AWTY 84 - Hot Boy Summer (Natsume's Book of Friends with Brian Anderson)

Hello.

Hello, and welcome to our weeds. There yet in exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I am an anime expert, dana hollander.

And I'm brenda mccullough, your anime. John arbuckle, the guy for starfish.

Okay, I don't quite see the connection.

I know nothing about this show. Besides it's about a guy and a cat. That's it's. garfield.

Damn it, you're right. Oh, God.

Prove me wrong.

Made garfield. Again.

Again. Damn it.

To help us prove Brendan wrong, we have a guest this week. You know him as Opera in welcome to Demon School. irma kun. And delta in bay blade burst rise. We have Brian Anderson.

Hey. Hi, Brian. Hello.

Friend of ours and our friend of the show.

Yes.

Finally locking it in. It's been too long.

You know him as vanesh from our dnd game with a lot of people.

Get us started.

Well, yeah, this has been a long time coming because in, like, September of 2019, we're like, hey, Brian, are you interested? We have this little thing coming up. After four kids, we know there's a show you want to watch. We'll do it after that. And then, like, six months later, here we are.

We did it, but we followed through. And that's the important thing, you know, we did.

We committed.

We didn't drop the ball. Yeah, we threw it up just very far into the air. Forgot about it for six months, and.

Then it came back into the atmosphere and we were like, what is that? Oh, shit. Comes here.

Come drop.

Ryan can leave a crater on the earth.

Yeah, like a Dragon Ball Z sized crater.

Just flat out Yancha's in the bottom of it. Dead again. Such a useful scary, but welcome. We're having you on for one of your favorite shows.

My absolute favorite show of all time. I'm so excited.

So, what are we watching this week, Brian?

We are watching natsume's Book of Friends, also known as natsume eugen Show.

Very nice.

Sounds pure and wholesome.

Have any of you heard of it before or seen it?

You told me about it. I remember distinctly. We were at copan ramen after some workshop and you were telling it.

Oh, my God. Good.

Yeah.

I've only heard of it from you recommending it, so I love nothing about it.

Very good. Yeah, sometimes people have seen the characters, like, cat character around.

I feel like it'll be one of those where I've probably seen it and just never realize that's what it was from.

Got you. Well, cool. I'm so happy to share this with you and force you to watch it.

We need a nice palette cleanser after my bullshit last week.

I also think that the title just sounds delightful.

Yeah.

Book of Friends. Love that.

Yeah, we need a book of friends in our life, don't we? A contact list of sorts.

Ryan really brought just a beam of light to this podcast. Three minutes.

We got to bounce it out. One of who also is a delightful young lad that brought a BMO light to us. satchbell.

Anyway, no one else has seen this. It looks like The mango was published in 2005. Do you know when the anime came out, Brian?

I think it started in 2008 and ran until 2017. There's 74 episodes total. I took extensive notes.

Certainly not.

No.

Yeah, I pulled up the wiki page. As you were saying. That spot on.

That's a long running series.

Yeah, it's a pretty long running series.

Yeah, that's a very long run for so few episodes.

I think there was a big break at some point, and then it came back.

Got you.

Like Harvey birdman, Attorney at Law, technically ran for five years, but only had three seasons because it just went on hiatus for, like, three years. That's my favorite anime.

Yeah, because it I love that show.

Which studios for the last two seasons.

Yeah.

So that's probably why there was a break.

Interesting.

Look forward to finding out about about it.

Yeah.

So we're going to watch episodes one, six, and seven.

Let's make some friends.

Sit down. Don't forget that warm summer breeze, those mellow vibes.

What?

So what is the feeling? Is this happiness? It's been so long.

It's been so wrong. We bought soyds, like, two weeks ago. Isn't that your happiness?

A little. It hits different.

Okay.

That's a different kind of happiness.

Yeah, that's usually the Brendan happiness of making other stuff.

Happiness and other people.

This was wholesome happiness.

Yeah, I'm happy, but I'm also crying. It's a weird feeling for me.

So, yeah, we'll jump right into episode one. We have a voice in the darkness saying, oh, I needs it. I wants it. Give it back, lady. And we see a boy running through the woods being chased by something purple with one big eye.

It's grimace. He wants milk.

Grimmis.

Oh, no.

I'm here for your milkshake.

I want the milkshake.

The grimace has been a yokai this whole time.

Oh, no.

Probably Donald was shaman.

My college thesis has proven ripe. They called me crazy. They kicked me out.

They couldn't handle the truth.

They couldn't handle the truth.

So we cut two boys walking along a path in the woods, just chatting. And then a boy tears out of the trees and falls in front of them. And they're like, not sume. Hey, what's up? Why all this? Are you good? He's like, oh, yeah, I'm fine. unrelated, is there a shrine around here somewhere? And they're like, yeah, like, right over there. He's like, cool.

Bye.

And just keep sprinting away from them. And as they're like, oh, that was weird. A big rush of wind goes past them. And they're like, oh, that's crazy how nothing passed, just the wind. So we cut back to natsume, who's running away, and we see he's being chased by a giant purple eyed woman thing. And just as he's about to get to the shrine, he's caught by her and pinned up against a tree, and she's demanding to get it back. And she has a weird little humanoid purple helper thing who says, oh, you got to rip out her tongue so you can't say her name. And he's like, but I'm a boy. That's I'm not a girl. What's going on here?

I like my tongue.

But he fights. He punches her in the eye and runs to the shrine. And we get a little bit of info dump here of for the longest time, he's been connected with the spirit world and can see spirits no one else can. We see flashbacks of him as a child being like, oh, we have to give dinner to the ghost woman in the room. And his parents are like, oh, shit. And they don't believe him, and they dismiss him. So he's hiding the fact that he can see these ghosts at this point in his life.

And I want to say I love that flashback. I think it's so interesting and cool and really shows kind of why nazima is the way that he is, because his foster parents in that scene aren't necessarily that mean to him. The foster mom is saying, I'm sorry, I just don't see what you're seeing. They're always going to have this layer of misunderstanding with natsume, which I think we see later on is why he has a hard time connecting with others. And I think that's really beautiful because it's similar to real life. There's, like, no easy solution. You just don't understand each other. There's just like this misunderstanding between people. I love it.

Yeah, it's never presented as like, you idiot child, stop making stuff up. Or, oh, this child's crazy. We need to institutionalize him. Just like, sorry, but I don't see your imaginary friend. But we're still hanging out and having a good time.

My imaginary friend has a knife that keeps waving it at. Some of these spirits are assholes.

Yeah, one of them in the flashback is like an elephant looking thing is like humping a vase.

Is that what it was?

I thought it was tending to flowers.

It looks like it, but just so closely, like movement. So he gets to the shrine, but he accidentally breaks a rope. And we hear a voice go, ha ha, you've set me free. The trap. And we see a small cabinet start to shake and an evil spirit is released that explodes. And we see a fortune cat statue just sitting there. So we see that this explodes out and a cat spirit appears, just a chill old man voice.

I love him. I love it.

So he explodes out and he says, oh, thank you, rico, for setting me free. And he's like, who hoomst. That's not me. Wait, that's my grandma's name. So why her? And we get slightly more info dumpy about natsume's grandmother also could see spirits and was sort of renowned in this area for being an undefeated spirit defeater.

Did you not want to say demon slayer?

No, it's trademark.

This another show we can't legally I.

Mean, I know nothing about it, so it truly was not on my mind.

And then I would have laughed at myself.

Because it's not like, oh, she's a hunter. She's vicious.

It's not like killing them.

Yeah, the whole premise is she has a book of friends that they keep vague at this point, but it's a little unclear. So he asks about this book of Friends and vanishes. And natsumi is like, oh, I think I still have that book from grandma. Let me go home and try to dig that up because I guess I lost the giant spirit for now. Yeah, sort of just unaddressed leave it at that. So he goes home. His guardian toko, is there. She's concerned, sees he's all muddied up from running through the woods. And she's like, oh, she's nice. She's definitely taking good care of him. But he goes up into his room. He sort of thinks about how, like, grandma used to live on this land, but everyone thought she was a weirdo because she tried talking to spirits and no one believed her. So she's sort of an isolated person. No one really remembers her anymore because she didn't have a lot of human friends. So he digs out this book from a box. The cat spirit appears and is like, oh, great.

You have the book.

Give it to me. And Tax turns vicious. We see tuko downstairs is like, everything cool. I hear some rustling. You fighting yourself up there, champ?

Their relationship gives me very much early seasons of buffy vibes, where he's like, I can't tell my mom I'm the slayer to protect her.

Got to keep her safe.

Got to keep her safe.

But she leaves to run some errands, and he plays it off, and he goes back, and the cat has launched himself and is stuck in the wall. So he's like, I'll leave you there, you piece of shit, trying to kill me in my own home. So he's arguing with the cat about his true form because he's like, I'm not scared of you. You're just a small cat. He's like, no, it's a ruse. It's an illusion. I'm so powerful and good. I'm such a tough cookie.

So round. I love.

So cute.

So he says for setting him free from the shrine, he owes him life debt, and he's going to be his bodyguard. And natsua is like, why do I need a bodyguard? And another info dump. Sort of the whole premise of the Book of Friends. The Book of Friends is the names of spirits that rico has defeated in her life. She took their names so they were subservient to her, and she could call on them when needed.

Away vibes.

No, this whole thing is just dripping with miyazaki energy. So all the spirits in the book can be summoned and are subservient to whoever holds it. But if you damage the book or the pages with the names on them, it also damages the spirits. So it's also very powerful if it falls into the wrong hands.

It was around this point where I'm like, friends is a generous term for one.

Yes, it is. Very generous.

Blackmail.

Sorry.

Yeah. That for some reason was less catchy.

Natsume'S book of hostages. Yeah, that's what I was looking for.

So someone calls from downstairs. Natsimae goes and answers. And it's the creepy helper spirit from before. And the giant spirit comes in and chases him and they go running. The cat friend I forgot to mention is like, since I'm your bodyguard, just call me sensei. I'm going to teach you how to deal with these spirits.

Now I don't want to give him his name because then he'd have power over them.

Yeah.

So they jump into the bushes and hide and the spirits run off and he's like, okay, so this book is super dangerous. You can't handle it. You're going to give me the book and I'll take care of it. And he's like, no. So kat finally reveals his true form, which is like a big wolfy spirity thing again. Miyazaki reminds me of the wolf from mononoke.

Yeah, I was getting vibes of that too.

So he refuses to fights him off. Just gives him a good BOP on the nose. Like, okay, no, I'm keeping this book. You can't take it from me. But I want to give all the spirits their names back. Because it's been decades, they should get their names back. But if I die in the process, I promise I'll leave the book to you. He's like, oh, okay, so let's team up and win win for me. I'll get your book if you die. Great.

Cool.

I kind of got Death Note vibes from that of like reeve talking with light, being like, yo, I'm going to write your name in that book. Eventually you're going to be dead. It's going to be mine again. But until then, I'll help you.

Interesting.

Like just biding his time.

Yeah. Reminds me of Black Butler a little bit.

Just the contract and the show is very reminiscent.

Yeah, there's so much going on.

Kind of improves upon a lot of the things.

So they team up and the cat fights the weirdo assistant guy. We learn that cat's real name is madara and Power. And natsume runs to take care of the giant sensei. Cat says, okay, the way to give their names back, you have to rip out the sheet of paper, bite the page, focus, and blow out. And it will send their name back to them. So Natsmey does that for the giant woman. And we get a flashback to rico getting her name.

I feel like this flashback encapsulates the whole show. Basically this sequence is the show.

Yeah, this really made everything click and go, oh, yeah, this is where we're going.

This is the fields that we're going for.

Yeah.

So we see a flashback. Young rico takes a bun from a shrine, and we see that the spirit comes up, and he's like, oh, I was about to eat that. rico says, like, oh, you want to fight me for it, bitch?

You want to go? Want to take this outside?

And gives her a bop on the nose and is like, I count that as a victory. I went, it's just a very small, very like it's sort of set up like Demon Hunter. She's so powerful, and she's just like, let me get the element of surprise. Punch in the face. Okay, I win. Your name is mine.

Now, let me tell you what this reminds me of, and no big spoilers, because dugan is not finished with Steven Universe yet. But this is big Rose Court's vibes.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to update you. I did watch the movie yesterday, so I'm that far? Yes.

Okay, great.

So it's big sorry, it's small derail.

Because it's one of my favorite things about Rose Quartz. I'm sorry, steven Universe ended yesterday. Hold onto go for it. One of my favorite things is that when we meet her, we see her the same way Steven sees her. So throughout the show, you see her just get worse and worse. And she sucks so much. And I love her. She's like, I love it.

What's the thing where she's like, oh, natsume, your grandma made friends with all these demons. And the first flashback we see is she just clubs a demon in the head with a baseball bat and be like, all right, cool. You're my slave now. Wait.

Everybody'S loyal fall back.

The flashback even ends with moderate. He's like, she's awful, isn't she?

Yeah.

I love it.

They mentioned that rico died young. We don't get an exact age. Like, she's a teenager in this, so I assume she lives for longer and can visit. But yeah, the whole thing is when she gets her name, she's like, okay, I promise I'll come back. I'll visit you. I'll see her around. And then the spirit just waits and waits and waits and just says, like, I'm so lonely and just falling into despair because she knows she's not coming back. And she's like, her one friend now. And it's like, oh, fuck.

Brian. I was like, what the fuck, man? I wasn't ready for something like this.

Big futurama theme.

I was going to say to the jurassic Park.

The theme of loneliness comes often throughout the show we'll see. But it's interesting how all the different characters react to it. rako. Obviously, she was shunned and abused by other humans, so she takes that frustration out on the yokai. She bullies the yokai in the way that the humans bullied her. And so she gets her power through what we saw through that flashback is like, controlling them. So it's interesting how that's how she handles it. natsume, he handles it by going around and cleaning up after his grandma. And then we can see also how all the Yokai handle it. And sometimes they become really mad. Sometimes they just, like, wither away. So it's interesting to see how all these different characters handle their loneliness. It's beautiful and subtle and so touching.

Yeah.

And it leans into one of my favorite things, which is just like, oh, no, the villain isn't actually bad. They're just fucked up. They're psychologically damaged. They're going through their own shit. And just like the humanizing aspects of, oh, you're not just a giant, one eyed, purple giant. You're sad.

Yeah.

The true villain was the angst and trauma we had along the way. Yeah.

So giving her name back, she's finally at peace and she's like, thank you. I just needed some friends. I needed some people in my life again. And yeah, so gives her name back and they get rid of the spirits. They resolve it and meets back up with Cat Sunset, and they commit to the mission and they go, alright, we're gonna friend up these woods.

Yay.

Yeah.

It's also interesting because I think there's just, like a quick line in a later episode of Cats and say, like, oh, the book is getting thinner. Because that's what he wants. He wants the book, and he's just waiting until natsumi dies. But like, if natsumi is going around giving away all the names back to all the deans, it's like, well, then the book is going to be empty, by the way.

Yeah, the book is, like, getting less and less powerful.

It's interesting that the sensei is like, yeah, I'll help you on this journey to undo the thing I'm waiting for.

Hey, not to make that busy road looks so fun to play, and you.

Should just play in traffic real quick.

Wouldn't that be great?

Not to me, my boy. Have you ever taken up smoking?

Have you ever taken up smoking? Slow death, but inevitable.

There was two lines at the end of this episode that hit me, like, one right after the other. And it was when he was giving back the name to the Yokai. And the Yokai said, raco, is this okay? Will you be all right by yourself? And I was like and then right after that, he says, I'm sure my grandmother wasn't alone. Thank you, hishigaki my grandmother's kind hearted friend. And I went, no, you're so sweet.

I was much more sympathetic to the demon because he's like, yeah, my dear grandma's kind hearted friend. The friend of my grandma beamed in the head with a bat the second she saw her, and then abandoned for the rest of her life. I was like, man, grandma sucks.

Yeah, she showed up in this ghost.

Life, punched her in the face, and was like, I own you. Now peace soon disappeared forever.

Yeah. She's like, let's go get those hot buttons sometime. And the yokai was like, okay. And then just waits and waits and waits.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, the rose quartz comparisons, it's very accurate. Yeah, really hard.

I didn't think about that.

Okay, episode six, we skip ahead a bit. And it opens with oh, the ending, by the way, music was nice and pleasant, but it was like a watercolor scene of just not too many, like, lying on grass relaxing and then not go sensei. Just, like, running around in the grass, being a cat as he is.

I start to have, like, a pavlovian response to that song because whenever that song plays, that means that we're getting to the sad part. So whenever I hear that song, my eyes start watering. Now, oh, no, something sad is happening. What's happening? Something sad must be going on.

Conditioned yourself.

I have conditioned myself.

So, yeah, episode six opens with thought to me going by a riverbed on some bikes. And turns out the two boys we saw in the first episode, they ran by, so he made some friends. yay.

Yay.

And as they ride by on the riverbed, they pause and look, and the river beds all dried up because there's a dam further upstream, and it's just been a real hot summer and hot boy summer. And with the riverbed dried up, we see that there was just a village in the river, I guess, like, 20 years ago or so. And then when they built a dam, it flooded that area. So all of the houses and shit are still in there, just, like, dilapidated. And I was like, oh, that would be so unsettling to see. And it felt like from, like, 100 years ago or something. Like the feudal era of Japan. No, that was, like, 40 years ago.

Very recent.

I played sekiro. I know there's a giant koi to kill in there.

And while they're riding by, they stop and nasimi looks down and he's like, oh, did you guys see that? What? No, he's like, probably just another ghost. I see him all the time. And right as the ghost, as he sees it, it starts disappearing. And then he just kind of passes out and falls off the bike. And then when he wakes up, he's back in his room. So his friends must have taken him home and think later that night, and he wakes up to a bunch of people calling his name outside, or rico. Yeah, that's his last name.

Yeah, his first name is takashi or something.

Takashi. And then natsume his last name. But rico's is grandma.

Rico'S grandma. Okay.

Yeah, because they are looking for her.

Yeah. I skipped you guys ahead a couple of episodes, but throughout the first five episodes, he's been helping other yokai, and words kind of gotten around that he has the Book of Friends and he's giving names back. So yokai come out and seek him now.

I love The Ghost whisperer on NBC 15 years ago. Yeah. So he wakes up to a bunch of spirits outside of his window asking for Rayclau. And when he opens it up, they all fly up to him. They're like, oh, wait, you're not rayko. They seem to recognize them much quicker, and they're just like, oh, hey. So we're a bunch of spears from the village in the river, and it's really tough to get out of the river when there's a river there, but now that it's dried up, we're able to get out of the ground easier. So can you send us back? We don't like being in that river underwater anymore.

We'd like to go, nice socks are so wet. They have been for a century.

I can't stand it. And nasimi is like, oh, okay, rad, I'll help you out. And after he goes down and have dinner, I like that they make a point of like, it's not right away. He has to go dinner with his foster parents or whatever. And then he comes back, and all the spirits politely wait. They're like, okay, they're not as aggressive. I was like, natsume returns. And we just cut away to seeing him saying all of their names, and he's saying, like, the second to last one's name, and they fade away, and he's just like, oh, God, I've exhausted. This is taken a lot out of me. So it must take a lot of, like, mental or, like, spiritual energy for him to do this. And the last spirit types there is named tara saru.

Yeah.

And I like, this guy, this guy.

Yeah, he is.

And he's like, oh, hey, thanks for helping all those other spirits out. If you want to pay it back a little bit, I can show you my magic mirror. And he pulls out his mirror, and he shows it a natsume who's got a big spirit hanging over him. He's like, oh, looks like you're possessed. You got got sucks and noncoat. God, I'm struggling with these things sensei. Now I'm just thinking of assassination classroom. Now imagine just a cat with a weird penis hands.

I'm glad you got it here.

This was a pure episode.

This is what's burdening me. This is my possession. It's that irritation, sensei's, weird genital hands hanging over me at all times.

Someone's got a head butt. You get that out.

Yeah. So since he sees that, he's like, oh, you're being possessed. Let me knock that out of you. So, yeah, he just tackles natsume and knocks the spirit out of him. And the spirit falls out, and it's like a lady with, like, a longish hair, like a weird kind of captain mask, like a rope. And she's like, no, I need his body, and goes at him, and he just bobs her in the face and cracks a mask in half. And after they take a minute to stop and talk for a second. He remembers, like, oh, that's the spirit that I saw in the river. And she fesses up like, yeah, when you saw me, I possessed you because it's hard to get out of the river by myself, so I needed a little help by possessing your body. Sorry, it happens. And now that they've calmed down, her mask is off, but she's still wearing, like, a sheet of paper with some symbols and ruins or whatever on it. So she's still covering her face. She talks about like, oh, yeah, I used to live in that village, and I wanted to meet this person from there. So I was hoping to possess your body and be able to reconnect with them in some way and kind of find peace with that because that's kind of what's been holding me up on this world. I think that she calls the sensing an old fogey, just because you don't hear that insult a lot anymore.

Old fogey.

It reminds me of a very specific college humor bid. If anyone else remembers and nasima agrees, he's like, yeah, or no. They talk for a bit, and then it just cuts the next morning. And nasima is like, in class and stuff, and she just follows him around for the next few days.

Yeah.

And eventually he's like, all right, fine. If you're just going to be here anyway, I'll help you out and we can, like, figure out who this person is. She's like, cool. I only know the person's name and that they lived in that village like 20 years ago, and that's it. He's like that's not helpful. So yikes. And they're walking around a bit trying to figure out who this person could have been. And Matt to me is in class talking to some of his friends in class. He's like, oh, you remember Fataba Village back then? Oh, yeah. One of his classmates was like, oh, yeah, my dad's from there. He might have known this person. I'll go ask him. Oh, thanks. I'd be read. And then so in the meantime, now he's still walking around with the spirit, and as they're talking a bit, she's like, oh, yeah, you're a kind person. I like, that because I always feel bad. Or, no. What did she say? She asked, do you have any siblings? He's like, no. She's like, yeah, I can kind of tell. I had four. They all died because of me. I was like.

She just dropped that on him?

Yeah, that kind of came out of nowhere. So they start talking a bit, and then she asked if she could hold nazami's hands, and he agrees to it after she just confessed that all of her siblings died because of her. And I was like, I don't know the context. I don't know if I'd hold someone's.

Hand up the connection. She just needs to be tethered.

I get that now, but if someone's like, hey, all my. Siblings died because of me. Can I hold her hand? Be like, I don't know. Did you strangle your siblings? Are these murderer hands? I'd be a little concerned. But he agrees. And he holds her hand, and he's surprised by how cold it is. And she likes his hand because of how warm it is. So they're they're bonding. And she says, like, oh, it's going to rain soon. And we see a few birds, like, flying across the sky, like migrating or going for cover. And he goes, ah, so you were a swallow. What's the what that might just be.

Like a Japanese thing or like I.

Just wasn't sure if I missed a clue. Kind of hinting at that before. I think it is like swallows like go for cover.

Like a folklore sort of thing. Isn't there a thing, like brain? I tried looking that up, actually. I saw one thing that said when swallows are high, something something. I didn't write it down. Anyway.

Yeah, it just caught me off guard where it's just like, oh, we see some birds leaving. She says, it's about the rain. He's like, ah, so you're a bird. No, you're definitely a person. Like, you're a human spirit. And she's like, yes, I was a bird. I was like, what? Just, like, really threw me off because I figured a bird spirit would look like a bird, but I don't know why.

Her mask when she first appeared, was bird shaped.

That's true. Yeah. So maybe that was kind of a hint at it. And she's like, yeah, I used to be a swallow. Before I died, I was in a nest with all my siblings when we fell out and the human picked us up and put us back. But our parents banned us because we had a human stink on us. So the parents never came back and we starved to death.

Yeah, fun.

And getting some of that abandonment feels again.

Totally.

Did someone order these tears? It doesn't matter who we are anyway.

Oh, man, it really is raining in here. And she says, like, yeah, after we all died, I was the last one. But then when I died, I became like a spirit and just kind of like hanged out in the bushes where I fell. And I guess a person saw me and thought I was like a stray cat or something. So the person kept bringing out this food over and over again, feeding me, and kind of built up a bond with him. And then the river or they put the dam off, which flooded the village and never saw the person again, to.

Which in yonko sense, I just says, boring, boring.

Don't care. And the next day, not somebody's friend comes up and it's like, oh, yeah, here's the address. And here's that guy you were looking for. Here's his address. Now. I was like, shit, that network.

His dad has a small town.

Yeah, I guess so and he says, like, oh, yeah, you can go after school. So he's like, oh, cool. So we cut to them. We see them walking around the same area. We see this, like, business guy just walking by. We see the spirit get all excited to like, oh, shit, it's him. It's my boy. It's my hands. And she like, thanks knots to me a ton for helping her out. She runs off to go talk to the business guy and he just keeps walking. Like, he doesn't even hear or see her. She's, like, sitting next to him, talking. She seems really happy and energetic saying all this stuff. And we're kind of led to believe she's, like just thanking him for all the food she gave him over the years where he gave her. And then we see kind of pants away, we see teresa suaru, the Magic Mirror spirit just sitting on a roof with a little sake watching like some sort of perv. And then the spirit goes back and thanks natsume for connecting her with him. And natsumi points out he's like, oh, well, you still have time until the villages were like, resubmerged. So until you have to kind of go back and hard to get out of again. And she can't go back. So they try to meet again. Oh, yeah. She's saying like she said she can't go back into the ground yet. So they're like, you know what? Why don't we why don't we try and meet that guy again? She's like, okay, I kind of made my peace with it, but if you want to try again, we can. So we see them hanging out outside the same area again and not to me, it's just like reading or doing other stuff. And the spirit sees the guy and waves him down and yells at him, like, Hi, over here. And keeps trying to get in contact but can't. And Natsumes notices she's kind of getting weaker by the day. Doesn't have as much time above ground. She's like a little mermaid ghost.

Yeah. At this point, like, when natsume sees sees this, he's it's so interesting to me to see how much it affects him that she can't connect with him. Like, he's asking himself, like, why am I the only one that can see her? Like, Why? Like, basically, why am I why do I have to suffer to watch this? Like, he's it affects him so much to just watch that they can't have that connection. And it's really sweet that he wants them to connect that way. So he doesn't know how, but he wants to fix it.

Yeah. He's like, why do I have to watch these other kind of beings suffer? I can't help them at all because it's such a very specific thing. Only the bird and the ghost is still here for can give them peace. So one day, nazimi goes home and he sees Magic Mirror. I'm just calling him that the magic mirror spear standing outside of his house. And he's got just some socky. He's like, oh, hey, what's up? He's like, oh, hey, man. The futaba Village festival is going on. That village is like kind of like it's like a weird in between. That's why so many spirits were there. So it's like a weird in between of like life and death and stuff. And one time of year, we all have this village festival where we got to like hang out and drink and gamble and have a race. And this fucking rat is shit. Yeah, man, I'm into this. And he's like, also at the race, if you win, you get a yukata that you can wear for one day and you can become human again. And that's just like, whoa. Need it to help a friend. And those spirits like, yeah, man, let's go to this festival. Let's have a good ass time. Because I'm a chill ass dude. You can super trust me.

I'm a chill dude who loves to party.

Yeah. Hey, my name is tara suman. I like to party. No. And so they go to the festival and sensei stops them along the way. He's like, oh, where are you guys going? He's like, oh, we're going to the festival. He looks at the magic mirror spirit and he's like, you're going to eat a march? You're like, yeah, a little bit.

Like, why not?

He's real notch a lot about it. Yeah, what of it? It's just like, I thought you were chilled, my dude.

Not as close as we thought. We trusted you.

What I mean, nas to me is kind of a snack. I'm not going to lie.

We can't not like this.

Not like this. And so we see a kind of confrontation of the sentinel that goes into his bigger form. And I was like, well, if you're going to try and eat them, I'm going to stop you. And we see this magic mirror spirit kind of go into his bigger form. I was like, oh, I'd like to see you fucking try scrub it's. Like, oh, damn. This came out of nowhere. And knocks me kind of just like speaks up of like, hey, I've grown attached to the spirit. She's my friend now. And what's wrong about helping a friend? If I can get her to that yukata to help her resolve her issue with that guy, I'm going to do it. And both the spirits look at him just like, oh, god, humans. So weak, so emotional. So it cuts to them at the festival. And the magic mirror spirits making a mask kind of similar to one the swallow spirit has where it's just like a sheet of paper with like writing on it and stuff.

The writing just says Eyes, by the way. The translation is just eyes.

He writes on it and he says, like, oh, this will high. I mix my blood in. I guess spirits have blood. He says, I mix my blood in with the ink so this will kind of make you seem like a spirit so everyone doesn't think you're human and try and eat you right away. And that's me like, oh, like it why are you helping it away?

Yeah.

He's like, Why are you helping me now? He's like, eh, this is interesting. It's more interesting than if I just ate you, so I want to watch it. Okay, that's still not comfortable around you. You can eat me at any moment, but all right. And he says, yeah. With the race, the Yukata is up on the top of a tree, and the first one to touch it gets it. But it's all the spirits running for it, but they can't use their powers. So he's like NASA. He kind of has a fighting chance with that. And he says he's more talkative than his grandma was, but he's still very familiar. We see the magic mirror spear go up on a roof with Sensei and just watch the race. And once the race starts, we just see Nazi getting kind of just shit hands, kind of just getting beaten up and like, everyone pushing past them and throwing them down. And even though they can't use their powers, some of them are, like weird ass spirits that are much better at running. denim, I think we see a cap all fly by doing the T 1000 run and knock them down. So we see him kind of struggling and doesn't look like he's going to get it, and then sends a gets up and transforms and throws NASIMA on his back. And we see them running for the Yukata, because remember, kids, you can cheat as long as his four friends.

Exactly.

This is definitely cheating.

Well, is it cheating? Is that his power or is that just his true form?

This is true form, but he's also gigantic, so any one of his steps is like five of everyone else's steps.

And also yeah, because everyone else had.

Like, a 32nd head start. He knew he could have won. He's just like, yeah, I want to fuck with him.

He's a giant wolf. Everyone else is like a humanoid form, so they're running like a person. He's running like a giant wolf.

But here's another thing. He doesn't touch it. natsume touches it. And natsume is not using any powers. Yeah, so it's a loophole.

Loophole.

Okay.

I actually don't know.

Yeah, well, we see natsume, like, reaching out, and then it, like, fades to white. But then we see natsumi goes up to the swallow spirit. This time we find out her name is Sue Bobby, and he wakes her up because she's getting weaker, so she's sleeping more. And when he wakes her up, he has the Yukata. So it's like, oh, he did win. And yeah, he basically just gives a tour, like, hey, you can wear this. You can become human again. Go to the festival because there's also a festival happening for the same town, but like, in the human world, I guess you want to call it. He's like, you can go to a festival now. Be human and get your man. Talk to your boy. And she hugs Nazamay, thanking them profusely, saying this is why she likes kind people. They're always so warm and ready to help everyone else. And she says, like, oh, it's probably going to rain later tonight too, so it's a good timing. So she runs off, and then we see. Cut to like, later that night, it is indeed raining, and nazimi is wondering if they were able to meet each other or not. And now with all this rain, the river is probably filling back up. So this is probably her last chance before she had to go back. And then we cut to the next day of nazimi finds that guy again, walking up back home from work. nazimi runs up. He's like, hey, did you meet this young girl? Like, short hair, blue? Yukata. Like last night? He's like, oh, yeah, she was really quiet and nice. We got to talking for a bit. He's like, oh, that's nice. And like, man pulls out. He's like, oh, I actually just had these pictures developed from the festival last night. Here you go. And we see a picture of Subami and the guy like, in the photo. And she's smiling, seeing the housemate get all choked up and cries a little. She's happy.

She found peace.

She did it. She did it, my girl. And yeah, you kind of reflect on what she said of like, yeah, I guess she's right. I guess I do like being like a warm and kind person, helping out others for moments like these. So kind of reflecting back on what he was saying, why me? Why do I have to watch these people suffer? And then we see. Because he can help them.

Yeah, and he kind of reflects that back at her. And he says he likes humans too now. He likes their warmth, their gentleness. He loves them.

Yeah, he learned.

He crows.

Yeah, I picked this episode. Yeah, I picked this episode because I like how this one shows how natsume is healing from his youth and the trauma from his youth because he was shunned a lot as a child. And so he doesn't know how to develop those bonds between people. And so throughout the episode, you can see him say, like, when Sue mae saying she wants to find someone, he tells her, like, I don't really understand why you'd want to find someone like that. I don't get it, but I'll do it. And then throughout the episode, you see him kind of getting more and more invested in her. And he even asks himself at some point, like, am I getting too attached? I've never felt like this for another person, quote unquote person before. So it's interesting to see him develop that bond with someone. And by the end of it, he's like, you know what? I love people too. I want to help people. And I think it's so beautiful.

That's so nice, sweet.

And I like it because it doesn't hit you over the head too. It's very subtle, and it grows and it's not too over the top sappy, in my opinion. But by the end of it, all I see is like, sue me smile. And I'm like, oh, my God. She smiled. It's like the smallest thing that's in the off by the end show that understands nuance really gets subtlety, I think. I like the subtlety.

So episode seven, we start off seeing a hat. It's a human hat, and it is being described by someone. It's as white as snow. And we see who picks it up. And it's a little Ketzeney girl. And she looks at it and she's, like, happy to have it. And then she gets emotional and she's like, no, I'm on my own now. I'm a big kid. No crying. And then we see that Natsimae is headed to a hot spring for, like, a class trip. And his foster dad, he goes to talk to him and knots me is like, I'm sorry you had to pay for it. And he's just like, oh, it's not a big deal, dude.

I know. His first reaction is like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you have to pay for it. I thought that was indicative of what his experience was growing up.

Yeah, he probably feels like he's been a burden.

Yeah.

I was worried when a foster dad showed up because it was usually, like, with a show like this where that's like, yeah, he has had struggles in the past. I was expecting the asshole dad trip was like, I paid for this kid all this other shit. And dad was like, not, man, it's cool. I'm the adult that trips my job.

She's like, yeah, this is what a family like, a loving father is.

Yeah.

I feel like this show really subverts the expectations it builds up because I feel like NASA may kind of has the formula for being an unlikable main character, but he is very much not. That because he's learning to love.

Yeah, totally, he is.

So his foster dad says, it's not a big deal, but if you could I ordered some tea cups from a pottery place up near where you're going, so if you could get those, that would be nice. And then he agrees and he goes on his way. And then Sensei is in his backpack, and natsume was just laughing, and he's like, Your laugh is weird.

Fuck you, chat.

And then he's on a train, and he's kind of thinking about how he's just happy that he asked him to get the teacups for him because it's nice to be needed. Feels nice to be useful. And I feel the same way I love when people ask me for favors that I can.

Yeah, good.

To be relied on.

Yeah.

And that's a theme we'll see throughout this episode.

He gets there, and he's in a class, and the class ends, and the students are all excited to do some fun hot spring stuff. And his friends are like, hey, you're going to come with us? And he's like, oh, I actually have to go get something done. So he heads off into the forest to find the teacups, and we are with the little kits and a girl again, and she's being beat on by some big mean yokai.

Boom.

No, she's she's being bullied.

You were wandering around the forest and just find a small fox child and just felt like beating the shit out of them with a paper fan.

Hey, that's my grandma's job.

Relatable. Yeah, back off, guys. Only my grandma.

You're on my turf beach.

So natsume sees this happening, and he swoops in and saves her. And he's like, hey, why are you guys bullying this child? No problem. And he's like they're like, what? You're a human. You're looking down on us. Why do you care? We're going to beat you up. And then he beats them up.

Violence does solve sometimes.

That's what's fun, too, is that natsume very clearly has the ability that his grandma did to just annihilate these deep.

Yeah, true.

But he chooses not to. He only does it in this case because they were beating up a child.

Yeah.

So she is pretty freaked out by this, and she grabs her hat, and she hides in the bushes. And as NASA and Sensei are walking away, sensei is like, you're such a busy body. Stay out of other people's business. And then it turns out that the teacups won't be ready until tomorrow, so they'll have to come back. And the kits and a girl is watching as they leave, and she thinks, Why? I hate humans. But natsume seems nice. He was nice to me.

What a nice young boy.

So she's, like, peeking at him in class through the window, and we see her transform into a fox and scurry away. And then natsume is outside with his friends, and they're just, like, joking around. A girl is complaining at him because the teacher threw a piece of chalk at him to wake him up, and then it bounced off his head and hit her. So they're just, like, having some banter, and he apologizes. And the key to a girl is spying on him from the bushes. And she thinks that he seems fake. His gestures, his aura, the things he says. She thinks maybe he's not human, that he's in disguise. And she thinks that it would be nice for them to live together in the forest because she's lonely, and maybe he's lonely, so they can be lonely together. And she is sitting next to a pile of rocks, and she talks to it and calls it mom. And I'm like, ah, a grave.

Wonderful.

Yes. So she's on her own because her mommy is no longer with her. So it's the next day, and Natsmey and Sensei are walking, and the keystone girl isn't far behind, and they notice this, so they bolt off, and she loses them.

At this point, I have the note. nyanko. Sensei is so fat and so cute.

The noise he makes when he runs is ridiculous. I love it.

What a good boy. But it starts to rain, so they are stopped by the rain. They're standing under a tree, and natsume hears someone calling his name. And then a bush near them rustles around, and they see the Kitsina girl, and she found a big leaf for natsume to use as an umbrella.

Thank you, teddy.

It's like, later on, and she's back to talking to her mom, and she's saying that she's not useless. He said, thank you for the umbrella. So she's not useless anymore.

Just a small thing changed their whole life.

And it gives her the confidence to be on her own, because she's like, Tomorrow I'm going to go get some mushrooms. But then the big mean yokai come back, and they're like, you think you're useful, dumb kid? And they beat on her again because they're mean. And she yells, and she says, I'm not useless. I have proven myself to myself. I am not useless. And she bites him, the one that's hitting her, and he throws her off and reaches down to grab her, but not sume appears, and he stops them.

Yay.

Yay.

Don't touch my daughter.

My fox daughter.

And he's about ready to beat him up again when he hears the voice calling out his name. And it's a voice saying that reiko promised great deku tree. It's saying that Rachel promised to give his name back in the spring. And I forget if natsume says it or if Sensei says it, but one of them says, jeez, how many springs have passed?

Yeah.

So he finds the source, and as we were joking before, it's a big tree, and he returns its name and keith's name girl. And the yokai, the other Yokai guys see him do it, and the guys run off because they're like, oh, he could take our names. Fuck. And they leave.

Scatter.

But I think Sensei is like, you just watched him give the name back. Why would he? All right, goodbye.

He can. That's all that matters.

And then little Kits and a girl goes up to him and hands him a leaf, and she says, My name is on it. Put it in your book. I want to be your friend, but not really. I want to be subservient to you, your father. And he's a good boy. And he says no.

You know my whole thing is reversing this, right?

He says, I think our relationship is different than that. I'm not going to do that to you so sweet. Yeah. And then she kind of gets upset because she's like, is it because I'm weak? And he's just like, no, it's not.

You're not a pokemon. I don't need you to be strong to fight my enemies.

Come back to me when you're on nine tails.

So then he's back home and he got the teacups. yay. The foster dad says that he ordered them because their family grew.

So I know for not sue, that got me so bad. Yeah, he's accepted into the family. He has a permanent place at the dinner table now. It's so sweet and so subtle, but so oh, God, my heart.

So natsume and Sensei are back in his room, and he's glad to have been useful. And then Keith and a girl wants to see natsume. She's still in the forest, but she wants to go see him and help him with whatever he needs. And then a voice is calling out to her and then materializes into a big spooky dog thing. And it's like, hey, if you give me my fill of fish, I will help you get to natsume. And she's like, huh, great. So we see her do that. She gets a lot of fish. It's a big guy.

It was funny because I was playing Animal Crossing while watching this. And I was fishing that much while watching the episode. And I was like, oh, God, am I doing it?

She's catching nothing but seabass.

Yeah, this is me.

So she's like, okay, are you going to take me to Sinatsu right now? And it's like, Stupid kid, I tricked you. Come on.

This flat out says it. It's so funny.

This Falcor motherfucker dick.

But it's not going to take her to Nazamay. But it does still give her a medicine she can take that will turn her human so people will be able to see her and stuff.

How many ways are there to become human? If you're a spirit, you can either win a contest or take a medicine.

They love it. They love to do it.

If you don't need to sleep, what else are you doing? You're just planning on ways of becoming human again.

Medicine would advance so much if we just had doctors be ghosts.

Doctor ghosts, a new sitcom.

They've seen it all. So she takes it and she becomes a little human girl. But she can still use her powers of scent to find him. And so she goes to the train station. She goes on the train. It's very cute.

It's very cute.

Yeah. And it's interesting. I forget what we've seen where they did this before. It was Tokyo godfathers, where I feel like they really simulated the feeling of being overwhelmed really nicely. She's sitting on the train and she just hears all of the humans talking because she's never had this experience before. And she's just like.

Yeah. I also felt like it was the feeling of being alone, even when you're surrounded by a lot of people, because the fox feels so lonely. But there's all this noise around them and all this talking and all these families, but they're alone on this train by themselves.

Yeah.

Wondering if natsume is alone.

So the door is open and she smells natsume scent, and she gets off. And there's more of this stuff of her walking through crowds and people being like, where are your parents? And she's having trouble finding him, but she is determined she's going to do it. And then we see him fishing with his friends, which is just a little it's not unimportant, but what he's doing.

I liked it because it was a good comparison to the other fishing scene we just saw where natsume was fishing with friends for, like a common purpose. But the fox was fishing alone. Think of that for a certain person. Yeah, it was a good comparison.

Parallel.

Yeah, parallel.

Then she finds his house. yay. And she opens the door and she hears them all having dinner together. And they're having the fish that natsume just caught. And she peeks through the door to their little dining area. And natsume sees her. And then she just runs off because she's like, oh, I just want to check if he was also lonely. But he's not, so I'll just go.

I'll be on my way.

Fuck me, I guess.

Yeah. The fox is like, I'm so glad he's not lonely at all. It was me. I'm lonely.

Wait, that's what I've been feeling. Talk to your therapist about ghost depression.

She's running off, and she trips, and her hat falls off, and it rolls to the feet of natsume because he followed her.

He's fast. He got he's a faster boy.

Yeah, that was super weird.

Well, she's a child.

Yeah. Smaller depth perception is different for your fox.

Just imagine him, like hot fuzz style, running across, like, backyards and hopping over fences, like at full sprint to get her out of the front of her.

I need to trick her. So it rolls to his feet. He picks it up, gives it back to her, and he says that he's so happy that she came to see him. And then she starts crying, and she gives him a hug.

You guys.

She allows herself to cry because before she kept telling herself she couldn't cry because she's not alone. No, she's not alone. She don't got to be strong. So he compliments her hat. He says her hat's cute. And he's holding her hand and is walking her to the train station. Or not yet. He says they'll get some dinner and then he will take her to the train station and take her home. And he says, I'll remember the way back, so I can come see you next time.

Sweet. Which is so different than raco, because she always made promises to come see yokai again and then never does. And they get so sad but spoiler. He goes to visit the Fox later, so he follows through with his promises. He follows through.

Good.

Noodle.

Finally.

Yes.

Yes. So, yeah, we see them on the train and he's thinking about how she's a good kid and that's episode seven.

Yeah, I love the last line when they're like sleeping on the train together. He says, When I was all alone, I was afraid to take a single step. It never occurred me to I can't even read this. When I was all alone, I was afraid to take a single step. It never occurred to me to take action. I might have missed a lot of things as a result and I think about that in my own life sometimes you're so scared to just do anything and you might be missing a lot.

So I was going to just take that. Dive in at me next time.

With this and the Steven Uses Universe finale yesterday, I am a mess. Talk to my therapist about on Monday.

Stagnation causes death knocked growth.

A thing I liked about this Fox episode, and it was a good lesson for nazami about what it's like to be in a relationship with someone, like a friendship or a familial relationship where he was like his father asked him to do something for him, but in return he was accepted into the family. There was like a give and take there, but with the Fox, the Fox was always like, I want to be your servant, I'll do everything for you. I want to do this. And natsume was like, whoa, whoa. That's not what it's like to be in a relationship. It's a give and take. It's good to give, but also, I'm going to come visit you next time. We have to have this back and forth and it was really sweet to see him teach that lesson to someone else. He's learning the lessons from the yokai and then teaching back. He's giving back to them. So it's really lovely to continue with.

The Steven Universe Steven Universe comparison. There's the episode of Pearl teaching connie to fight for Stephen in the song I'll Die For You, it's like, no, whoa, whoa, whoa. Not asking for that. I'm just asking for, like, friendship. You don't have to be my servant.

We're a team, you're not my employee.

Together.

Yeah, exactly. He's not going to make a book of friends. He's going to actually make friends.

Wow.

But he just has, like a photo collage of friends on his wall. It's just pictures with all the yoga.

Polaroids.

Yeah.

My myspace. Not to amaze myspace. Top ten friends.

I mean, none of us have seen it, so we could all ask ourselves, are we there yet? I enjoyed this very much.

Yeah, this has great rainy summer day vibes to it. This is such a perfect show to put on. It's like, I want to enjoy the sunshine, but it's raining out. Let me just put this show on and just have a mellow hangout time. It's so pleasant. It's so nice. It's sweet.

It's kind of like a cathartic sadness where it's, like, kind of resolved or like, there's hope at the end of it as opposed to just despair, where it's like, oh, that made me sad and now I want to crawl into a hole and stop existing. This is like, that made me sad, but, like, resolved it or like, you know, gave you a comforting feel after that as well. Or like, hope for the next episode or something.

Yeah. There's a word for the genre that I didn't know about until just now. It's called Iyashique, and it's an anime or manga created with the specific purpose of healing or soothing the audience.

Oh, boy.

Oh, boy.

Cry.

Yeah.

That's going to be the rest of our podcast now.

We're doing a hard pivot.

Yeah. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, because it's especially I'm going to.

Like.

It'S especially nice. Because it's like, hey, we all have legitimate problems and trauma, but the answer is not, well, let's just punch a big monster that's causing all these things and resolve it. At the end of the day, it is the true growth of like, I learned a lesson from my new ghost friend.

Yeah, it's like the interpersonal. Yeah.

Hold it back. Hold it in. Hold it together. I mean, sometimes you got to punch a big monster.

Exactly.

What I have really loved in this experience is listening to Brian talk about it because I can catch these things, but probably not on the first watch because I'm just, like, so emotional watching it. But like we talked about before, like, the nuance of it all. Like, Brian can see it all because he loves it so much. And I just love hearing people talk about things that they love. And he says everything so eloquently. I love it.

Thank you. Well, thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. And if you ever want to hang out and watch more episodes, well, we're in quarantine right now, but after that, you can group stream it. It always makes me feel good.

I don't know if you ever got to watch your name, Brian, but no.

I never got to watch your name yet. So we can have them on the marathon.

Oh, boy.

Just sit together and cry once it's all over.

All right, well, thank you so much for joining us and bringing this healing show to us this week. We need it so much.

Any time.

So for next week, we have returning guest jess morse joining us and we're going to watch a show she told me she just finished. It's called beau furry. I don't want to get hurt, so I'll max out. My defense, I love a long anime ass title.

That'S a title if I've ever heard one.

I like a title that's also a plot summary.

Give me all the details, please. But yeah. Brian, where can people find you online and what would you like to promote?

I'm on Twitter at Brian B-R-I-A-N-T Anderson. And I want to promote this podcast. It's a great podcast.

Oh, stop your checks in the mail.

I want to promote NASA made. Watch the show. I love the show, guys. Everyone should watch it converted.

If there's a pleasant, healing show you want us to watch, you can send your recommendations to us through our email. Are we there yet@gmail.com? Or reach out to us on Twitter and Instagram. Are we there yet? On both. You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Mr. Patrick dugan.

You can find me on Instagram at queen. Period weebu and on twitter at queen underscore weebu and queen underscore weebu art.

You can find me on Twitter at abts. Brendan. It stands for almost better than silence, which I have. It's a video game podcast. Occasionally. Definitely not. Feel good.

If you need more anger in your life, listen to that one.

If you want to hear someone get irrationally angry about a very niche, stupid part of a video game.

Thank you to camille Ruley for artwork. And thank you to Louis zong for our theme song stories off the album Beats. You can find all of louie's music at Louisong bandcamp.com. Thank you, and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with anime.

I'm going to go. Have a good cry yourself.

A cat friend got a punch a ghost.