Natsume Yuujinchou 9: Finally, The Epic Matchup! – Fat Cat VS Frizzy! Heaven Or Hell, LET’S ROCK!

3…2…1…

LET’S GET IT ON!!!

Summary:

While taking Nyanko-sensei out for a walk (‘cos the cat’s fat enough to cause EARTHQUAKES), Natsume is FABULOUSLY saved from a fall by the TV actor Natori Shuuichi. On the way back to his house, he spots a Youkai with a rope tied around it’s neck; though he tries to talk to it, it instantly condemns him for being a human. This leads Natsume to a small period of despair, in the middle of the night, which is quickly rectified by him being attacked by a paper monster of doom. He runs outside and manages to break free from it’s grasp, only to see Norita Shuuichi front of him. The actor claims he can see the Youkai too, and the paper man was a test for Natsume; at the same time another Youkai appears in a cloud of black smoke behind Natori (it seems to be his companion). The next day Natori follows Natsume around until he gets a chance to talk to him in a cafe, where he explains he’s an exorcist; he gained his skills as he’s been trying to find a way to get rid of a mysetrious birthmark he had since he was little. Suddenly, another of Natori’s subordinates appears and grabs Natsume, but Nyanko-sensei intervenes at this point and Natsume runs away.

Natori clears up the misunderstanding and later requests that Natsume help him with an exorcism he’s working on, where an old family wish to get rid of a curse that caused a pawner who went into a “forbidden” cellar containing their riches to have general bad luck and nightmares. Natsume doesn’t immediately accept the offer; as Natori shows him out, he’s attacked by a Youkai looking for the Book of Friends (that was fucking scary BTW), but Natori quickly defeats it. The two come to clash of opinions. Whereas Natsume wishes not to hurt the Youkai, Natori believes that such methids are necessary, and thinking like Natsume does will eventually lead to your own misfortune (read: will come back to bite you in the ass).

Natsume meets and helps the Youkai with a rope tied around her neck that he met before. She explains a shaman tied her to this place to protect the family’s riches, and that unless she does so, the rope will constrict and cut off her head (ouch). She tells Natsume about a boy she met who showed her kindness by giving her the bandages after she had given up trying to claw her way out of her imprisonment. As such, she no longer has regrets if her fate’s a bit more decapitating than she should wish.

The next day, Natsume heads to the house to stop Natori from harming the Youkai, and realises that Natori (who’s set up an exorcism cirlce) doesn’t remember her. Before he can warn the Youkai, one of Natori’s subordinates appears and captures him as the Youkai walks into the circle and the spell begins. Natsume breaks free and tries to save the Youkai, and Natori can only look on as he’s unable to stop the spell; Nyanko-sensei tries to lend a hand and all three are caught up in an explosion of light. At this time, Natsume sees how the Youkai comforted Natori when he was feeling ronery and like an outcast.

Natsume wakes up, along with Nyanko-sensei and the Youkai, all three bruised and beaten but alive. Natori explains he didn’t realise that the Youkai was the one he met during his childhood, but he thought that if he performed this spell, the chances of either sending the helpless Youkai who was suffering on or breaking its chain to this place with the spell were fifty-fifty. Natori only involved Natsume as he thought he could teach him something. The next day, Natori heads off accompanied by the newly freed Youkai, who now has the name of Hiiragi, and leaves to be Natori’s sex slave.

Next Time:

Enter, the GAR Youkai.

Thoughts:

I think it’s testament to a series quality that it can produce amazing episodes with a basic, episodic premise and yet keep the individual events that happen in the series interesting, be they heart-breakingly emotional, like last episode, or funny, mysterious and engaging, such as this one. There wasn’t much of an exploration of deep and touching messages, (just the general “someone who’s the same as Natsume in terms of feeling lonely” stuff) but the dynamic that Natori introduced was interesting to watch. Until this point, we, the viewers, were learning more and more about the world of the Youkai from Natsume’s inexperienced eyes, when now along comes Natori, a man who’s much wiser to the ways of Youkai than Natsume is. As such, we also get the clash of opinion between the two, the older, cynical Natori, who believes the Youkai are an irritation who act selfishly and according to their whims, and the younger sympathetic Natsume, who swishes only to rectify that which his grandmother has done, as well as any problems the Youkai have in general.

At the end of the episode neither of them change their mind about the method of handling the Youkai’s existence and just agree to disagree; why can’t Natsume realise that not all youkai are as kind and harmless as some of those he’s met (or has he forgotten about the ones who tried to kill/eat him o_O?) and why can’t Natori realise that not all Youkai are as malevolent as he perceives them to be? It’s a shame that Natori couldn’t stick around to teach Natsume a few things as well, I wouldn’t mind seeing some hax Natsume in this show. Also, I lol’d at how when Natori mentioned how his birthmark was draining his life, Natsume’s voice over drowned him out. And the new track playing during Natsume and Natori’s conversation in the park excellently fit the scene (creepy shamisen ftw)

Tanuma needs more involvement in this series as he’s fast becoming a useless side-character (which reminds me, what happened to the Sasada love interest? I’m all for the singular nature of episodes in this show, but I wish that there’s be SOME sort of plot thread that carried over through an episode.)

HOLY SHIT, THAT’S SCARY!

I can’t wait to see biankita’s reaction to this ^_^.