Natsume Yuujinchou Shi – 08

This was the weakest episode of the series by far, but going from six back to back episodes that were near A-grade level of amazing to a B-grade is still outstanding for this show. A look into Matoba’s assistant was much more intriguing than I originally thought and once again this series does its very best to show us the old woman’s past, with very specific similarities to Natsume’s evolving view on the youkai. What this series does amazingly well is tell such a wonderfully heartwarming story that only takes one episode, and yet again this was the case as I definitely felt sad for Mikage and am anxious to know more about the ever elusive Reiko.

Natsume Yuujinchou Shi – 05

Short Summary: A flashback to Natsume’s middle school days, from his perspective and that of Ogata Yuriko. She had visited a shrine when she saw a sleeping Natsume and tried to wake up only for him to get startled and kicked her. Afterwards, Ogata gets to learn more about Natsume and the youkai that attacked him on the day she met him. The youkai was only interested in taunting Natsume, there was no curse or threat of death to be made because the youkai didn’t like him. His role was to protect the shrine and to take a suffering meant for a human, like protecting Ogata from being hit by a car in the present day. Natsume says that he had a great time there and he wishes Ogata the best.

Natsume Yuujinchou Shi – 04

Short Summary: Yobito, a youkai who can mimic the voice of anyone asks Natsume to help him summon Karikami, another youkai who can repair a letter that was left by a young woman named Touko at a small shrine. Yobito tells Natsume the story of how he came to know Touko. Afterwards, Karikami repairs the letter in exchange for getting his name back from the Book of Friends. When Yobito asks Natsume to read it as he cannot understand human writing, Natsume smiles and tells Yobito what she wrote: “Thank you for telling me the truth.”