Animini: Natsume Book of Friends – Episode 6 – The Sparrow at the Bottom of the Lake

Sobby and Sniffly Salutations my Island Guests! Natsume let me feel stuff again! I kind of cried for a character I saw in a single episode again! Well not really cried but I was misty eyed nonetheless. This might be the first thing I am not giving a perfect score despite making me cry! It came very close.. but it just missed out! In this blog I will discuss the 6th episode of Natsume Book of Friends.

The Summary

Natsume and his friends, I think,  are taking a bike tour when they come across a “drowned” village.  A village that got flooded and abandoned by building a dam. Of course Natsume sees a present but his friends, I think,  do not.  The addition to the “i think” comes from  the fact that I don’t really know anything about them. They are always around him and interact with Natsume regularly but he doesn’t really seem to hang out with them.. except for this time. I assume they are friends but they also could be a study group or something!  Regardless, Natsume sees something.. it fades.. then with a whoosh of wind he is knocked out. He wakes up at home, the doctor tells he has a heat stroke but we soon find out he is possessed. He finds this out by returning the names of a few Yokai who dwell in the drowned city. In return for helping him they give him a magic mirror that allows him to discover the possession. Nyanko pushes off the spirit and as it leaps for Natsume.. Donned in a Swallow mask, Natsume punches it. The mask breaks and it is revealed a girl wearing an eye veil is underneath..with pure intentions.

She wants to see someone again, for one final time before her spiritual energy grows too weak and she fades away. This is her dream and Natsume takes a liking to her and decides to help Madara/Nyanko’s Chagrin. His “friends” help him get an address for this man and while Natsume and the girl yokai go look for the man they begin to bond a bit. Natsume learns this girl named Tsubame (meaning Swallow)  was once a Baby Swallow who fell out of the nest.  A kind human put her back in the nest…but since it now was tainted with human scent the parents abandon the nest and Tsubame cries for food..while seeing her brothers and sister starve.  Blaming herself the resentment caused her to transform into what she calls a demon. This demon hid from the world.. but a kind man kept feeding her every day.. this is the man she wants to meet again. She does.. and while waving at him happily and talking to him he ignores her.. unable to see her. Tsubame says she is super glad she got to do this but it is not enough for Natsume.. he wants her to actually talk to the man. To help her he attends a festival  of Yokai .. led by the guy who gave him the magic mirror earlier.   The Yokai can win a Yukata that allows them to appear as humans for a day. Even though the spirit plans to eat Natsume he is determined to compete and win for Tsubame’s sake.  With the help of Madara he does so. He gives Tsubame the yukata and says his goodbye.. never seeing her again. A few days later he asks the man if he ever saw Tsubame and the man shows him a picture of them attending a festival together. Natsume sobs a bit.. glad his new friend got what she wished for and looked happy..but also clearly sad he will never see her again.

The Positives

I loved Tsubame myself.. and the last line.. to think that she is gone already made me super sad.  She is voice acted great and drawn great and written great. You just start to care for her. When Natsume tells she is slowly losing strength I genuinely was genuinely worried for her.  The way she waves to that person that is so important to her.. telling him all sorts of things with a smile on her face while clearly she must know he can not hear her really pulled my heartstrings!  It is also good to see Natsume form an actual bond for once. This is not an act of convenience,  or because it is right or because he wants to figure out more about his grandma.. no Natsume has taken a shine to this “person” and enjoyed her company and spirit and wishes to see things end well for. Much like with the tiny guardian. I found myself quite infatuated with this swallow girl and her story.. despite being quite generic and birdlike made me look at it from the fletchling perspective. Poor little birds slowly starving. The idea of seeing your brothers and sisters get abandoned because you messed up.. and got greeted with an act of kindness.. it really worked for me and became something bigger.

I also like the idea of Natsume acting with the spirit world a lot. He punches the spirit, he races against them,  he gets a magical item from their world and uses it to further his agenda.. (though selfless). It makes the world of Yokai a lot bigger  than just the names in the book. Where I compared  it with an inverse Pokemon after the first episode I now realise that analysis is incorrect because these Yokai are much more people with their own little world for us to understand. Their own bonds, their own emotions and now even their own items and culture! Do take note though that I like the idea.. not the way it is executed, more on that in a little bit. The series is working towards expanding its possibilities and does so early on so it can not fall into a hole and I really like that. The hug Natsume got also feels like the first reward he really got.. it might seem tiny.. but it is something and I really needed to see that.

The Negatives

Had this episode only featured Tsubame I would have easily given this my highest rating yet! I really love that character A LOT more than I should do for a one episode character. The other Yokai in this episode though.. are a problem. They aren’t bad persé.. but it is like  putting Merryl Streep in a movie with Tyler Perry or with Will Arnett.  You know the latter two will be completely blown away by the former. The tournament host and magic mirror guy feels a bit forced.. he transforms into the same type of demon Madara is and they scuffle for a bit but it isn’t that interesting. It feels a bit soap-opera-like .. exposition needed to tell the real tale. I like the Kimono as a magic item, the race kind of feels forced however.  There is a Kimono stuck in a tree and all Yokai must race there without using their Yokai powers.  Natsume goes undercover but has too short legs  to win.. it all feels a bit nothingy.. while I do get we see Madara start to care for Natsume here.. I feel this could have been done in a much more interesting way.

The race also offers another problem, the plot feels a tad messy. This is in part due to the fact that Natsume has to attend a Festival one day, so Tsubame can attend another. Kind of like forcing Cinderella to win a dance-off to win tickets for the ball. I didn’t really like that structure. Also how did Natsume know where the other guy is while he was out racing Yokai, I doubt he could track the guy during all that. It just felt really weird and awkward to me. The other spirit is just so weakly written. I give you a peek in this magic mirror. .. which turns out just the thing to start the plot. He is an engine and not a very well written one and it takes some serious shine out of an otherwise amazing episode.

The Score

I loved half of this episode and I truly mean loved!  Man if I ever become a mother I am gonna starve all my kids hopefully the last survivor will be as great as Tsubame. It is great to see a more alive and emotional Natsume, even though seeing him cry made me get some tissues.  I love how this show can invoke those feelings and this is the third time it did.  It did it in a much more raw way then episode 2 and 4 as well …  jeez even numbered episodes rule in this series so far.   Had this episode been pure between Natsume and the little Swallow I would have had my new favourite episode of the show. The good in this episode isn’t just good!  It really is amazing.

Unfortunately the rest of this episode kind of feels half baked. The rest of what we see is not that much more than exposition or plot convenience.  I am super happy they chose to keep these events separate from Tsubame but in a way that also makes it worse.. you know.. as if they are aware of the fact that this part of content isn’t as good.  The pacing in the Tsubame bits is great and I LOVE the idea of Natsume never seeing her again.. and being insecure ..but so curious he talks to a stranger, which seems very against character.. it shows how much he cares.  Yet the pacing with the other spirit is quite poor. The race had no Oomph what so ever and even Nyanko/Madara’s decision to help Natsume was overshadowed by its “let’s get this over with.. we have a better story to tell” pacing. It’s like having a delicious meatball and some vegetables but not really a way to call it a dish so you pour on some water and some noodles and call it ramen.  The meatball is still exceptional but now that is part of a dish it will only be described as good.

Order and Chaos 1: Welcome to Wuqu

Welcome to my very own world little Monsters, the world of my Pokémon D&D game. The world of Wuqu. Each week I will talk a bit about the more mature stories of this world of my RP campaign. It is set in a world, that never knew Pokémon, much like our own, but around the  eighties of that world, Pokémon suddenly began appearing. People saw them as monsters and began fighting them resulting in a war between humans and pokémon with many victims on both sides. Eventually mankind was driven to live underground mostly, the Pokémon destroying the world’s climate making it a barren place. The sun shone in forests at times and spots where it’s not supposed to shine, causing the trees to twist , poison types polluted the waters, and fire types created new deserts. When all seemed lost, through the Ultra Space holes that started all troubles a capsule arrived, within it, answers how to build Pokéballs, how these monsters and make them do your will. With resources running very thin, only the major corporations had enough money and means to get these technologies created. These companies banded together and formed Neo-Aether, a now totalitarian world governing institute, trading safety for servitude. No citizens of Aether are allowed to leave their own city, ever, only those selected for the Trials may prove their worth. These trials entail defeating the mayor of 8 cities in Pokémon battles, or more. Those who do so, prove they can live together with Pokémon and will be granted acces to “the safe zone” a remote island where humans and Pokemons live together in peace. Or at least that is what people are made to believe……..

Team Oblivion
However our story does not begin in the region of Wuqu in this brand new world. This adventure starts in the Alola region, one hundred years after the first champion of Alola defeated the Mother Beast. We find ourselves in a sterile white office of the Aether Foundation in Alola, time-storms have been happening recently and Pokémon have started to vanish from the world little by little. Four ominous looking people  stare at a darkened femine shape in the back off an office, sitting in a wheelchair. Their body postures reveal they are all a bit older. One dressed in mostly blue, wearing a tentacool beak as a cowl, with an eight eyed face mask speaks to the shadow. ‘Why have you summoned Team Oblivion, do you not know what we stand for?’ he speaks, his voice revealing he is clearly of high age, yet there is still a deep determination and menacing tone in his voice. He straightens his robes marked with Kyogre-patterns, then straightens his shoulders made of dead tentacools with their tentacles draping over his widely sleeved arms. The woman speaks, her voice sounding quite elegant, though the cracking in said voice also reveal she might be in poor health. ‘I know very well what your organisation stands for Abyss Prophet Luther’ she says while she moves a bit in the shadows. ‘It is why i have specifically  called you’. A second man draped in a black cloak with dark purple elements, and a white faceless mask speaks, barely visible whle in this poorly lit room, he plays with his Darkrai themed pendant and then calmy speaks. ‘How can ending the world help you then, mysterious lady’. The two other priest like figures chuckle. One is donning a bone mask with a very dark brown cloak, he is very broad and muscled, his sleeves inspired by Giratina, the eyes of his skull mask fitted with some tinted glasses in a ghostly shade of purple. Lighter than the one who just spoke.
The other is a much slimmer man, in red scaled robes,  with earthen shoulder spikes, as if inspired by Groudon, his mask also being an earthen slab with some markings similar to that on the red stone. The lady’s heads shift to the Darkrai inspired man and tells him. ‘Well glad you ask Void Prohet Nils, I need you to destroy a world, just not this one’ Even though non can see the woman’s face, all four man know there is a smile on her face,

Team Freak
The woman brushes trough her hair, letting her message sink in with the four. The large man and the slender groudon donned one seem very excitable. “Does this mean we can bring Death?’ says the large man while making a D pose. “And EXTINCTION” yells the red clad, stone masked man. ‘Yes Death Prophet  Griogri and Extinction Prophet Asmodeus, yes you can’
The woman puts on a breath mask for a short moment taking a gasp from it before continuing. ‘I need you to travel to a world on the other side of Ultra Space, we have been aware of an group of people there named Team Freak, by whatever means in that world.. they have found a possibility to breach back into our world with Ultra Space travel, but somehow they end up, back in significant places in history. They are trying to alter our timeline, so that their pathetic world is safe, in order to do so they seem to have wiped Pokémon from our timeline..so I need you to go there and destroy this world or at least that blasted organisation before it kills our world, and given your expertise you will be the right people for the job.’ The shaded figure heads them a folder giving some information, revealing a clownesque magician by the name of Sion Illu to be their leader as well as their logo. A cruel looking clowns face with swirly eyes it’s nose being a diamond of a card game as well as it’s teeth forming the word Freak.
The abyss prophet nods, speaking in a very bellowing voice. ‘You have selected the right tools for the job Aether president, we will be the scalpel that will cut away that is the cancer that you call Team Freak , if lord Kyogre favours me and my brothers, we may even be able to amputated that entire world of existence from the multiverse.’ The man forms a pyramid shape above his head.. as if spelling the letter A. ‘For the Abyss!’  Nils the Darkrai looking one, follows suit but shapes a V. ‘We will send these people to the Void’. The woman chuckles. ‘Good to see you are eager, I have a contact in that world…the world we for now shall label Chaos, A pokémon profesor unaware of my true intentions, he offered to help me in trade for some much needed supplies, I can send two of you on the trainer journey giving you easy access to the world. The two others will have to find another way out. ‘Me and Nils shall take the more cunning route and infiltrate the trainer teams, our brothers here are the less tactical ones and their talents are more suited for the more hands on approach’ says the group eldest. ‘Very well then so it shall be’ replies the woman.  ‘Follow my assistant at the end of the room, they will send you to your location.’
Following their new employee’s orders they follow a man clad in white to a sterile looking room, some strange sounds can be heard from the ceiling. ‘Wait here and follow my instructions’ tells the employee who proceeds to move in an adjacent room behind some safety glass, taking along Grigori and Asmodeus. ‘I will drop them in at another location’ he says. ‘In order for you not to puke your guts out and collapse in an insult I need you to close your eyes right now then count back from 20.’  The man sounds sincere enough while working on some buttons. Luther and Nils don’t feel like throwing up with their masks on, so they decide to follow orders, about the time when their count reaches 3 seconds left, they can hear the sounds of the oceans and they feel their feet sinking deeper into the floor.

Welcome to Wuqu
After the count of twenty both prophets open their eyes and they find themselves on a grimey looking beach, with a derelict mall in the distance. However the beach is not normal, it’s coloured brightly neon yellow with some other colours mixed in. As they wonder about it a voice is providing an answer. ‘We painted that beach like that.. that way the Sandygasts and Pallosands can be spotted right away, they also hate the colour so they tend to stay away.’ The man walks closer, very hunched over, the man still seems of remarkable size, his hair white and long, donning a lab coat over something akin to more traditional Johto outfits, with a twist. He is using a cane to walk with on the top of it a Pokeball, Around his upper arm there is a band with a logo akin to the Aether logo of old world, but this time it has “legs” in the shape of the letter N. ‘Welcome to our wonderful world of Pokémon, welcome to Wuqu, you can call me profesor Azalea. It is nice to see such promising trainers coming to our aid to stop the blasted terrorists, they are terrorising the streets of Rathole town, quite possibly even behind that new drug that has been popping up’ Luther and Nils look at each other, intrigued by how different this world is already and follow the man as he guides them to the derelict mall. In front of the doors there are two man dressed in white, with heavy military equipment on their body guarding the door.Profesor Azalea talks with him showing him some idea and telling him that these are two guest trainers to be.  ‘Oh once you are inside this city you can not leave until you acquire the city’s gym badge. Hobbart , the headstrong Hobo is a kind soul, donating all his income to keep the Pokémon center and hospitals of this city running freely. He lives at the lowest level of this underground mall, with all the other homeless. But first you need a team.’ The priests simply nod accepting their faith and cover with some dignity , this will be interesting and this world is truly sick so it needs to be put out of its misery, is what both priests think. Once inside it’s an entirely different world.
An old woman is on a levitating wheelchair… but rather then wheels it’s operated on dead magnetise.. being made to levitate by passing a magnetic current through them with an old car battery attached to the chair sloppily. One of the poorly welded magnemite corpses falls off as the chair loses balance. Houses are no more then sizes of pop up stores, housing families in spaces not much larger than a single room. Neon lights, advertisements in a old language and new ones ..welded on top. Rattatas are trying to look for scraps of food before being clubbed by a large tattooed man. ‘Wel looks like my family will eat well tonight’ he says after picking up the two oddly shaped skull rattatas. A hologram of a twin tailed girl with long green hair dancing and singing is projected on the ceiling.
People walking with headphones on connected to a square device that plays some kind of old “cassette” like material, although with video hologram options now.  Ruffians huddling up in an ally to relieve one such music enthusiast of their gear… and most likely their life as well by the looks of it, and everyone else ignores it. Profesor Azalea  presses on and walk briskly for a man his age ignoring all the crime and awfulness. ‘This world will be better of in the void’ Nils said while shaking his head as he sees a young boy kicking a Lillipup.
The professor looks at them as he begins to speak once more. ‘All trainers are allowed to carry one active weapon, a “pair” still counts as one… if you carry a second weapon ..or more then 6 pokémon on you.. you are deemed a threat to the state and will be executed, I figure  you have already brought your own so we do not have to provide?’ Both Nils and Luther nod but the latter asks ‘More than six Pokémon do you not have a box system then?’ The profesor shakes his head and reacts in response ‘Nothing like in your world, you can drop off surplus Pokémon at the vault, so if you want to go hunt for a new pokemon and you carry six already take one to the vault preemptively, you can always swap them around and they will be send to your new location once you move. Ah we have arrived at the lab’
The professor opens a door, of  what would seem to have been an old restaurant of sorts before, some tinkered equipment can be seen in the back as he guides them towards a kitchen area that has been converted as well, heavy metal doors with numbers have replaced the coolers, and whatever store was next door has been converted to be a part of it as well. ‘Normally the new trainers will be subject to a test ..but you  use this waiting room to wait for your team members. I just hope they get here in time, feel free to use the tv in this room and take a seat.. do not break any gear though it all belongs to neo Aether… those who break Aether gear will be…’ the professor is interrupted by Luther ‘let me guess executed?’. The professor nods. ‘Your team mates should arrive shortly. My apologies for the hassle, I can not break their rules either.’ Luther and Nils nod, while Luther sits down Nils plays with the tv for a bit.  Only one channel of course, there is a movie on that channel. Three boys are walking down a railroad.

In the next episode episode, we will meet some more noble trainers, joining Luther and Nils on the Pokémon Gym challenge. Will the two doomsday priest be able to elude the group to their true intentions, will they be able to find out more about this Team Freak folks, and what atrocities does Rathole Town hold in store for our upcoming heroes? You will just have to wait and see what happens in the next installment of Pokémon Order and Chaos.
Until then, don’t go starting a dystopian corporate governance thing here..but stay  pink!
Until we read again! If you can’t wait, feel free to leave a like and a comment!