Natsume Yuujinchou Go Episode 1: [Unchanging Form][First Impressions]

I’m quite a new addition to the Natsume fanbase so I did not have to wait for very long to get this fifth season. Indeed, it’s when I finished Natsume Yuujinchou Shi that the announcement for season five was made. So I did not wait very long but it did seem like five years to me. So of course I’m extremely happy to get the show back! It’s the perfect series to enjoy with a cup of tea, in your bed, under a huge pile of warm blankets, and that’s exactly what I’m doing right now.

At the beginning of the episode, Natsume whises to  learn more about his grandmother Reiko. In town he sees a woman he knew when he was a kid and even if talking to her brings back some painful memories he decides to go and ask her if she knows something about his familly. We can clearly see that Natsume is still deeply affected by his childhood trauma but now, instead of keeping everything to himself he accepts to open his heart and to talk about his problems.

This episode also offered us anothershort story about yokais. This time, some sort of pot monster comes to Natsume, mistaking him for Reiko and asks him to return the thing he stole. After asking a few nice yokais, Natsume learns Reiko supposedly stole a doll from that yokai. Although Natsume and Nyan Goro don’t really believe  Reiko would have stolen anything without a good reason, they go look after the doll. When the pot monster runs away in order to steal his treasure, Natsume is grabbed by a bigger yokai that somehow allows him to see his memories of Reiko. In that sort of flash back, Reiko mentions she met a guy who is nice with her, so I guess it’s probably the father of one of Natsume’s parent.
Finally, Natsume with the help of Touko and Nyan Goro manage to repair the doll and the pot monster is happy.

What made me laugh a bit was when Natsume talked about his treasures, he was envisioning,the Yuujinchou, his foster family and Tanuma. Yup, not his friends, not that girl whom I forgot the name but who can feel the yokais’ presence, nope, Tanuma, the one and only. I’d like to shout “AHN GAY!” but I’ve decided that for this series, I’ll behave myself. I have all the opportunities to make this kind of jokes with Gakuen Handsome. 

Charibo’s first Impressions: 

Wow, what a great first episode. It wasn’t great because it surprised me and ended on a giant cliffhanger that leaves you excited for the next episode but it was exactly what I’ve been hoping for. I wanted to get my Natsume Yuujinchou back, true to itself, without adding some unnecessary drama or other features.
I’m also super happy to see Natsume again <3. You can throw rocks at me for saying that but Natsume is clearly the nicest animu guy ever. If I had to pick one guy to be my “husbando” ( I really hate that term), that would be him, he’s so realistically perfect that it hurts. He’s such a nice guy that I couldn’t dream of a nicest personality, and yes, I prefer the nice guy over all your tsunderes, kuudere and other guys with some issues. ALL HAIL NICE GUYS!

The opening and ending are both really nice songs, they are quite relaxing so it fits the show perfectly. The opening in particular reused the same elements than all the previous ones, Natsume riding on Nyan Goro’s back, a shot putting Reiko and Natsume back to back, the nice yokais doing nice youkai things and finally Natsume’s friends putting on a nice and welcoming face. As for the sound,  I recognized some tracks of the mythic tracks of the show that were used in this episode.

I would really like the show to take the “trying to discover more things about my past” route. I’d like to know more about Reiko but also about Natsume’s parents and I have the feeling that by doing this search, Natsume will probably continue to heal his own wounds. So that’s a win-win situation. Also, maybe by knowing his grandmother better, he will manage to differentiate himself from her. Since everyone, both yokais and humans do not make any difference between him and his grandmother, maybe knowing her past will help him do so.

The last frame of the opening shows the Yuujinchou, which is a bit dirty, being left off on a table as Natsume goes to meet with his friends. It can indicates that in this season we will witness the beginning  of the end of Natsume’s job. Now, he has his friends so he doesn’t really need the book of friends anymore. We’ll see, we’ll see…

There’s a lot of elements that make me believe the show wanted to give an impression of continuity, to serve the fans the same old recipe that everyone loves without changing anything. It’s like the long break did not affect the show and that nothing as changed. It’s even funnier when you know the title of the episode is [Unchanging form]. Natsume Yuujinchou has truly returned, unchanged but still as good as ever.

Also dat blushing Natsume: 10/10

Watching: You bet I will!

Covering: I’ll try a bit