Natsume Yujin-cho (2008)
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渡辺美佐 as Benio (voice)
Episodes 37
Stolen Book Of Friends
Natsume is attacked by a youkai while retrieving a ball at school. In his haste to run away, he ends up breaking a youkai's seal, just like how he met Nyanko-sensei. Later that night, Natsume discovers a black lookalike of Nyanko-sensei, only to have him steal the Book Of Friends! As Natsume and Nyanko-sensei search for the black cat, they stumble across a gathering of youkai. The youkai plan to attack the humans for sealing their lord - the black cat Natsume's looking for. With Nyanko-sensei's help, Natsume gives back the lord's name and catches a glimpse of his fond and bittersweet memories of living among humans.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreMelting Into Spring
While fooling around in the snow, Natsume and Nyanko-sensei run into Gen, a forest guardian who lives inside a statue. Gen tries to take over Natsume's body, but instead takes over a snow rabbit that Natsume had made. Gen pleads with Natsume to help him find an evil spirit who destroyed Sui, his guardian partner, and Natsume agrees. But it seems Gen isn't telling everything he knows.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreYoukai Exorcism Amid The Steaming Springs
Natori invites Natsume on a hot spring trip. But noises from the closet and a kimono-clad figure dangled from the ceiling make Natsume uneasy. Not wanting to trouble Natori because of his kind gesture to enjoy the hot spring with him, Natsume investigates the hot spring himself. During the night, Natsume meets with the Youkai, where she comments that he is too soft, and attacks.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreA Chick Hatches
Natsume takes care of an abandoned egg from a nest, not considering it could be a Youkai. After it hatches, it turns out it is a rare baby spirit called Tatsumi, who thinks that Natsume is its parent. Natsume can't help but get attached to the little spirit even as Tatsumi grows tired and sick. But as Natsume takes care of Tatsumi, a mysterious spirit comes and wants to take away Tatsumi for his master-who wants to eat him.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreThe Promised Tree
Natsume encounters a spirit who was enslaved by his grandmother Reiko 50 years ago by writing his name on a torn page from the Book of Friends, and tying it to a tree in a forest. Can Natsume help locate the torn page? What was Reiko's intention of tying it to a tree?
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreThe Maiden's Circle
There is a new girl in school, Taki Tooru. With her appearance at the school, circles resembling crop circles begin to appear. As Natsume tries to find out more about the circles and Taki, he is visited by another Youkai. Only this time, the Youkai isn't looking for his name, but for a snack.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreThat Which You Must Not Call
Natsume is dragged off into the cave of the evil spirit that is after Taki. He temporarily loses the ability to see youkai after being poisoned by the spirit. Will he be able to stop the youkai from eating Taki without his sight?
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreEmotions Undying
Natsume, Kitamoto and Nishimura take a trip to an old inn to spend some time doing their homework. Surrounding the inn there is a lake in which is believed to live a mermaid.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreHe of the Row of Cherry Blossoms
From the day where a picture of a row of cherry trees in a desolate winter was obtained, every time Natsume wakes up, his room is covered in petals. Trying to solve the root of this activity, Natsume and Nyanko Sensei try to return the picture to Miya, a shadow figure who accompanies the picture. But why can't they return it to Miya?
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreTemporary House
Strange things start happening at Natsume's home, like Toukou's plants get destroyed, and a strange Youkai starts wandering around his house. Natsume then learns more about Reiko and her life in this town. He also learns how to get rid of the Youkai who's wandering around the house.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreAssembly of the Witch Doctors
While out with Touko-san, Natsume spots a hurt youkai. Quickly he chases after it but as he goes to help it, it is eaten by a much bigger youkai. Natori and Hiiragi appear right after the youkai escapes and they invite Natsume to the Assembly of Conjurers. Here Natsume can not distinguish between human and youkai and is hopeful of finding people who understand him. Though this may be what Natsume has always wanted; he is too soft-heartened to realize everyone's intent.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreThe Boy From The Empty House
Natsume encounters a young boy named Kai sealed in a coffin in an abandoned house. Natsume sets Kai free and finds out that Kai is being stalked by a youkai. After a time, Natsume becomes the target of this youkai and stops the youkai's stalking with Nyanko-sensei's help. In the end Natori who turns out to be the stalker and who sealed Kai in the coffin, tells Natsume that Kai is a Youkai.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreHumans and Youkai
Natori tells Natsume of a well near the mansion that holds a group of Oni. They are calling out to any Youkai. He also learns that Kai came down from the mountains to free the Oni. While looking for Kai, Natsume sets off one of Natori's traps in the mansion. Kai saves Natsume and heads off to kill Natori. Natsume follows him,to save Natori from getting killed. After he encounters him, he is forced to make an important decision: Which ones are more important to him? Humans or Youkai?
(Source: Wikipedia)
Read MoreThe name of a monster
Natsume meets a shrine god in the form of an elderly woman. He is forced to help her return a mirror to a youkai said to bring disaster. The youkai turns out to be Reiko, Natsume's grandmother, who the shrine god only mistook as a youkai. Reiko had lent out the mirror so that the shrine god could save the life of an old tree, but the two parted after Reiko learned that the elderly woman was a youkai.
Read MoreUkihara village
Tanuma's father leaves on a trip and a strange youkai invades his house, spreading miasma that makes all the nearby youkai suffer. Natsume tracks it down and discovers that the noxious youkai was once a resident in an all-youkai village. A portal had opened for a short time during a human ceremony that he had taken his sister to watch. However, they became trapped in the human world, and his sister died. After returning to the old temple where the ceremonies were held, the portal opens and he returns home.
Read MoreFalse friend
It's Shigeru's birthday and Touko has asked Natsume to buy some strawberry shortcakes to celebrate. However, Shibata, an old classmate of Natsume's, finds him and asks for his help. He remembered Natsume used to say weird things, so he wanted to know if a girl he's been seeing is real or not. When Natsume meets the girl, Murasaki, she seems normal. He reassures Shibata that she is a human. Natsume later has a vision that reveals her to be a tree youkai with intention to eat Shibata. Natsume tries to warn Shibata, he refuses to listen and accuses Natsume of lying. Natsume tries to talk to Murasaki, but she does not waver. It is then revealed that although she had initially planned to eat Shibata, she fell in love with him as they spent time together, and because her tree has been cut down, she will die soon anyway. Shibata receives a note from Murasaki just in time for the two of them to spend her last moments together.
Read MoreYoung days
Summer has arrived for Natsume and his friends in the school. After exams, Natsume, Sasada, Nishimura and Kitamoto go on a trip to an art museum. Upon his return, Touko reminisces about an old friend that she felt she'd wronged, this makes Natsume think back to his own turbulent childhood. In the present day, a youkai living in the branches of a tree thinks back to Natsume. She had been bored because no one could see her, and when she found out that Natsume could see youkai, she often scared him to be noticed. Both of them parted ways on bad terms. The story returns to Natsume in the present day, who makes a stop at his old neighborhood to visit the youkai. The youkai, who had isolated herself from humans, is relieved to see that Natsume is okay and has found a reason to smile. The episode ends with Natsume's thoughts, "If there is somebody that you wish to meet, then you are not alone anymore."
Read MoreThe Thing That Lurks In The Storeroom
Natsume and Tanuma take shelter under a roof from the rain. As it turns out, the house belongs to Taki, and they work together to clean her warehouse where her grandfather studied youkai. Natsume accidentally breaks a seal that Taki's grandfather made to trap a dangerous kimono youkai. The three of them race around the house to find its misplaced limbs before the youkai does--its power will be returned upon completing its body. Natsume and Taki try to get the resident youkai to help, but they refuse. When the kimono youkai comes close to hurting Natsume, they come to the rescue. After Taki thanks them, they all reminisce about their fondness for Taki's grandfather and leave elsewhere.
Read MoreThat Which Is Not Human
Natsume accidentally bumps into a woman with blood covering her body. He follows the bloody footsteps that the woman left and discovers a small house. When he opens the door, he sees badly injured youkai. There is someone killing youkai for blood, and with the help of Natori, Natsume tracks down who he believes to be the murderer: Matoba. However, Matoba captures him.
Read MoreExorcist
Natsume finds out who's been stealing the youkai blood: the exorcist Matoba Seiji. He investigates with the help of Natori, but is captured by Matoba's servant youkai. Matoba is willing to sacrifice any number of youkai for his own ambitions. He tells Natsume why he's gathering blood: to release the seal on a powerful youkai. Natsume learns that there are people who treat Youkai in a totally different way than he or even Natori.
Read MoreThe Fox Child's Watch
Natsume is invited to go to a pottery classroom with Shigeru. It's being held in an inn where he once stayed. When he goes there, he meets an old friend: the young fox child he once saved.
Read MoreThrough the Autumn Wind
Because of his poisonous arrow wound, Madara spends most of his time sleeping to heal. Without Sensei to protect him, Natsume has to remain constantly on guard. Especially since a strange stone seems to stir strange phenomena everywhere around him. To make things worse, it's the cultural festival and Natsume is appointed to serve the clients at the bazaar set by his class. But the pressure of keeping secrets from his friends is causing Natsume to break.
Read MoreThe Broken Mirror
An event in the forest causes Tanuma to avoid Natsume the following days, which he becomes concerned about. Mirrors are mysteriously breaking around the school and one day Natsume catches Tanuma acting weirdly. It turns out that Tanuma has been possessed by a youkai looking for her mirror, which had been broken into pieces during a storm a few days before. Using him as a vessel until she reclaims her mirror, Natsume has no choice but to help her. The youkai warns that there may be others seeking the mirror.
Read MoreWhat The Mirror Shows
Because of his possession, Tanuma is able to see the youkai around him and thus better understand how Natsume lives.
Read MoreA Place To Go Home To
When a dangerous youkai from Natsume's past finds his current home, he comes down with a fever and dreams about his life right before moving in with the Fujiwaras.
Read MoreNatsume's Book of Play
Natsume spends time playing games with youkai he has befriended. He remembers games he was left out of as a child.
Read MoreUnchanging Form
Natsume continues to spend his days giving youkai back their names from the Book of Friends. One day, as he's heading home, he finds himself chased by a giant, rolling pot. The youkai in the pot insists that his grandmother Reiko stole a doll from her. When she threatens to hurt his family, however, he's forced to go out and find it. But would his kind, smiling grandmother Reiko really steal a doll from someone?
Read MoreMischievous Rain
On a rainy day, Natsume meets a young girl youkai. Her name isn't in the Book of Friends, but she wants his help anyway: she wants him to find a man she met once. The man couldn't see youkai normally, but a mischievous trick of the weather let him see her for just one day. For the next fifty years she visited him, hoping he'd see her one more time, but he never did. Now he's vanished. Can Natsume find him for her?
Read MoreThe Letter from the Exorcist
Natsume finds a letter addressed to him from Matoba. Walking in the forest, he loses it when an amateur exorcist seals a yokai in a pot. Noticing the weak seal, Natsume and Nyanko-sensei take it to Natori's condo to re-seal it. When Natsume returns home he sees Matoba and learns the letter was a request for Natsume to attend a meeting of strong exorcists to weed out the person who has been targeting exorcists.
Read MoreShadow of Linked Chains
Matoba brings Natsume to one of the Matoba clan villas to attend the exorcist meeting. Natsume learns that a mask yokai called "Magatsumen" is controlling people and disguises himself as a shiki in order to test attendees if they have been possessed. By following a strange spring sound, Natsume finds the culprit behind the mask possessions and drives the yokai out. Matoba shoots the yokai with an arrow to exorcise it.
Read MoreIt Must Not Be Bound
Natsume sees strange writing on the chalk board in the Earth Science classroom. Taki tells Natsume of the hairy yokai she helped leave her home. Natsume comes to Taki's home and learns that three yokai had been trapped there -- two "rabbit" yokai and a hairy white one. The hairy yokai is enchanted by Taki and helps find the rabbit yokai in Taki's home. Natsume learns the hairy yokai was the one who wrote on the school chalkboard and goes back to read the yokai's feelings on it.
Read MoreSoundless Valley
Natsume is chased by two yokai who cast a voice-sealing spell on him. A large bird yokai saves him and brings him to a valley before Nyanko-sensei finds him. Natsume regains his voice after the group of yokai attack him in his room, and then returns the bird yokai's name.
Read MoreDistant Festival Lights
Tanuma invites his friends to an inn run by his relatives. While sweeping outside, Tanuma is greeted by an old woman named Ito-san. Natsume learns that Ito-san is a yokai that serves the Mizunagi shrine by protecting the mountain festival. Ito-san has come into the inn because another yokai has stolen the festival's white mask and has disguised itself as an inn guest. Natsume finds the yokai who stole the mask for the festival's power, and Ito-san exorcises her. Ito-san warns Natsume to keep her identity a secret until after the festival is over so she can complete the festival. Natsume says he will tell no one she is a yokai so she can stay in this town as long as possible.
Read MoreA World Unbent
An episode depicting the story of Natori Shuuichi and Matoba Seiji when they were young. This episode shows Natori's family and his childhood of being able to see youkai, getting hated by his family and becoming an exorcist.
Read MoreFollowing a Narrow Path
The episode starts with Natsume being chased by a hairy youkai. He comes across a tiny mushroom youkai who tells him about a noble youkai named Shuon who was on a journey. Natsume helps the little youkai prepare for his meeting with the noble youkai. When they meet, however, the noble youkai warns the mushroom youkai that the path he takes is a narrow one and asks the little youkai to go back home. But then the little youkai realizes he need to become worthy in order to follow him. Another youkai, who appears to be one of the noble youkai followers, appears and gives a book to the mushroom youkai and tells him to complete the training to join Shoun-sama.
Read MoreTouko and Shigeru
The story of why Touko and Shigeru adopted Natsume.
Read MoreTo the Ephemeral Ones
The mid-ranks show Natsume flowers at the top of a hill. Natsume later catches a cold and the mid-ranks go and get medicine for him, doing difficult chores for the yokai with the medicine. Amid Natsume's fever dreams are the memory of when he got sick as a child and he briefly talks to Reiko. With the medicine in hand, the mid-ranks give it to him and his fever goes down. They later learn the medicine doesn't work on humans and are disheartened as they wasted their time, but smile when Natsume thanks them for their efforts.
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