Comments on: Natsume YuujinChou Review - 87,5/100

by: Firechick

Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:58:50 +0100

This was my all-time favorite anime of 2008 (along with a few other titles I can’t remember)! I rank it number 5 in my top 10 anime! I love it to bits! It’s dreamy, gentle, pleasant, comical (thanks to the cracktastic Nyanko-sensei!), subtle, cute, and even intense at points! But it touched my heart and I’m glad I watched it. It better get licensed or some butts will be kicked!

by: Machi

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:19:24 +0100

Doesn’t hurt to read the manga saris, anime tended to omit rather odd but somewhat significant details plus the last episode of the anime is an original episode not one based off the manga so it wouldn’t hurt to read ahead up to volume 6.

by: saris

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:30:18 +0100

The best anime of this season for me as well, I’m glad there ’s season 2 for this. Although I can’t say this one is the best of it’s kind but still a warm-hearted and peaceful story which centered on character thoughts and feelings is good enough for me. I have the mangas but guess I should wait for all the anime episodes to finish before reading it.

by: Machi

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:52:08 +0100

Errr you have to realize the minor characters, IE his classmates are really just there (they never really play an important part, so why keep expecting they will, at best they are just interactive backgrounds that help show the contrast to the old ostracizing life that Natsume had but the anime doesn’t really focus on the angst part so I guess the whole everyday classmate thing doesn’t come across as strongly.). As for hoping for more character development, well the recurring ones do get certainly more but from what I see the series itself is still very young and its only really starting to pick off, the firefly episode is actually a latter chapter and the difference in story telling is fairly noticeable from the previous episodes which were generally based off the first 2 volumes. Overall I do agree with the review of the series its quite an enjoyable light hearted and touching series. However, if you’re looking for something deeper and more intricate in detail I don’t think you should expect that much yet with the series.

by: Marmoset

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 02:16:43 +0100

I concede you’re right that Natsume has a fairly thorough background. I meant to say that my gripe was with how his classmates appear in every episode but, apart from two early episodes, they generally serve no purpose for the storyline or for Natsume’s character and have recieved little characterisation themselves. I’m not saying this should become a high school anime but Natsume is still a high school student and the series should give it a bit more attention.

I’m hoping the second season expands on the minor characters a little bit more (and features the book of friends more as well).

by: Kim

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:11:17 +0100

Marmoset, I completely disagree that Natsume Yuujinchou has no character development. For what is primarily an episodic series it develops the main character at least extremely well. If you compare Natsume’s relationship with both humans and youkai from the early episodes to the later ones there is a significant change.

And although Nyanko-sensei still claims he wants to eat Natsume you can also see how despite what he says he has grown to genuinely care about Natsume.

by: Marmoset

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:50:30 +0100

I like this series but I think calling it innovative is giving it a bit too much credit. The initial premise of the series seems to get completely forgotten after a few episodes and it almost descends into a ‘monster of the week’ format. Xxxholic did a similar thing but these episodic stories pushed along the development of the main cast. I don’t think this series does this well enough and Natsume and his classmates just don’t seem to be being developed with these stories that, while pleasant, just seem a little pointless.

It makes sense that this will be continued as there is clearly a fair amount of depth to this world, however it just feels like this should be a continuous story and not split into seasons.

by: Kim

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:07:24 +0100

This is my favorite series of 2008 for sure (followed by Kaiba). It might not be the most original or most complex. But it is such a warm hearted series that really gives me such a peaceful feeling after each episode. It might be corny to say but I think it is the “simplicity” of Natsume Yuujinchou that I love.