Natsume Yuujinchou

Honestly, I don't really understand why this anime has so many amazing ratings. This isn't the worst anime i've ever seen- no, but I certainly do not think it's anywhere near the best.

Now, let's talk about the story.
3/10
One of the things I hated the most about this anime was the fact that it's episodic, and it doesn't work. In my opinion, this only makes it painfully predicable and underdeveloped. Honestly, you've seen the first three episodes you've seen the whole show. A youkai comes. Cool. They want Natsume's help. Oh. They get their help. There's a revelation. Ok. The majority of the episodes ... follow this structure. And for the first few or so episodes, yes. It's entertaining. Heartwarming even. But I wouldn't expect that to be the whole show. CAN SOMETHING ELSE HAPPEN. CAN THE PLOT PROGRESS. CAN WE STOP THIS CYCLE. It's too simple. It got boring.

And the art/animation...
4/10
The art is uninteresting. It's boring. it's simple. Which pretty much matches the story. The story and the art go together. So I guess that's a good thing. It further sets the mood of the anime. It made it more boring for me.

The sooouunnnd...
4/10
I hated the soundtrack of this anime. I always skipped the opening, which I almost never do. The sound effects and all that were clear. Voices, clear. So the sound is fine. That soundtrack though. No. But it does do a good job of further setting the over all mood of the anime.

Characters...
3/10
The character development in this anime really lacks. What the hell even is Natsume's personality. He barely has one. The youkai though, they have much better personalities. But just because they're better than Natsume's doesn't mean they're deep or "thought provoking" no. But they are definitely entertaining. The one character I truly did like was Madara. He's a gem, really liked him. It's like they compensated for Natsume's lack of development with Madara's.

Enjoyment...
2/10
If you read what I previously wrote it's pretty obvious I did not enjoy this anime. I watched it to the end to be able to make a full conclusion about it. BUT BOY WAS THAT PAINFUL.

Overalllllll...
4/10
I just think this anime wasn't for me. If you're the type of person that likes to decipher plots, enjoys suspense, twists and turns- this is really not the anime for you. Skip it. If you like more simple, heartwarming type things give this a try. This isn't the kinda anime where you're on the tip of your toes, heads spinning, mind boggling. This is the kinda anime you watch when you're in your room bored, too tired to watch something with a more developed, complex plot.

Why this anime is so far up the Top Anime list, I will never know because this was one of the worst animes I've ever watched. I'm disappointed I wasted so much of my precious time on this shit. The only reason I gave it an over 3 rather than a 2 was because I did the math.
But without further ado;

Story: 1/10
Was there a story? 'Cause from what I saw it was just episode after episode of the same concept. A lot like Detective Conan, I suppose, but at least that is much more enjoyable and has a bit more depth to it than ... Natsume Yuujinchou. If you're the type to like watching a shallow animes with no real goal to it, this is for you.

Art: 7/10
The art was good - the only thing that kept me from giving the anime a 2. The sceneries were well done, and the characters were drawn beautifully. The soothing light colours emphasized the calm and relaxing environment the story took place in.

Sound: 6/10
I usually like sad songs, but none from this anime really struck me as great. They were all just mediocre. But it fit according to the situation, so there's a plus.

Character: 3/10
The characters weren't very deep. The main character is a big nono for me - I hate guys who are so sissy and shy and submissive and basically a girl in animes. Though the cat demon thing was cute, and funny (hence why I increased it to a 3). The other demons don't have too much personality, or if they did, it was similar to other characters in the anime.

Enjoyment: 1/10
I only watched it because a friend of mine recommended it, but I was literally falling asleep every episode trying to finish it. You'll never understand how happy I was to finish the season and tell her that I hated it (she asked me to finish it completely before saying it sucks, so...).

Overall: 3/10
Over all, it sucked balls, to be compeltely honest. If you're into anime with an actual plot line, this isn't for you. But see for yourselves... if you dare! ;)

I tried watching this anime 'cause I loved Mushishi, and a lot of people tend to compare them in terms of quality and content... But now, after I've forced myself through 5 seasons of this, I can boldly say that's the biggest stretch I've ever heard. Let me tell you why:

[STORY 1/10]
There isn't one, and I mean it technically. A story is composed of an initial situation, a complication, a development and a final solution, but Natsume's Book of friends never goes past the first element. Throughout the series Natsume (protagonist) found himself fighting numerous youkai, encountering exorcists of different mindsets, getting the chance to ... know more about the spiritual world and her own grandmother's past, but every time that happened it would invariably be nullified at the end of the episode. By the beginning of the following one he would've already forgotten about the exorcist circles he learned to draw and use, he wouldn't use his connections to learn about his supposedly huge power and prefered going back to punching monsters instead, miserably failing every time (even though his entire personality is "I'm kind and I want to protect others"). The "power of friendship" is the only thing he ever has going for him, meaning he stays just as weak and pathetic for the whole series, waiting for Sensei and the other youkai to save him. The only reason he's not dead is the godly power of the main character.
Also, after 5 seasons I still don't know why Natsume Reiko stole the names of the Youkai (S1 ep1), what's her relationship with Sensei (S1 ep1/2) and why he was sealed (S1 ep 1/2), which is funny cause it should be the foundation of the whole plot.

I could go on and on with examples, but you get the point: twists and developments are forcefully removed from the plot in order to keep everything exactly as it is in the beginning. Natsume is overly kind and helps everyone, Sensei is funny and tsundere, everybody else loves the MC cause he's been kind to them, and that's it.

CONCLUSION: Great if you're a child, you can't follow the complexity of the average story, or you need a laxative.

[EPISODES 2/10]
Since there's no general story, I've created an "EPISODES" section to be as fair as possible with my review, although I'm not sure it's for the best. Every episode is a short story in itself, and while at the beginning it was mildly captivating (5-6/10) it rapidly grew old, repeating the same structure (random initial situation / a youkai appears / he proves to be more human and kind than you'd think / he asks Natsume for a favor and he can't refuse cause he's too kind / random teasing from Sensei / everything is solved with the magical power of "I'm the MC, stfu" / happy ending), the same settings, the same story message (be kind!1!11!), the same scene direction.

CONCLUSION: Even taken episode by episode this anime is as original as my dad's forgetful storytelling.

[CHARACTERS 3/10]
I'm not rating lower only 'cause I'm considering "5" as average and "3" as "below average", but I would easily give it a 1/10. As for the story the anime offers plain characters, completely sterothypical, easily predictable, and tragically static. Everything they do and say is stricly determined by two factors: the "How-much-do-you-love-the-MC" factor and the "one-liner-personality" factor. Now Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V that throughout 6 seasons and voilà, masterpiece complete.

CONCLUSION: Pringle's ingredients are less forgettable.

[SOUND 5/10]
I barely ever noticed there was a soundtrack playing, so I'd give it a "not good nor bad" 5.

CONCLUSION: The answer is blowing in the wind

[ART 5/10]
Maybe it was good back in 2008, but at this review's date it's forgettable both in the artistic depiction and in the animation. Nothing particular about dialogues either.

CONCLUSION: Like watching that weird old T-shirt you used to wear.

[ENJOYMENT 1/10]
There's actually no point in watching this except wasting your time: there's no profound message to be learned, no story development, no artistic value... Nothing at all.

CONCLUSION: Great if you want to experience the insubstantiality of Being.


AVERAGE RATING: 2.7

[OVERALL OPINION:] This is an anime for people who like to watch something without having to think too much about what's going on. Is it well done? Not really. Is it good within its own limits? Sure, why not. Although it's almost as far away from my tastes as possible, the fact that I was able to rush through 5 seasons should be a good testimony of how easy and chill this anime is. So, to wrap things up: definetely not a masterpiece, but great to wither away in your bed after a day of work.

What's with all the glowing 10/10 reviews for this show?!? Genuinely baffling.

Is it because there's a kawaii neko for a supporting character? I've rattled my brain and can't find any other valid excuse...

The art is dull, the youkai are boring, the characters are all flat, their interactions equally so. There's no story to speak of, only random encounters with the same formulaic resolution. No archs whatsoever, just self-contained episode after episode of rehashed encounters with mundane outcomes. There's no deep lore being slowly unraveled to the viewer about the supernatural elements at play, what you learned in episode 1 is pretty much all there is ... to know. There's no character development, you're pretty much stuck with the same wuss of an MC for the entire show, so you better really love spineless characters.

And despite being such a straightforward premise, there's still so much that makes absolutely no sense, like it was just thrown into the show after a fever dream... An all-powerful spirit decides to tag along and help the MC on a whim, and despite being offered a prize he much coveted once the MC dies, it makes absolutely no effort to cause him harm and in fact goes out of his way to protect him for the entire series. It's basically a horrible plot device to guide this clueless MC on his journeys, help him to work out how to use the book of friends (which he immediately masters on the first try), throw alien space bats at all the insurmountable obstacles in his way, catch all the magic missiles fired at him and serve as a personified narrator for all the times the plot gets twisted in a knot.

Go watch Mushishi instead.

Behold! The cure for insomnia has been found!

After weeks of sleepless nights a Kappa arrived in a Cat-bus and handed me a copy of Natsume Yuujinchou. The first two episodes I sort of enjoyed. But from the 3rd episode the series bored me so much that I was fighting to keep my eyes open. Finally, the beautiful ED lulled me into a brilliant sound sleep and I slept like a baby all through the night. I couldn't believe my insomnia could be cured! The only problem was that I was sleeping face down on my keyboard with my PC and headphones on, so I ended ... up with severe neck pain and high electricity bills. Be warned that you will have the same effect even if you are not an insomniac or were chock full of energy just seconds ago.

Natsume Yuujinchou is a one-dimensional monotonous series that really has nothing to show except for "look how lonely everybody is and all they want is for someone to acknowledge them". This is literally what happens in every episode with Natsume almost never meeting any Yokai who has any other motivation or intention. We know exactly how the "mystery" will unfold, how the episode will end, what the moral of the story would be, what the thoughts and speeches of the characters would be and how Natsume would get out of any trouble that comes his way.

The nature of Natsume's or his grandmother's power, or how the Yokai world operates is never explored and remains a blur, though that maybe due to the ambiguous nature of Japanese folklore itself. Even then it fails to even minimally capture the diversity and richness of Yokai folklore and reduces every character except Natsume and Madara into a crying child. Natsume himself has no real motivation or interests and just wades through life half-awake. Not once does he try exploring the possibilities that come with his powers, nor does he try figuring out what exactly is going on. Remember, he can command the Yokai-s to do whatever he wishes them to- guy can build roads and hospitals in seconds, can till acres of farmland, plant forests and make medicines, possibly even clean up radiation or replete the ozone layer- but no, he's too "kind" for all that. Madara is a sorry excuse for comic relief who just eats and cribs while supposedly waiting for Natsume to die, only to rescue him from any situation where he could actually die. The only interesting character is Misuzu who gets too little screen time.

The cringe factor, however, is low and the show does maintain a coherent narrative without unnecessarily cluttering it with pretentious, over the top or plain illogical story elements, which is why I gave such a tiring series a 3 rather than a 1 or 2.

A friend strongly recommended this series to me and insisted that I need to watch the whole season before drawing conclusion. While i think the season as a whole is bad. The last episode is pretty good, which gives me hope that the next season can be pretty good. So I will give season 2 a shot.

Art 5/10: it does the job of telling the story but offer nothing more. Mediocre.

Sound 5/10: Solid voice acting except that i don't like voice acting of Nyanko, purely personal preference here. I do love the ending song though. Overall, just mediocre.

Character 5/10: Again mediocre. There is lack of ... development in general. Natsume is portrayed as a nice, lonely guy and nothing else. The other characters are even flatter. There are some returning characters at the end of the season (i.e. the fox kid) that gives me hope that next season will be better.

Story 3/10: I know what they are trying to do: having little stand alone stories that try to connect with audience on the emotional level. To me, they failed miserably for most of the episodes. The stories were often too simple. Most side characters only showed up once, resulting that they are flat and not believeable. It is hard for me to have emotional connection if i don't buy into the story or invested in the characters. I think the season would be much better if they get rid of at least half of the episodes that has nothing to do with main character development or introducing returning characters

Enjoyment 4/10: 2-3 good episodes mixed with boring ones that was a waster of my time.

Overall 4/10. In my system, this means that this is waste of my time while not offensively bad. I do feel the 2nd season can be better.

One of the most boring shows I've ever had the misfortune of seeing. It could have been a lot better but at this point it put me to sleep more than Mr. Roger's Neighborhood when I was a child. A lot of promise but it quickly becomes one-note. Repetitive, slow, boring, and die cast characters that show absolutely zero growth.

Dear God, don't get me started on the "music" and sound. The few times they tried to use sound to build tension were totally lost on me, because there never seemed to be anything really at stake. It's serialized slice of yokai with characters fitting neatly ... into their predetermined tropes with no room to move or grow. The voice acting was really good but the rest of the sound department was asleep at the wheel, and after hearing the OP, so was I.

The art is fine, especially for its era, my biggest complaint being how there seems to be a layer of fog over every scene. It just looks...dusty. The only good characters in the show are unironically the Yokai of the Week one and done characters. It's too bad we didn't get to see more of them and less of MC and the "cat".

If exciting anime is like a trip down some river rapids, then this is a safe and slow float in a blow up ring at a public pool, but no one else is there because they all got bored and went home to take their metamucil and go to bed early. Really disappointing because the show DID have its moments but the vast majority of the time spent was rehashed one-liners and excessively slow-walked episodes that seemed to be of no actual consequence because the week after it would be totally forgotten about.

In the end what are we left with? An overarching goal, outcome, message?
"humans and yokai CAN get along guys!"
How inspiring, I've fired up to do a marathon of watching paint dry now and doing some crappy post modern armchair philosophy over it.

Natsume Yuujinchou

I started this anime knowing that it would be episodic and was already expecting something such as a story to not occur. After the first 2 episodes entertained me well and episode 3 was just ok, my hopes were completely dashed. The rest of season 1 was an immense insult, and incomprehensible. At the moment I am writing this review, I have already seen season 2. That's why it shocks me all the more that there is this massive fluctuation in quality.
You can almost compare this show that way. Take your random shounen, take away the story, fighting, and watch only the ... worst of the filler episodes, and that too with no context in between. This, and nothing else, is how the first season feels.

Let's get to the positive aspect of the show first. It's relatively slow and simple, so it's easy to watch on the weekends, at least in the beginning. Likewise, some Yokai concepts were interesting.

Having chopped that off, I need to get into the issues in this anime.
The pacing is barely there, the episodes feel like half a movie and don't even glimpse a spark of tension or emotion.
The writing style is a disaster, half the episodes resemble the level of Indian Bollywood movies, both in scene changes, dialogues, and story writing.
Which bothered me even more, as this was much less the case in season two. And it's no justification that this is merely the beginning, such a lousy performance can't even begin to be called average in any world.


[Story 3]

Take Mushishi and Ushio & Tora and thus you get Natsume Yuujinchou.
This show is about the protagonist Natsume, who can see yokai and has gone through various traumatic experiences. He meets a Tsundereyokai, who threatens to eat him, but more than likes him.

Together they go through their daily lives and don't forget to do their daily quests by appeasing various Yokai or giving them back their names.

The actual backstories of the Yokai have potential on average, but none of it was used. By trying to make everything seem dramatic, it was proven that there was only hot air behind it. You can create a culinary masterpiece in drama out of a 3-minute case that has hardly any build-up.


[Characters 3]

Natsume is an average protagonist but has an acceptable perspective on the world in combination with his background.
Madara is a sidekick so far. However, I have to say that I love his design. How blunt and arrogant he looks, perfect for a cat.

The side characters (aside from the parents) are bad. They barely have any personality, weak dialogue, and almost no presence. Again, it's only like this in season 1, a lot of things were fixed in the following season.


[Music 4 / Animations 4]

The golden rule applies here too, never pause this anime if you want to live, the drawings are out of this world. The backgrounds are at least pleasantly drawn, but that was the least. The drawings of the faces are bad as soon as the characters are even in the minimal distance, as well as the motion animations.

The intro was below average as was the outro, but fits the quality of this show.
The osts are almost designed to underscore only one specific comedy scene, making them hard to match anything else.


[Conclusion 3]

Whatever experience this has been, I don't want to relive it again. Thank God I made it further, otherwise, I wouldn't have seen the sequel get any better. As for the first season, this is one of the worst performing seasons I've ever seen in every possible aspect. Whoever reads this review one day, believe me, you would have written this season better than the author.

[Enjoyment 2]