Damn you, water, will you never let the rabbits live in peace?!
Summary:
Nyanko-sensei falls in to a hole while trying to catch some birds and meets a small human girl. When she questions why he reeks of sake, Nyanko-sensei flashes back to a couple of days ago. He and Natsume got into a fight over shrimps and a broken CD, and Nyanko-sensei, the mature and wise Youkai that he is, ran away after insulting Natsume. Nyanko-sensei went back to eight fields where he overheard the Youkai discussing his overall irritating presence, and promptly punishes them by calling lightning down to strike them from the sky. Transforming into Reiko’s form, he then tells the Elder Tanuma (the buddhist) to exorcise Eight Fields, but leaves before the Younger Tanuma notices him.
Nyanko-sensei meets Natsume’s friends and manages to get them to spend all their money on him at the cafe and arcade. That night, Natsume’s foster parents wonder where Nyanko-sensei is and the next morning, Natsume thinks that he’s found him in a pile of garbage, only to realise it’s just a doll. Nyanko looks on from above, relishing Natsume’s worry, while Sasada spots Natsume rooting through the garbage. At shcool, Natsume’s friends are exhausted and tell Natsume about a girl who pretty much tired them out and bankrupted them for the next month, and who’s supposedly his friend. On his way home, Natsume meets Sasada, who probes a bit deeper into what he was doing that morning, but is interrupted by the appearance of the girls in the hole, Tamiko. Natsume uses this distraction to slip away.
Another Youkai named Enkou appears before Nyanko-sensei after hearing rumours that he’s no longer with the holder of the Book of Friends. Nyanko-sensei manages to stop Enkou going after Natsume, but not before he makes Nyanko-sensei question why he’s really defending Natsume so much. Tired and beaten, Nyanko-sensei walks home only to see Natsume… with another cat. Nyanko-sensei leaves to drink away his troubles before hearing that the cat’s a neighjbour’s that Natsume’s foster parents are taking care of for a few days. As such, we return to the present where Nyanko-sensei’s stuck in a hole with Tamiko. Nyanko-sensei likens Tamiko’s wish for him not to get hurt to Natsume’s urge to help other Youkai, and in the end simply carries the girl to a police station. He spots Natsume searching for him, and runs over to his friend.
Next Time:
Natsume, in five days, you will die.
Thoughts:
I have to agree with psgels in saying that this was the most disappointing episode so far. It was by no means bad, but everything just seemed a step below what this show is capable of, the comedy (there were great points and points when it just fell flat), the emotion, the character developement, even the animation at some points. The whole thing about weaklings protecting others despite the fact they don’t have much power didn’t have enough background to it, by which I mean we suddenly had this message after no warning throughout the entire episode. The kid was kind of cute, in a naive sort of way, and I felt slightly sorry that she didn’t get to have a picnic with her parents (who we never see or become attached to any way) but she only served as a tool to make Nyanko-sensei think about how Natsume’s been acting. I really get the message at this point, the two are becoming more than just bodyguard and client, and I didn’t need this episde to reinforce that message for me, as it was subtly and well built up throughout the series so far. There’s really not that much that stood out in this episode, but the next episode looks great. A curse which causes your death in five days? Awesome. Plus it’s got a character from the OP in it, who I’ve wondered about since the start of the series.
I don’t think anyone could take Nyanko-sensei in a drinking contest.
True that the viewers, as well as every other youkai, can be as clear as day that Natsume and Nyanko are close, but often the party themselves are blind to see so. Heck, lots of romantic dramas build on the premise that the people in love take episodes upon episodes to realize their feelings.
I thought this episode was a nice break from all the other relationships that always seem to end tragically. And I like the reminder that often all it takes is to remind ourselves the first reason we chose to be with the person we are finding so difficult to be with, and then our fire gets rekindled.
But yes, in terms of emotions and level of magical atmosphere that this show is capable of, this episode does feel a notch below the others. Oh well, even as a low point, this is still pretty good.
@bakaneko
To say that they all ended in tragedy’s a bit hyperbolic. Some (Such as the story of Hotaru and even Asagi) ended with less of a conclusively positive ending, and yet had me feeling as if everything had happened the way it was supposed to. And though I do agree that the series had to become light-hearted at some point in order to ease up on the deeply emotional stories, but I didn’t see much merit in further establishing Natsume and Nyanko’s relationship; though the characters have to interact realistically to get us to empathise with them, this is still primarily a television programme, a form of entertainment meant for a viewer, so unless there was some sort of significant event that occured between the two that I didn’t notice, I found it slightly disappointing. The argument seemed too trivial to seperate the two for long, and we knew that they were going to re-unite regardless, so it didn’t have much of an impact.
Plus the comedy wasn’t nearly as good as GENDERBEND NATSUME.
i didn’t enjoy the episode much because i don’t like my cat right now. also, i guess it would be a good episode if it happened earlier in the season, but not this late.
@biankita
The main two characters are established, focus on the episodic cases!
Is what I think, only with less whinyness in my
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