Cold all over the world!
Summary:
Walking home with Nyanko-sensei, Natsume stops some crows from attacking what he believes to be a young cat. This actually turns out to be a small ayakashi, but as it is injured, he takes it home to care for it all the same. Because of the spirit’s initial fear, Natsume’s hand is injured from its poison. This causes the Fujiwaras to worry about him the next morning, and as Natsume releases the spirit outside, he realizes that he simply wanted to show some of the kindness that he discovered for himself. Natsume is shocked to find that the number of kedama (“furballs”) has appeared later though, and worries about the fact that they have followed him to school.
When Natsume arrives home, a large spirit attacks him in belief that he had stolen her ring. Natsume of course had not, but agrees to search for it within the three day limit she gives him. Natsume and Nyanko-sensei eventually realize that the ring disappeared when the kedama had entered his room previously. As the number of these spirits has increased dramatically, this becomes a great problem for them. When Natsume approaches some of his yokai friends with his problem, Hinoe reveals that the kedama are called Karu – a legendary spirit that moves in packs. The group is unable to find the ring as night falls, but Natsume allows the yokai to continue the search without him before returning home.
That night, Natsume wakes in fear that there is blood on his hand. He discovers that he is mistaken, as Nyanko-sensei explains that the red material is from Akazasa berries – known to yokai for healing poisons. Natsume realizes that the Karu from earlier did this for him, and names it “Kemari”, before meeting it again that night. Kemari tries to approach Natsume, but leaves the room in fear as they are interrupted by the yokai search party. As the group chases after Kemari afterwards, Natsume learns that a number of spirits have come to Yatsuhara in fear of the rumor that the Karu eat yokai. Reaching the Nanatsumari forest, Natsume warns the Karu of the situation. He still worries about the ring, but this is returned to him just before the spirits begin to leave. The threatening spirit from earlier, Amana, returns in belief that Natsume had truly taken her ring, but he is saved by a large dragon-like yokai just before Madara cleans up the mess. This, of course, was actually all of the Karu that had formed together as one.
And the winner of the cutest cute contest is.....!
Reaction:
Cuuuuuuuuute! We were treated to a much more light hearted episode this week, and though I felt like the pacing was a bit iffy at times, the furball and Nyanko-sensei combo was probably enough to make me enjoy it greatly overall. Nyanko-sensei’s cat-like behavior always has that subtle humor to it, which I’m sure any cat owner can probably relate to even more than I do. The little furball’s squeaks were just as adorable, and obviously influenced by a large range of baby animals (I thought of my baby turtle just watching the thing). With Nyanko’s ridiculous puns (Mosa mosa dakara!), and even out of character camera zooms to increase satire, this episode almost felt like a slap-stick comedy to me.
The theme this week was, of course, that of banding together as one. Not only did the Karu reveal their true strength when combining to form a dragon, but Natsume’s honest request for help from his yokai friends further strengthened this idea (Hinoe’s reaction to this was priceless!!). Natsume’s being repaid for his kindness was beautiful as always too, as a recurring cycle that seems to make us viewers want to do the same in our daily lives just from watching. Ending scenes like the yokai’s gathering an overload of berries for Natsume are what I live for, and this show is constantly providing. Next week seems to be a story about yokai and human interaction, which tend to be awesome, so I am definitely looking forward to more of these self contained stories.
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This post was written by...
Totali – who has written 10 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
Subculture author gone freelance, I am a strong supporter of Love Power™! and community. I adore slice of life, dramas, and lovcoms all day! When I'm not writing about anime, I'm probably playing Street Fighter, studying language, or painting a pretty picture.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Nyanko-sensei’s jealous kitty moments were priceless, as always, especially his insistence that he’s not fat, but ’round’ (pfft).
- and emotional. I guess you get a box of tissues ready…
I think this one was a little different than the other cute episodes in that the cute thing was actually kinda dangerous and actually caused trouble for Natsume.
So far, these last three episodes have been awesome so here’s hoping the next one is too (it looks like it’s gonna be).
I wish my cat could say aho, she probably would do that a lot, to everyone. Also interesting was Nyanko’s commentary on the types of youkai that are out there, a seemingly endless realm of things to imagine.
I didn’t think this was too great of an episode, but hey, an okay episode of Natsume Yuujinchou is still pretty wonderful when all’s said and done. This episode was probably nice for a breather after the more serious two-parter beforehand.