powerful deity. I'm well aware that Madara has his limitations. But my point was simply that he's my homeboy and so duh I'm naturally going to root for him and so duh I'm naturally going to be a tad upset when the canon establishes some limitation on him. In this case, that limitation was his (in)ability to perceive masked youkai. I used that word in the original post, I've used it again just now, but whether by accident or deliberation you missed that entirely and then proceeded to remind me (LOL! ) that the youkai had been masked thanks to Shinichiro's seal. I know that, Yuki! Of course I know that. I even mentioned it in my previous post, mentioning how I was disappointed that Madara failed to notice a "serious threat" that "had [its] spiritual [energy] masked." In other words, something that was really quite powerful but which seemed superficially to be weak now thanks to some sort of outside force (... like a seal? ). What I was saying was, I'm disappointed that my man Madara wasn't able to tell the difference between a weak unmasked youkai and a powerful masked youkai. Both would register only a 0.3 on the Richter scale, let's say, but there's quite a difference between the two and I'd have expected a more powerful spirit to be able to tell that difference where a lesser one could not. In any event, the point is, I realize that Madara has his limitations. I just don't like that this new one has been added to the list.
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Old 04-14-2012, 11:46 PM   #77
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Your replies are always so enlightening. Whether it's because it comes naturally to you or whether because you chew these stories over a dozen or so times with fellow fans online, I don't know, but I feel like I only see skin-deep when I watch these episodes whereas you'll often pierce to their very core. In this post, that example is the stethoscope scene. I completely neglected to mention that and indeed that was one of the highlights of the episode. You've put perfectly into words why such a scene is so good. And yet ... and yet I still felt like, overall, the episode was only "okay." ^_^; I dunno. It's always very fascinating to hear your take on these episodes.
Aw, gee. ^^; I thought I was just being sappy. I don't discuss with other fans, though I do read their interpretations, which in turn somewhat shape my own. For example, one fan remarked on the episode: "What if there are spirits around us now and we just don't know it? =O" Usually that kind of thing gets me thinking, and I eventually come up with my own unique take. I haven't fully sorted out some of these theories behind why I liked certain episodes until now though - more often than not they're reasons I make up on the spot discover as I write and re-watch. ^~

The whole of the episode perhaps wasn't as engaging as it could have been, but it had its little moments throughout, and the stethoscope scene was a saving grace IMO. The cut to small Taki crying, her thanking the youkai with tears in her eyes though she couldn't see them, and their subsequent smiles in return... The surprise final farewell. The entire ending was fluffy and bittersweet for how it portrayed beings from two different worlds trying earnestly to connect with each other. One of the most memorable moments of the season for me, behind episodes 04 and 13. To quote the opening post, "...it doesn't matter, human or spirit. If your hearts touch, it's the same thing." I just love that aspect of the show - how love can transcend any sort of barrier and bring us closer together.

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Now, about Madara ... no, I don't think I'm giving him too much credit. I think you're the one who thinks I'm giving him too much credit. I'm well aware that Madara is likely not a powerful deity. I'm well aware that Madara has his limitations. But my point was simply that he's my homeboy and so duh I'm naturally going to root for him and so duh I'm naturally going to be a tad upset when the canon establishes some limitation on him. In this case, that limitation was his (in)ability to perceive masked youkai. I used that word in the original post, I've used it again just now, but whether by accident or deliberation you missed that entirely and then proceeded to remind me (LOL! ) that the youkai had been masked thanks to Shinichiro's seal. I know that, Yuki!
I know you know that, or rather I realized that's what you were trying to say so I tried to work in a more detailed explanation. XP What I was trying to get at is that I believe the youkai wasn't so much "masked" as "drained of spiritual energy entirely" since its pieces were scattered thoughout the house. If and only if it could retrieve its missing limbs would it return to full power, and that was assuming it could have escaped in the first place... I doubt Nyanko-sensei could have anticipated Natsume being dumb enough to inadvertently undo such a strong seal. XP What did you expect him to say? "Don't take down any posters with upside-down Kappas drawn on the or you'll unleash a vengeful kimono"? Whoo, scary~
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Old 04-18-2012, 07:34 PM   #78
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Episode 32 was ...

Episode 32 was the single best episode this series. This was an incredible episode that had me captivated from start to finish. It pretty much had everything I want out of a Natsume Yuujinchou episode (minus Reiko ^^;, who at least got mentioned several times!). It had plot. It tied into previous events. It introduced a (presumably) recurring antagonist for Natsume. It was high stakes. People's lives were in danger. Nyanko-sensei was "What is that guy *serious face*" regarding the villain's power level and even indicated to Natsume that he himself would have a hard time defending himself against this guy, much less trying to defend both of them at once. This was an exciting episode that had me wondering every five minutes, "Is it over yet? I don't want it to be over yet and holy shit it doesn't look like it's over yet but oh man it feels like I've been watching this for half an hour already and HO SHIT NO TIME TO THINK ABOUT THAT NOW SOMETHING BIG'S HAPPENING! " If the show were like this more regularly, I'd be a fan. It's such a crying shame that episodes like these come only once in a blue moon. Anyway ... screencaps and thoughts.

Screencaps with recap:

Spoiler: show

The episode opens with the first of many scenes in which the animators decided to go to town and make Nyanko-sensei as adorable as possible.


Then a lady runs into Natsume and he notices that he's now got blood on his shirt. He wonders whether she was a youkai or not before heading off to investigate.


He finds a small temple-shrine and heads inside. There, he's suddenly attacked by somebody who attempts to strangle him to death. He manages to cut their arm with his fingernails and ...


... is then rescued by a mysterious youkai with beautiful, angel-like wings.




She can't handle Natsume's weight and ends up dropping him. Natsume's life has rarely been in such danger before -- falling from 50+ feet up in the sky with no Nyanko-sensei nearby to rescue him -- so already my adrenaline was pumping by this point. Thankfully, Nyanko-sensei spotted Natsume falling from the sky and helped to break his fall. This was yet another adorable Nyanko-sensei scene.



LOL. Even funnier when you think about its 4th Wall implications, given how there are actual Nyanko-sensei pillows.



One of my favorite scenes all episode, short though it was, and one of Reiko's few "cameos" this episode. She didn't get an actual showing this episode but this was as good as it got. I really love the image the youkai have of Reiko though.


Nyanko-sensei just being adorable. The animators were on a crazy roll with that this episode. Anyway, here he is telling Natsume not to get involved with the angel-like youkai, explaining that whatever is after them is draining the youkai of their blood -- and that it may not even be a youkai.


With that thought in mind, Natsume wonders who his assailant -- and the one draining the youkai of their life force -- could be. He bumps into him the very next day. What really sells this chance encounter is Nyanko-sensei's reaction. We have never seen Nyanko-sensei react like this before. Never, ever, ever. No exaggeration. This is the first time we have ever seen him get visibly agitated, edgy, defensive, etc like this and acting like the thing they just encountered is not only as powerful as he is but is perhaps even more powerful. Indeed, Nyanko-sensei warns Natsume that he's got a very bad feeling about that individual and encourages them to head off. But before they can, Natsume hears screams! It's ...


Their angel-like friend from the other day. Whoever slew her friends has come back to finish what he started by polishing her off as well. Natsume tries to save her but the mysterious youkai with the paper mask brushes him aside like he were a falling leaf. It's up to Nyanko-sensei to save the day once again!


I expected Madara to transform out of his Nyanko-sensei form and into his true form, but instead he surprised us by revealing a power we've never seen before. Sweet! All of a sudden, this blue sigil on his head starts to glow and emanate a brilliant blue light. It blows away the youkai, rending its paper mask to shreds and seemingly exorcising it. But then ...


... who should show himself but the youkai's master, Matoba Seiji, the man who tried to strangle Natsume in the temple-shrine, the guy who is going around draining all of the youkai of their life energies. Nyanko-sensei immediately recognizes the name ("Matoba the Exorcist," he remarks) but it takes a second or two for it to click for Natsume: this young man is associated with the villainous woman he encountered back in Episode 24, the woman who sacrificed her own youkai in order to gain stronger youkai, the one who almost sealed Madara away inside a sealing jar. Matoba Seiji asks for Natsume's name but the youth uncharacteristically impolitely withholds it, knowing that he mustn't let this person know who he is. Seiji sicks more of his youkai henchmen on Natsume but ...


... our angel-like friend comes to his rescue and, with broken wing, flies off with Natsume and Nyanko-sensei in tow. The pain however is too great, the burden too heavy, and the three all crash near an abandoned house in the forest.


Natsume carries his new friend into the abandoned house and makes a makeshift bed for her. All of a sudden, he and the others come under attack! Seiji's goons have found them! They're quite skilled youkai and Natsume is soon defeated. However, who should come to his rescue but Natori! He wards the youkai off, telling them that Natsume is his friend, implying that the Matoba might be hesitant to openly declare war on Natori. (After all, he does take jobs for them on occasion! ^^; )


Nyanko-sensei animated adorably. That's all this is.


When Natori offers to help Natsume out, Natsume gets excited. He's worried that Natori might have ulterior motives -- including some expectation of payment or compensation -- so he makes a somewhat taken-aback Natori swear that Natori is offering his help free of charge. When Natori says yes, the trio set out to search for clues about Matoba Seiji while Natori's youkai servant Hiiragi helps to nurse the angel-like youkai back to health.


Whether they arranged to meet (which it kinda looked like) or not, I don't know, but the presumed lead of the Matoba clan, Matoba Nanase, the older woman we met in Episode 24, shows up and kinda-sorta ambushes Natori with questions and accusations about his recent actions. She references the events of Episodes 25 and 26 (in which Natori ended up not exorcising the target he was assigned to exorcise, which was the mountain river kami) and asserts that Natori is insisting on taking jobs in Natsume's hometown in order to minimize the presence of the Matoba clan. She suspects (or perhaps full-well knows) that Natsume Takashi, grandson of Natsume Reiko, lives in this town and asks if the boy is why Natori is doing what he's doing. Natori plays dumb but Nanase doesn't buy a word of it and warns Natori that their clan's leader, Seiji, the young man with the eyepatch who tried to strangle Natsume, is not the generous type. Natori is clearly uncomfortable with this conversation and makes to leave but Nanase then throws him a curveball, demanding to know the Natsume's address. Natori refuses to tell her but it's clear that the Matoba clan is after Natsume, Nyanko-sensei, and/or the Book of Friends.


Natori tells Natsume that he found out that Seiji had been working gradually from west to east, exorcising spirits for who knows what purpose. He figures that if they investigate the town where Seiji started operations, perhaps they can find out some clues. Natsume agrees and so the three of them, Natori, Natsume, and Nyanko-sensei, all agree to visit this town to the west. Natori abuses his celebrity status to try and get some intel of Matoba Seiji but it doesn't seem to be working too well. Nyanko-sensei then spies an udon restaurant and asks if they can go there for lunch. It's here that the team picks up their first clue: confirmation that a man fitting Seiji's physical description was seen recently in town. Things are looking up for our heroes, but both Natsume and Natori feel like this all might be too easy, and they even openly wonder if they're heading into a trap or not. Unseen by either of them (?) is an ominous youkai spying on them from the window. (See above.)


Our heroes go to investigate the town's hotel. They ask the landlady if she's seen someone fitting Seiji's description. She says she has but asks to know who our trio are. Natori lies, saying he's Seiji's older brother, has come to collect him, and that she shouldn't tell him. They check in for the night and go to their room.

Pictured above is Nyanko-sensei being adorable again , this time enjoying some soumen. (And right after he'd just had a bowl of udon! )


Natori has already wandered off somewhere and now Nyanko-sensei informs Natsume that he plans to go and find Matoba Seiji himself and get to the bottom of things. He tells Natsume to stay put, saying that Seiji is far too powerful an opponent for the frail boy to handle. This is when our spy makes her move. She breaks into the boys' hotel bedroom and, when Natsume goes to investigate, she attacks him, kicks his ass, and drags him out of the room and towards a closet where she plans to devour him. He manages to punch her in the face and escape with his life, barely, but ...


... he runs right into Matoba Seiji. Dayum.


Natsume attempts to flee but, just like Sensei warned, Seiji is too powerful an opponent for the boy to handle alone. Two of Seiji's youkai prevent Natsume from escaping and one of them deals him a blow so hard it sends him flying backward and renders him unconscious. And this is where our exciting episode ends.

So if you couldn't tell from that hyper-detailed plot summary, I really enjoyed this episode. Now for some ...

Thoughts:

Spoiler: show
I really like that Natsume Yuujinchou is finally displaying some sense of continuity, of events in the past affecting the events of the present. I was quite excited when the show introduced the morally gray Natori in Season 1. I was even more excited when they introduced Matoba Nanase, the series' first villainous human towards the end of Season 2. But then we had seven episodes of Monster of the Week (or Monster of the Biweek as the case may have been ) and I was starting to wonder if the whole Matoba subplot was going to be discarded or shelved until Season 4 or 5. Nope! I "only" had to wait seven episodes for it to resurface. And resurface it did! Matoba Seiji is an interesting villain for the series to have. The eyepatch. The highly-skilled youkai servants. The ruthlessness. What's scary about Seiji is that he almost strangled a human to death, would have done had the mysterious angel-like youkai not woken up and flown out of there with Natsume in tow. He claimed that he mistook Natsume for a youkai but this seems a little strange for one so powerful. (Then again, Natsume too mistook Seiji for a youkai, so who knows. ) Though why would you attempt to strangle a youkai? See, that's what makes him scary. These Matobas seem to really be a threat to Natsume's newfound happiness.

Another thing I liked about this episode was how jam-packed with stuff it was. I kept checking the clock wondering if half an hour had passed yet or not and was elated each time I checked that I still had 15, 10, or 5 minutes remaining. This was a meaty episode. I've already watched it twice (although admittedly the second "viewing" was a poor one in which I was more focused on pausing and screencapping in order to get the pictures to write this post).

One thing that blew me away was how cute, and how frequently cute, Nyanko-sensei was this episode. Normally he's only cute once or twice an episode. And normally I'm dying for him to transform out of his annoying Nyanko form and into his majestic Madara form. But today, with Episode 32, I quite enjoyed Nyanko-sensei. He was fun from start to finish. Loved the scene where he was eating the squid and gibbering about "the midlife star." Loved the scene where he tried to break Natsume's fall without transforming and got smushed as a result. ^^; Loved the part where he was eating soumen in the hotel. These and many other moments were simply great, and you could really tell the animators were having fun doing it too because even when Nyanko-sensei wasn't the focus of the scene, like in the abandoned house scene pictured above, he's still there in the corner looking cute.

One big deal I liked with the Matobas was the establishment that they're hunting for Natsume. They haven't forgotten nor forgiven him for what happened at the party and, now that they know he exists, they're eager to track him down. For what purpose, who can say. Are they after the boy? (Do they hope to off him before he can become like his grandmother?) Are they after secrets of Reiko's that they hope the boy might know? Do they want the yuujinchou? Who knows, who knows. But the fact that they're confident they've narrowed down which village he lives in, and the fact that they're soliciting the boy's address, seems like serious business lies ahead.

This is probably more than anybody, even Yuki, wants to read. But there you have it. I really enjoyed Episode 32 and as proof it gets the red carpet treatment.
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Old 09-12-2012, 10:57 AM   #79
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Wow, we've been busy lately! This thread was posted in as recently as April but it was already well into Page 3! Kinda cool! (Though I suppose Yuki would like to see Natsume stick around on Page 1 forever and ever ... ) Anyway, I come with news. Yuki? You're going to want to save up $360 or so. $334 for the item itself and the rest to cover shipping and handling. Whatever for? Why, the world's largest Nyanko-sensei plush ever, of course! ;D

EDIT: Didn't want to double post so I'll be editing this post. Hopefully Yuki catches it.


Watched Episode 34 just now during lunch. It was okay. I really love the fox spirit but this was a pretty sad (as in ) episode all things considered.

Spoiler: show
My memory was really rusty, having not watched the show in months and the last time I watched it having sort of mini-marathoned it, but I did vaguely recall the whole ordeal at that one inn where there were three factions (Natsume, the heir to that one clan, and the crazy girl who was trying to get revenge upon that clan) so when they showed Nyanko-sensei injured and made mention of his injuries, I kinda-sorta remembered that happening. (I can't say I honestly remember the bad guy using his arrow on Nyanko-sensei ^^; but I do remember that he was an archer amongst other things.) Anyway, Hinoe tells Natsume that there is a youkai herb which only youkai or special humans like Natsume can see and that this herb will help Nyanko-sensei recover. So Natsume heads off with Shigeru to re-visit an inn (which I've also forgotten ^^; ) where Natsume once ran a pottery-related errand for Shigeru. This sets the stage for Natsume and the fox spirit meeting again.

The fox spirit was adorable but it was tough watching him get bullied by the assholes or the rock spirit telling him to stay away from Natsume. It was even tougher that Natsume failed to notice him all those times. I'd like to chalk it up to bad coincidences but could it be something far worse? It was great seeing the fox spirit fetch the herbs for Natsume but it was of course sad to see the rock spirit sacrifice himself to save the fox spirit. It also seemed to be kinda out of character. ^_^; I mean, if you're a rock spirit and you're all "a million years is nothing to me," what the hell to you is the life of one fox? ^^; Why would you sacrifice yourself for that? Obviously the author had him do it because it was aww mixed with oh no but like ... it doesn't seem to fit a rock. ^_^; Anyway. What the the fox spirit then says at the end about how he feels the rock was wrong and how he values the time he spends with Natsume even if he knows that some day one or the other of them will be dead and no longer able to meet the other, that part I enjoyed. It was still sad though. A very sad and sedate episode. Not exactly the fox spirit episode I had hoped for. ^_^; And unless Yuki's been holding out on me, this could be the last time I get to see the fox spirit all anime long too, so like, hrm. ^^; What a note to say good-bye on. ^^;

Last edited by Talon87; 09-12-2012 at 12:05 PM.
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Old 09-12-2012, 04:18 PM   #80
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Wow, we've been busy lately! This thread was posted in as recently as April but it was already well into Page 3! Kinda cool! (Though I suppose Yuki would like to see Natsume stick around on Page 1 forever and ever ... ) Anyway, I come with news. Yuki? You're going to want to save up $360 or so. $334 for the item itself and the rest to cover shipping and handling. Whatever for? Why, the world's largest Nyanko-sensei plush ever, of course! ;D
And here I was hoping you'd have watched an episode- Oh ho, sneaky~

I saw a pic of that on Tumblr. Working my way up, I still need to get one of those giant Nyanko-head pillows I saw at Comic-Con. \o/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
EDIT: Didn't want to double post so I'll be editing this post. Hopefully Yuki catches it.


Watched Episode 34 just now during lunch. It was okay. I really love the fox spirit but this was a pretty sad (as in ) episode all things considered.

Spoiler: show
My memory was really rusty, having not watched the show in months and the last time I watched it having sort of mini-marathoned it, but I did vaguely recall the whole ordeal at that one inn where there were three factions (Natsume, the heir to that one clan, and the crazy girl who was trying to get revenge upon that clan) so when they showed Nyanko-sensei injured and made mention of his injuries, I kinda-sorta remembered that happening. (I can't say I honestly remember the bad guy using his arrow on Nyanko-sensei ^^; but I do remember that he was an archer amongst other things.) Anyway, Hinoe tells Natsume that there is a youkai herb which only youkai or special humans like Natsume can see and that this herb will help Nyanko-sensei recover. So Natsume heads off with Shigeru to re-visit an inn (which I've also forgotten ^^; ) where Natsume once ran a pottery-related errand for Shigeru. This sets the stage for Natsume and the fox spirit meeting again.

The fox spirit was adorable but it was tough watching him get bullied by the assholes or the rock spirit telling him to stay away from Natsume. It was even tougher that Natsume failed to notice him all those times. I'd like to chalk it up to bad coincidences but could it be something far worse? It was great seeing the fox spirit fetch the herbs for Natsume but it was of course sad to see the rock spirit sacrifice himself to save the fox spirit. It also seemed to be kinda out of character. ^_^; I mean, if you're a rock spirit and you're all "a million years is nothing to me," what the hell to you is the life of one fox? ^^; Why would you sacrifice yourself for that? Obviously the author had him do it because it was aww mixed with oh no but like ... it doesn't seem to fit a rock. ^_^; Anyway. What the the fox spirit then says at the end about how he feels the rock was wrong and how he values the time he spends with Natsume even if he knows that some day one or the other of them will be dead and no longer able to meet the other, that part I enjoyed. It was still sad though. A very sad and sedate episode. Not exactly the fox spirit episode I had hoped for. ^_^; And unless Yuki's been holding out on me, this could be the last time I get to see the fox spirit all anime long too, so like, hrm. ^^; What a note to say good-bye on. ^^;
Spoiler: show
Seeing as this was an animé-only episode the herb was obviously an invented plot device. The pottery part was animé-only in the first season too. Bit of a shame, since it was really a nice way to further develop Natsume's relationship with his foster parents, specifically Shigeru. From the focus on how they requested three sets to how honored Natsume felt to be asked to do a favor for them... It fit perfectly. I especially liked the "father-son bonding" aspect of this episode.

I thought the fox spirit was the one doing the bullying this time round. =O At least he's learned to fend for himself, literally with tooth and nail. XP

Wasn't the whole point of the rock spirit's sacrifice that it was contradictory? ^^; Despite all his talk about "not forming attachments", "time is meaningless", he still wanted to save the fox's life, however insignificant it may seem compared to his own. Like Madara, he's probably seen a lot of people and/or spirits come and go in his time, and grown jaded as a result. But deep down he most likely yearned for companionship. In a way it might've been worth it to throw away all the years he's spent or could've stayed sitting by himself on top that lonely mountain, in order to help a small friend.

I mean, Madara's always saying he doesn't care if Natsume dies or that he plans to eat the boy himself, but come on- we all know that's not true. XP Heck, he's just taken an arrow to the knee shoulder for Natsume. Clearly he's willing to protect a human kid practically with his life at this point, despite the vast difference in their perceptions of time.


In other news, caught up on the manga myself a few days ago. The latest arc was interesting no t so much for the Natori development (of which there was actually rather little and what was given could've easily been guessed), but for the implications regarding his relationship with Natsume. Not to mention how Natsume fits into the world of exorcists as a whole, and how the Book of Friends might have an unforeseen bearing on it.

Spoiler: show
To think that exorcists have a code of ethics is somewhat surprising when they've constantly been portrayed as villains, but it makes sense. The idea that Natsume could face punishment from humans if found in possession of the Book of Friends is pretty scary indeed. It seems the closer he gets to learning Reiko's secrets, the more danger he realizes he's in. Newfound fear has already debilitated him once, I wonder if it will happen again. =/ Not that I can blame him.


Once again, the author has addressed an issue Talon had with the story's initial premise regarding Reiko - and yet it still raises more questions than answers! XP Looks like next chapter is another one-shot too. ^^;
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Old 09-12-2012, 04:47 PM   #81
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Episode 34 reply:
Spoiler: show
The fox spirit wasn't the bully. The two youkai dudes we often see were picking on him. They were taking his possessions (first fish, later the wristwatch) without his permission and with no intent of giving them back. So the fox spirit did the only thing he knew how to do after pleading for them back didn't work -- he resorted to physical violence, clawing or biting at them, which resulted in them dropping what they stole and running for their lives. So sure, you can accuse him of being physically violent, but I'm 100% on his side.

As for the rock, I realize that that was kind of the point: but I'm just saying "lololol, it sure doesn't seem very rock-like." Again: he's seen hundreds of thousands of foxes in his time. Surely he's talked to animals before. (Surely our little fox spirit was not the first one to ever go on top of that rock. ^^; ) So what difference does the life of one fox spirit make to him? To put it into perspective, say the rock had been around for 1.4 billion years. And say the fox spirit is going to be alive for 1,000 years. That's still only 1/1.4 millionth of the rock's lifetime. ^_^; Which to put it into an 80-year human lifetime perspective is like ... 30 minutes. The fox spirit's time on this planet should he live to be 1,000 would be like 30 minutes to the rock in human terms. How long the rock had really known the fox spirit was, let's say, something less than 1 year. That means 30 minutes divided by 1,000 (at best) so approximately 1.8 human seconds is roughly how long the rock has know the fox spirit. ^^; Would you sacrifice yourself for someone you knew for only 1.8 seconds? ^^; But yes, I agree with you 100% that the point the author was trying to make is what you wrote, that it's dear, etc etc.

Episode 35:
Wasn't a fan of this episode. This was the school culture festival.

Spoiler: show
Natsume's class did a food stand of sorts (though it was indoors in their classroom ... and yet wasn't a cafe >_> ... if you're going to do it indoors why not just do the cafe at that point? ^^; ). Meanwhile Nyangoro / Nyankichi / Nyanko-sensei is left at home to recuperate from his wounds. But the episode isn't really about the culture festival.

Natsume is running away from a troublesome youkai who, he later finds out, seems intent on possessing him. It takes residence in a small rock and later begins possessing different girls at school to try and get closer to Natsume. But this isn't what the episode is really about either.

No, the episode is all about Natsume's relationship with his two non-spiritually-in-the-know friends, Nishimura and Kitamoto. They see Natsume taking his usual schizophrenic antics to a whole 'nother level of danger (like climbing backwards onto the ledge of a bridge and then falling off of it into the river below) and though they don't accuse him of being schizophrenic or anything they're obviously concerned. When Natsume gets really pale after seeing a ghost outside the window while the class votes on festival ideas, Nishimura mistakes it for Natsume being really, really against helping behind the stall and offers to swap roles with him. Meanwhile Natsume is all like "I like my friends and don't want any harm to come to them but I can't tell them about the youkai because I know how it'll end up if I do. " And maybe he's right. But it's not exactly the most riveting of episode premises for me. ^^; When the episode ends with Natsume imagining his friends teaching him how to ride a bike, I was bored out of my mind. ^^; I know I wasn't supposed to be but I was. Then he wakes up and there's Nyanko-sensei sitting on his stomach eating skewered squid and all is well again. Finish off with Taki checking in on Natsume, spotting Nyanko-sensei, and going for the kill and what was a weak episode has a delightful little finish.

It wasn't too too bad but I just thought it was pretty boring. On to Episode 36?
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Old 09-12-2012, 05:05 PM   #82
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Episode 34 reply:
Spoiler: show
As for the rock, I realize that that was kind of the point: but I'm just saying "lololol, it sure doesn't seem very rock-like." Again: he's seen hundreds of thousands of foxes in his time. Surely he's talked to animals before. (Surely our little fox spirit was not the first one to ever go on top of that rock. ^^; ) So what difference does the life of one fox spirit make to him?
Spoiler: show
True, but this might've been the first time someone was in danger right in front of him. Remember the rock couldn't move. Even if he wanted to save a life somewhere else it's not like he could. He saw he could do something then and there and decided to act on it.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Episode 35:
Wasn't a fan of this episode. This was the school culture festival.

Spoiler: show
Natsume's class did a food stand of sorts (though it was indoors in their classroom ... and yet wasn't a cafe >_> ... if you're going to do it indoors why not just do the cafe at that point? ^^; ). Meanwhile Nyangoro / Nyankichi / Nyanko-sensei is left at home to recuperate from his wounds. But the episode isn't really about the culture festival.

No, the episode is all about Natsume's relationship with his two non-spiritually-in-the-know friends, Nishimura and Kitamoto. They see Natsume taking his usual schizophrenic antics to a whole 'nother level of danger (like climbing backwards onto the ledge of a bridge and then falling off of it into the river below) and though they don't accuse him of being schizophrenic or anything they're obviously concerned. When Natsume gets really pale after seeing a ghost outside the window while the class votes on festival ideas, Nishimura mistakes it for Natsume being really, really against helping behind the stall and offers to swap roles with him. Meanwhile Natsume is all like "I like my friends and don't want any harm to come to them but I can't tell them about the youkai because I know how it'll end up if I do. " And maybe he's right. But it's not exactly the most riveting of episode premises for me. ^^; When the episode ends with Natsume imagining his friends teaching him how to ride a bike, I was bored out of my mind. ^^; I know I wasn't supposed to be but I was. Then he wakes up and there's Nyanko-sensei sitting on his stomach eating skewered squid and all is well again. Finish off with Taki checking in on Natsume, spotting Nyanko-sensei, and going for the kill and what was a weak episode has a delightful little finish.

It wasn't too too bad but I just thought it was pretty boring. On to Episode 36?
Spoiler: show
It wasn't a food stand. It was a shop. As for why Natsume was required to wear an apron in that case... Beats me. ^^;

And he wasn't imagining his friends teaching him to ride a bike. It really happened. >_>; Or so I assumed. I mean, we've seen him riding one to go fishing with "those two guys". (This episode did make me like them more.)


I agree it was a weak episode, especially in the spirit department, but it had some nice FEELS~ for the hardcore fans such as myself. <3 Basically, season three is mostly about building Natsume's relationships with other humans. You'll see it in the next arc too.
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Old 09-13-2012, 01:27 PM   #83
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"I want you. X3"

Episode 36 was a Tanuma & Natsume episode. It started off okay but by the end it got a bit more interesting. Once again the highlight of the episode -- something so good it got me to pause and take a dozen screencaps which isn't exactly easy when you're watching it in your web browser via CruncyRoll! -- was a Taki & Nyanko-sensei scene (pictured above). While I'm grateful for such scenes, I consider it a bad sign when they're the episode highlight: because they're not the episode focus so that must mean the episode focus isn't entertaining me much. ^^; But this episode was honestly less boring than the school festival episode last time so that's good.

Spoiler: show
Lightning strikes a tree one night during a thunderstorm. Nyanko-sensei is curious and goes to investigate with Natsume in tow. The two become separated and Natsume starts hearing voices. Trying to find out where they're coming from and what they're talking about, he notices something shining high up in a tree. It falls down and lands right in his eye! Soon after Tanuma appears and tells Natsume he's come to investigate the same voices which he heard the other day. All of a sudden the bushes start to rustle and what could be a youkai charges towards Natsume. Tanuma jumps in front of Natsume to shield him and takes the brunt of the attack. He appears unharmed at first but it's later revealed that a "cold" he came down with was actually a youkai possessing his body. That youkai, still in possession, is searching for the fragments of a mirror she was carrying when she got struck by lightning and the mirror fragments scattered every which way. She tries to get Natsume's eyeball (since one of the mirror shards fused with it and she can use the shard to track down the other shards) but Nyanko-sensei shows up in the nick of time to rescue Natsume. He tries to exorcise the ghost out of Tanuma but she's stubborn enough that he can't push her out without risking damage to Tanuma's mind. So the two parties decide to work together: she'll leave Tanuma's body and also not try and rip out Natsume's eyeball if in return Natsume agrees to use the shard in his eyeball to help her track down the other mirror shards.

The episode ends with Natsume and Tanuma (and Taki tagging along) finding one or two shard fragments. When they piece them together, they fuse back together. Bit by bit, they're restoring the mirror. As they call it a day and Natsume walks Tanuma home, Tanuma tells him that the youkai inside of him is warning them that the mirror is powerful and that other youkai may be trying to find the remaining shards as well. So now it's a race against time for our heroes to try and get all of the shard fragments back before enemy youkai can land their hands on even just one piece!

Here are the screencaps I took of the Taki & Nyanko-sensei scene.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

The episode was decent to good. It started off kinda boring but things got better in the final third or so. And I'm looking forward to seeing how things play out, too, so that's good. It's kind of strange imo that a mirror which got destroyed over a forest canopy miles away somehow has shard fragments which not only wound up on Natsume's school grounds but which wound up several feet underground in said school grounds. ^_^; How does that happen? Why, by the hand-waving power of "I'm trying to tell a story, dammit! " authorial magic, of course! It didn't make much sense but it allowed our heroes to start their hunt while school was still in session rather than requiring them to all trek into the forest together. I think it also allowed Taki to justify tagging along a bit: she was already at school so even if she's not much help she's at least there as a supportive friend, but asking her to come several miles out of town to try and "help" find things she can't even see for herself wouldn't make much sense at all.
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Old 09-18-2012, 01:57 PM   #84
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Finished Season 3 during my lunch break. Thoughts on the final three episodes:

Episode 37:
I watched this quite a few days ago but never did post about it because I was waiting for Yuki to reply to this thread first. But she never did, and last night we discussed it briefly on Skype. I have to confess I don't remember it as sharply now as I did when I just finished watching it (duh) but I can tell you that I did enjoy it much more than I did any of the recent previous episodes. The highlight for me was the scene with Madara when ...

Spoiler: show
he shows up with like 60-70% of the remaining mirror shards.

Episode 38:
I started this one a few days ago but paused eight minutes in. Only just finished it today. It was good. Started off really slow and kinda dull imo. Then it swerved into peculiar territory that left me not sure how to feel.

Spoiler: show
I think it can be very, very difficult for an author to write flashbacks or "how we met" stories after they've spent so much time developing their characters in the forwards direction. We recently have talked about how Kawahara Reki seemed to struggle with it in Sword Art Online, and now we see it here in Natsume Yuujinchou. I feel like Natsume's interactions with the Fujiwaras were believable as a flashback in relation to Season 3 ... but much less believable in relation to Season 1. He seemed much more openly close to them in the flashback than in Season 1. It's also very surprising (if not problematic for the canon?) that he cared so much about them from the moment they first met considering how he was somewhat more distant from them in Season 1. Watching from Seasons 1 to 3, I feel like Touko has increasingly tried to get Natsume to open up to her. This means that in Season 1 she didn't do it as much as she does now. But the Touko we saw in the flashback was as gung ho as they come. Kinda strange. That stated, it was a nice flashback story and the part in the hospital where Natsume starts crying and says "I want to go! ;_; I want to go! ;_;" was tear-inducing. I didn't actually cry but I'm also not really emotionally invested in this series. I'm sure that if I was I'd have bawled like a little baby at that part. ^_^;

Episode 39:
Season 3 seems to have a pattern with dull openings that follow up with stronger second halves. ^_^;

Spoiler: show
The season finale episode got off to a pretty slow start with five our six main human children (all but Taki) chitchatting about plans for after graduation. The episode picks up when the youkai (who had invited Natsume to an ill-conceived drinking party) abscond with Natsume and have him teach them a human game they can play. They play Shadow Tag and via this we get to see some fun interactions from some fan favorites like Madara (in his Madara form), Misuzu, Hinoe, and Benio. I actually forgot all about Benio and had to look her up after the episode ended. She was in the early Season 2 episode with the black Nyanko look-alike, huh? And she's a follower of Madara's, writes one fan of the show? Hmm, I don't remember that, but I guess it fits with her admiration of him in this episode and her surprise/mild distaste that he assumes that maneki neko form of his. Anyway, it was fun to rediscover her, to see Hinoe again (loved the Hinoe x Takashi tidbits ), and to see Misuzu who we hadn't seen in a while.

A question for Yuki to refresh my memory and so I don't accidentally get spoiled: at the point where I am in the show right now, who of the following have had their names returned to them from the Yuujinchou?
  • Madara
  • Misuzu
  • Hinoe
I've completely forgotten who all's gotten their names back and who haven't of these three. My feeling is ...
  • Madara: his name might not have even been in the Yuujinchou. I honestly don't even remember. It's not even clear whether it was Reiko who sealed him or whether it was someone else.
  • Misuzu: I feel like Natsume insisted on giving the name back but either Misuzu declined or else Misuzu accepted but pledged loyalty to help Natsume out
  • Hinoe: I feel like she got hers back but she's still friendly towards Natsume and willing to be summoned even if not through the powers of the Yuujinchou
But yeah, my memory is very rusty on these three. So a reminder that's accurate as of the end of Season 3 would be appreciated.

Anyway, I can check Natsume Yuujinchou S3 off my list now.
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Old 09-18-2012, 02:57 PM   #85
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Episode 38:
I started this one a few days ago but paused eight minutes in. Only just finished it today. It was good. Started off really slow and kinda dull imo. Then it swerved into peculiar territory that left me not sure how to feel.

Spoiler: show
I think it can be very, very difficult for an author to write flashbacks or "how we met" stories after they've spent so much time developing their characters in the forwards direction. We recently have talked about how Kawahara Reki seemed to struggle with it in Sword Art Online, and now we see it here in Natsume Yuujinchou. I feel like Natsume's interactions with the Fujiwaras were believable as a flashback in relation to Season 3 ... but much less believable in relation to Season 1. He seemed much more openly close to them in the flashback than in Season 1. It's also very surprising (if not problematic for the canon?) that he cared so much about them from the moment they first met considering how he was somewhat more distant from them in Season 1. Watching from Seasons 1 to 3, I feel like Touko has increasingly tried to get Natsume to open up to her. This means that in Season 1 she didn't do it as much as she does now. But the Touko we saw in the flashback was as gung ho as they come. Kinda strange. That stated, it was a nice flashback story and the part in the hospital where Natsume starts crying and says "I want to go! ;_; I want to go! ;_;" was tear-inducing. I didn't actually cry but I'm also not really emotionally invested in this series. I'm sure that if I was I'd have bawled like a little baby at that part. ^_^;
Bear in mind the animé rearranged a lot of stories out of order. I don't remember where exactly this chapter fell in relation to others, but it was probably earlier than the animé introduced it. There were also a couple changes regarding Natsume's relationship with the Fujiwaras one way or the other. For example I can recall:

Spoiler: show
In the story with the cherry blossom painting (season two episode), Natsume was originally browsing the flea market on his own and thought about buying a flower pin for Touko-san as a present - not shopping for gratin bowls as in the animé. Bit of a surprise since from our POV watching the show, as polite as Natsume is he's never voluntarily extended a spontaneous nice gesture like that towards his foster parents, even though he's always happy to perform favors for them. Almost like he's afraid to do so unless he's asked.

As an aside, Touko-san never actually showed up herself in that chapter. I remember you remarking on the scene with her and Natsume by the flower field as the highlight of the episode... Which was completely absent from the manga. ^^; So it's a bit of a trade-off, I guess.


I didn't cry myself at the ending. I don't think Natsume's ever actually managed to move me to tears, but like someone said I think that's sort of the series' charm. It's a mild sense of sadness mixed with warmth.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Episode 39:
Season 3 seems to have a pattern with dull openings that follow up with stronger second halves. ^_^;

Spoiler: show
The season finale episode got off to a pretty slow start with five our six main human children (all but Taki) chitchatting about plans for after graduation. The episode picks up when the youkai (who had invited Natsume to an ill-conceived drinking party) abscond with Natsume and have him teach them a human game they can play. They play Shadow Tag and via this we get to see some fun interactions from some fan favorites like Madara (in his Madara form), Misuzu, Hinoe, and Benio. I actually forgot all about Benio and had to look her up after the episode ended. She was in the early Season 2 episode with the black Nyanko look-alike, huh? And she's a follower of Madara's, writes one fan of the show? Hmm, I don't remember that, but I guess it fits with her admiration of him in this episode and her surprise/mild distaste that he assumes that maneki neko form of his. Anyway, it was fun to rediscover her, to see Hinoe again (loved the Hinoe x Takashi tidbits ), and to see Misuzu who we hadn't seen in a while.
You just bringing up Natsume the other day made me want to rewatch this episode again (especially since I've been feeling down lately). ^^; It never fails to bring a smile to my face. =) Part of the reason I didn't though is because I'm afraid the effect will wear off like it eventually did with Full Moon (I stopped rewatching the series as soon as the ending failed to elicit tears anymore). Just thinking about it helped calm me down a lot though, and I believe that's enough. <3

I thought it was the perfect finish to a season (if not the whole series) that, while perhaps a bit duller for it, focused heavily on the human interactions. But the ending tied it all together by bringing back the faces we know and love alongside Natsume's newfound human friends. And I appreciated the addition of the people pal portion too. (The part where Natsume is seriously considering his future for the Fujiwaras' sake was sweet, and XD @ the premonitions he and Tanuma came up with.) Originally the omake just contained the game.

Spoiler: show
Now if only the little fox had showed up like in the manga, I'm sure you would've rated it higher. ;O He only got like one panel's worth of facetime though. ^^;


...*has started playing scenes in the background anyway*

Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
A question for Yuki to refresh my memory and so I don't accidentally get spoiled: at the point where I am in the show right now, who of the following have had their names returned to them from the Yuujinchou?
  • Madara
  • Misuzu
  • Hinoe
I've completely forgotten who all's gotten their names back and who haven't of these three. My feeling is ...
  • Madara: his name might not have even been in the Yuujinchou. I honestly don't even remember. It's not even clear whether it was Reiko who sealed him or whether it was someone else.
  • Misuzu: I feel like Natsume insisted on giving the name back but either Misuzu declined or else Misuzu accepted but pledged loyalty to help Natsume out
  • Hinoe: I feel like she got hers back but she's still friendly towards Natsume and willing to be summoned even if not through the powers of the Yuujinchou
But yeah, my memory is very rusty on these three. So a reminder that's accurate as of the end of Season 3 would be appreciated.

Anyway, I can check Natsume Yuujinchou S3 off my list now.
Pretty sure none of them have had their names returned. ^^; Misuzu's and Hinoe's are confirmed to be in the Book of Friends. Misuzu asked for his name back but Natsume kept putting it off for some reason, so Misuzu tested him with the frog and the "five-day mark" to see whether he was worthy of holding it. Natsume "passed" (for now). As for Hinoe I don't think she ever officially requested to have it returned. Natsume just used it once to summon her and she stuck around because he reminded her of Reiko, I guess.

So do you think you'll press on S4? XP I actually wouldn't mind if you stopped here. Like I said, I think this was a great way to wrap up the series, and a perfect place to put it down if you choose. Tbh I can't remember all that much that happens in S4 anyway, aside from the two major arcs I was hoping to see. ^^; One for comedy and the other for FEELS~ drama.
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Old 09-18-2012, 03:54 PM   #86
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Thanks for the reminder about the names for those three.

Season 4 Episode 1:
So I decided to move on to the next episode when I got home. This was a great episode. Great for Natsume Yuujinchou and good to great for anime in general. It's a shame the series doesn't have episodes like this all the time. Like I told Yuki on Skype, I'd love it if Natsume Yuujinchou had more emphasis on the big plot arcs and burning questions we as fans have (so basically Madara's past, knowing what happened to Reiko, and all the drama with the Matoba clan). And what did this episode give us? Well, you'll have to click the spoiler box to find out!

But first, let's talk about the new OP and ED. Neither song really grabs me but two things do stand out to me. First, the OP. What really stands out is adorable Little Natsume. I am sure that this OP was made for the fangirls and that fangirls everywhere are just DYING with delight every time they watch this opening. Like the crazy cat girl except (1) real and (2) for Little Natsume instead of for cats. Second, the ED. What really stood out to me about the ending was the singer's voice. It was very pleasant to listen to. Very pleasant. Apparently her name is Kawano Marina and she is a newcomer. I look forward to hearing more from her in the future.

Spoiler: show
The episode opens with Natsume getting waylaid by a bunch of youkai. These youkai are more powerful than the usual pipsqueaks and they're also attacking as a group rather than as individuals. This makes them very dangerous, eliciting concern even from Nyanko-sensei. When they show up at school right as school is about to let out and start choking Natsume in front of his clueless friends, the shit starts to hit the fan. His friends (not knowing what is going on) get understandably concerned and Natsume freakishly wrangles with the air and bolts out of the room like a crazed person. He desperately runs into the street (getting a trailer truck to start honking at him) but avoids getting hit by any cars. Eventually (a bit later on) he runs into them again near their base of operations, a forest in the east. He happens upon an exorcism trap that someone has laid and (again, after some stuff happens that I am skipping over), the group flees but one is captured and sealed away into a pot by ...

... Matoba! That's right, the series' new primary antagonist is back and dangerous as ever. Natsume and Nyanko-sensei make their escape but Matoba's youkai thugs pick them off one by one, first Madara, then Natsume. When Natsume comes to, he's about to be tied up in a prison cell somewhere. He assails the bailiff just in time and locks him inside the prison cell instead. Heading upstairs he finds out that his book bag (which has the Book of Friends still inside it!) is in this mansion's paulownia room. But he is spotted by Matoba and has to make a run for it. Skipping over some other details, suffice to say that he and Nyanko-sensei eventually meet back up and joining them is the youkai who was sealed inside of the pot. While Nyanko-sensei goes to retrieve the book bag from the paulownia room, Natsume and the potted spirit stay behind in hiding ... only to be discovered by an ominous Matoba.

And it's on that cliffhanger note that the episode ends. Man oh man! >_< If I were watching weekly I'd be so energized right now but also so pissed at having to wait a week to find out the conclusion! XD And why so energized? 'Cause this was an exciting episode. It's great to see the author further developing the Matoba plot arc. It was interesting to see that one older woman (the one who tricked Natsume in Season 2) and to hear Matoba assign her to getting Natsume. But it was also neat to see him taking a personal interest in this, telling her he thought it more pertinent to get Natsume than worry about getting what they came here for in the first place (the guardian spirit of the eastern forest). And sure enough it's Matoba himself who personally sniffs out Natsume's hiding spot and calmly lands his hand on the frightened boy's shoulder. So that's interesting. It tells us that Matoba hasn't forgotten about Natsume Takashi and ... oh yeah, I needed to explain this next bit too.

What also made the episode exciting (and all the more so once we saw Matoba pop up) was that the youkai who ganged up on Natsume were demanding the Book of Friends even though they weren't youkai who knew Reiko. This told Natsume and Nyanko-sensei that word must be spreading amongst the youkai that such a thing as the Book of Friends exists and that its owner is in the area. Thus, it seems likely that it's only a matter of time before Matoba gets his hands on a youkai who in turn informs him about the Book of Friends and about its connection with Natsume Takashi. And once he finds this out, who knows what measures Matoba might resort to to get his hands on the book. Exciting stuff, no?

Looking forward to watching the second episode. If the rest of Season 4 is anything like this opening act, it'll be the best season yet. Of course I know better than to expect that , but still. A guy can hope, right? ^_^;
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Old 10-08-2012, 02:05 AM   #87
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Lil' Bluey

HNG.

The most recent special chapter of the manga was boo-tiful. ;; SO MANY FEELS.

I think I understand and can accept Touko's behavior a bit better now.

Spoiler: show
She's naturally a "clingy" person, and admits it outright. But then there's nothing wrong with genuinely wanting things to go well. Just hearing her actually say it helps assure me. ^^; Call me paranoid/cynical.


The story probably only scratches the surface of the Fujiwaras' backstory, but it confirms enough to set my fears aside. Which is all I ever really asked for. Not to mention it leaves with the tantalizing tidbit...

Spoiler: show
...That Touko (and surely Shigeru) likely know more about Natsume's ability than they let on. The bit with the white crow was perfectly executed. All the time I kept figuring it was a metaphor for Touko's relationship with Shigeru - or by that point with Natsume - so when the twist was revealed it caught me pleasantly by surprise. To be honest, I like how it was handled in such a simple manner. It doesn't need to have a deep meaning, though you could certainly come up with one. But just the suggestion that Touko was aware Natsume could see something she couldn't, but played along so as not to hurt him (and perhaps half for her own happiness - though not in a selfish way, if that makes any sense at 3 in the morning) was more than enough to satisfy me.


The previous chapter was good too at building up emotional momentum, although I feel it was unfortunately guilty of the author's tendency to give sugarcoated endings. =/ I like sweet stuff, but sometimes a little bitterness can go a long way.

I did like how it referred repeatedly back to the important points of the previous arc, showing Midorikawa didn't forget the major developmental progress she just made and create another stand-alone one-shot for the sake of stalling/back-pedalling. I do hope this leads into a long and continuous solid plotline that continues to give answers to numerous questions readers have been craving since day one. Keep it up, Midorikawa! I have faith you won't disappoint! *crosses fingers*
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Old 11-27-2012, 11:01 PM   #88
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Luvdisc

Taki is so pretty/cute in the manga. Fluffy hair ftw. <3

That is all. (Because there's no translation out yet. =<)

Though I was shocked at first to think...

Spoiler: show
...That Taki could see Reiko's ghost around Natsume. Turned out to just be Reiko-nyan though. ^^;


Edit- Apparently there's also a Natsume novel being written? =O

Last edited by lilboocorsola; 11-27-2012 at 11:05 PM.
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Old 09-29-2013, 05:13 PM   #89
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On a whim, I decided it was high time I rewatched Season 4 Episode 01, Season 04 Episode 02, and wrote up my thoughts post for Season 04 Episode 02. And then? Who knows! Maybe I'll press on to Season 04 Episode 03! ;o

Spoiler: show

Watching S4E01 was pretty surreal at a lot of points because I recognized about half of the episode but everything I remembered I could have SWORN happened in Season 03. It's probably got something to do with the fact that I watched these episodes so soon after watching Season 03, but that still doesn't explain how my brain relocated what to it were the last episodes it ever saw somewhere into the middle of the pack.


Watching S4E02 was ... disappointing, because I remember being really, really excited about this episode back when I first watched it, but it's now been so long since I've set foot in the Natsume Yuujinchou universe that I fear a lot of the gravity and grandness of this episode's plot elements was lost on me. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it! But I ... enjoyed it about as much as I would've enjoyed any ol' Natsume Yuujinchou episode. Which is nuts, I know, because just going through the list o' happenings in this episode should make it clear to anybody just how big a deal the episode was.


First up we have Matoba inviting Natsume to join the Matoba clan. Whoa.


Then we have Matoba calling out Natsume for his heretical views, i.e. that youkai and humans are equivalent. Uh oh ...!


Ohhhhhhhh shit!






Oh thank good--


^^;

This scene was pretty impressive (and, I guess, important for the franchise as a whole) because of all the various big things that happened in it. First, Matoba pwns Madara with one of his sealing spells. This establishes that Matoba is a serious threat to Natsume's happy days with Nyanko-sensei and the other youkai. Second, Natsume's decision to throw himself over Nyanko-sensei's body and more or less tell Matoba "If you want to kill him, you'll have to kill me first" sends Matoba a clear (if mistaken) message that Natsume, like his grandmother, places youkai before human beings. Obviously we don't know Reiko's full backstory, but it seems pretty clear thus far that she probably was happier with the youkai than she was with humans. And obviously, we know that it's a false dilemma to say that Natsume must either choose between humans or youkai: we know that his actions in the story so far have seen him trying his best to be a part of both worlds, to neither exorcise youkai (like Matoba and Natori) nor befriend to the exclusion of humans (like Reiko). Third, this scene was a big deal because it demonstrated, quite clearly, that Matoba doesn't wish to harm Natsume if he can help it. While he was prepared to kill Madara, Matoba didn't so much as lay a finger on the human boy in front of him. We've seen in Season 3 just how ruthless and professionally cold (like a hitman) Matoba can be, so this was pretty telling as far as Matoba and Natsume go. When Matoba invited Natsume to join the Matoba clan, he very well may have been sincere about offering Natsume a happy home -- he may not have simply been after Natsume's Book of Friends and/or the spirits allied with Natsume.


Another of the ways this episode was clearly a big deal was how we had Hinoe and Misuzu teaming up to take on the Matoba's ................. damn, it's been too long since I've seen this show and I forget this older woman's role in the clan. ^^; Secretary? Maid? IIRC she's not Matoba's aunt or grandmother ... hmm ... well anyway, it's her and some powerful Matoba youkai servants vs. Hinoe and Misuzu and the monkey youkai of the forest. In the end, the Matobas are forced to retreat, and the old woman seems pretty bitter about it, muttering Natsume Reiko's name to herself.


The focus of the final prison cell scene was obviously on the monkey spirit and how he helped Natsume out by lying to his friends about the Book of Friends' location, but the primary thing I took away from this scene as we move forward with the franchise was that Madara proved an able match for Matoba in their rematch. Madara goaded the young exorcist, claiming that he wasn't that powerful, and as Matoba tried to fling another sealing spell, we witnessed Madara not only vaporize that spell tag before it could touch his body but we also saw him vaporize all of the spell tags surrounding the prison cell -- tags which we had been led to believe were doing their job of preventing Madara from transforming into his true form and busting him and Natsume out of there. Whether they really were doing their job (and Madara only just barely managed to overpower them) or whether he had just been lazing about because he's Nyanko-sensei and he does that , who knows. Regardless, the earlier scene established that Matoba can pwn Madara while this scene established that Madara can pwn Matoba. So the good news for us Madara fans is that this (re-)establishes just how fucking awesome and powerful Madara is, but the also good news for us fans of drama and suspense is that Matoba still is no pushover by any means. He and Madara may very well be on even footing -- which means that any future encounters should prove entertaining.


I remember when I watched this episode last year that I felt the single most badass, epic climax in any episode so far was the scene where Madara picks Natsume up, sweeps the monkeys away for the last time, and declares that Natsume and the Book of Friends are going back home. I can't for the life of me remember why I felt this scene stood out so much, considering we've seen Madara do similar things in the past. ^^; Maybe I was just really won over by the artwork here, which looked really nice. Or maybe I'm remembering wrong, just like how I thought the events of S4E01 were from mid-Season 3, and maybe this really was the first time Madara'd shown possessive attachment to Natsume on quite so strong a level. I'll leave it to Yuki to clear this up for me, I guess.


I did love how Hinoe and the others raced to the scene to defend Natsume too.

Overall, this was a nice episode with good animation, wonderful advancement of the main plot (thank God! T_T), and some welcome cameo appearances from some of our favorite youkai and human characters. All this episode was really missing was some Natsume Reiko backstory development and it'd have easily been one of the best episodes ever. But alas, despite all this glowing praise ... when I sat here watching the episode again today, I just wasn't that excited. ^^; I'll optimistically chalk that up to boredom due to subconscious familiarity with the episode and hope that the remaining episodes of Season 4 will wow me as strongly as Episodes 01 and 02 did last year when they were new to me.
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Old 09-29-2013, 08:29 PM   #90
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On a whim, I decided it was high time I rewatched Season 4 Episode 01, Season 04 Episode 02, and wrote up my thoughts post for Season 04 Episode 02. And then? Who knows! Maybe I'll press on to Season 04 Episode 03! ;o

Spoiler: show

I remember when I watched this episode last year that I felt the single most badass, epic climax in any episode so far was the scene where Madara picks Natsume up, sweeps the monkeys away for the last time, and declares that Natsume and the Book of Friends are going back home. I can't for the life of me remember why I felt this scene stood out so much, considering we've seen Madara do similar things in the past. ^^; Maybe I was just really won over by the artwork here, which looked really nice. Or maybe I'm remembering wrong, just like how I thought the events of S4E01 were from mid-Season 3, and maybe this really was the first time Madara'd shown possessive attachment to Natsume on quite so strong a level. I'll leave it to Yuki to clear this up for me, I guess.
Spoiler: show
I currently can't seem to recall another time (prior to this episode) when Madara actually scooped Natsume up in his mouth, so that may be it. That actually kinda freaked me out the first time. ^^; Careful with those teeth, Nyanko-sensei! (Though I suppose it also says something when he's careful enough not to harm Natsume.)
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Old 09-29-2013, 09:24 PM   #91
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Season 4 Episode 03:

Spoiler: show
This was the adorable little baby youkai episode. Remember Tama from Season 2? Yeah, this is his fuzzball doppelganger. (They even both become dragons in the end, in a manner of speaking! )


The episode opens with Madara catching Natsume once again depleting the Book of Friends of its powerful indentured youkai servants, much to his chagrin. What's interesting about this scene is that it's mostly played for laughs and the youkai depicted netting her freedom -- one certain Amana -- doesn't even seem like someone we'll ever see again. But Midorikawa cleverly has this youkai be one of the several nasty youkai who wind up teaching Natsume a lesson in not being so gosh darn naive all the time.


I like how the boys are scared out of their pants by this adorable ball of fuzz.


Like, seriously, Natsume. Wouldn't hurt a fly, this one wouldn't.


So yeah. Amana. This ungrateful bitch asks Natsume to release her from service to him, which he graciously does, no questions asked. She drops a ring that is precious to her, however, and returns to Natsume's house a day or two later, flipping the fuck out. And not in a comical lighthearted way either, no no! This youkai wants blood! She tears Natsume's room apart in her hunt for the ring, and then when he returns home she strangles him and demands to know where her ring's gone to. Charming. Natsume says the first smart, stand-up-for-yourself thing he's said in a long time -- something along the lines of "It's not my fault you lost your ring. Too fucking bad" -- but instead of following it up with a "What does that have to do with me?" he instead follows it up with "But don't worry: I'll help you search for it anyway." And what does she say in response to kind Natsume? "IF YOU DON'T FIND THE RING IN THREE DAYS I'LL BURN YOUR HOUSE DOWN AND EVERYONE IN IT." Like I said: charming.

So we fast forward a day or two -- iirc he doesn't even take the full three days! -- and Natsume gets the ring back from Fuzzball. Tailing him was Amana. So she witnessed everything, right? Oh how conveniently wrong! While she does indeed see Natsume holding the ring, she somehow misses the fact that he got it from one of the fuzzies. So she makes to strangle him / snap his neck / devour him / all three, and that's when Nyanko-sensei (who has spent most of the episode sealed by one of Amana's spell tags) has had enough. He reveals that he had just been playing nice by pretending to be sealed by the spell tag -- in fact, he's had the power to incinerate it this entire time. And he now does. And proceeds to fucking kick Amana's ass. Serves her right. The lesson I wish Takashi'd learn from this -- one I'm sure, knowing him, he probably didn't -- is that he needs to quit being so naive with the giving back youkai their names. Don't just give them their name when they come to you and ask, dude. Do some research first. Ask around. Ask Nyanko, Hinoe, Misuzu, the cyclops and cow youkai, the kappa, ask around and find out if anyone knows anything about the youkai who's asking you to free them. And if they do? And if they say that it's a mean spirit? Don't let it go. -_-; Consider your grandma's past actions on par with a Ghostbuster who sealed an evil ghost away. Only let the nice ones go. But alas, I doubt that's really the message Midorikawa wants to send here. ^^; She seems to be happy to have Natsume let all of the youkai free, willy nilly, and that strikes me as her way of saying that they all deserve to be free, no matter how foul or dangerous they might be. (Will be interesting to see what she has Matoba and Natori say on this matter ... not that they haven't already said some in past seasons! )


Season 4 Episode 04:

Spoiler: show
If the previous episode was Season 4's "awwwwww wook at the adowable baby fuzzy wuzzy d'awwwwww " episode, this one was this season's grab-a-tissue tragic love story episode. And I'm such a sucker for these ones, I swear.

Natsume and Nyanko-sensei meet Yobiko, a tree spirit (or a youkai who helped tend to a tree? either way ...) who implores them to release a certain youkai, Karikami, from the Book of Friends. When Natsume tells Yobiko that he can only release spirits whose faces he knows -- just knowing a name isn't enough -- and when Yobiko observes that youkai in the wild will sometimes recognize Natsume and attack him seeking the Book of Friends, Yobiko decides to abduct Natsume in the hopes of luring out Karikami such that Natsume can then know Karikami's face and set Karikami free. When Natsume demands to know what is going on, Yobiko explains ...

We've seen quite a few youkai-human love stories in past seasons, but Midorikawa provides us one with a fresh twist: youkai Cyrano de Bergerac. We have a girl who fell in love with a man but the man quit visiting her when he was betrothed to a local aristocrat (and didn't have the balls to tell his lover ); not knowing this, the woman continues to visit their secret meeting place every single day, wondering where her lover has gone to. Enter in Yobiko, who has the power of imitating human voices flawlessly. He feels so bad for the woman that he pretends to be her lover, hiding behind the shrine doors so that she can't see him. While he intends to tell her "good bye" and call off the relationship then and there, Yobiko can't bear to do it when he sees just how happy the woman is now that her lover has returned. And so ... he keeps the lie going. And going. And going. Until finally it can go no more, and he reveals to her the truth ... and flees in shame and embarrassment, never to see her again. Many years later, he returns to the shrine and discovers a weathered piece of paper held down by a heavy rock. He wonders if it might not be a letter from the woman he fell in love with -- but the letter is so damaged by the elements that the only hope of opening it without destroying it is if Karikami can restore the paper to the way it used to be. Hearing the tale, Natsume agrees to be Yobiko's temporary hostage and together the two try to find Karikami.


This episode wasn't quite as detailed or deep as some of the past tragic romance episodes, but it didn't really need to be either. It was good for what it was and I definitely enjoyed it. The Natsume Reiko flashback didn't hurt either. ŹŹ;
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Old 09-30-2013, 11:07 AM   #92
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Season 4 Episode 05:

Spoiler: show
When I saw the sneak peek for this episode, I complained to Yuki, "Ugh, I really hate the flashback episodes. -.- They're so depressing." That's not all, but ... I dunno, I just generally don't enjoy a flashback episode unless it's done well or serves some really important purpose for advancing the plot. I think it's usually because I see flashback episodes as a waste of time regarding character development: because, like, all of the growth and development we've seen a character accomplish is necessarily erased when we take our trip back into the past. And in the case of characters like Natsume, who started off a lot worse socially and emotionally than we find them now, that makes the trips back into their past awkward and uncomfortable.

Or at least, that's how the theory goes. What I actually found when I watched Episode 05 was a pretty darn good episode. In fact, I feel it's safe to say that I enjoyed it more than 03, 04, or 01-revisited and 02-revisited. Favorite episode of the season? No, no, I'll still give that honor to 01-original and 02-original. But I'm just saying: rather than hate this episode, I actually enjoyed it. Hooray for going in with the lowest of expectations? ^_^;


This episode stars Ogata Yuriko, a girl who went to the same middle school as Natsume for the brief period of time he was in her town. Presented in two halves -- first the Yuriko flashback, and then the Natsume flashback -- the episode opens with Yuriko, now in high school, going to a local shrine and praying for help with math (which she's failing). She's nearly hit by a truck on her way home but is magically saved by an unseen force. Soon after, she's back at home, chatting with her girlfriends, and one of them brings up Natsume ...

If I recall correctly, Yuki told me last year that this girl proved insanely controversial with the fans. Correct me if I'm wrong, Yuki. If I recall correctly, you'd suggested that Ogata Yuriko is living the dream of near about every Natsume Yuujinchou fangirl. And whether that's what you told me or not, I could definitely see that as being true! Because man oh man, Yuriko was totally an easy avenue for self-insertion for near about every squeeing fangirl on the planet ... but I can see how she might've been one which backfired on Midorikawa since by having Yuriko clearly have a crush on Natsume and clearly getting closer to him, you turn her into every single fangirl's Public Enemy #1! "Get away from him, bitch! That's MY man!" I can so, so see the fangirls -- not all of them, sure, no, but a lot of 'em! -- saying stuff like this. hahaha But for me, I guess, I didn't have any such conflicted feelings. A, I don't fantasize about Natsume Takashi. B, it was a flashback episode, one which clearly established that Natsume x Ogata isn't something that's ever going to happen now because he's got bad memories of that town, happy memories of his current one, and plenty of girls in his current town (TA-KI! TA-KI! TA-KI!) he can fall in love with. And C, because it was still enjoyable to watch! I enjoyed seeing this girl attracted to Natsume. I enjoyed seeing her realize that there was something off about him but not in a bad or psychotic way (like most other people assumed). I liked the scene with the broken glass. I liked the scenes where they walked home together. It was a fun, tidy little flashback episode.


So what about the second half? Well, my review's a little less glowing there, but only because I felt going into it (and, though to a weaker extent, still feel coming out of it) that it wasn't really necessary and that it was in many ways a copy-and-paste re-do of the first half of the episode. Yes, yes, I get it: now we're seeing things from Natsume's perspective rather than Ogata's, now we're learning the specifics of Natsume's misadventures in town. But did we really need to? I know I didn't. Now, I'm not complaining about what we ultimately got -- the youkai bully was interesting, particularly for how he was complex with his animosity-yet-friendliness towards humans -- but I guess what I am complaining about is what we didn't get. Which is to say, rather than get Natsume's side of the events (which ended up being fine!), I think I would have rather had more unique events to see with Natsume and Ogata. If the number we ended up getting were (say) five or six, I'm saying I'd have liked ten or twelve instead. Flesh them out better, flesh her out better (since we're not likely to ever see her again, so this is her one and only chance to shine as a character in the canon), and give us more of a reason to care about her and not merely write her off as a sidestory character.


Ultimately, though, that's all Ogata is: a sidestory character. And that's all this episode was: a sidestory. While I ended up enjoying it a heck of a lot more than I thought I would, I asked Yuki if it was a made-for-TV episode and she told me that half of the episode was from a sidestory chapter in the manga while the other half was made for TV. So sure enough, the reason we didn't get more time with Ogata is because she was only ever intended as a character in a bonus chapter who would allow fangirls to insert themselves into the world of Natsume Yuujinchou and be like, "Hey! That's me! I'm Ogata! If Takashi moved to my school I would totally be Ogata! " Unless she proved insanely popular with the fans -- and, judging from what I think I recall hearing last year, I'll guess that that's a no ^^; -- Midorikawa probably had no plans on ever bringing her back. I mean, heck, even out of many of the fans' favorite youkai, very few have had the honor of making return appearances.


So was the episode bad? Not at all. Was it memorable? I'd say so, sure. Was it something you'd have to see? No, you could definitely skip this episode and miss nothing regarding Natsume's character development or the overall plot. Do I hate Ogata and wish she'd die in a fire of a thousand suns? No. She was a fine girl and if we didn't already have Taki then I wouldn't even be that opposed to the idea of a Natsume x Ogata ship.

P.S. The tennis ball in the bully youkai's mouth. I kept expecting Natsume to remove that for him. I guess it was just a little touch meant to help us appreciate just how neglected the statue was in modern times.

The sneak peek for Episode 06 was interesting but surprising. The interesting part was, I finally get to see the episode that I think so many doujin covers I've seen over the years have been parodying. So that'll be fun. The surprising part, however, was that the identity of the other party was not at all who I had expected it would be.
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Old 09-30-2013, 01:47 PM   #93
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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post

Season 4 Episode 05:

Spoiler: show
If I recall correctly, Yuki told me last year that this girl proved insanely controversial with the fans. Correct me if I'm wrong, Yuki. If I recall correctly, you'd suggested that Ogata Yuriko is living the dream of near about every Natsume Yuujinchou fangirl. And whether that's what you told me or not, I could definitely see that as being true! Because man oh man, Yuriko was totally an easy avenue for self-insertion for near about every squeeing fangirl on the planet ... but I can see how she might've been one which backfired on Midorikawa since by having Yuriko clearly have a crush on Natsume and clearly getting closer to him, you turn her into every single fangirl's Public Enemy #1! "Get away from him, bitch! That's MY man!" I can so, so see the fangirls -- not all of them, sure, no, but a lot of 'em! -- saying stuff like this. hahaha But for me, I guess, I didn't have any such conflicted feelings. A, I don't fantasize about Natsume Takashi. B, it was a flashback episode, one which clearly established that Natsume x Ogata isn't something that's ever going to happen now because he's got bad memories of that town, happy memories of his current one, and plenty of girls in his current town (TA-KI! TA-KI! TA-KI!) he can fall in love with. And C, because it was still enjoyable to watch! I enjoyed seeing this girl attracted to Natsume. I enjoyed seeing her realize that there was something off about him but not in a bad or psychotic way (like most other people assumed). I liked the scene with the broken glass. I liked the scenes where they walked home together. It was a fun, tidy little flashback episode.
Spoiler: show
I think my own cynicism got away from me here, in that I particularly didn’t care for Ogata since I saw her as either a shameless self-insertion template or else the fangirls would view her as a threat – but in truth the reaction was neither. In general the fans of this series seem to be pretty mature. Most of them just said, “Yeah, you go girl! ^o^ Good for Natsume finding someone who’s willing to reach out to him despite his weirdness. =)” They didn’t even really focus on the gender or shipping aspect much. Guess I was worried for nothing. ^^;

Although I still wasn’t impressed by the broken glass scene, simply because “the shards fell inside so it must have been broken from the outside” explanation is so cliché . C’mon, Midorikawa, you can do better than that. I did like the rain scene a bit better in the manga, if only because Natsume seemed a lot more aloof when he offered the umbrella. (This could be a difference due to subs: A dull-faced “Want to come in?” vs. a polite “Want to share?”) What does make this episode interesting to me in the context of the animé is that despite the show’s efforts to saturate the story and make it more pleasant, some of Natsume’s jadedness and spite comes through clear here, especially when he gets angry at the suggestion of asking the people he’s living with for money to get a haircut. (What’s more depressing is that the possibility of them cutting it for him doesn’t even cross his mind…) Whereas he makes that kind of bitter expression on occasion in the manga, here it was especially jarring. It is uncomfortable to watch, knowing that this occurred in the past and there’s nothing to be done about it. Though he is in a better place now, I’m sure those scars still persist deep down. (On that note, I think it would be really sweet if at some point Touko offers to trim Natsume’s hair for him. <3)


Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Spoiler: show

So what about the second half? Well, my review's a little less glowing there, but only because I felt going into it (and, though to a weaker extent, still feel coming out of it) that it wasn't really necessary and that it was in many ways a copy-and-paste re-do of the first half of the episode. Yes, yes, I get it: now we're seeing things from Natsume's perspective rather than Ogata's, now we're learning the specifics of Natsume's misadventures in town. But did we really need to? I know I didn't. Now, I'm not complaining about what we ultimately got -- the youkai bully was interesting, particularly for how he was complex with his animosity-yet-friendliness towards humans -- but I guess what I am complaining about is what we didn't get. Which is to say, rather than get Natsume's side of the events (which ended up being fine!), I think I would have rather had more unique events to see with Natsume and Ogata. If the number we ended up getting were (say) five or six, I'm saying I'd have liked ten or twelve instead. Flesh them out better, flesh her out better (since we're not likely to ever see her again, so this is her one and only chance to shine as a character in the canon), and give us more of a reason to care about her and not merely write her off as a sidestory character.
Spoiler: show
As you’ve probably surmised, this is the made-for-TV portion. Wasn’t a big fan of it either, since the youkai and his story weren’t too unique. Usually the animé is pretty good at coming up with original content, but I didn’t really feel it here. The tennis ball thing was cute and funny though. I like how it ties into real-life statues you often see, and sorta makes a comment on how they’re no longer respected.

What I’m still confused about is why Natsume ran away after kicking Ogata. The animé attempted to justify this obviously by showing how he was the youkai’s main target… But didn’t it also threaten that little kid? =/ In the manga I just assumed he mistook her for a youkai, despite her believing otherwise. I mean really, if he was trying to protect her, why would he leave her alone? ^^; This kinda gets back to my annoyance at Ogata being such a model for self-projection that she’ll ignore any sense of suspicion and place her trust in a creepy stranger. Yes, I know for a fact that Natsume’s a sweet kid, but in reality, you wouldn’t be able to tell that off the bat. And when I say “you”, I’m speaking to the fangirls (in my imagination). Don’t delude yourself into thinking you’d be “the one” to see past the gloomy exterior and find your soulmate a nice guy deep down (cursed and/or awesome secret powers optional). Maybe I’m being overly harsh and skeptic, but it bugs me that it feeds the sort of fantasy that “she’ll” be the “special someone” who saves “him”, or something. Not that I’m saying it can’t happen, just


Gah, I feel dirty now for making that comparison. >.<
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Old 09-30-2013, 04:02 PM   #94
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Gah, I feel dirty now for making that comparison. >.<
As you should!

Man it's been forever since I last watched The Fat Cat Show.
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Old 09-30-2013, 04:56 PM   #95
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Man it's been forever since I last watched The Fat Cat Show.
Did you watch all four seasons?
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Old 10-01-2013, 03:11 PM   #96
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Did you watch all four seasons?
Judging from how I do remember the stuff Talon posts about, I think I did. I watched the first three seasons for certain, but it's possible I dropped the fourth season or something before it ended. But so far I have fond memories of watching tiny fuzzy-buzzy cutie things.
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Old 10-01-2013, 03:29 PM   #97
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Judging from how I do remember the stuff Talon posts about, I think I did. I watched the first three seasons for certain, but it's possible I dropped the fourth season or something before it ended. But so far I have fond memories of watching tiny fuzzy-buzzy cutie things.
You should watch season 04 with Talon then so he has an incentive. More discussion is always welcome. \o/ (Speaking of which, I see someone finished episode 07...)

P.S. There's also more fat cat fun ahead. ;O

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Old 10-16-2013, 03:48 PM   #98
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I'll be speed-watching the third season before moving on to season four. It's been a long while since I've watched Nyanko-sensei Natsume, I'll try to refresh my memory before diving into the new season.
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Old 10-16-2013, 04:05 PM   #99
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I'll be speed-watching the third season before moving on to season four. It's been a long while since I've watched Nyanko-sensei Natsume, I'll try to refresh my memory before diving into the new season.
\o/

Feel free to post thoughts on the third season here too if you wish. =3

P.S. Talon don't let what happened in the HnG thread and S4 Ep01+02 occur again to you... ;O
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Old 02-15-2014, 01:50 AM   #100
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Is it just me, or does Natsume really look like he's getting older at the end of/after S4?

So I watched the OVA episode... Thoughts:

Spoiler: show
Pretty standard stand-alone story. It was immediately calming and brought back the feeling of warm fuzzies I always had when watching the series, especially on hearing the familiar soundtrack.

That said, it wasn't anything special either. I think the spirit connection would've been a lot stronger had it been based off a real tale, but as far as I can tell it was probably made up. As it is I'm not sure I like that the ending turned out to be "lol she was a beautiful woman all along". (What would've been really cool is if she were actually a yuki-onna, who maybe forgot her purpose was to lead people astray or something. ...Although I guess that would be mimicking Monogatari.)

I do like how it tied back to the end of S4, with Natsume's rediscovery and acceptance of his past. All the close interactions with Touko and Shigeru - which feel completely natural at this point and simply reaffirm his place in the household - were what made the episode for me.

Surprised there wasn't more Sensei being shoved down our throats. Kinda glad since that made his cute "rolling in the snow" moment stand out much more.


Seems there was another separate OVA order slip packaged with the fall issues of the manga. The DVD should've released in December, don't see subs for it anywhere though.
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