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The wonderful world and story of Natsume Yuujinchou

GLast year, in the middle of my final exams, I was scrolling down on Facebook when I saw a picture. It was an animation of this strangely beautiful creature;  It was something like a long-pink/purple haired horse, with a lot of earrings and disturbing mental face expression. One of his/its hands were human’s, and the other one, a hoof. It reminded me - in some twisted way i cannot explain - to the typical Japanese animal-type youkais or ayakashis, like spirited away dragon, or maybe it was the type of creature that could be a boss fight in  Legend of Zelda or FF title .

Anyway, it immediately caught my attention, driving me instantly to look for it, the information the image could give me was the subtitle “die you inferior creatures” (which caught my attention even more) and the description: “Misuzu”, so I googled the name and what I got was this Clannad-like kawaii female character. After researching and researching, I finally found what I was looking for, and today I couldn’t feel more grateful. The awesome creature Misuzu was a secondary character of an anime called “Natsume Yuujinchou”; I’d never heard or read anything about it before, so the first thing I did was to look for its opening (the fire test for me), and It was beautiful. There was this regular boy (not a husbando type), with a kawaii cat and lots and lots of creatures like Misuzu, some looked human, another animal, other ghostly, other indescriptible. I looked for the plot and it seemed simple, and kind of “Meh” to me: the life of a boy who was born with the ability of see youkais. 

Even so, I decided to give it a shot, and some days later I asked my best friend to watch the first episodes with me. We saw like 5, and they were cute and calmed, nothing out of this world. It was about the regular-looking boy Natsume Takashi, who inherits a book in which the name of the spirits her grandmother defeated (apparently, she had the ability too) were written, and different stories that happened as he returned the spirits their names. At first I thought It would be a series for me to kill some time, nothing important; it had 5 seasons and the episodes didn’t have a continued line I had to follow, its episodic. So, just a distraction. Except it wasn’t. As I kept watching the episodes, they slowly started to snag my heart, until at the end, I realized they had owned it completely. 

I don’t want to do any spoilers, so I only want to talk about the generality of the series. I’m not analyzing it or making any kind of theoric contrast; as ridiculous as it sounds, this is just my heart speaking for me. Natsume Yuujinchou it’s a shoujo, but not a romantic one. It is about emotions, the purest reflect of feelings I’ve ever seen. Sad, deeply sad emotions, but truly beautiful emotions too. In his quest of giving the youkais their name back, he comes across other problems youkais have. These youkais are different among each other, - the variety is overwhelming-, and so are they problems, but Natsume always tries to be help. The youkai part of the series may not be realistic, but Natsume it’s so real it hurts… He is kindness personified, with all the vulnerability kindness brings. Loneliness, grief and fear are central in the series, but also the way Natsume deals with it.  He explores what his feelings were, what they could be, or maybe what they are and what they aren’t. His development within the seasons its marvelous, and so it is the development of the other main character: Nyanko sensei. I read in some webpage Sensei was a “Deus ex machina in the form of a chubby cat, who is actually the most ferocious wolf”, and I couldn’t agree more. He helps Natsume, forming this unique, delicate and sometimes quite humorous bond with him.

The music is magnificent in every way. I loved the openings, the endings, the atmospheric sound, the filling melodies, it all fit so good with everything in the series.

I downloaded the piano collections and now it’s my favorite studying, sleeping, eating… living music. In the moments, the series gifted me in which my heart just couldn’t soften more, the music achieved to melt it completely.

The animation is, for me, perfect. The colors, the lines, the character design, the background design, the houses, the trees, the plants, the animals, the food (oh my god, the food), and the youkais (oh MY GOD, the youkais) were absolutely wonderful. The Japanese folklore and the esthetics just works so good <3 This anime isn’t for everyone. I have recommended it to a lot of people and only one person feels the same as me. Even so, I don’t care.

I think it has something to offer for everyone, especially for me… for me, it’s a treasure, a true gem; I actually think I’ve become a better person thanks to Natsume. It gives you… I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s like it gives you the feeling of wanting to BE good, be kind. But what I like the most is that. Although how beautiful the series is, it doesn’t give you the message that if you have the purpose, you can achieve what you want. Its more real than that, it shows issues about growing up, about human cruelty and sadness, about love, friendship, family, human relationships and not-existing but same as real – in terms of emotions -youkai relationships. It reflects so good human nature.

I hope that someone feels the same as I do when I see Natsume, its truly something good (but I must warn you, tears are guaranteed). Oh, and also, season six (Natsume Yuujinchou Roku) is currently on air <3 So, yes, Tuesdays are the only thing I’m looking for right now, in the middle of a crappy semester. Thank you for so much, Natsume ~

ps. im sorry if i wasted someone’s time, this post is actually blubbering of someone who cannot get over her favorite series.

ps2. I haven’t read the manga, so I don’t know anything about the contrast of the anime with it

-Gabriela Rebagliati

-Well, It took me like 20 minutes to get this post done, because it has some really nasty format problems, but I ended up winning… Although some image or paragraph could be a little changed, it happen because I didn’t notice…

Anyways, great post, It’s a whole story on it’s own and this are the kind of things I like to see in the posts… But yeah, nothing to say here, except keep the good work and I hope to see more of you soon.

[alemsiel]

Disney on Tumblr

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I actually know a lesbian that's dating a guy

I know people who date people. It’s amazing. 

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Science Penguin [x]

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Fernando ...

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He kinda has a point :/

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parents: what do you want to be when you're older?

5 year old me: a vet.

parents: what do you want to be when you're older?

11 year old me: forensic anthrapologist.

parents: what do you want to be when you're older?

me now: i want to be a mermaird who lives in the mediterranean and lures sailors to their deaths.

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Bearded Vulture

These beautiful birds inhabit the Everest, the Himalayas and other mountainous regions of Europe and Asia. Bearded vultures were nearly eradicated in the last century due to fears that attack the lambs and kids, and now, the WWF estimates that there are only 10,000.

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Cutest Cheerleader Ever!

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Analemma. The sun’s position in the sky, photographed from the same location at the same time of day throughout a year, forms an analemma. This shows the sun’s apparent swinging from its northernmost position, at the analemma’s uppermost point, at summer solstice, to its southernmost position/lowest point, at winter solstice.

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🌑

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i swear to god theatre kids are the most superstitious people ive ever met someone said the m word at rehearsal today and a girl gasped like she had been shot

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