Natsume Yuujin-chou San – 13 (END)

「夏目遊戯帳」 (Natsume Yūgi-Chō)
“Natsume’s Book of Play”

It’s great that season three ended with what I think even the harshest critic would call a superb episode. But it’s as if the gang at Brains Base had a direct line to my brain, because they used a story for the finale that tackled all the issues I’ve been kvetching about all season head-on.

Natsume Yuujin-chou San – 12

「帰る場所」 (Kaeru Basho)
“A Place To Go Home To”

Natsume Yuujinchou gives us its strongest episode since 08 with its penultimate effort, a nice hybrid of the themes of the third season with the emotional tug of the first two. But whether I was supposed to or not, I felt a little conflicted about events at the end of the episode.

Natsume Yuujin-chou San – 11

「映すもの」 (Utsusu mono)
“The Picture”

For the first time one of Natsume’s friends can truly understand his world, and that’s a pretty important moment for the series. This whole season seems to be building towards the crucial moment when Natsume tells his foster parents the Fujiwaras – the most interesting of Natsume’s human companions – about his gift, but whether that long-awaited event occurs in the last two episodes remains to be seen.

Natsume Yuujin-chou San – 10

「割れた鏡」 (Wareta Kagami)
“Broken Mirror”

Over the course of three seasons Natsume Yuujinchou has consistently delivered superb examples of what is generally referred to dismissively as “filler”. Except that the filler for this series – such as the previous two episodes – is very often among the best the show has to offer.

Natsume Yuujin-chou San – 08

「子狐のとけい」 (Kogitsune no Tokei)
“The Little Fox’s Watch”

Given that I’ve been counting the days until another episode of Natsume Yuujinchou with Kogitsune for the better part of three years, it was always going to be hard for it to live up to expectations. Amazingly, it did – this episode was everything I love about this series.

Natsume Yuujin-chou San – 05

「蔵にひそむもの」 (Kura ni Hisomu Mono)
“That Which Hides in the Storehouse”

As wonderful as they’ve been, things have been slanted very much towards the heartwarming side of the scale for Natsume Yuujinchou in this “San” season. Though they’re adapting out of order, I figured Omori-sensei was overdue to jump into a chapter with a little more darkness and threat, and so he did.