From the very name of the anime you already understand you are going to see something out of the ordinary. “Yuujin” is not a word very commonly used in anime, its either “nakama” for comrades or “tomodachi” for friends. However Yuujin carries with it a weight, and it tells you this show is not one of those simple “happy go lucky” ones, and boy didn’t it carry a lot of weight.
The show starts off right in the middle of action and uses the action as an exposition of its nature. This serves its purpose of engrossing the watcher because he gets intrigued by whats happening and wants to know more, then gradually the protagonist introduces himself and explains his upbringing. More or less by first 10 minutes we are thrown into this fantastical world where there are youkais, beautiful and hideous , and we sympathize with the protagonist’s ordeal. Just when we think this might be another run of the mill “getting away from youkais” show, at that very moment the show hits you with emotions.
The show primarily deals with the protagonist Natsume Takashi returning the names of various youkais his grandmother collected and while he returns it he has a glimpse of their interaction with Natsume Reiko, his grandmother. And each and every of these interactions deal with the themes of loneliness and companionship, and yet they never get boring or tedious to watch. Yes that is the biggest strength of the show. It deals with simple themes that resonates with a lot of people, true, but it deals with the in such a way in so many different circumstances and situations that each time it tugs your heartstrings, and sometimes can leave you in a mess of tears while at other times with a lump in your throat.
But then thats not all. Natsume Yuujinchou would not have been a great show if it just showed some flashbacks and hoped the viewer would empathize and lap it up. As one watches different seasons gradually some micro relationships develop. Natsume develops as a character, and so does the people around him. The relationship between Natsume and youkais are beautiful to watch, and it is heart warming to see him being treated the way he is in the anime with his bitter past. Also, many a times he is shown to confront his past head on and come out stronger and that servers as a constant reminder to us, the watchers, that a lot of things we did when we were kids were due to our lack of knowledge and understanding, but it is upto us to make amends to the people we did wrong.
Natsume Yuujinchou deals with a lot of themes which are a little too relevant in today’s society, the themes of never judging a book by its cover, inclusion, forgiveness, friendship, understanding and acceptance. Natsume embodies the principle of live and let live and he sticks to his principles throughout the show, and brings about a change in many people. In a world of confrontation of humans and youkai he is one of the few who tries to understand them both and tries to find a way out of a tricky situation by mutual understanding, which is all too relevant today.
All this said and done, the enigma and the fulcrum of the show is Natsume Reiko, the protagonist’s grandmother, who comes off as an asshole at first but as we get to know more and more about her story we empathize with her and realize the cause of her actions, it is really astounding how much a character who is alive only in others memories get an insane amount of development.
Natsume is an episodic show, but each episode be it the “returning of name” episode or a “fight against youkai/”evil” exorcists” episode, drives the overall characters a little bit forward in their life. Another important thing about the show is none of the humans are really “pure evil”, they each have their own agenda, and so are most of the youkais. And you cant really choose a side. In fact many a time you will be rooting for the youkais.
However the best part of the entire show is watching how Natsume increases his youkai and real life friends, and how he changes from an introvert to someone who starts to have fun. You cannot but help yourself to a smile when you see Natsume playing with his youkai friends whom he despised so much in his childhood and then run off to enjoy with his school friends which he did not have in his childhood as well.
The animation gets progressively better each season and the OSTs are kept the same, Ops and EDs are beautiful and the music really complements the show. It had to though, since these atmospheric shows depend a lot on the music.
Overall yes, I can say Natsume Yuujinchou is an experience. It will crush your heart many times, yet will fill you with a bittersweet satisfaction. It will make you want to watch more and more even when it is episodic. You will fall in love with Natsume’s cat nyanko sensei, fall in love with the antics of his school friends and the “middle” youkais and by the end you will get engrossed in the atmosphere so much that you wont be able to separate your feelings for humans from youkais, unlike the first episode where you would think Youkais are evil beings. And by the end you would want to begin again.
