Natsume Yuujinchou 6: Nyanko Sensei – Cat. Torpedo. Exorcist.

Will there ever come a time when he’s not the best character in the show?

Summary:

Natsume and his friends travel to the dam for fishing, only to see that the lake’s completely dry. The ruins of Futaba village lay revealed, and Natsume sees a gray shadow among the ruins before blacking out and  seeing  birds flying above him in a dream. When he wakes up, he’s back in his room, Nyanko Sensei sitting next to him. Nyanko smells something on Natsume, but before he can say anything, a bunch of Youkai from the village appear; the temporary drought has allowed them to leave the ruins of the village for a limited time, and they wish to ask for their names back.

Natsume returns their names, and the leader (the one with reed paint on his face) lends him a mirror that shows he’s being possessed by something. Nyanko Sensei exorcises the Youkai with extreme prejudice, and Natsume deals the finishing blow which cracks the Youkai’s face mask. The paper on its face says Tsubame, meaning swallow in Japanese, and she says that she possessed Natsume as she has a person she wants to meet no matter what. She follows him all around the next day until he agrees. Tsubame tells him all that she knows of the person she wants to meet is that his name is Taniozaki, and he lived in Futaba Village 20 years ago. It turns out that Kitamoto’s, Natsume’s friend, father used to live there, and he said he’ll inquire about it. On the way home, Natsume and Tsubame hold hands (awwwww).

Tsubame tells Natsume her story. Long ago, she used to be a hatchling who was picked up after she fell out of her nest. The smell of human lingering on her caused her parents to abandon her and her siblings, until she was the lone hatchling left. In the midst of that loneliness, she became a Youkai. Then, for some reason, everyday a human would deliver food to where she stayed. She remembers his smell, even now, which reminded her of the human who picked her up long ago. Natsume finds Taniozaki’s address and the two head to meet him. Though it’s the same person, Taniozaki can’t see Tsubame, and her efforts in speaking to him are fruitless. But just meeting him was enough for her, as she says now she can rest without any regrets. She thanks Natsume and offers that she stay with him until the village submerges once more.

As the days go on, Tsubame has less and less strength and Natsume feels that he hasn’t truly fulfilled her wish yet. One evening, the leader of the Youkai group asks Natsume if he wishes to attend a festival; Natsume doesn’t pay attention until the leader mentions that there’s a yukata up for grabs in a competition that can allow the Youkai who wears it to be seen by humans for a day. Natsume heads there for the sake of Tsubame, but is intercepted by Nyanko Sensei who tells him that he’ll be eaten if he goes to the festival. However, Natsume’s resolve for his friend is clear, and the leader, named as Tarusaru, lets him attempt to race for the yukata as it seems more interesting than eating him.

Natsume runs, but due to his gangly nature (even Tsubame can outrun him), and the fact that the Youkai are demonic creatures, he’s failing. But Nyanko Sensei sees something he likes in what Natsume’s doing, and lends him a hand. Tsubame’s resting in Natsume’s room, when she wakes up to see him holding the yukata. Much to Natsume’s surprise, she hugs and thanks him dearly and runs off to see Taniozaki at the neighbourhood festival. Later, Natsume rides by the lake to see that its refilled and wonders if Tsubame met Taniozaki; while sitting in the same tree she was, he also thinks that one day, Nyanko Sensei will become attached to him in some way, and vice versa (though I think that’s already happening). He spots Taniozaki, who reveals that he did indeed meet a quiet girl in a blue yukata at the festival, and shows him a picture so moving to Natsume that he starts to cry.

Next Time:

Loli Fox Girl!

Thoughts:

I love the preview music in this show. It’s something I always look forward to when watching each episode, weirdly enough.

This was a definite step-up from the previous episode, just because Chewbacca wasn’t in it (seriously, he  annoyed the hell out of me). Tsubame’s tale was a saddening one, once again resonating with Natsume’s feelings of loneliness. This show really knows how to take simplistic actions and thoughts and make them into something more important. The part where the two hold hands is quite a cute moment, but Natsume’s thoughts serve to make it deeper than that.

They show that though he’s still not  good at conversing with people and saying what he wants and he’s too introspective, his thoughts of Youkai are slowly changing to the point where he’s becoming affectionate of them. Its becoming less about finishing off his grandmother’s work and more about helping the people who need him i.e his friends. This episode in itself is a good example; there’s no actual name to return as a strict objective but that doesn’t stop him from trying to help Tsubame. There was also tiny bit of lurv on his part, but that probably remained unknown even to him.

Nyanko Sensei is definitely becoming more and more attached to Natsume, most likely because he isn’t acting in as selfish a way as he himslef would if he had the Book of Friends, but also because he’s bearing witness to Natsume’s feelings and determination, and to me it seems he’s impressed.  There’s no way he’s going to eat him now, and both of them know it. The show still managaes to stay in keeping with folklore as well, which is a nice touch, and there weren’t that many one-eyed Youkai this time either!

Backhanded compliment ftw.