Natsume Yuujinchou

Due to an unusual ability to see strange creatures called youkai, Takashi Natsume has never fit in. Passed around from one foster home to another, he was left isolated and lonely. Over time, he has accepted that no one would ever believe him and has closed himself off to his current caretakers and classmates.

When Natsume accidentally breaks an intangible barrier, he frees Madara—a mighty spirit in the form of a lucky cat. Madara notices that Natsume bears a remarkable resemblance to his late grandmother Reiko Natsume, an outcast girl who became known across the youkai world for creating the Book of Friends. It is now in Natsume's possession, along with its power to call upon the written names of the youkai Reiko had defeated.

With no interest in its powers, Natsume decides to keep the book for the sake of his grandmother's memories and to protect it from scheming youkai. Therefore, he makes a deal with Madara: he will hand him the book once his time is up, and in turn, Madara will act as Natsume's unofficial bodyguard, nicknamed Nyanko-sensei. With his newfound goal of freeing those Reiko had sealed, Natsume's relationship with both youkai and humans slowly begins to improve.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Natsume, Takashi Main

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Madara Main

Inoue, Kazuhiko Japanese

Natsume, Reiko Supporting

Kobayashi, Sanae Japanese

Tanuma, Kaname Supporting

Horie, Kazuma Japanese

Natori, Shuuichi Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Kogitsune Supporting

Uechi, Aki Japanese

Hinoe Supporting

Okamura, Akemi Japanese

Fujiwara, Touko Supporting

Itou, Miki Japanese

Hiiragi Supporting

Yukino, Satsuki Japanese

Tsubame Supporting

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Miyake, Masanori Producer

Satou, Yumi Producer

Yokoyama, Shuko Producer

Oomori, Takahiro Director, Sound Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Nov 17, 2008

Takai

Recommended

-INTRODUCTION-

I've been looking forward to this anime ever since I saw one of the promotional images -- Natsume sitting on a tree branch with his foot slightly touching the water underneath, and an unusual looking cat by his side. I fell in love with that image alone and could not stop thinking about it. Needless to say, I watched Natsume Yuujinchou while it was still ongoing and waited eagerly for the subtitles to come out. Now that it's over, I can say for sure -- it was a short but beautiful experience, and became one of my very special personal favorites.

-STORY- 10/10

"Thank you... for not ... growing to hate humans."

Each episode Natsume encounters a different youkai. Sometimes, it's a youkai seeking to get his/her name back; at other times, a youkai wanting some other help from Natsume, which he can never refuse.

As much as those stories revolve around youkai, Natsume Yuujinchou is ultimately about humans. It focuses on the bonds between humans, as well as the bonds between humans and youkai.

Each story is very well thought out and carries a deep message that Natsume derives from his encounters. Reasons why Natsume cannot let go of his bond with youkai, reasons why youkai fall in love with humans; Natsume Yuujinchou is a collection of beautiful bittersweet pieces of a not very ordinary every day life. Each piece left me with a somewhat sad but warm feeling and made me go back to re-watch and think upon it again and again.

-CHARACTERS- 10/10

Natsume Yuujinchou is full of unique personalities. Natsume does not help youkai just because he has nothing better to do. His bond with the beings of the other world is very deep and is explored in great detail. From a boy who was forced to shut himself off from nearly all humans, Natsume grows to trust humans again and shares his experiences with others. Seemingly eager for nothing more than obtaining the Book of Friends, Madara is also not that simple of a character. With time, he becomes attached to Natsume and, despite his own constant contradictions, appears to worry more about his companion than the actual book.

Youkai are also very interesting. Although most of them appear only in their assigned episode, each one is very memorable, and their personalities and inner troubles are so well thought out that it's hard to believe that they were really present for only twenty minutes.

-ART/ANIMATION- 10/10

The artwork is beautiful. It may seem rather simple, but it couldn't be more perfect for this anime. In fact, the simplicity of it is what makes it truly stunning for me. It greatly enhances the story and the atmosphere with its warm colors and memorable designs. Also, every time a scene of Natsume returning youkai's name is shown, I fall in love with this anime all over again; it almost makes me feel his breath as he blows out the letters from the page.

-SOUND- 10/10

After the very first episode, I fell in love with both opening and ending songs. Like the artwork, the soundtrack is beautiful in its simplicity and fits Natsume Yuujinchou's atmosphere perfectly. It's the kind of music that probably would not feel the same or as special outside of the actual anime, but combined with the rest of the aspects, it becomes a wonderful soundtrack.

---

What more can I say? I fell completely in love with this anime. If you want something relaxing and heartwarming, Natsume Yuujinchou is for you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Feb 8, 2017

ktulu007

Mixed Feelings

Natsume Yuujinchou is a series that began as a shoujo manga by Midorikawa Yuki. In 2008 an anime adaptation by Brain's Base aired. You may remember them from such anime as Baccano, Durarara, Penguindrum, Ixion Saga DT & Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. So, their stuff has been pretty mixed from what I've seen. With Oregairu at the upper end and Ixion Saga & Penguindrum tied at the low end. How will this one place? Let's have a look.

Story:

Natsume Takashi is a lonely boy. He's been ostracised for most of his life due to his ability to see youkai. After accidentally freeing ... a sealed one, that happens to look like a fat cat, he discovers that his grandmother, Reiko, could also see them. Not only that, but she went around collecting their names for her “book of friends” which she could use to summon and control them. Being able to think of no ways to use such a thing, Natsume decides to go about returning the names. The narrative from there follows him as he encounters youkai and goes about thinning the book of friends.

The biggest issue with the series is just that it's tedious. It shouldn't be since it has al of thirteen episodes, but it manages. The dialogue has a tendency to repeat itself a lot. The events from the episodes are painfully predictable and the series just never reaches a point where things get interesting. The result is that it feels like a slog to get through. There's also a moment where they try to bring real world fact into the series, but they get the fact wrong. Basically, it uses the urban legend that birds will abandon their babies if a human handles them. Which I'm sure was invented by some arsehole who didn't want to bother helping a distressed baby bird but didn't want to look bad in front of their kids. Or maybe it's a fabrication that stems from wanting to protect the chicks from good-hearted people who are trying to help, but aren't helping.

The best part of the series are the few flashbacks we get of his grandmother when she was young. She has personality and seems to be enjoying herself. Can I watch a series about her instead? I don't think it would be brilliant, but it would probably be better than this.

Characters:

Herein lies the core flaw with the series. Natsume is one of the most boring characters I've seen in quite a while. See, his whole schtick is that he's a generic nice guy who's melancholy because he's special. That's pretty much the end all and be all that passes for his personality. He's about as compelling as an empty plastic crate. Well, less compelling. At least you could put something in the crate. Which is a big part of why the narrative itself is such a slog. We have this thoroughly uninteresting protagonist and it's impossible to feel any tension or investment in him. Seriously, can we watch the grandma's story instead? She has more personality by far and she's only in roughly five minutes of flashbacks. The supporting characters really aren't much better. They're flat tropes.

Art:

The artwork is, by far, the best element of the series. The backgrounds are nicely drawn and detailed. The youkai designs are pretty creative. The animation does flow well. The character designs are... okay. The biggest issue with the art is Natsume himself. The two expressions he generally has are just a blank look and dull surprise.

Sound:

Our protagonist is voiced by Kamiya Hiroshi. He also voiced a boring character in Hachimitsu to Clover. But he's also given strong performances voicing characters like Levi and Otonashi Yuzuru. The problem with his performance in this, and indeed most of the performances, is just that there's nothing to work with. You really can't take a boringly written character and make them complex through the sheer power of acting. The music isn't good, but it does suit the series. It is just as boring as the narrative and the protagonist. You can't claim that Yoshimori Makoto isn't good at composing music that matches the tone.

Ho-yay:

There's a little bit. Natsume has a couple of friends who bicker like a married couple. There's also a female youkai in the series who's outright stated to have had a thing for Natsume's grandmother. I'd kind of like to see the back story behind that one, actually. Seriously, why isn't this series about Reiko?

Final Thoughts:

Natsume Yuujinchou is by no means a bad series. It's also by no means a good one. Ultimately, it's a boring series with very little that really stands out in either a positive or negative way. My final rating on it is a 5/10. Next week is Valentine's and you know what that means, we're going to look at a romance series. This year it's Love Stage.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Feb 8, 2016

tommyandolli

Not Recommended

Honestly, I don't really understand why this anime has so many amazing ratings. This isn't the worst anime i've ever seen- no, but I certainly do not think it's anywhere near the best.

Now, let's talk about the story.
3/10
One of the things I hated the most about this anime was the fact that it's episodic, and it doesn't work. In my opinion, this only makes it painfully predicable and underdeveloped. Honestly, you've seen the first three episodes you've seen the whole show. A youkai comes. Cool. They want Natsume's help. Oh. They get their help. There's a revelation. Ok. The majority of the episodes ... follow this structure. And for the first few or so episodes, yes. It's entertaining. Heartwarming even. But I wouldn't expect that to be the whole show. CAN SOMETHING ELSE HAPPEN. CAN THE PLOT PROGRESS. CAN WE STOP THIS CYCLE. It's too simple. It got boring.

And the art/animation...
4/10
The art is uninteresting. It's boring. it's simple. Which pretty much matches the story. The story and the art go together. So I guess that's a good thing. It further sets the mood of the anime. It made it more boring for me.

The sooouunnnd...
4/10
I hated the soundtrack of this anime. I always skipped the opening, which I almost never do. The sound effects and all that were clear. Voices, clear. So the sound is fine. That soundtrack though. No. But it does do a good job of further setting the over all mood of the anime.

Characters...
3/10
The character development in this anime really lacks. What the hell even is Natsume's personality. He barely has one. The youkai though, they have much better personalities. But just because they're better than Natsume's doesn't mean they're deep or "thought provoking" no. But they are definitely entertaining. The one character I truly did like was Madara. He's a gem, really liked him. It's like they compensated for Natsume's lack of development with Madara's.

Enjoyment...
2/10
If you read what I previously wrote it's pretty obvious I did not enjoy this anime. I watched it to the end to be able to make a full conclusion about it. BUT BOY WAS THAT PAINFUL.

Overalllllll...
4/10
I just think this anime wasn't for me. If you're the type of person that likes to decipher plots, enjoys suspense, twists and turns- this is really not the anime for you. Skip it. If you like more simple, heartwarming type things give this a try. This isn't the kinda anime where you're on the tip of your toes, heads spinning, mind boggling. This is the kinda anime you watch when you're in your room bored, too tired to watch something with a more developed, complex plot.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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