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Link to original post: [drupal=4779]Natsume Yuujinchou (a semi-rant on San)[/drupal]
Hey people from UB land!
(warning: (unimportant) spoilers here and there)
Lately I've been spending some time watching anime again. While browsing for things to watch (like my list of 100 isn't enough already), I bumped into an anime called Natsume Yuujinchou. It sparked my interest when I read the synopsis:
Making a long story short, season 1 and 2 were AMAZING. They had a great atmosphere, great characters, development within them, great conversation et cetera.
I moved on to season 3. I noticed that there was quite a time-leap between season 2 and season 3 (2009 vs 2011), but didn't find it odd in any way.
Just to catch you guys up, season 1 was completely episodic. Season 2 had two stories, one lasting through 2 episodes and the other lasting through 2/3 episodes (foreshadowing in the first, with the meat of the story in the other two).
Season 3 started with a recap, just like season 2 did. It's not thrown in your face, neither is it lacking in information, they did it just right. I noticed that the art style got brushed up, nice touch, I think to myself.
You see, the art style is really simplistic which overall fits the show. I don't really mind the "new" art style, but it was unnecessary in my opinion. Oh well, continuing...
They rounded up the first episode with a quick plot. I didn't know what it was back here, but I didn't like the feeling of the first episode. I decided to watch until episode 4. Once again I'll shorten it all for you, episode 2/3 had the same feeling, but episode 4 was different. Episode 4 felt really good.
I decided to sleep a night over the anime, and thinking back the next morning, I actually really did like episode 1-3, it's just that they changed the theme, which brings me to the first point of my semi-rant; the theme.
Theme
The theme of the first 2 seasons was loneliness. Loneliness is a great theme, but, in my opinion, a hard one to pull off. Natsume Yuujinchou NAILED it. The episodic nature of the show really helped towards the feeling of loneliness. Every episode introduced a new meeting and parting. A new life, a new past, new dreams and new conflict. It was done really well.
Season 3 changed the theme. Season 3 was more in the light of friendships. Natsume discovers that he's not alone anymore. You see, being a person being able to see youkai and getting scared by them made him get bullied in his past. He had no parents, and moved around a lot. The youkai scared him, the people bullied him. He had no real friends, except for the rare friendly youkai.
Eventually Natsume settled down with the Fujiwara's, who really love him as a son. He gets friends and meets people who share his gift (or interest therein). For example, there's a boy who can sense presences of youkai, there's a girl who's grandfather researched youkai, he meets an exorcist and stuff like that. The development/introduction of these characters is done REALLY well too.
So yeah, Natsume finally has friends and loved ones. Personally, this left me with a completely different taste in my mouth. In the end of most episodes in season 1/2, I was left with something to think about, or with a catch in the voice. Season 3 was a season which left me with a smile during every episode. However, loneliness is, to me, much more interesting than friendship.
Episode 4 of season 3 was based around loneliness. It flashed back to Natsume's past.
Continuing, there was one more thing I started to notice over the episodes. I started noticing the music more often. Though let me tell you, the music is really good. However, I felt that in season 1/2, it was more of an enhancer. The simple music, the peaceful soundtrack, pointless bickering of Madara and Natsume, it all felt so... right. It was all spot on. Which brings me to my second (though minor) point:
Music
I felt that in season 3, the music served more as a glue than a strengthener. The music had to be there to keep things together, to keep the atmosphere going. Season 1/2 was much more solid in terms of music, because it fit in with everything else, it didn't finish it, it was all a part of the natural atmosphere.
Once again, this is more of a personal preference. I 100% think that the music deserves as much spotlight as possible, it's wonderful. I personally just preferred the old way of putting things together.
All in all, season 3 was definitely really good. There's this last point which is not personal preference though, and which I just straight-out disliked. That's laziness.
Madara's transformation
You see, the formula for an average episodic episode in season 1/2 was this:
Natsume has a good day
Trouble foreshadowing
It's all cool
Things unfold
Someone (usually Madara) saves the day
It's all cool again
Now, Madara actually transforms from his cat form to his HOLY **** THIS IS AWESOME form. Now in season 3, they let Madara use an ability, a light-flash. This light flash is also enabled in his cat form, meaning that if he had to save the day, he could simply do the light-flash. This really decreased tension in the show, imo.
But yeah, all in all, I really did love Natsume Yuujinchou. I eventually took season 3 for what it is and learned to love the different theming. I could definitely recommend watching it for anyone who likes to watch an anime with a chill atmosphere, without being boring at all.
Thanks for reading, peeps ;D
Hey people from UB land!
(warning: (unimportant) spoilers here and there)
Lately I've been spending some time watching anime again. While browsing for things to watch (like my list of 100 isn't enough already), I bumped into an anime called Natsume Yuujinchou. It sparked my interest when I read the synopsis:
I decided to see how many episodes it has, when I discovered it was 3 seasons long so far. That was quite discouraging, but there were only 13 episodes/season. I decided to watch it.
Making a long story short, season 1 and 2 were AMAZING. They had a great atmosphere, great characters, development within them, great conversation et cetera.
I moved on to season 3. I noticed that there was quite a time-leap between season 2 and season 3 (2009 vs 2011), but didn't find it odd in any way.
Just to catch you guys up, season 1 was completely episodic. Season 2 had two stories, one lasting through 2 episodes and the other lasting through 2/3 episodes (foreshadowing in the first, with the meat of the story in the other two).
Season 3 started with a recap, just like season 2 did. It's not thrown in your face, neither is it lacking in information, they did it just right. I noticed that the art style got brushed up, nice touch, I think to myself.
You see, the art style is really simplistic which overall fits the show. I don't really mind the "new" art style, but it was unnecessary in my opinion. Oh well, continuing...
They rounded up the first episode with a quick plot. I didn't know what it was back here, but I didn't like the feeling of the first episode. I decided to watch until episode 4. Once again I'll shorten it all for you, episode 2/3 had the same feeling, but episode 4 was different. Episode 4 felt really good.
I decided to sleep a night over the anime, and thinking back the next morning, I actually really did like episode 1-3, it's just that they changed the theme, which brings me to the first point of my semi-rant; the theme.
Theme
The theme of the first 2 seasons was loneliness. Loneliness is a great theme, but, in my opinion, a hard one to pull off. Natsume Yuujinchou NAILED it. The episodic nature of the show really helped towards the feeling of loneliness. Every episode introduced a new meeting and parting. A new life, a new past, new dreams and new conflict. It was done really well.
Season 3 changed the theme. Season 3 was more in the light of friendships. Natsume discovers that he's not alone anymore. You see, being a person being able to see youkai and getting scared by them made him get bullied in his past. He had no parents, and moved around a lot. The youkai scared him, the people bullied him. He had no real friends, except for the rare friendly youkai.
Eventually Natsume settled down with the Fujiwara's, who really love him as a son. He gets friends and meets people who share his gift (or interest therein). For example, there's a boy who can sense presences of youkai, there's a girl who's grandfather researched youkai, he meets an exorcist and stuff like that. The development/introduction of these characters is done REALLY well too.
So yeah, Natsume finally has friends and loved ones. Personally, this left me with a completely different taste in my mouth. In the end of most episodes in season 1/2, I was left with something to think about, or with a catch in the voice. Season 3 was a season which left me with a smile during every episode. However, loneliness is, to me, much more interesting than friendship.
Episode 4 of season 3 was based around loneliness. It flashed back to Natsume's past.
Continuing, there was one more thing I started to notice over the episodes. I started noticing the music more often. Though let me tell you, the music is really good. However, I felt that in season 1/2, it was more of an enhancer. The simple music, the peaceful soundtrack, pointless bickering of Madara and Natsume, it all felt so... right. It was all spot on. Which brings me to my second (though minor) point:
Music
I felt that in season 3, the music served more as a glue than a strengthener. The music had to be there to keep things together, to keep the atmosphere going. Season 1/2 was much more solid in terms of music, because it fit in with everything else, it didn't finish it, it was all a part of the natural atmosphere.
Once again, this is more of a personal preference. I 100% think that the music deserves as much spotlight as possible, it's wonderful. I personally just preferred the old way of putting things together.
All in all, season 3 was definitely really good. There's this last point which is not personal preference though, and which I just straight-out disliked. That's laziness.
Madara's transformation
You see, the formula for an average episodic episode in season 1/2 was this:
Natsume has a good day
Trouble foreshadowing
It's all cool
Things unfold
Someone (usually Madara) saves the day
It's all cool again
Now, Madara actually transforms from his cat form to his HOLY **** THIS IS AWESOME form. Now in season 3, they let Madara use an ability, a light-flash. This light flash is also enabled in his cat form, meaning that if he had to save the day, he could simply do the light-flash. This really decreased tension in the show, imo.
But yeah, all in all, I really did love Natsume Yuujinchou. I eventually took season 3 for what it is and learned to love the different theming. I could definitely recommend watching it for anyone who likes to watch an anime with a chill atmosphere, without being boring at all.
Thanks for reading, peeps ;D
