Natsume walks into a situation where youkai are having their blood stolen. He meets a familiar face in Natori who offers to help him.

Opinions:

Well now that we’ve gotten to the first two-part episode of season 3 things should get even more interesting. This time the threat isn’t from a youkai, but from fellow humans and we know how dark people can be. The Matoba clan was shown in the second season and from that it was clear they have very different views compared to Natsume. They are a cold group that don’t care at all about youkai and will use them in whatever fashion is necessary to accomplish their goals. It wasn’t much of a shock to hear that they were attacking youkai in order to take their blood for some spell. I don’t know what that spell might do, but it’s clear that it would be bad news. Being captured by them at the end was bad news for Natsume, but knowing what kind of group they are makes me worried about him. The important thing is that in some ways humans are much more dangerous than youkai. With youkai you can put up barriers, seal them away, destroy them if necessary, but humans are more complicated. A human vs. human conflict can get messy.

It’s good to see Natori again regardless of how serious things are. While a bit odd, he is a good guy and a key ally for Natsume. It was a good call to hurry over when hearing about the job being done in Natsume’s town. He really has changed from a guy who definitely hated youkai. Natsume’s influence is clear when it comes to how he does his job. Before he wouldn’t think anything about killing youkai that got in the way, but instead he sealed and drove off the youkai in his last job. He knows better than anyone how bad the Matoba clan can be and so it wasn’t a surprise that he got involved in this. It could be dangerous since he is in the same line of work as the Matoba clan, but he can’t step back since Natsume would get involved regardless.

The winged youkai in this episode was plenty of fun. It was a surprise that she just plain dropped Natsume when finding out he was human. Good thing Nyanko-Sensei was there to serve as a cushion. While a bit blunt she is a good youkai and saved Natsume a couple of times. Though it’s hard to say how involved she can get from here on out with the injuries she has sustained. It’s because there are youkai like her that Natsume can’t turn his back. He might be human, but that doesn’t mean he’ll just side with humans in every situation. Whoever is in the wrong in Natsume’s mind is who he will go up against.

I do wonder how this situation will turn out. Natsume is feeling pretty weak so he might get a method of fighting back. He does have powerful spiritual potential, it’s just a question of tapping into that. The more he rushes into things the more he needs to rely on his friends to help him out. It’s understandable that he wants to be able to fight as well. Still the most important thing right now is staying alive which might be tough for him. I also wonder if he will talk to Natori about the Book of Friends. Natori is a friend, but that’s information that Natsume hasn’t really trusted anyone with so it’s unlikely.

Definitely a good episode from Natsume. The rare cliffhanger for this series has me eager to see how the conflict against the Matoba clan will turn out.
Score: A