Natsume – Pinkie's Paradise

Animini: Natsume Book of Friends – Episode 5 – Heart Colored Ticket

The Heck is a Heart Coloured Ticket…?! I thought I would know after this episode but no! I still don’t know! There is a ticket.. and there is love.. but I do not agree with this title. I would have called it Bootleg Totoro and the Fish.. but then again that might be disrespectful! I don’t mean it like that though.. but it really is about a Totoro thing that is not Totoro … and a fish! I kind of loved it!

The Summary

The episode begins with Natsume roaming in a box of his grandmothers stuff, each time he runs a name he gets part of her memories and he is curious about her life.. or so he claims.. from a Library book she forgot to return drops a train ticket.. leading to a now out of use station. Natsume decides to investigate the ticket the next day. That day Natsume’s classmates fight on how to eat something which I think is chicken.. I have no idea but they call it Kitsune.. I don’t think they are eating fox but well.. they don’t see eye to eye on how to eat this meal thing and decide to separate and never be friends again. Sasada then comes poking her nose into Natsume’s business! What is that ticket? What are you going to do with it? Can I come?! I wanna see one?! Stuff like that. Natsume doesn’t want to get the girl that wants to spend time with him around.. so he is super glad the priest’s son distracts her long enough so he can sneak away from her on the bus. (Kind of a dickish bus driver). I kind of want Natsume to like this girl! I like having her positive energy around!

Sasada gets left behind though and Natsume travels to an abandoned station where he finds Santo.. a big furry hippo like Yokai that walks on two legs and dances around and reminds me a lot of Totoro. Just.. more vocal and less eloquent. Santo is a friendly Yokai who waits on this station because he got in an argument with a friend once who told them to leave and never return. Reiko met Santo and he gave him her name.. which we find out caused the conflict between the two. Santo gets his name returned and Natsume finds out through her memories that she promised Santo to take him to go see his friend Mikuri the next day. She never delivered on the promises though so Natsume takes Santo to do so. However since years have passed now.. Mikuri became bitter and possessed by Earth Spirits, enlarging his negativity. As a result the forest tries to stop their approach. Mikuri corrupted a huge catfish and Madara fights him while Natsume and Santo yell at Mikuri to stop! Then the fish possessed by rage tries to steal the book.. but Santo protects it! A combination of both seemed to work and the still quite angry Mikuri is reunited with his friend. While Natsume tries to settle their fight he realizes they already settled their fight and are just arguing because they are friends. The next day in school his two classmates are all buddy buddy again and Sasada asks him what happened. The priest’s son whose name I completely am blacking out on.. gets thanked for the help the day before leaving Sasda clueless still.

The Positives

I really liked Santo and Mikuri , once again the design and flavouring of these Yokai is done very nicely and satisfyingly. The whole super dumb anime character might be a trope I do not always enjoy, Santo brings so much innocence to it.. but also a form of challenge. He knows what he wants to say .. but he is just too dim witted to express himself leaving Natsume without some valuable much needed information. So he must find a way to work around that. Thus the humor of this episode is actually in service of the story and I am very fond of that type of design. Do not build in jokes because you need a funny moment, make moments you need to tell funny. It offers a lot more charm. Santo being one of the most innocent things you have ever seen is also a nice contrast with the Yokai we have seen normally here. No harm from others befalls upon him.. there is no evil spirit or priest causing him pain. Santo’s worst enemy is Santo himself.. and the promises he made. He never went to look for Mikuri because he promised Reiko to wait for her and because Mikuri said he could not come anymore. That’s just the type of guy he is and he is in his own way.

I also really like the whole premise of Natsume wanting to dig deeper into his relatives’ past and using a box of memories along with the book that apparently is also filled with memories is an interesting way to do this. It gives a few puzzle elements and I have been wondering how Reiko was a person. I for now think she was a pretty bad person but Natsume seems to refuse to believe this. She completely forgot about poor Santo though! I am curious to see where this will go and in fairness the show so far has not done much in terms of establishing an overarching narrative. This could be the first step towards that and if so I am quite on board with this.

The Negatives

I did not like how Natsume ignored Sasada in the last episode, and I do not like here either. It’s a nice girl that is interested in you and believes in you.. she wants that connection my guy and you have shown to want that sort of connection as well. I always have trouble with characters that go through self imposed misery and feel depressed for being alone.. but then when a person wants to be their friend they ignore them.. While Natsume isn’t nearly hypocritical enough for me to actually dislike it.. I see enough of this self imposed negativity to enjoy it less then when Sasada would have played a bigger part. I think her positive behaviour is a welcome addition to Natsume’s more down behaviour. At the same time though Natsume doing this alone lets the Yokai shine a lot as he doesn’t have a strong personality.. so the spirits always take the spotlight! That has value as well.

The second gripe I had with this episode is in its resolution. The Catfish versus Cat fight felt a bit sloppy. Tentacles were bitten and pulled.. Elongated cat demon gets snared but transforms.. then bites the fish again.. but then it looks like the fish also bites him.. but maybe its not because suddenly the fish goes poof! ?I had no real idea what was going on there. Natsume was quite badly animated while wrapped by a tentacle as well. It all just felt a bit muddy and thrown in for some action. I honestly preferred the fight with the earth spirit and the mysterious fog on the tracks. One bad fight scene however does not ruin an episode. Especially when it’s so short. I would have liked to see more Santo protecting the book though. That might have been the trigger what caused Mikuri to be healed but it at least wasn’t fully clear to me.

The Score

While not a perfect score episode I really had a lot of fun with this episode. Santo is an adorable character and even Mikuri in his original form is quite adorable. The evil forest chase was very entertaining and.. just Santo being Santo , eating poisoned berries and all it just made me smile. It had little impact all in all but I was still very entertained. It just had a few scenes for me personally that did not resolve in a way I would have preferred. It’s a silver or bronze type situation instead of gold. Still a winner though.

My biggest peeve here is how Sasada was offsided here, and I am afraid I will see a fair bit more of that in the future. I just do not like the lonely character wallowing in their loneliness by shutting off good people. It really irks me and I have little sympathy for them. As long as this show doesn’t try to invoke sympathy for him being so alone.. I will not have much of a problem , other than just being a bit bitter here and there.. but if they do and try to invoke sympathy while he shuts people out.. that will be a sure fire for me to grow and dislike him as a character. Nothing wrong yet just reporting some symptoms for now. Great episode with just a few concerns. Like.. how was that ticket heart-coloured?

Animini: Natsume Book of Friends – Episode 4 – Shigure and the Girl

Absolutely Joyous to be re-acquainted, my dear Island guests. Once more the strength of my anime week lies in the back. The fourth episode of Natsume was an absolute delight. Cute creatures, a ghostly setting.. Megane girls, even Madara, Nyanko turns into a girl! Oh what a delight! We even get a pretty heartwarming moment and I get to see a Kappa! I love Kappa!

The Summary

The episode begins on a hot summer day.. Natsume sees a Kappa dehydrating on the road.. so he pours his water bottle on it to refresh it! Little does he know that he is being watched! We then move to that trial of bravery that was discussed in the second episode and I get my favourite location in anime! Haunted houses! I got a great one in Flip Flappers.. and this one.. is not as good but Haunted House! Yay! It does not take long for spooky stuff to start happening. People get locked in, there is a person when the group is being divided and it doesn’t take long for students to go missing. All these events seem to connect to a guy who is looking at Natsume from behind an Umbrella. He almost gets taken by this presence when Sasada shows up and the presence vanishes. What follows next is an interesting series of mysteries. Who was that?! Why did it scare from Sasada, where did the others go? What is it?! All these questions are neatly unwrapped.. but we also get something very important happening. Sasada asks Natsume…Can you see them?!

This shocks him and Madara/Nyanko knocks her out thinking she might be the Yokai in this house.. realising she is not. Nyanko goes out to investigate taking the shape of a girl.. who claims to have knocked out Sasada with a dodgeball for some weird excuse reason! He does hint to Natsume.. for the guy to not be detected by someone as himself this spirt has to be very powerful. Sasada now left alone with Natsume again, once more asks him if he can see them. Natsume avoids the question, clearly wanting to bond.. but not sure if she should tell her the truth. Sasada tells a story on how she once saw a Yokai in this place.. she lost her lucky charm that meant the world to her.. and this spirit helped her out. It was a spirit that saw itself as corrupted.. ever since she has been coming to this place so she could thank him for what he did for her.. but the spirit never appeared for her again. Stuff happens.. that mostly involves Madara dragging Natsume to places and people reacting. Eventually Sasada begins to pry again into Natsume’s power which causes him to rush and confront this spirit. It does not want it name back as it just hates humanity.. but Madara does a glowing thing and Natsume sends Shigure away. Before the spirit fades away however it tells why it never showed before Sasada again.. he liked her and if she could say what she wanted to say she would not come again. She finally storms up on the roof and thanks the fading spirit.. just to be slightly patted on the head. The next day Natsume waters a Kappa again.

The Positives

I really liked this episode! While it did not hit me as hard as the little guy fading away, the arc between Sasada and Shigure was very satisfying. I am always a sucker for a person who sees themselves as something rotten while another sees something bright and good in them. I love stories that change in the eye of the beholder. I do not believe in good or evil persé, at least not in an absolute form. A guy can have claimed 18 students with his ghostly powers, but if you are not aware and only see the sweet thing he did for you he will be a good guy. It is also a story that shows us that while something might seem small to someone, it can seem huge to someone else. The trinket Sasada loses seems like a generic lucky rabbits foot of sorts.. but it means more to her.. and to Shigure it is cursed.. he can’t touch a pure item. So Sasada the effort to tell Shigure thanks for what he did seems small, she never stops or gets tired.. but in it Shigure found a form of fate. Even a simple question as “Natsume can you see them?” is subject to this. To Sasada it is a questions whose answer will give her hope.. but in Natsume’s eyes it is something that might bring her misery, put her in danger or maybe complicate things even further. I really enjoy themes like that. They are very close to some big values of me and I love to see that other people sometimes see things my way as well. I really like Sasada as a character for that very same reason.

This is also an episode about things being different. Shigure is unlike every other Yokai.. his goals are different. He hates humans.. but Sasada is different. In the last episode we saw Natsume being desperate to find someone to talk to with his whole seeing spirits thing.. but when Sasada asks, things are different. It’s all down quite beautifully and the backdrop of an old school building that is about to be demolished gives it a sense of tragedy by putting it in the frame of a finite time. Sasada has her goals.. some that really matter to her.. but she realises her time to do so is very finite. Her resources to do this are also limited. That is also why she sees hope in Natsume.. he may help her. Yet when he claims he can not see spirits.. she does not seem dejected. She still wishes to convey her gratitude regardless. I was very touched how they make this big event out of something so small. What in the eyes of your regular beholder seems like nothing more than a courtesy is a deep plight for her and I hope people watching this are remembered about the value of little things.

The Negatives

So .. enough with the floaty, analytical stuff.. I can’t get too deep here or I will ruin my reputation, time to find some negatives .. and they are way way waaaay much more shallow than anything positive about this episode. First off all, the way the students go missing lacks a bit of impact.. it’s just like they poofed away like one of Naruto’s shadow clones. There is no real fear from Sasada or Natsume, while not really knowing this spirit’s abilities. For all they know their friends could have been dragged into nothingness. While I do get Sasada not showing reaction.. because of her positive outlook on Shigure, I do think Natsume takes things a bit too lightly. He does talk about saving his classmates.. but at the time he did I am not sure he knew if they could be saved? I might have missed a line while taking a sip from my drink though. He also gets trapped by a door that I am pretty sure you can throw a chair through and get out.. a few funky things like that happen but it’s nothing too bad.

The second thing I question is why Madara is visible to others, I know he has more power but if other students can hear the cat talk, would the monk from last episode not have seen a cat talk as well? He literally shouted at Natsume at that moment for being stupid. Perhaps he did not hear it from shock but that also seems unlikely. I kind of miss an explanation here. The way he interacts with the cat also seems like things people would react to .. but it doesn’t happen. So Madara is used a bit inconsistent here. While entertaining it feels like things don’t completely add up. Can they see him in his true form as well? If so then the priest of last episode should have definitely seen him. He just feels a bit off in this episode. I am sure it will be explained , or I will stop caring about it being inconsistent. I do hope this shapeshifting trick will be used once more.. It would be great if he tried to trick Natsume with it at one point.

The Score

This episode gets a Berry Good score from me. It misses out on the highest score because of the lack of creepy in a spooky setting. Almost as if the visual story they are trying to tell differs from the narrative one. Shigure looks very creepy, the setting looks very ominous and it creates an expectation, an expectation that doesn’t deliver. While this really works well with what the episode is trying to tell I can not help but to feel that I miss that little ghost hand reaching out through the wall.. That creepy shadow that doesn’t act like it’s supposed to or at least a little something of that nature. I don’t expect a lot of that.. because there was a lot of story to tell but I would have at least liked a scene. This kind feels like entering a ghosthouse to play the Pinata game in the middle of it. Sure there is candy and boy is it sweet.. yet somehow you also can not escape the thought.. it would have been really cool if we actually could have been on this ride!

That is just a side thought though, what this episode does it does wonderfully well. I REALLY like Sasada’s build up , her design to not be super amazingly pretty and more mundane, the way she appreciates the little things and the value of a thank you. I love the themes in this episode and once again the Yokai design is sublime! I also liked the Kappa a lot..because they look so clunky and awkward and have this duck-like estetic! There are adorable little Kurbioh like guys as well. It’s amazing! I do know of a few Yokai but these designs seem quite unlike other interpretations I saw.. They have a really distinct style that I just adore and I loved little tweaks such as Yokai’s voice being warped because he talks through a bucket. It was super cute and adorable and I had a great time.

Animini: Natsume Book of Friends – Episode 3- The Mysterious Person at the Eight Fields

Konichi-Well the second part of my anime week is a lot stronger than the first half. While Natsume gave me the least impressive episode I’ve seen so far I must say I am really starting to enjoy the message this show packs in it’s end of the episode! I took a fist full of feels to the face yet again.. albeit maybe a little girl first this time! I still felt the impact though and as I heard this show really picks up in a few episodes never to let me go again.. so if this is the weakest punch.. I am sure to be in for one heck of a ride.

The Summary

Natsume is tired and depressed, giving Yokai their name back has completely drained him of all his energy. Since the friendly ones tend to come visit him at night and beg for their name back he hasn’t been sleeping much either. Nyanko-Sensei is still upset that Natsume is making the book of friends thinner every night and throws a tantrum as it will lose it’s power to control these spirits little by little. To make Natsume’s situation even more annoying for him he can’t sleep in class either because a strange person has been asking for him. A boy going by the name of Tanuma. For some weird reason though each time Natsume gets kind of close the boy disappears. Natsume hopes this man can see Yokai too.. and remembers a woman he once met who seemed to be able to see Yokai as well.

A cow and a cyclops Yokai knock on Natsume’s door but unlike the others they do not want their name back. There is a Yokai killing humans on the prowl blessing areas with holy magic. Since Natsume has the reputation to help Yokai they ask him if they can kill this human. After a bit of investigation Natsume begins to believe this Tanuma boy is responsible for causing serious pain to the Yokai .. killing some and banishing the weak from their home. Taking pity on them he decides to confront the man responsible for this. Meanwhile he flashes back to that woman he met before .. telling the audience in a way about how she was not actually a woman but Yokai trying to connect with him.. he feels betrayed and chases her off. Yokai always made his life so difficult so he is not sure who to side with. There are some good Yokai out there.. that do not deserve to be killed but he doesn’t exactly like them either. A huge cow geisha Yokai joins him in the quest to kill this Yokai hunter.. forcing Natsume to compel it by using its name to save Tanuma.. but then he discovers it was just a weak priest. Tanuma’s father.. who tried to keep the place safe for his son. When Natsume confronts the young man in the hope to form a genuine connection the man admits he can’t see Yokai either.. but sometimes he sees shadows. Natsume tells Tanuma his secret.. including fondly remembering that woman from before.

The Positives

The episode is a bit boring, in the sense that the conflicts all kind of just meander on. There is no real sense of threat and in a way that is this shows and this episode’s great strength. We get a rather vanilla story.. that doesn’t really matter in the long run that provides a very form of subtle exposition and character development. It truly is unique. During this episode Natsume stands and a proverbial crossroads several times and takes the less interesting path of the two a few times and when it happens I feel kind of frustrated.. yet five minutes later there suddenly is a payoff to this thing that seems like a wrong choice. Ah.. so you wanted to highlight that Natsume is seeing Yokai less and less like evil spirits and more and more like humans.. and the journey he goes trough in this episode is him coming to terms with that fact. Getting a hindsight on his past actions and seeing it through the lense of new found discoveries. That is a very static approach but it also is very interesting.

I loved the Yokai designs for this episode as well. The priestly cow.. the mid tier cow was adorable and the cyclops old man would make for a fine cookie serving minion! The high level cow thing felt intimidating and I love how the studio plays with its shape to make it feel intimidating. Those steel blue eyes give it a heartless quality it does seem to possess.. yet it’s cow nature also gives it something tranquil.. which it also seems to possess as it doesn’t seem to have intentions to hurt Natsume. The classical scuff marks on the mid tier Yokai made me feel compassion with them.. normally that.. slightly singed look is played for comedy.. and while it is slightly the case here as well it also really conveyed there creatures were helpless and meant no ill will. Seeming them suffer the same stuff as Ash does in the Pokemon anime.. invoked a completely different reaction and that is creditable to the solid world building this show does. It still is funny.. but in a N’awww .. you guys way instead of a “Hahaha Oh my Arceus Ash you never learn.. kind of way”.. I also REALLY ended up caring for the Yokai pretending to be a human just to be social and help Natsume.. her look was just weird enough to suspect something is up.. and her voice acting when she begged him for forgiveness felt sublime.. I really felt that she did not want to lose her precious friend.

The Negatives

The episode is a bit boring, in the sense that the conflicts all kind of just meander on. There is no real sense of threat and in a way that is this show and this episode’s greatest weakness. While there is an impact to what Natsume does, it really all just pan’s out in the last five minutes. Especially the first 9 minutes felt a bit like a slog to me. In hindsight not as much but during those first few minutes I wasn’t all that entertained. The long Neck Yokai looked pretty amazing yet at the same time she invoked a sense off “I really wish that chased him or tried to harm him” for a bit. It’s a very cool Yokai design.. I just loved to have it do something. In a way the same goes for the big cow.. but it gets “sit boy’d” before it can do anything. Again that isn’t bad.. persé.. a golden gun is still worth a lot.. but it would be kinda cooler if you saw someone fire a golden bullet out of it.

The only Yokai that actually get to do something is Ushi and the Old Man.. again I have no idea how to call them.. but the mid tier priesty looking fellows I… felt bad for them in the end.. but I will be honest and tell you, there were minutes I have wished for some gruesome fates to befall them because they can REALLY be annoying in the first half. They function as Natsume’ cheerleaders and are just being loud and telling him how amazing he is. In the end it feels earned but before that it just feels insincere and irksome. They are just being loud! That’s a trope I really dislike.. but well like I said I did feel bad when they got hurt so somehow they ended up growing on me. In a way negatives also a strength and we can see it that way. Still imagine me really wanting new shoes.. but the pair I have is still too good to reasonably to replace and I am maxed out since my shoe cabinet is full. So my best friend Bean decides to stick a huge meat fork in my foot. I bleed all over the shoes and finally can throw them out.. after a while I don’t feel the wound anymore and I got the new shoes and they are amazing.. but do I really say Bean.. you did a good thing? Or would I also be sour for those first few minutes of pain?!

The Score

Last episode I explained how I normally dislike “second episodes” of a show.. their exposition heavy, character establishing and world building plots often feel a bit “mandatory” ..we see the main character decide they will follow the “heroes path” we see the elements we can expect.. in other words it’s kind of like looking at the solution of a jigsaw puzzle by looking at the front of the box. It can be pretty but it doesn’t feel all that satisfying. This third episode is THAT second episode.. just in the end we open the box as well.. pour the contents out on the table and lucky us we find a corner piece straight away! What a delightful feeling that is! I still feel kinda weird for staring at the box of the puzzle for a good 10 minutes I wish I would have taken more puzzle time.

This is one of those episodes that tells me I will love the frig out of this show.. but it does lose my love a bit because it has the one that explains to me why I will love it. Like an entertaining synopsis.. or the Star Wars title crawl.. there are amazing elements but when is all done and over no one will say that their favourite part of Star Wars was the title crawl… although with The Last Jedi… I kinda liked it most.. but you know what I mean right. This episode does a great job at establishing Natsume’s mindset.. but as a Pokémon fan.. and a creature fan I kind of wanted to see the amazing creatures do more things instead.. It’s brand Vanilla flan.. it’s the best you can do with Vanilla Flan.. but it’s still just Vanilla flan. I prefer chocolate!

Animini: Natsume Book of Friends -Episode 2- The Dew God’s Small Shrine

I had a lot of reactions to my first review of Natsume, my dear Island Guests. After telling I thought it was very good but a fairly predictable first episode I was told the good stuff would start a few episodes in.. so I was fully prepared for this episode to be even a bit bland.. as usually Episode 2’s of series are my least liked episode (exposition and such)… I was not prepared for what I was about to see when I watched the second episode of Natsume!

The Summary

Natsume and Nyanko-Sensei are growing a bit closer together as Natsume continues to deal with Yokai in his daily life. We begin the episode with what I assume is a potential romantic interest for the boy asking him for a signature to do a Trial of Bravery in the old School building.. a ghost hunt of sorts! A hunt that I am sure will be one of the next few episodes! There Natusume sees a Yokai that chases him and attacks him thinking he is Reiko again. Nyanko-Sensei saves him because the spirit trying to kill the boy wants the book for himself. We see that Natsume’s daily life has changed since he became his lucky cat “pal” . There are two types of Yokai in his life. Those trying to kill him and those who come and talk and ask for their name back. One of these is the tiniest cute little Yokai guy who is described as the “Dew God” A former rain god that has shrunk in size after losing followers. We also discover Nyanko’s real name is Madara.

When Natsume tries to give the little guy his name back, he discovers his grandmother did not take to great care of the book and two pages are stuck together.. if he tries to peel the apart and give Dew’s name back.. he might cause him imense pain or even death. So the only way to solve this is to find this other Yokai that is stuck to his page as well. Natsume lacks time at the moment and will visit the shrine of the guy later. On his way there he meets and old Lady named Hana who is nice enough to give him a peach. She turns out to be Dew God’s only follower.. his lore is told and she experienced it and is thankful for the mircale a man has caught still. Praying devoutly every day.. even though she is sick and doesn’t have a lot of time left on this earth. Natsume searches for the other Yokai..which turns out to be quite hard because the Dew God only gives him a poor drawing to go by.. this causes the hunt to go on for several days but eventually the little guy tracks the Yokai down and Natsume can give them back their names.. the Dew God thanks him.. but tells he is dying. Hana died and with his last follower gone.. a god will die as well. Natsume tells he will be his follower and worship him but the Dew God refuses.. telling Natsume that they are friends.. those should not worship each other… he then fades.. finally coming eye to eye with Hana in a form of afterlife. Thankful for what she has done for him. Reliving their missed opportunity encounter.

The Positives

I did not expect this episode to impact me already! That was such a sweet but also heartbreaking episode. I mean there is still a lot to be established here but as far as second episodes go I have never been as deeply emotionally affected like this one. I went misty eyed! I managed to not cry.. .but I really came to like that little guy in the span of a single episode. The idea of a god dying without worshippers was something I was quite familiar with by playing the game Sacrifice WAAAY back in the day. I beat that game with every single god and had a blast!… So when I heard Hana had died.. I was afraid for the little guy.. and without remorse he was taken from me! I liked the message he left with a lot too.. friends do not worship each other , they are equals. Even though I am not familiar with Shinto religion and the idea of shrines and paying offers, the end scene of Natsume leaving an offering for something that someday might be in the now empty shrine was a nice little sentiment. If we do not appreciate things they might be gone before we know it.. so let’s already be thankful for whatever blessings might be bestowed upon us in advance!

I like how we are exposed to Natusme’s social life in a rather organic way. Tired from all his adventures and releasing a spirit he ponders over his relation with his legal guardians, telling how much he appreciates them and can not bother them with this little quest of his. It does feel like a fairly genuine string of thinking though.. I am so tired from the job but I can’t bother anyone with what is going on at my work right now for it would make my loved ones worry. The subtle way he wants to sign something to help the female classmate and pronounces her name are all much more subtle cues to tell a story then him going all hearty eyes telling in his mind she is his secret crush.. this also leaves more room for liberties.. maybe I read it wrong, maybe the two are just friends.. maybe something awkward happened between them.. there is so much more you can narratively do with this approach and it also feels a lot more natural than how anime crushes are conveyed normally. This is a great episode that really plays on emotions in a sensible way. Also those peaches Hana was known for and gave to Natsume looked SUPER TASTY! So some nice visuals and creature design as well!

The Negatives

I struggle to find anything negative about the second episode of Natsume. Yet I can’t fault it that much. The comedy with the drawing was funny. The attempts from Madara/Nyanko to off Natsume in his sleep had chuckling and the story elements nicely clicked together. If I had to nag about something.. and I set myself up for that it’s that getting the little guy his name back and him fading away happens fairly close next to each other.. but I am not even sure that is correct. We see a day pass but for all we know it could be several days. Still it felt a bit “coincidental” that the old lady died JUST after the quest had been complete.You know.. storybook pacing and such.. still I probably would have enjoyed the episode if that did not happen.. so it’s not really a negative! Reee! Let me try again! Sound?! No I loved those Cicada’s in the middle of nowhere? The plenty of flashbacks? No those were quite lovely! Darn it! Oh wait maybe this!

So in the school Natsume encounters a Yokai that gets stopped by Dragon-mode Nyanko/Madara it then turns into a fluffy ball with an eye and floats away. That plotline is not pursued at all anymore, it’s just a random fleeing Yokai.. which I would have liked to see addressed a bit more.. but I am sure that it will return in the next episode or in a few so that way it would be more awesome! But if it just vanished from here on out.. that would be a negative. Hey I’ll take a potential negative point over having non in a section where I am supposed to list negatives! I am also sad the Dew God and Hana are gone forever.. I liked both characters .. but that is what made this episode so impressive already. Yeah.. really that is it.. this episode already was quite amazing.

The Score

You don’t need to be paranormal to see what grade I am about to give this episode . There is this thing between me and second episodes that always is a bit iffy. There are a few series of which I don’t mind the second episode.. but there are very VERY few series of which I love the second episode. Samurai Flamenco being a Noteworthy exception. However I am going to call it and say this is my new favourite second episode of a series! So that is pretty high praise! It’s my tribute to a show which one day might even become better.. and I am actually pretty sure of it.

Natsume’s Grandma seems like a horrible person though! She steals Yokai’s names and takes bad care of the book and she tricks people into fighting her by offering them food when they need to eat. I am not sure what kind of person Reiko is but she seems like quite a Bit-Choo-Choo train to me! An interesting specimen still and I want to learn more about her.. but I think I would hide a lot of tabasco in her tea if I ever got to serve her some. She’d probably beat my pink face in or send Yokai to deal with me… but yeah! These are just some random thoughts! Really REALLY good episode! .. Now I am off to find some dissapointing peaches in the SuperMarket.. but i really want one!

Animini: Natsume Book of Friend – Episode 1- The Cat and The Book

With Pinkie’s Saturday Anime Adventure I was doing 5 anime reviews in a single day.. so now that I split them across the days I had two days left.. should I take it easy on those days?! Of course not! More Anime for me to watch! So I already had a “nostalgia” show, a show that got recommended by community friends, a magical girl show, an Isekai and a tournament/ analogue gaming show… so else could I watch. Why not something Senpai loves?! You gotta respect your blogging elders according to Japanese culture! So here we go.. starting from today each week I am watching an episode of Natsume Book of Friends… and I never even knew what it was.. I did not expect it to be this!

The Summary

We meet our main protagonist Natsume in this episode. He was born with a special gift! The ability to see Yokai! While this might seem like a blessing to some, most Yokai don’t seem to take kindly to him. Either they chase him, he reacts to them or something of the sorts happen that alienates him from all the other humans. Seemingly having no more friends nor any living blood relatives, the boy seems lonely as a cyclops witch and a ghost with a yukata chase him… pardon me for not knowing the proper Yokai names of these.. but I feel like if I had to look all those up this post would take so much longer… if you recognise what Yokai they are tell me in the comments and teach me something! Natusme flees towards a shrine but in doing so trips over a rope containing seals and this breaks it. Now that the seals have become undone a Mani Neko is released! He is called Nyanko-Sensei and he recognises Natsume.. saying his grandma used to be like him and she has something called “The Book of Friends”

This is a book containing the names of Yokai she bonked on the head with a bat and forced them to give up their name.. under the guise of a duel. Nyanko-Sensei wants the book.. but Natsume refuses and gives him watermelon instead and a friendship of sorts begins to bloom. When the one eyed witch and ghostly man invade Natsume’s house the two have to work together to stop the spirits. Natsume decides to return the names to the Yokai his grandmother bonked and Nyanko teaches him how to do that.. on the terms of that if Natsume dies while doing this.. Nyanko gets the book of a friend and can do “weird stuff” with it. We see Natsume’s grandmother bonk the Cyclops Witch.. as soon as Natsume starts the name return ritual. Talking with the spirit about yeast buns.. after she is sent away.. Natsume and Nyanko stop at the place his grandma claimed had the best Yeast buns.

The Positives

For as many times Irina has told me on her blog that Natsume Book of Friends is great, she never really told me what it was about! I assumed it was this slice of life like show with a boy making friends in high school with a comical relief cat that can drink booze. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a lot more to it. Had I known this was what the show was about I might have taken on the last tour of the OWLS in the Folklore topic and watched it earlier! Now however I can enjoy it at a snail’s pace with an episode a week! I do like this concept of “reverse”capturing a lot.. I mean in a way this is kind of like a reverse pokémon so far where a boy gets a pet..that actually can EVOLVE ..sort of.. he seems quite capable himself.. and his goal is to release ALL the creatures in his book. It still hits close enough to home for me to be my jam while being different enough for me to see it as its own thing.

I do like the creature design a lot so far. Nyanko-Sensei in particular is adorable in his cat for and his dragonoid form or whatever that seems quit impressive. It reminds me a bit of that dog dragon from the NEver Ending Story..Falcor I think his name was.. just more Japanese. But I also like the witch and the smiling dude. I also like the sound design a lot, the cicada’s give the atmosphere a sense of serenity which helps sell the whole idea of Natsume living in a different world than us .. sort of speak as we see a tranquil world and his one is quite a bit more hectic. The voices are fun and I find them very fitting and I do look how things are framed. The way Nyanko-Sensei tumbles around.. but also the way how a punch to Nyanko from Natsume cuts away to a sound effect. From the position he was in.. there was no way to sell the effect visually I think.. yet this way I can suspend my disbelief easier. So it is nice to see that. The episode has a pretty good story to set things up but for now I can’t delve to deep in it.. I felt it had the perfect length and a satisfying conclusion showing us the fact that spirits can be appeased with their name.. or properly manhandled to be sent away. I like that.

The Negatives

Now I am treading on quicksand here! What can I say about Natsume that will not get my head severed from my torso in terms of negatives. In terms of this first episode I will admit the opening wasn’t my thing. I really like a bit more peppy intro’s and I did not think the song was too catchy. A bit unfair to call the first episode out on that.. but it will be the only time it bothers me so I still have to mention it. Other than that I do find the human characters a bit generic. Natsume is okay design wise.. but unlike for example Soul Eater, Watamote or No Game No Life I think it will take a bit for me to recognise the main character. I’d recognise Nyanko but Natsume.. I am not too sure yet! It isn’t a bad design..but I would have given him an odd eye colour or a spot in his eye or something that makes him see this Yokai.. or something.. maybe he wears a special necklace over his uniform… it’s nothing I will not get used to but he’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression again.

I have no strong negatives other than that, and even those are very excusable, I watched the show on Crunchyroll yet for some reason the quality was a bit low for me, it felt as if it was too “bright”. I am not sure yet if that is the anime’s age, it’s style.. or just a bad version uploaded on Crunchyroll.. but it felt a bit too “pastel” colour to me at times. Another nitpick I have is that we see a scene where two friends are strolling. They encounter Natsume and then continue to talk about how weird he is.. however the story is told from Natsume’s perspective.. while he is being chased.. yet for a brief moment we cut to their dialogue about him. That to me doesn’t fit…if we are being told things from Natusme’s perspective I would have preferred to let him thing “They must think I am super strange”.. and for the most part.. that’s how it is handled. That felt a bit too “in you face exposition” for my tastes. Not horrible.. but a bit inconsistent nonetheless.

The Score

I did have a great time watching this first episode, and I do think it will be a show that I could grow to like a lot. It has a lot of hype to live up too.. but that is also exactly why I read nothing about it except for Senpai doing the wobbly lag fan girl thing for it on a regular basis. That really helped me enjoy it a lot more as it can still surprise me! Unlike the anime I am going to watch tomorrow I know nothing about it and I intend to keep it that way. I do not have a clear idea where this show is headed yet but it does intrigue me! I want to see more! So that is a great thing for a first episode to achieve.

I wasn’t as mesmerised by it as something like Flip Flappers or Samurai Flamenco which both had REALLY good starts. I do feel Natsume is a bit more of a slow burning type of a show though, there is more to set up, it requires a bit more insight so I expect to fall in love with it a few more episodes in. Which is fine.. Hikaru no Go was a similar type of show for me where I wasn’t head over heels from episode 1 but by episode 20 I am hooked. A lot of my favourite shows of all time were slower starters. Also that seems like I hated this episode which is completely not true because I think it is REALLY Good.. it just is not the most captivating first episode I’ve ever seen. The show can still grow for me and grow on me.. and I feel like it will.. so for some reason I am happier that I can give this a Berry Good.. as I would be giving this my higest score.. we have a long journey ahead of us with this one but I feel it will be an amazing journey..Where Flip Flapper takes me on a journey on an item that should not even be a vehicle leaving the driveway is slightly more interesting as in the packed car Natsume provides.. but I do feel that with this one I am going to be more comfy and I will see plenty of amazing things!

A BIT of Nostalgia: Pocky and Rocky

Hello again my dear island guests! As some of you know , I am not very much of a modern gamer, I really tend to stick close to gems of the past and in the past of this blog I have discussed a fair few of these. Recently I replayed one of these classics again. As a kid this game was bundled in a special rental promotion set with Mystical Ninja Goemon in some of my video-stores staff favourite bundles. That game was called Pocky and Rocky.

The Priest and The Tanuki

Pocky and Rocky is an odd game, manifesting as a scrolling shooter but for once not playing space or a warzone. Instead you move to colourful landscapes and you should down a slew of varying monsters, navigate around certain traps and use tools to defend yourself.
However other than that it does still play like a typical scrolling shooter. You collect power ups to upgrade your weapon in two different ways, you fight bosses and like all space shooters this game is tricky as heck! It is commonly seen as a bit of a niche hit for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System but upon release was popular enough to spawn three sequels. One on the SNES one on the Game Boy Advance and one on the Playstation 2 and Wii. The game was produced by Natsume and published by them as well. Upon its release it got reviewed pretty well, easily scoring an average score of about 8 out of 10. More often going higher than that then lower. This is a perfectly fine score for this game that is mostly praised for its amazing two player mode.

I reviewed the game Single Player as I don’t have any friend who wants to come play this with me in person and the person who might play this with me lacks the patience for such a title. It should be noted that both the American version and the Japanese version are much better than the European version of the game. In Europe the Japanese version never got translated and as a result while there are cutscenes the European version does not feature any text or story! To explain the story I will use a Let’s Play of the American version , thus characters will be titled like their American counterpart. To be fair I had a lot of fun imagining what the story would be in the European version but seeing how far I was off made me chuckle a bit. Some of the terminology used comes from the Pocky and Rocky Wiki and not from the game as even the American version never uses any terminology for weapons or anything except the enemies.

When you are alone you can take the role of Pocky , who is a little priest girl who fights by throwing sealing cards, called Ofuda, at enemies and she can defend by swinging her priestess staff or Gohei. Rocky is a Raccoon Dog and instead of cards he tosses out leafs and he defends by swiping his tail. There seem to be minute differences between the characters, for example I think Pocky is faster but Rocky can dive a bit further and seems to defend more effectively. .but I honestly am not sure if I made that up in my mind or if it is actual reality. The story moves independent of what character you pick as both storywise seem to stick together. Which brings us to a bit of a problem.. this game is very VERY hard if you single player it! I really would have liked it if the lonesome player would have gotten an NPC ally to aid them.. however because of how some challenges are designed I guess an AI could not cut it! While you can play the game by yourself.. the easy difficulty will already provide you with a very steep challenge.

Let’s Rocky

The story of the game is wonderfully weird and very mundane at the same time! A long time ago wicked creatures called the Nopino Goblins spread mischief across the land. Yet they were all subjected by a priest named Pocky. All seemed well until one day Pocky the Tanuki shows up telling her his fellow Nopino Goblins are out of control! The first Nopino Goblins that go out of control are these Umbrellas with a big eye and a scary mouth. As well some weird ass cyclops monks! They are aided by guys in baskets that should at you and spooky scary skeletons! The boss of the first level is a guy with a big brown head that shoots seeds at you! When you defeat him.. he tells he has been mind controlled by a guy in a Black Mantle.. so that is what the villain of the game is called Black Mantle! Pocky and Rocky then venture into the water domain to fight some creatures that look like a cross between a turtle and a duck……wait a minute!

Tanuki..Kasa Obake, Oi No Bakemono, Hitotsume-kozō and Kappa! Nopino Goblin is the English translation for the word Yokai! That is hilarious! The second stage makes you fight the cutest monkeys before eventually turning into a water stage quickly restricting your movement. Since a game over doesn’t abide by any checkpoints or subareas getting a game over means you go back to the beginning of a stage! You have unlimited continues but..Nopino Goblins can be tough sons of Yokai! The game is hilariously translated and the dialogue feels SUPER cheesy! Especially after you finish the third stage and things seem more dire! That stage took me SO Many attempts though! It has two pretty hard minbi bosses, and grueling gauntlets of flying enemies. After you deal with that you dodge some traps and shifting walls that can push you off the stage so you have to master the dodge technique here to avoid the deadly twomps like skeletons and shifting stage. It is a very good stage that has some amazing designs though and some funny Nopino Goblins!

It gets even better though , as you advance past the third stage you find out that the evil organisation is the Gorgonzola Goblins, living in the Gorgonzola Fortress and to get there you have to use a cursed airship! This is probably the hardest stage in the game, Narrow spaces, few options to dodge and lots of Yokai Pirates and turres with crazy attack patterns. It is guarded by a bird Yokai which requires you to be pretty good at your shield and dodge techniques. Of course that pales in comparison to the skill you have to show against the second to last boss fight! Black Mantle of course works together with Dracula! This fight. quickly turns into a bullet hell! With a twist. Entire sections of the map at time become electrified so standing still and defending will not get you anywhere.. so you will have to zoom across the arena.. while using your defensive tail swipe AND attacking the boss! All tools have to be used at the same time. The final stage is a simple climb facing some tough enemies that fire attacks that cover half the screen. Getting hit by them drains a massive amount of health as well and health power ups are very rare! With a miniboss and the big boss himself.. this one might take a few attempts. The ending is wholesome and cute and after a bit of ending dialogue Pocky and Rocky share some Dango together in the moonlight!

Sweet as a Pocky

Pocky is a sweet japanese candy..well it’s bread with chocolate on it but the Pocky in this game is just as sweet. The presentation of this game is phenomonal! The cutscenes are super cute, the sprites are fantastic and the game has some pretty nice tunes. It really has a cute anime esthetic that also reminds me of Saturday morning cartoons for very young kids. The way the story is presented also seems very much like one of the cutests tales for kids you have ever seen. The story is very much non-violent but there are some creepy like bosses and creepy imagery as well it is very balanced out!

You never get bored! Every stage feels significantly different from the others even if lots of set pieces are reused across all stages. It really works, you can see what areas lie close to one another but you also feel like you have made progress. Pocky and Rocky both look great themselves. If you play with two players you even get some team moves where one character uses the other to launch themselves forward as if they were a skateboard of sorts.. It looks buttery smooth. The frame-rate can stutter a tiny bit if there are too many enemies on screen but that is almost never an issue.

The gameplay is rather pleasant and while it is difficult as heck, it never feels really unfair.. that said it is one of those , remember the patterns , kinda game.. but to be fair that rings true for most of the genre and the genre itself is known for being pretty difficult. Basically how this game works is, you make progress until you die, you find out why you die or how these enemies work and how to best get around it , you lose less health and the next time you progress further. You die again facing this new enemy or a bit in the level and you come up with a strategy for that section again. You start the stage over again and combine your knowledge of before to get even further.. and so you get a little bit better every time you die. You really have to remember how these things work because health is fairly rare and there is no regaining life during a stage. Playing alongside a friend will make things a bit more manageable as you can remind each other how to get around an obstacle and the team moves really make you able to dash through things you can’t do alone..but that is actually a nice reward for playing with two. You really can use each other!

The controls all work pretty nicely as well, pretty much every button is used and if you don’t like a lay out the game allows you to remap them yourself to fit your preference. For example I remapped the dodge to something that worked a bit better for me. I gradually ended up remapping a few things, just to fit my playstyle and it worked. I really felt myself improving.. but there is a lot to improve for just one sitting.

Nope-Ino

There are a few minor gripes I have with this game and for one is there is no save feature! That is rather common and if you are familiar with the game you can beat this entire game in just under an hour. To learn all these patterns of thought takes a lot longer. I needed several hours to gradually improve myself enough to beat this. It’s possible.. but as I grew more tired focus began to fade. At stage 4 I had to call it quits the first day. Replaying Stage 1 through 3 was a lot easier the next day but there is no real reward for playing through them well. You can’t take extra lives, at least not above your maximum and continue being unlimited even if you could.. it doesn’t really matter if you don’t start out with max lives you just learn and progress later. Stage 4 and Stage 5 are WAAAY harder than the previous once so after progressing through stage 4 and most of 5 .. I had to call it quits on the second day! The third day playing through stage 1 till 4 felt a bit .. tedious.. It’s part of the genre but a password after stage 3 might have been nice. Even if it was just the one.

The fact that there are only two upgrades .. plus a shield is also a bit .. thin. Blue orbs improve your cards or leafs so you can throw multiple while orange orbs turn your projectiles into fireballs. While both characters have a unique main weapon the fireball is the same, which is sad as it does more damage, but it looks way less unique! You are usually better off with the bigger range of your main weapon anyway. I just wish there were more upgrades. Upgrades decrease if you take hits so for example I can see a slower but homing attack being a nice upgrade or perhaps a less damaging projectile but one that also blocks enemy attacks much like your swipes. It would give us a bit more variation to play! It doesn’t really affect how fun this game is.. and it is really fun.. I just think.. it could even be more fun if you and your friend could go different weapon upgrade routes and get a bit more creative rather than just skilful!

Of course for the european version the lack of text is a BIG issue. While the dialogue is nothing to write home about, it adds a really innocent charm to the game that isn’t really there in our PAL version. While the cutscenes without dialogue are still pretty cute, the bosses in the American version usually say some fun lines as well .. a threat right before you start, which feels like some extra motivation.. since the european version apparently had to translate from the japanese version and they said nope we are not going to translate it. Which is a shame.. it isn’t a good text.. but it is really cute!

The final gripe I have with this game is the box art! It really is quite ugly and doesn’t represent the style of the game at all. The Japanese box art looks so much cuter! The art of the game is much more reflective of that Japanese style so why make it in this weird semi-cool box art. I get it in some games where a sprite is open for interpretation but given the high quality presentation in the cutscenes, and of the sprite itself , I don’t think this is something you can pull off successfully!

Two can play THIS Game

This title is a super strong and quite overlooked one in the SNES library! Due to it’s arcade like feeling it aged very well and is very fun to play to this day. Buying a cartridge can be a costly affair with prices ranging going well above that of a full priced game, and including a case you can easily buy two full priced console games. So it does hold some collector value. I am sure however people can find a way to enjoy this game none the less. Pocky Rocky and Becky the second sequel for the Game Boy Advance has been released on several virtual consoles. If you manage to get your hands on this game however it will provide a few hours of good fun! While relatively short it takes quite a while to master and the colourful graphics and varying stages make everything a delight to replay. Even by yourself.

The real fun however starts if you play this with a buddy! More strategies unlock, extra moves are handed out and there is just that much more fun to be had with the game. Single player the game is great but you can feel it never completely reaches it’s full potential. Some enemies are extra rough to dodge because you really miss that team up move set. A choice I think is very brave and makes sense A single player has much more reason to master this while a two player game can be more casual fun. It might not be able to escape some of the classic genre tropes and the lack of a password system or a save feature prevents it from getting my highest rating but it got darn close! Pocky and Rocky is one of the better Co-op multiplayer games on the system and Nopino Goblins is an amazing english word for Yokai!