A boy named Natsume has always been surrounded by spirits. He inherits a book which belonged to his grandmother which contains the names of these spirits, forming a binding contract. With the help of a spirit cat, he tries to return the names to these spirits, freeing them.

Episode Summary

Natsume is on the run from a spirit who seems to be mistaking him for a girl named Reiko. He’s been seeing spirits since he was little, but since moving he’s been chased like this numerous times and has had to find a shrine in which to hide. This time around he accidentally breaks a seal at the shrine and releases a spirit in the form of a cat, who figures out that Reiko was Natsume’s grandmother. Reiko was a girl who could also see spirits, and began to confront them. He returns home and looks through a box of things to find his grandmother’s “Book of Friends”, and is immediately confronted by the spirit cat.

The cat, who’s after the book, offers to be his bodyguard. He explains that the book contains the names of the spirits that Reiko defeated with her immense spiritual power. They can’t resist the commands of whoever holds the book, so the spirits are searching for it in order to gain their freedom. The spirits from earlier come after him at home, and the cat helps Natsume to escape. Suddenly kitty transforms into his true form and threatens Natsume, who still won’t give up the book, since it’s a treasured inheritance from one of his few blood relatives. He asks how to give the names back to the spirits, to finish what his grandmother couldn’t. He must pray on the name of the spirit, hold the paper with its name on it in his mouth, concentrate, and blow, and the name will be released. When he does this, there’s a flashback to how Reiko defeated the spirit, and how it waited and waited for her to call its name.

Thoughts

Well, I think I’ve found something that I definitely want to watch more of already. Having been enchanted last year by the story of a boy who could see microbes, it’s not that much of a stretch for me to enjoy the story of a boy with similarly unusual powers, though the atmosphere of this show is very subdued and seems to focus more on the magic and beauty of the situations. In fact, one might be more apt to compare this show to Mushi-shi, since it appears it’ll be just as episodic and the supernatural elements present in this first episode seem to have a similar feel. Needless to say, I’m already becoming enthralled at this early stage; let’s hope that the show manages to maintain this atmosphere.

I’m interested that Natsume seems to receive a glimpse of his grandmother when he releases the spirits. It’s kind of a cool way to introduce the character when she’s someone who existed before this story even takes place. It’s interesting, because they kind of leave things up in the air as to whether Reiko was a just a jerk to all these spirits, or whether she had some other purpose. Heck, having been shunned for her ability, it may have been just her strange way of making friends with the only type of people who didn’t take her for a freak. I’m hoping that, by trying to accomplish his task, Natsume will get to know the grandmother he never got a chance to meet.

The visual style of this show is a bit unusual, since most of the spirits have sort of a cartoony, childish look to them which contrasts with the drama of the show. Obviously things aren’t meant to be completely serious – the cat spirit that joins up to help is quite comedic. But the emotional climax to the episode contrasted heavily with the spirit in question, a one-eyed creature who could have fit in pretty well in an episode of Ge Ge Ge Kitaro. I’m also admittedly a little bit disappointed in the animation. While it’s certainly serviceable enough for the content, considering it’s from the same studio that provided animation for Baccano! and Kurenai, I would have expected smoother movement and some cleaner-looking art.

However, the story’s the most important part, and so far I have to say that it’s well done. I’m hoping future episodes will have the same combination of supernatural fantasy and drama.

Pros

• Story concept is well-executed and builds emotional climax from the first episode
• Show creates good atmosphere

Cons

• Incongruous character designs may be hard to get used to

By Jessi – 09/01/08