Xebek’s Blog

Natsume meets a dangerous youkai and learns more about Reiko from Shigeru.

Impressions:

This episode reminds me why I could watch season after season of this series. There are just some really nice stories and they usually get wrapped up within a single episode. Yet the important lessons keep carrying on throughout the season. This time around it is showing how much Natsume cares about that household and wants to protect it. But even though he wants to protect it he still doesn’t understand that he’s part of it. They’ve given him acceptance and happiness, but they are happy to have him around as well. He is part of the family and still hasn’t realized it.

What this episode did a nice job of was fleshing out Reiko and especially Shigeru. The father figure of the family really has been a background figure that hasn’t gotten much attention. Really is a good person which should be expected after getting to know Touko.

The connection between Reiko and Shigeru was definitely nice to see. Finally get to see her around people and it was more than a quick flashback that Natsume sees through youkai. She really was a nice person, but she had struggles with people. Those guys showed that strange behaviour gets you branded and soon you can’t easily get along. Of course she is strong enough to handle herself. Still I’m sure it was nice to have someone like Shigeru who wasn’t afraid to talk to you. It’s just too bad how things ended up finishing. She didn’t want to lie to him and yet probably shared Natsume’s fears of rejection. So instead she slowly separated herself from him rather than lie. Besides reiko has to know how dangerous youkai can be at times. She had to make some enemies along the way and probably wouldn’t want to drag someone she actually liked into it.

I did like seeing Natsume use the same technique that Reiko did. Now it made the youkai seem pretty stupid for falling for the same move twice. But it revealed that Natsume isn’t that far from how powerful Reiko was. Just that being on her own so much probably forced her to learn how to take care of herself. But this episode also made me wonder about her past with Madara. He can say some blunt things about her, but it’s clear that he cared about her.

It’s kind of ironic that Shigeru gets to do for Natsume, what he couldn’t do for Reiko. He and Touko gave Natsume a home and people who would care about him despite strange occurrences. After seeing the room there couldn’t be a doubt in his mind that there is a connection between the two. Yet maybe for that reason he walked through the door and reminded Natsume that it was his home. At least he could help one of them.

This is probably one of my favourite episodes from this second season. It did a nice job of fleshing out the family and Reiko. It’s really too bad that Reiko has passed away. Think that Natsume would have had an interesting time getting along with her.