Review of Natsume's Book of Friends
Natsume Yuujinchou I started this anime knowing that it would be episodic and was already expecting something such as a story to not occur. After the first 2 episodes entertained me well and episode 3 was just ok, my hopes were completely dashed. The rest of season 1 was an immense insult, and incomprehensible. At the moment I am writing this review, I have already seen season 2. That's why it shocks me all the more that there is this massive fluctuation in quality. You can almost compare this show that way. Take your random shounen, take away the story, fighting, and watch only theworst of the filler episodes, and that too with no context in between. This, and nothing else, is how the first season feels.
Let's get to the positive aspect of the show first. It's relatively slow and simple, so it's easy to watch on the weekends, at least in the beginning. Likewise, some Yokai concepts were interesting.
Having chopped that off, I need to get into the issues in this anime.
The pacing is barely there, the episodes feel like half a movie and don't even glimpse a spark of tension or emotion.
The writing style is a disaster, half the episodes resemble the level of Indian Bollywood movies, both in scene changes, dialogues, and story writing.
Which bothered me even more, as this was much less the case in season two. And it's no justification that this is merely the beginning, such a lousy performance can't even begin to be called average in any world.
[Story 3]
Take Mushishi and Ushio & Tora and thus you get Natsume Yuujinchou.
This show is about the protagonist Natsume, who can see yokai and has gone through various traumatic experiences. He meets a Tsundereyokai, who threatens to eat him, but more than likes him.
Together they go through their daily lives and don't forget to do their daily quests by appeasing various Yokai or giving them back their names.
The actual backstories of the Yokai have potential on average, but none of it was used. By trying to make everything seem dramatic, it was proven that there was only hot air behind it. You can create a culinary masterpiece in drama out of a 3-minute case that has hardly any build-up.
[Characters 3]
Natsume is an average protagonist but has an acceptable perspective on the world in combination with his background.
Madara is a sidekick so far. However, I have to say that I love his design. How blunt and arrogant he looks, perfect for a cat.
The side characters (aside from the parents) are bad. They barely have any personality, weak dialogue, and almost no presence. Again, it's only like this in season 1, a lot of things were fixed in the following season.
[Music 4 / Animations 4]
The golden rule applies here too, never pause this anime if you want to live, the drawings are out of this world. The backgrounds are at least pleasantly drawn, but that was the least. The drawings of the faces are bad as soon as the characters are even in the minimal distance, as well as the motion animations.
The intro was below average as was the outro, but fits the quality of this show.
The osts are almost designed to underscore only one specific comedy scene, making them hard to match anything else.
[Conclusion 3]
Whatever experience this has been, I don't want to relive it again. Thank God I made it further, otherwise, I wouldn't have seen the sequel get any better. As for the first season, this is one of the worst performing seasons I've ever seen in every possible aspect. Whoever reads this review one day, believe me, you would have written this season better than the author.
[Enjoyment 2]