ah what a nice ending to this anime, although Natsume never got a girl, he got his good old pal Tanuma. Just a couple of bros, hanging out. Watching fireworks together.
Overall thoughts on this anime, yeh wasn't that bad. Story was decent the characters were cool, art was a bit on the crusty side, but hay not bad for a 2008 anime.
Story felt mostly episodic, every episode had a beginning, middle and end, all more or less being wrapped up in those 24 minutes and the next episode being a new problem with maybe a returning character?(reminded me a lot of how Mushishi laid out there episode, but a little more refined). Interesting story and ideas no doubt, the story of Takashi finding his grandmothers book which she used to store the names of Youkai after defeating them, making them her follower in this "Book of friends" and being able to summon them when ever and where ever. Takashi then volunteering to return all the names in the book, more or less having the same effect of, meeting the Youkai and befriending them. Although mid way it felt like Natsume was encountering more problems that had nothing to do with the book, and more just Youkai needing help, more or less it all ended relitvily the same with "said person's name return" or "said person gets their happily ever after" which in itself kinda got a bit stale, don't get me wrong i love it when the anime gets the good happily-ever-after ending, but because this anime was episodic, it felt like the happily-ever-after every other episode. True some episodes didn't get as much of a positive ending then others, but more or less, looking at it overall i would of liked a bit more of a mix up regarding the ends of each ep.
Character wise, i liked them. Natsume (although being voiced by the fucking legendary man him self Kamiya Hiroshi) was a very interesting character to watch. Someone who was shunned and outcasted as a child because of his ability to see Youkai, still keeps a calm and positive attitude. He likes to lend a hand to others (mostly Youkai who come to him) and is quite a pacifistic. One thing this anime does do well, is show how other people with the ability to see Youkai handle it. Most of the people that could see Youkai were thrown out and were loners, each person handled it differently. Reiko created the book of friends, and instead decided to make friends with the Youkai then humans, Natori seems to scorn them to a degree, maybe from him being picked on by others, he blames the Youkai for that, so became and exorcist for hire, however also works with Youkai as well so maybe isn't all that bad? Tanuma's case is a bit hard. He more or less has shown that he can't clearly see the Youkai, maybe just identify them as blurs or see weaker ones but overall he's mostly like Natsume. Natsume himself, massive pacifist, only resorts to violence when needed, more or less a super chilled dude considering what he went through.
Youkai design is pretty creative, they definitely did a good job on the supernatural looks, having them look all different, some maybe poking out more e.g. madara's wolf form or some of the bigger Youkai. I'd give them a pat on the back for the creativity.
Side points: Art, again, a bit on the crusty side but i wouldn't let it bother you. Music wise, ED and OP tracks i felt really... eh on. Not my cup of tea, but the OST. oohoohooho the ost for this anime is really fucking nice. Might be from my soft spot for traditional Japanese music, but hot damn this anime's ost is fineeee.
All in all, 7/10. It was a pretty ok anime, had it's strong points and a good ideas along with its share of downsides. Idrk how to feel about 6 seasons worth though xD idk if i could chew through that much, but i could imagine it getting better further through, just hope it doesn't forget its roots. |