AKA: 夏目友人帳 漆 (Natsume Yūjin-Chō Shichi)

Genre: Supernatural drama, slice of life.

Length: Television series, 13 episodes, 24 minutes each

Distributor: Currently available streaming on crunchyroll.

Content Rating: PG-13 (Mild violence, mature situations, scary yokai.)

Related Series: Season 1-6 (TV with accompanying OAVs), Ephemeral Bond (movie)

Also Recommended: Haibane Renmei, Gingitsune, Tonari no Yokai-san.

Notes: Based on the manga by Yuki Midorikawa, serialized in LaLa. The manga is still licensed by Viz.

Rating:

Natsume's Book of Friends season 7

Synopsis

As long as there are names still needing to be returned (although its frequency seems to have lessened somewhat), the yokai will still seek out Natsume, either to get their name back or to steal the book of friends itself. Beyond that, life is as ever a series of vaguely connected events between him, the yokai or his friends at school. Aunt Touko requires a garden extension, while Chobi laments the loss of his favorite comb. And even beyond that, it's always time to try one's hand at pottery or miniature gardens. There's never really any lack of things to do or experience.

Review

Seven years. That's how long it's been since I watched the sixth season of Natsume's Book of Friends. (Although the movie was released one year later.) While I am exceedingly happy to see more of this show, I didn't really expect any more of this to be made. Good to be wrong, I suppose.

It is kind of weird to look back at my review for the first season and see how much of a stranger everyone in the show felt to me. At the time -- and this was even longer ago -- I wasn't really sure what to make of it. The art style leaned shoujo (although perhaps also towards seinen a bit), but without the typical romantic elements that goes with it. In a sense, Natsume's Book of Friends celebrates love in any of its forms, whether that be the relationship between Natsume and his friends, or Natsume and the many yokai he meets. And then there's the relationship between the yokai themselves. Once we're past the season introductory episode, we get a double whammy that is Natsume's sheer sense of gratitude for the people who gave him a safe play to stay and to live, and also a group of five yokai who kept taking stones that Natsume meant to use for a new garden for aunt Touko to use for their little house and garden in a box. Perhaps selfishly, they tried blackmailing Natsume to help them with the restoration project that is said box, because they themselves lacked the hands required to prepare the box for their patron Goddess, Shidahime, and the banquet that is her welcome back party. It's that thoughtfulness that makes this show such an absolute joy to watch.

And this is Natsume's Book of Friends at its absolute best. If any episodes of past seasons has made it very hard to hold the tears back, then it's usually been stuff involved any of its characters appreciating the presence or efforts of others, however small they be. Midorikawa really has a gift for words when it comes to how to let the dialogue drive the point home. A simple but well-timed farewell was used to devastating effect in the very first two episodes of the first season, so I'm a bit grateful that season 7 is going a bit easier on me in that regard.

The show even has the weirdest surprise in store for me too. Among Natsume's Friends, we have the group of yokai named the "mid-rankers", made up of a group of smaller yokai. (Which means about human-sized or smaller.) Among them we have Chobi, a seemingly humanoid one with a head as large as the rest of him, and his large head sports an equally large moustache that he takes great pride in maintaining. Episode 5 centers around his grooming comb being broken, and although he can still use it to some extent, he realizes he has to find a new one and soon. The problem being that he made his old comb out of a shell he really liked, and he can't really make a new one until he finds an equally beautiful item to use for a base. As it turns out, however, Natsume had seen a magnificent dragon flying across the sky, seemingly dropping something that glitters in the evening sun. With the help of the mid-rankers, he sets out to gather one of the dragon scales to present it to Chobi as the item he could use to make a new comb. I had already read the story arc in the manga, so I alerady knew how it would play out, but it really is a jaw-slacker of an episode.

If there is one thing that I tend to favor less from Natsume's Book of Friends, then that would be the appearances of Matoba, particularly if it involves more members of his family. I don't really know if Midorikawa originally meant for him to be an antagonist, and maybe that's a bit of a stretch to reference him as, but he tends to be among the more unpleasant aspects of the show. He tends to be accompanied episodewise by Natori, who is a bit more moderate for a professional exorcist. It's still a bit hard to see who is influenced by who, but where Natsume serves as the show's personification of kind thoughtfulness and Natori is the more jaded alternative that will get down to the brass tacks if he has to, Matoba is still presented as someone who will be more than happy to manipulate and use people purely for their powers alone. Matoba once asked Natsume how he managed to control such an impressive force of incredibly powerful yokai, to which Natsume irritatingly replied that he didn't control them at all, and I'm not sure if Matoba -- who is set in his belief that powers needs to be controlled -- refuses to listen or if he just can't imagine it. There might be some signs that he is softening up -- and to be fair, he does have a rather nasty yokai trying for his eye at a regular basis -- so in that respect, the Matoba-centric episodes were a bit more pleasant than the earlier ones where he's shown up.

We even return to Taki in one episode. Although she is a bit more open now than when she was under the threat of a terrifying yokai that had promised to eat her and the ten last people she had talked to, she still comes across as a bit of a mystery to her other classmates. We are introduced to her older brother in the episode centered around her this time, and the episode itself acts like this is the first time we've seen him. Which it might very well have been for the anime; it's kind of hard when I've caught up with and far surpassed the anime through the manga. Taki's brother seems a bit surly -- he is a realist, as Taki points out -- and it's a bit amusing when he says Natsume is being direct when everything he says seems rather borderline rude. Things are of course not that simple, and the whole thing about his return to his old home is tied with their grandfather, the man who had apparently researched the sigil that allows normal people to see yokai, which accidentally lead Taki into her rather unfortunate situation. Natsume quickly discovers that Taki's brother has a shadow hanging over him, which is what causes his discomfort in the old house. He also shares his sister's innate weakness for cute stuff, like Nyanko-sensei, which is honestly kind of adorable. (And explains why their grandfather was so into seeing yokai; he probably saw some of the smaller ones once through circumstance and set out to be able to do so again. As it turns out, all the hubbub around her brother's return and his seeming discomfort at being inside the house tied itself to another childhood memory. Right before Taki was born, Isamu (said brother) went with his grandfather to a nearby river to find some stones they could paint as a welcome gift for her. Like with Natsume making Touko a new spot to plant some flowers, this becomes another fascinating aspect of the kind of thoughtfulness that -- as I've mentioned before -- permeates everything that makes this show so good. The shadow that seemed to possess him wasn't really of the malicious type despite its slightly scary visage, and served as another reminder that yokai in general just live completely different lives compared to humans.

Visually, the show looks as good as ever. The scenery features a lot of old buildings, often reclaimed by nature, and the typical countryside elements from the show is still present. It's very meticulously designed to be a countryside suburb that still has a lot of pieces from its own spiritual lore, be that shrines or temples or even old family buildings. The animation is still quite decent, with none of the random derpfaces that tend to plague a lot of newer anime shows. It's not necessarily an energetic show, but that doesn't have to mean it's easier to make. The change in animation studios seems to have had a less of an effect than... say, Laid-Back Camp's did. The whole thing is framed by the music, and... well, honestly, if you've followed this show this far, you know exactly where the score is at. The season also gets suitable opening and ending themes to frame each episode.

Natsume's Book of Friends has been released at a... fairly steady pace, at least starting out. I don't know if they feel they have to wait until more manga is released that they can adapt -- earlier filler episodes have been a mixed bag, to say the least. And at the pace this last season have been release, I wonder if I should consider it a game if I'll be getting an eight season before I turn 60. But season 7 was definitely worth waiting for. Natsume's Book of Friends is still going incredibly strong. As always, do not miss out on this.

It's honestly hard to overstate how nice it is to see this show again. I will keep reading and, if more anime is to come, keep watching. That is something to look forward to. — Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: As always, yokai can be scary, as can some of the human members of the cast. That being said, the show isn't aggressively violent; most of the punches thrown have comical effects.