Natsume Yuujinchou Go

I'm so happy to see a new season of Natsume Yuujinchou, I thought it would not going to happen. It is, no doubt, my favorite anime. Good story, great characters, with a calm e heartwarming atmosphere. Some episodes will make you laugh, some episodes will make you cry, but most of them will make you calm. My heart fills with happiness everytime I watch Natsume Yuujinchou.

Characters:
Natsume Yuujinchou has a lot of characters with their own particularities. Natsume had a tough childhood, always alone and being bullied, it could have been a reason for him to hate people, but instead, he has compassion and he's ... able to do anything for those who are important to him. Nyanko sensei, despite trying to look
tough, he has a big heart and cares more about Natsume than the book. He is fun, funny, cute, brave and, especially, loyal. I'll not write about every character, but I can say all of them are really well worked. Even the Youkais who only appears in one episode. Their stories are always showed in a deep and interesting way.

Art and animation:
The art is beautiful. Without exaggerations, simple, and its simplicity makes it so marvelous. Great character's design, no unnecessary details. I love everything about the art style... The characters, the sceneries, the youkais/ayakashis. Everything. And I really love the animation of Natsume returning the Youkais's names, it's pretty ang magical.

Music:
The music is marvelous, as always. Not only the opening and ending music, but, especially, the background musics. They match so perfectly with the situations, give you good so many good sensations, sometimes it even gives me goose bumps. Just wonderful, best OST I've ever heard.

If there's one anime I want to recommend to EVERYONE, this anime is Natsume Yuujinchou.

I love how each episode they show us the youkai's, natori, Touko and Shigeru's backstory very very heart warming. Some episode manage to make me touched with every single character they have and made me care for them like what happend to them after that? how are they doing now? is Natsume going to be straight or gay? Taki or someone?

There is though some episode that is meh at certain part but they fixed quite quickly, the art is beautiful they always upgraded their art every single single season. The ending in this anime is one of my favorites

Overall i'm going to rate this 9/10

It's Natsume Yuujinchou. If you aren't following this series, you've either not tried it or slice of life anime is just not for you. That's okay if you don't like slower shows. Otherwise... Join us in the iyashikei world, where the world is good and pureness reigns and smiles are protected! Go! We'll see you at Roku!

OVERALL - 9
Always happy for more Natsume Yuujinchou. Heartwarming. Fluffy. Pure. Activates the "I must protect this smile!" instinct. Feels. Feels that are sometimes happy. Feels that are sometimes REALLY KINDA HEARTBREAKING??? Iyashikei but with an undertone of constant melancholy that almost makes you have multiple existential crises but ... then your heart is healed into a pure state? Aw yes!

STORY - rounded down 9.5
Short stories. Always superb. Some used this season were more dynamic than I've ever seen Natsume Yuujinchou show us before---more than enough to make up for some of the more forgettable ones (sorry).

ART/ANIMATION - 9
So we have moved from Brain's Base to Shuka. There's reason to be skeptical of this infant studio that tends to slack of halfway, but they poured a lot into consistantly making Natsume beaut-- I mean, Natsume Yuujinchou beautiful, haha. The softer colour palette and more pencil-like lines compliment the iyashikei feel. And it's hard to not melt a little bit (or, you know, a LOT) at the very gentle and fluid animation every time Natsume smiles. Good to know Shuka knows where to pour the most effort.

SOUND/MUSIC - 8
Natsume Yuujinchou uses the same lovely OST every season with only some new tracks, so let's just talk about the OP/ED. Like the OP: makes me excited for more Natsume. Love the ED: reminds me of Zoku's ending which is my personal favourite.

CHARACTERS - 9
It's season 5. You know who you love and who you disapprove of by now. (If you don't like Natsume himself within 1-3 episodes of the first season... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Sorry, he's the MC and a boy of kindness & good intentions whose Shuka-animated smile I will always treasure.)

ENJOYMENT - 10
It's season 5.

Additional Ratings : SEIYUU - 10 (Kamiya Hiroshi. Jun'ichi Suwabe. The usual cast. The usual greatness) ; CINEMATOGRAPHY - 9

The fifth season of Natsume Yuujinchou was a true pleasure to watch. In this season, we see Natsume's friendships develop and grow. We learn more about his troubled past and the backstory behind the Fujiwaras.

Story: 9
One of my favorite aspects of Natsume Yuujinchou is how each episode stands alone. There is a distinct thought or feeling, a pearl that is revealed at the end of the episode as Natsume reflects upon what happens. He speaks directly to the audience. This is so powerful and so beautiful. And yet, there is a distinct thread that runs throughout the series. We see Takashi grow and mature. ... We see his friends follow him as well. But we also see Takashi's past as well. Overall, the story is cohesive and well-paced.

Art: 9
The art is certainly beautiful, and the landscapes are quite scenic. There is definitely attention to details and the animation is good too.

Sound:9
The soundtrack reinforces the key emotions of the show. Overall a pleasure, but not the best in the series.

Character:10
The character development is truly outstanding. This is what keeps this series going season after season.

We can all relate to the emotions and feelings that Natsume Takashi has. We admire Takashi's bravery and selflessness, and his genuine desire to help others, whether it be human, Ayakashi, or beast. He has a true heart of gold.

Nyanko-Sensei, the bumbling buta-neko, is a true companion. He claims to only want the Book of Friends, but we see that he has sincere concern for Takashi. They have such a cute relationship. And of course, they always find a way for Nyanko-Sensei to be gone so that Natsume can fight some of his battles on his own. It's pretty well done.

Taki and Tanuma are Natsume's somewhat spiritual friends. They're OK.

Kitamoto is the cutest character, besides maybe Takashi. He needs more screen time.

Enjoyment: 10
Definitely a pleasure to watch. Not so sad that it's a tear-jerker every episode, but it does taste a little bittersweet like a good dark chocolate.

Alright, so the longer I watch this anime, the harder it is to review. Here's the thing about this anime: it grows on you. The things that I would've wanted to be changed before, I don't want them to be changed anymore.

For example, the little, seemingly disconnected stories that fill every episode. I love that this anime can give you tension while still keeping the overall tone of the anime calming and tranquil. This season in particular also saw a couple episodes that were backstories for some of the secondary characters, which is something I didn't know I wanted until I saw it. The ... depth that it gives to the anime was unexpectedly wonderful.

I will say, once again, that I'm still looking for this story to develop a bit of a bigger picture. I thought it was beginning to happen this season, but it hasn't gone anywhere yet. What I mean is I want to see Natsume become a part of a season-long story that allows him to learn more about the world of youkai and, possibly, the humans involved with them. Instead of Natsume fulfilling this role of someone that is antiquated with both youkai and humans separately, I want to see Natsume become a part of both worlds in a way that changes his relationships on both sides. To put it more simply, I want this story to start carrying some weight and consequence that it hasn't fully done thus far. Bits and pieces, sure, but I would love to see it go full throttle.

The last thing I was happy to see/want to see more of was some background on Reiko. She was a big driving force behind the anime, especially in the beginning, but she never got fleshed out, and I'm glad I finally got to see some of that this season.

Going forward, I'm excited to see how Natsume will entangle himself with the exorcists as well as how his relationships with his adoptive parents and friends will develop. I really hope this anime takes a dive to become a little more gritty and serious because I know it can do that and still be the lovely, heartwarming anime that it is.

Natsume Yuujinchou continues to be the feel good anime that leaves you crying. Doing reviews for a show like this is hard, because it's so episodic and after 5 seasons the overarching story hasn't changed much. The best I can do is try to analyze themes present in this season that I think were emphasized more than in others.

We of course have more youkai of the week episodes, which even after all these seasons are still great. Natsume is found dealing not just with the consequences of his grandmother's actions, but the passage of time in general as he realizes how short human lives are ... when compared to youkai. We see some more of his grandmother's life and Natsume seems to want to learn more about her and why she did the things she did. There were a lot of flashback episodes in general showing us origin stories for various characters, but still nothing concrete on what happened with Reiko. It seems to be a mystery they are saving for the end of the story.

We get some more episodes where Natsume is bonding with his new friends that know his youkai secret. Taki and Tanuma have become integral parts of his happy life. The Fujiwara's continue to be the most adorable family and even get their own spotlight episode. We see more of how Natsume values his life with them and the lengths he will go to to protect it.

There is more lore with the Matoba clan of exorcists, not as much as I thought there would be but they did show up now and then. I think like the mysteries surrounding Reiko it's something that will drive the plot to being too serialized and they wanted to keep it going as long as possible. I'm fine with that because the youkai of the week episodes are still always really well done. Nothing seems stale even after this long.

Natsume seems to have gotten to a point where he is comfortable and happy and even the conflicts he still occasionally faces with youkai seem much less scary than they once did. He had a group of friends both human and supernatural that have created such a strong support system for him, you'd barely recognize the boy he once was. I love watching his journey and overall this is just a show that leaves you with warm fuzzies inside... when it's not making you cry at the melancholy of life being too short. 9/10

Natsume is such an adorable main character *cries*
Also fujiwaras were so kind and its so nice and sweet of them to help natsume *cries x 100* This anime makes me teary eyed by every ending, and im so blessed to have found this gem i wish to get to see many many more seasons, im so happy with all the seasons until now *cries again* this anime is so wholesome *i really need emojis to express my gratitude now *heart eyes*
This anime is just adorable amazing relaxing very creative and such a lowkey cute/relaxing themed animation which i just love. the story never gets boring ... and every episode is a new concept and its so so so amazing to have nyanko sensei lol, that little cat is so precious, natsume and nyanko are the best main characters from all of the anime that i have watched