Natsume Yuujinchou: Nyanko-sensei to Hajimete no Otsukai

These two OVAs were cute, as they're like yin and yang: in one Natsume does something for a spirit, in the other Nyanko-sensei does something for human children... they even return with either one or the other of Natsume's parents, just for the sake of equilibrium.

It's probably not as moving as other episodes, and since children seem to be both annoying and funny IRL or not, so is this episode, as is for the spirits within...

These series are beyond calm... some episodes almost transcendental. When it comes to art, that is.

I like Natsume and love Nyanko-sensei, but this OVA lacked the traditional mellow, melancholic beauty of the series and replaced it with the exploits of two *epically* irritating children.

I'd have given this twice as many points if Nyanko-sensei had eaten them.

This episode feels aimed at a much younger viewer, (like, *much* younger; do sperm have televisions?) and relies on (a lot of) repetition and slapstick.

If you want a break from 'all the feels' you'll get it here; your heart won't be broken by a lovesick yōkai turning into fireflies, but your ears may be broken by the combined wailing of two larval humans.

There are cameo ... moments for all the gang as Natsume meets each one and asks the same question and gets the same answer: Tanuma (who's wandering through those woods again, he loves them woods), Taki and Sasada (the latter weirdly losing her sh*t over chocolate) and Natsume's school friends: the tall one, and the pervert.

The actor guy - exorcist - lizard face, with the bad hat (Natori?) was in it too - but only long enough to advertise the same dodgy brand of (evidently crack-filled) chocolate that Sasada was pushing earlier - which was also the same chocolate that had caused the stupid kids to wander into the stupid forest in the first place.

This episode was sponsored by PAKURA CHOCO!
The crack-filled snack!

You can skip this one. Really.

The kids are pretty annoying. They sound like they've been voiced by actual children which I guess is good for accuracy but also means they sound really bad. There's a lot of reused animation and repetitive gags. Feels very stretched out, like they could've told the entire "story" in 10 minutes at most. Definitely feels more childish than regular episodes too. Like something you'd play for your younger siblings to shut them up

At best you get a few cute animations, Madara interacting with the Dog's Circle, and a single (probably less than a minute long) random shot of Natori

Based on a couple other reviews I saw I'm guess that MAL used to have 2 of the OVA's as one entry but split them up at some point. So to clarify, this is a review for Nyanko-sensei's first errand.

It was a cute little story about Mr Fat Cat having to deal with the precocious personalities of two very young children. It's nice to see that despite the way he talks, Nyanko-sensei really does have a heart, doesn't he? He's a big lovable tsundere and I honestly don't know if he ever had any intentions of eating Natsume to get the Book of Friends. I ... think it's pretty clear at this point that he's basically Natsume's familiar, but rather than use coercion or some kind of binding spell like the exorcist groups of the show he wins them over with his friendly personality and willingness to help others.

The humor in this is a little repetitive and the little boy starts to get annoying after a while, but it's a nice enough story for what it is. 7/10

INSUFFERABLE!!

Bottom line: Nyanko-sensei gets lost and ends up babysitting 2 kids... 2 unbearable kids.

Those 2 kids are the worst characters they could have created in the series. It lacks everything characteristic of Natsume (series), such that it doesn't even leave a teaching at the end. The usual characters appear very momentarily, as does the soundtrack. The episode is like a badly told fable.

As I understood, the OVA is original to the anime, so the original author is not 100% to blame. I am aware that it is a single episode OVA, but the quality is poor even for that. The most salvageable thing is the ... visual aspect, impeccable as always.

I wanted to kms while I was watching it (lol), so, I warn you that you can do without watching this sole-episode.

I gave it a 4/10 for the "love" I have for the series in general. I hope the next OVA (before season 5) will be better.