Natsume's Book of Friends: Season 3 Blu-ray Review
Natsume's book is overdue.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, March 12, 2013
Joining a series cold in the third season might seem to be a bit of a daunting task, but in the case of
Natsume's
Book of Friends it's really not as hard as might be imagined. (This is the first Blu-ray set of
Natsume's Book of
Friends, though the first two seasons are available in a Premium Edition DVD set from NIS America
here.) The series
quickly establishes its premise while evoking a moody, mystical quality that is rather haunting and distinctive.
Natsume's Book of Friends might be thought of as an anime sibling to little Cole in
The Sixth Sense, but in this case Takashi Natsume doesn't
see dead
people, he sees spectral
yokai, the fanciful creatures that are a part of Japanese folklore.
Yokai can be frankly scary or they can be decidedly more whimsical, and
Natsume's Book of Friends is
filled to the brim with both kinds, not to mention a range in between these two extremes. The basic setup of the series
is that Natsume has inherited a book from his late grandmother Reiki. Reiki was a noted
yokai hunter, and after
having defeated various ghouls and goblins, she wrote their names in her book, contractually obligating the specters to
obey her will. What this means is that Natsume is constantly being chased by various
yokai who want their
freedom back. Also, since Natsume has the special "gift" of being able to see
yokai (the spirits are of course
generally invisible to the public at large), he's often recruited to do special tasks for them. The idea of a younger
generation becoming aware of an ancestor's supernatural monster fighting abilities is rather reminiscent of the current
NBC series
Grimm (filmed in
my hometown of Portland, Oregon), but
Natsume's Book of Friends is a considerably gentler exercise than the
live action show, and in some ways feels like a cousin to some of Hayao Miyazaki's fabled Studio Ghibli pieces. As in
Miyazaki's work, there's a very palpable dreamlike quality to a lot of the storytelling, as if we've been sucked into an
alternate universe where things
seem to be real and relatively rational but where unexpected elements
suddenly morph or penetrate into that supposed "reality" to create a completely different environment.
The worlds of folklore and fairy tale are filled with this same dreamlike ambience, and that's probably at least one
reason
this form of story is often utilized at bedtime to help transport children to another realm of consciousness (though of
course many fairy tales, notably some by the Grimm Brothers themselves, are rather gruesome in their original forms
and
therefore probably prone to create nightmares more than dreams). A lot of
Natsume's Book of Friends plays out
in
what could almost be termed a childlike fashion, with quiet but deliberate plot movement that nonetheless has a
slightly
disturbing undertone to it. Something as simple as meeting an elderly woman by the side of the road is fraught with an
almost subconscious terror at times, and that intuitive fear just as often turns out be well founded, though in the series
nothing ever gets to an overly grisly state of affairs. Instead this series plays more on the subtle trepidation that kids
feel
when, for example, they hear one of those fabled "bumps in the night" that have no immediate or apparent cause and
are
a scary symbol of the unknown.
Though it's not an integral plot point, the series also makes some subtle comments about perceived "outsiders".
Natsume discovers that his grandmother Reiki was in fact ostracized for being some kind of mutant during his lifetime,
and if Natsume's personal life isn't
quite that bad, it's obvious that his peers look at him with at least a bit of a
dubious quality. This also plays into Natsume's wishes to fee himself of the
yokai yoke (so to speak); though
it's not really dealt with overtly, there's kind of an implication that if only Natsume could cancel the contracts his
grandmother put into effect back in the day, not only would the
yokai be liberated, so would Natsume, allowing
him to become just another "normal" teenager.
Much like in Miyazaki's iconic work,
Natsume's Book of Friends is often surprisingly quiet, introducing natural
elements at unexpected times (a gorgeous golden butterfly will suddenly flit by, or in the midst of some angst Natsume
will suddenly gaze up and about at tree leaves rustling in a gentle breeze). This ties the hidden world of the
subconscious, the typical lair of ghouls, goblins and amorphous beasties, in with the sometimes mysterious "real" world
of the forest and other sylvan environments and it gives
Natsume's Book of Friends a very distinctive ambience.
Like many of NIS America's releases, this isn't "in your face" anime entertainment in any way. It's usually (though not
always) rather restrained, delivering its hypnotic spell in almost a monotone at times. This isn't to say the series isn't
captivating, for a lot of the time, it undeniably is. The show is filled with a variety of whimsical characters (including
Natsume's sidekick, a wisecracking "recovering
yokai" in the form of a fat cat who has a sweet tooth which help
to give it a flavor all its own. If you're willing to relax and be slowly ensnared by the trance like state
Natsume's
Book of Friends has to offer, you'll find yourself in a dream world quite unlike anything else in contemporary anime.
Natsume's Book of Friends: Season 3 Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation
I frankly hadn't caught the first two season of
Natsume's Book of Friends and so wasn't sure if I was going to be
able to jump headlong into the third season and understand, let alone enjoy, the show. I needn't have worried. The third
season gives just enough background and context to orient newcomers while not dredging up
too much back story
to bore those who are already acclimated to the series. This is a deliberately languid, slow moving show that nonetheless
ends up packing an unexpected wallop. It artfully creates a world that seems poised halfway between waking and
dreaming and it very smartly outlines the deep emotions of a boy who feels ostracized from his general surroundings.
In Jewish tradition, the time span between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is spent with individuals atoning for their sins in
order to guarantee they'll be written into The Book of Life for another year.
Natsume's Book of Friends offers a
different kind of tome, a veritable Book of Death that has ensnared generations of
yokai who are aching to be set
free. While that gives the series a definite supernatural edge, a lot of the emotion this unassuming little anime manages to
convey comes from Natsume's inner angst at having to deal with the
yokai, not the
yokai themselves. This
may not be earth shattering entertainment, but it's exceedingly well done and really crafts a very visceral spell in a
surprisingly short amount of time. This Premium Edition set from NIS America is on the pricey side, but it has the requisite
bells and whistles that usually accompany these outings from the label. With very good audio and video,
Natsume's
Book of Friends comes
Recommended.
