不安定な世界

Tanuma Stan and Natsume/Tanuma Shipper | Mostly I write meta, but sometimes I find the art supplies | She/Her

[fuanteinasekai]

For the record, I am still working on the Taki thing. The last 10% is always the hardest. It's also the part where I tend to realize a thing and then get sidetracked.

By which I mean, I guess we're deconstructing gender roles, now. (Tanuma was not informed and he's confused.)

[fuanteinasekai]

Ok, so. Ever since the last post I've been thinking about story structure and how it applies to other plot lines in Natsume, particularly the main plot line. For example: will there be a main crisis, and what would it look like? Natsume tells the boys and/or the Fujiwaras the truth, then something bad happens with Shinobu? After a fair amount of poking at the story structure I have come to the conclusion that while there are several plot lines with clear problems, goals, and development, Tanuma's is the most classically dramatic. And I have a headache now. (I do think I can work out a chart for Natori, but that's going to take a bit more time.)

For what it's worth, I want to reiterate that I do not think this was all planned from the start or that Midorikawa is sitting there with Freytag's pyramid checking off plot points. In the beginning she said she wanted to write a "series of standalone stories" without an arc and that's pretty much what it looked like. Tanuma was introduced early and clearly meant to be some kind of sidekick/partner as well as a close friend, but she admits she expected them to fall into place by volume 5 [instead of having all this drama]. For reasons I think I have explained elsewhere, it doesn't seem like she had Tanuma's and Taki's future roles decided until Taki's kimono demon arc, though it's been consistent since then. But a lot of stories can be analyzed as a series of plot points even if they're not intentional, because plot points are at their core simply moments of drama that are important to pacing and progression.

(I do think Omibashira works as a kind of "midpoint" for both Tanuma and the main plot, in the sense that it's a moment of truth for Natsume that forces him to actively think about his future.)

While poking around, one story I came back to a few times is "House of Leftover Promises." I've been wondering ever since this arc whether Matoba would somehow be involved in confronting Natsume about Tanuma. From this one story alone we have: Matoba being irritated that Natsume "pretends to be normal," Matoba believing that anyone with power has a responsibility to use it to protect ordinary people, Matoba criticizing Natori for not giving Natsume a choice much as Natsume doesn't give Tanuma a choice (at least Natori has an excuse, being older), and Matoba having… feelings… about not having anyone at his side to help "bear [his] burden." How would he feel about Natsume effectively throwing away the opportunity to have someone eager, willing, and capable at his side? Probably not too sympathetic!

Relatedly, I do think Natori becoming Matoba's right hand/partner/maybe more makes sense as a happy ending. Not because it would make Natori more like Matoba, but because it could make Matoba more like Natori. If he wants to "do good" as an exorcist, then surely being a positive influence on one of the most important clans has value? Perhaps that's wishful thinking, but there are elements of the Shinobu storyline that fit.

On a completely unrelated note, Taki is probably the most misunderstood character since "Evil Natori." There's a whole post there that I'm kind of afraid to write but the short version is "benevolent sexism is poison to growth."

[fuanteinasekai]

I'm stressed

TLDR: Things are about to get a lot better for Tanuma and Natsume! But they're about to get a lot worse first.

Time for a plot chart.

Characters

Natsume: Traumatized, inexperienced, reactive. Changes behavior only after confrontation or crisis.

Tanuma: Proactive but repressed. Accepts apparent limits but jumps on opportunities to surpass them.

Relationship A Timeline

Volume 1, Natsume, Human Exterminator First Meeting

.

.

.

Volume 5 Same Scenery Introduction of Problem

.

.

Volume 8 Culture Festival

Something Reflected Confrontation/Crisis 1

Volume 9 Eastern Forest Resistance

.

Volume 11 Something Sealed

Long Way Home

Volume 12 The Other Side of the Glass Major Confrontation/Crisis

.

Volume 14 Unchanging Form Attempt to Correct

.

Volume 16 Distant Festival Lights

.

.

Volume 19 Nitai-sama

Volume 20 Tsuki-higui

Flowing Past

.

Volume 22 The Face of the Noren

Volume 23 Tenjou-san

Volume 24 Suspicious Visitor Confrontation/Crisis 3

Volume 25 Village of Sleeping Vessels Attempt to Correct

Volume 26 ""

Cookies to the Forest Entrance

Volume 27 Master of the Name Calls

Dream of a Rainbow Cloudy Night

.

Volume 29 By Invitation of the Queen

Volume 30 Portrait of a Girl Point of No Return

Volume 31 ""

.

Volume 33 Special 23 False High

Volume 34? Final Confrontation/Crisis <-- We Are Here

Volume ? Transformation

Climax

Denouement

To elaborate on these "plot points":

First Meeting: Self-explanatory

Introduction of Problem: Natsume is hiding things from Tanuma, Tanuma accepts his boundary because Natsume is dealing with a lot and Tanuma can't do much anyway.

Confrontation/Crisis 1: Tanuma's mirror yokai tells Natsume that it hurts to not understand what's happening. Natsume keeps Tanuma at a distance for his protection but Tanuma points out that Natsume can also get hurt.

Resistance: During this phase Natsume is really struggling to open up even though he knows it bothers Tanuma (and others) and has to be told to do anything but the bare minimum. Nothing has really changed since Crisis 1.

Major Confrontation/Crisis: Tanuma breaks down and Natsume considers giving up (ties directly into main arc).

Attempt to Correct: Major crisis --> Major gesture = talking about Reiko. Reiko is a very vulnerable issue for Natsume, so it's a significant risk for Natsume to talk to Tanuma like this. Throughout this period we see Natsume make an active attempt to compromise and include Tanuma without putting him in danger. He also goes through a phase of trying to avoid helping yokai so others don't get caught up in his problems.

Confrontation/Crisis 3: Natsume scolds Tanuma for not asking for help. Tanuma ignores problems for the sake of being involved in Natsume's world. Natsume worries about Tanuma feeling alienated by all his yokai talk but neither actually addresses the issue. At the end Natsume concludes Tanuma shouldn't be directly involved with yokai.

Attempt to Correct: Tanuma tries to open up more, Natsume tries to include Tanuma more even when he's scared. Still "fumbling."

Point of No Return: This is not the "Point of No Return" in a lot of plot charts that happens near the beginning of the story, but there's really no better term. Tanuma cannot fully return to the ordinary world. Our two biggest current antagonists know (a) his true identity, (b) his connection to Natsume, and (c) to an ambiguous extent, his gift.

False High: We're shinyuu/close friends now! Tanuma is opening up about his family! Pay no attention to the fact that Natsume is still paranoid and overprotective and Tanuma is pretending things are okay when they aren't. Parallel with Tanuma's mother helps reinforce dilemma that triggers crisis: Tanuma would rather risk everything than be left behind, but holds back out of respect for Natsume.

///// Theoretical:

Final Confrontation/Crisis: Something bad happens that forces our characters to acknowledge all the flaws in their relationship. May lead to temporary separation.

Transformation: In a bittersweet/tragic story this is where they give up for good. In a happy ending, this is where they suck it up and do the brave thing because they've decided it's worth it.

Climax: Characters use transformation to save (or lose) the day. Note: may be integrated with main arc climax or may precede it.

Denouement: We get to see the new, stable relationship in action! Yay! (Or we see the characters move on. Boo.) If relationship arc precedes main arc, this would generally be where we go through the final act of the main arc.

In a typical story arc the first major crisis (Omibashira) would be about halfway, but since this a continuous work with no preset end point it mostly just follows pacing guidelines of alternating between major and minor crises and increasing tension. Technically we could have more than two major crises, so why do I think we're at the final crisis for Tanuma? I was working on a longer version with quotes and so on, but for the sake of readability this is what we've been shown and sometimes outright told:

Tanuma worries about Natsume and desperately wants to support him with yokai (as well as share some of the more positive experiences), but believes that because he does not have the same power he would only hold Natsume back. Tanuma represses his desires because he sees them as "greedy," and rarely communicates them to Natsume. Tanuma seems to believe that Natsume will inevitably move on because of how different their worlds are. Tanuma chooses not to convey his stronger feelings, so Natsume is not aware of how deeply Tanuma feels, and frequently misses the subtext of his actions.

Natsume wants to keep everyone around him safe, and particularly worries about Tanuma because of his vulnerability to yokai energy. He believes the only way to do this is to keep the yokai world and ordinary world separate, which means keeping Tanuma compartmentalized. Though he tries to open up and accommodate Tanuma's desires, he's still cagey about the exorcist world and doesn't give Tanuma many opportunities to be useful. Natsume is paranoid about Tanuma's wellbeing in general, and tries to hide how much he worries. Natsume is not very good at communicating, and frequently misses opportunities to clarify their situation. Distant Festival Lights implies Natsume is supposed to protect Tanuma by being at his side, but instead he keeps Tanuma at a distance, safely bottled up.

Both are worried about each other, but neither wants to burden the other with things that seem unsolvable.

Without getting into specific spoilers, the current arc has set a trap for Tanuma: an opportunity to do something meaningful for Natsume, something that only he can do, but at the cost of doing something questionable. It is currently ambiguous exactly how far he decided to go, but he has at least partly fallen into the trap—enough that he will likely take the blame (fairly or otherwise) when something inevitably goes wrong. It is wildly out of character for Tanuma, but like Omibashira Tanuma's pettiness, it is also completely explained by his unmet emotional needs. This means the only way Tanuma can explain what he's done is to tell Natsume the full truth about his motivation. That is, he cannot get out of this without either lying or "burdening" Natsume with his true feelings. Likewise, Natsume cannot satisfy Tanuma's needs without inviting Tanuma to fully join him in his world—which means facing one of his deepest fears. There is no space for half explanations or half solutions—either they deal with this fully or not at all. Either they remake themselves or they give up. That's what makes this the final crisis.

And everything leading up to this story supports it:

The Point of No Return. Ever since the end of the last crisis (Suspicious Visitor), the story has been building up Tanuma's connection to the exorcist world as well as his previously unexamined gifts. Since a big flaw in their relationship is Natsume trying to keep him squarely in the ordinary world, this sets up both the circumstances of the crisis and the resolution (i.e. the climax). Without this set up, Natsume allowing Tanuma into his full world would be too abrupt.

False High. The false high sets our expectations: Natsume and Tanuma should be at least shinyuu/best friends by the end, unless we're getting a bittersweet ending. It also marks an emotional high point and creates a false sense of security, increasing the dramatic effect of the crisis. Too close to the crisis and it's jarring. Too far, and it loses intensity. Honestly I should have seen this coming.

The Main Arc. The main arc revolves around Natsume's life mirroring Reiko's and how he tries to find a different path so he can live happily. More recent developments have been about finding Natsume's grandfather and thus learning the story about the end of her life: how she found someone and seemingly how she lost them and ended up a young single mother. The painting seems to be related to the grandfather—perhaps even painted by him—so finding it likely means finding her full story, which means we're close to that point in the main arc. This—as well as Tanuma—will probably have a significant role in resolving the Book of Friends issue itself. Considering how emotionally driven the main arc is, it makes sense to resolve Tanuma's arc first so that Natsume is properly supported for the main arc.

There's nothing else left. They're best friends. They support each other. They tell each other almost everything. They push their boundaries for each other. And it's not enough. If this isn't our last crisis, what would our last crisis be?

Now the, uh, "fun" part of this final crisis is that a lot of the time the main character decides it's not actually possible to resolve and they give up, leading to a physical or emotional "separation." After a bit of soul-searching and potentially some kind of outside influence, the hero changes their mind, transforms themselves, and comes back for the climax where everything gets fixed for real.

It takes two months for a single chapter to come out so needless to say I'm kind of hoping this "separation" part doesn't happen. Or at least if there is a separation it could be resolved by the end of this (likely very long) story. There is some evidence that the climax will occur in this arc, but it could also just be something that hints at a later climax.

Regardless, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better, because that's how this works. But the end result is in fact Tanuma's "happy ending," because "bittersweet" is just not what we've set up. I am completely convinced of that.

I'm still stressed though.

[fuanteinasekai]

Be careful with the translate function on twitter. Grok is hallucinating Nyanko-Sensei in Natsume tweets. Extremely funny but misleading.

[fuanteinasekai]

Some thoughts on the new chapter.

Two parters are referred to as "front" and "back." This is "Part 1" which means there will be at least 3 parts. Unsurprising considering the characters involved.

I checked and yes this goes with the May cover with the blue sky, etc. They're wearing the same thing on the train.

My first thought on hearing there were two girls was "Hmm. Two girls = two boys = parallels?"

それに友人のため必死になる気持ちには共感してしまって

"But I can't help but sympathize with feeling desperate [to help] one's friend…"

Ha. Okay then.

This might be the full extent of the parallel, but I think it's something to look out for as the story progresses. Just in case, here are the girls' names:

浅見 (Asami) すみれ (Sumire)

Asami is a real surname combining "shallow" with "look/see." If she's Natsume's mirror this amuses me as it basically means she's Natsume but without the ability to "see." [Edit: Forgot to mention a more "direct" translation would be "superficial perspective," possibly in contrast to Tanuma/Shiori being observant. Why is this a real surname?] Sumire has no kanji but means Violet.

久木 (Kugi) 栞 (Shiori)

Kugi combines "long time" with "tree," possibly a metaphor for her family having old roots in the town. Shiori is… interesting. It's a feminine name with multiple possible kanji. The kanji our Shiori uses means "bookmark," but the word is believed to come from an old practice of breaking tree branches to mark a path through the forest. Since bookmarks guide the reader to where they were before, they became known as shiori as a kind of analogy.

The name "bookmark" (Shiori) is associated with books for obvious reasons, and thus knowledge and wisdom. But because the bookmark is a guide, it's also associated with guiding others.

Asami is so funny. She summoned Natsume and Tanuma, exactly who she needed! Honestly I'm not sure she's wrong? It's been hinted before that fate can be involved. Tanuma suggested Natsume was "summoned" to Taki's house to deal with the kimono demon, and Clara called it fate that the boys showed up at the seance. While Clara might not be so serious, Tanuma's comment seemed meaningful. Worth noting Tanuma is the one who actually led Natsume to Taki's house.

How likely is it they'll get through this story without Asami seeing something meaningful? It seems Shiori is already affected. Unlike Shibata, Asami is local. Will we be seeing more of her in the future as a new friend? (And will this lead to Kitamoto and Nishimura being let in?)

On the subject of Shiori being affected… Shiori says the visitors wear cloths over their faces to "prevent Hako-sama from memorizing their faces." Does that mean the "girl" Natsume saw was Hako-sama, having memorized Shiori's appearance? Or is it misdirection? If it was Hako-sama, that suggests something has already gone wrong. (Which explains Shiori's bad feeling.)

There have been two cases, so far, of Natsume confusing human for yokai and vice versa: the girls at the beginning and the fake Shiori. This is not unusual (its commonness is part of my theory) but fake "Shiori" is central to the story, as is Tanuma. Does that mean this story will connect Tanuma's ability to identify the box to his ability to identify the shapeshifter? If Hako-sama's ability to steal identities is well known, that suggests it is also able to appear to normal humans, which would really play to Tanuma's strengths. Note: neither Tanuma nor Asami were looking when Natsume saw "Shiori," so we don't know if they could see her. Also the ability to steal identities could certainly be a "disaster" socially. I'm scaring myself. I hope Hako-sama doesn't steal one of the boy's faces… Oh, another fun fact: bakemono is used for yokai in general but it literally means shapeshifter so it's kind of fun to actually see a literal bakemono.

I have thoughts about the Matoba/Temple thing, but I'm waiting until I feel like I understand it better.

Finally, we obviously have to talk about Ban. My knee-jerk reaction was why is Ban asking for help when this is his power too? Does this disprove my theory? But I don't think so. First, we know that Ban has some kind of power related to identifying things because that's his whole job. While it's possible Matoba was right that he uses a tool, he didn't seem to be using anything when he noticed the mirror. Second, Ban being the one to ask for help strengthens the fact that there's some kind of connection. Third, it's unlikely Ban knew the boys were coming, so it makes more sense if he originally intended to identify the box himself. So why ask for help? Some possibilities: (a) They somehow need two people for this. (b) Something happened to his power. (c) He's just not strong enough. He does seem rather strong, but Tanuma being stronger would fit Natsume being ridiculously strong. (d) The real box is missing. Hence Shiori doppleganger. (e) He's lying to test Tanuma. Matoba claims temples and shrines are off limits, but that doesn't mean Shinobu cares. (f) some combination of the above.

The Ban thing really stresses me out. Please don't make bad decisions, boys.

[fuanteinasekai]

Future insert for December LaLa. Wow. Thank you Midorikawa. lmao

But uh... is that The Photo?? It fits the body language. And the fact that it says 要＆貴志＆ニャンコ先生 (Kaname & Takashi & Nyanko-sensei) instead of, you know, Tanuma and Natsume and Nyanko-sensei.

Also I love Sensei's matching scarf.

[fuanteinasekai]

As far as the actual story, I don't have a lot to say. I think it's fun when we get to see Natsume from an outsider perspective (like owl girl). Other than that, I do feel like this fits into my "growing up" theory. Natsume's whole thing is getting involved in exorcist business in a non-exorcist way, so he really needs to figure out a way to solidify his relationship with that world (eventually with Tanuma at his side). He also needs to learn magic from Natori, etc., but I think the former is more relevant to this specific story.

[fuanteinasekai]

The tiniest Tanuma. So tiny I had to take a screenshot of a screenshot.

[dreamer1084]

Spoilers of Natsuyuu Sp.23

Only 8 pages special chapter for this month, so it's almost a summary...

I am not a native English speaker, and I used Google Translation mostly (from Chinese to English), I hope the translation is not difficult to read.

Spoilers under cut.

At first, Sensei was drinking juice and waiting for Tanuma with Natsume, complaining about waiting for so long (Natsume: It's only three minutes late, Sensei) Sensei said that three minutes was also fatal. What if the new dumplings are gone? When Natsume was wondering why Tanuma was late, Tanuma finally arrived (it felt like the scene in Ch.117)

Tanuma was late because of a cold snap, so his father forced him to wear more clothes.

When they were finally ready to leave, Tanuma said that he wanted to take a detour to find a mailbox because he wanted to mail a postcard. Suddenly a strong wind blew the postcard away. Natsume immediately chased after it and saw some pattern on the postcard.

When the post card flew up, what Natsume saw was: beautiful seasonal flowers carefully painted with watercolors, and densely written words that did not contrast with them. Why he thought this way, he himself didn't know. "Is it a hand-painted postcard? Sorry, I saw it by accident..." But it looked like a love letter.. "Oh, this is a letter my father wrote to my mother."

Natsume could only look at Tanuma, think that his friends didn't usually ask about his family, and he didn't often talk about them. The same was true for Tanuma.

"Mom is far away. Oh, far away really means far away, they live separately. But they don't have a bad relationship. ──How should I put it? My mother never seem to be in good health. After she was with my father and gave birth to me, her health deteriorated rapidly... Her health improved slightly after she was admitted to the hospital. But when my father happily visited her, her health deteriorated again. Because the cause was unknown, the doctors said that maybe meeting dad caused her some stress. And there was a period of time when we had a bad relationship with my mother's relatives... Dad decided to live separately because of mom. However, mom was quite against it and made a fuss about it. Although my mother is recuperating now, she sometimes comes to visit me as long as she feels better. "

Natsume remembered that Sensei once mentioned that Tanuma's father was possessed by a youkai with divine power, and that the youkai was very powerful. But it may be jealous of the people around him. (Vol.16 Ch.66, this part was deleted from the anime) (The Youkai I see can sometimes be very unreasonable...) "So my father writes letters occasionally." (It's just like a love letter.) Because she is important, they cannot meet. Because they cannot meet, he put his heart into it──

Natsume could only say Tanuma's name helplessly, and then Sensei asked: "Hum, did you write a letter then?" Tanuma put his hat on Sensei's head. "Eh? Me?... I did write to her, but it's hard to make a reply lately..." When Natsume asked why, Tanuma said his mother had wanted him to send photos because he unintentionally mentioned something in the letter. "Photos...? What did you mention by accident?" Tanuma thought awkwardly for a long time, and finally said:

"...I made a best friend here."

+

We finally know about the situation of Tanuma's mother. I am glad that he did not grow up in a single-parent family... But maybe Tanuma's mother is also sensitive to youkai? That's why she met her husband? I believe how these two people met and interacted can be a good story LOL

Also, for Natsume's first "like a love letter"... did he actually think that it was written by Tanuma (Huh? Natsume's second "like a love letter" might be referring to the feelings of those unreasonable youkai who want to monopolize the people they value...

[fuanteinasekai]

You're right, that first part really looks like Chap. 117. Both Natsume's "repressed fear" face and Tanuma's rushing pose. In 117 I think the point was to emphasize Natsume's paranoia so we know he's making an emotional sacrifice when he agrees to stay for the seance.

In this case it's immediately followed by the bit about his dad fussing over his clothes, so together it emphasizes the fact that Tanuma is perceived as fragile by people close to him. Maybe to strengthen the parallel with his mom?

Back in Intermission Detectives the "twist" was that the killer had already died naturally and the leading lady was perfectly safe. I've always wondered if that was meant to hint at something in the future.

Tanuma's mom didn't get really sick when she met his dad, only when Tanuma was born. It doesn't make sense Tanuma would be born preloaded with a dangerous yokai and he can visit her fine anyway. And why would Tanuma-san's yokai only become jealous when Tanuma was born, yet not be jealous of Tanuma himself? A hospital seems like the perfect place to pick up a malicious/jealous yokai. (I'm assuming she gave birth in a hospital like most people.)

I've always thought it was funny how Tanuma would get possessed by yokai that only wanted to use him, only for those yokai to get attached and empathize with him in the end. What if his mom is the same, and a yokai got attached to her? That would fit with the jealous yokai concept and your idea about connections between yokai and "love letters."

Maybe Tanuma-san didn't even have his powerful yokai yet.

[dreamer1084]

Haha, I have seen some theories after this special chapter was out. Some like yours with the jealous youkai being actually possessing Tanuma's mother, some like Tanuma's mother being a Matoba (I think it's very unlikely but I won't deny any possibility), some like father and son relationship being different from romantic...etc.

Midorikawa-sensei likes to make us think it is A, but it is actually B. Most people thought that Tanuma's mother was dead or divorced from his father, but it turned out that she was still alive and had a good relationship with her husband. I believe it would be the same if Midorikawa-sensei had plans for Tanuma's family. Before she draw them out, there're many possibilities we could think of but may not even close to the true. I really hope that in the near future, Midorikawa-sensei will really draw the story of Tanuma family and let Natsume communicate more with the priest.

(BTW, my theory is the youkai that possessing the priest was just not interested in human relationship. That's why it won't help Tanuma, and it won't hurt him either. And there's youkai possessing his mother, it also wanted/needed Tanuma for some reasons. After he was born, it tried to harm the priest. But the divine youkai fought back, so Tanuma's mom got sicker. Well, may be I just think too much and it feels more like a fanfic idea LOL)

[fuanteinasekai]

Yes! I also thought maybe Tanuma-san's yokai fought with hers. (I like that I'm talking about her yokai as if it's not 100% speculation, lol.) I also get the impression his is probably neutral to everyone but the priest. I didn't think of the possibility of her yokai wanting Tanuma.

I don't usually speculate about plot because she's so hard to predict, but I'm impatient, haha. It definitely feels like something that could take a while to work out, maybe even be a motivation for Natsume to learn more about exorcist stuff. I've always wanted more of Tanuma's dad, so I hope we get more about this in the next, I dunno, year. haha

Part of me does feel like this is fanfic and wishful thinking, because one reason I'm speculating is that I hope they don't get a bittersweet ending. But also, like you said, she rarely gives us what we expect, so it's reasonable to think there's something misleading here.

[dreamer1084]

Spoilers of Natsuyuu Sp.23

Only 8 pages special chapter for this month, so it's almost a summary...

I am not a native English speaker, and I used Google Translation mostly (from Chinese to English), I hope the translation is not difficult to read.

Spoilers under cut.

At first, Sensei was drinking juice and waiting for Tanuma with Natsume, complaining about waiting for so long (Natsume: It's only three minutes late, Sensei) Sensei said that three minutes was also fatal. What if the new dumplings are gone? When Natsume was wondering why Tanuma was late, Tanuma finally arrived (it felt like the scene in Ch.117)

Tanuma was late because of a cold snap, so his father forced him to wear more clothes.

When they were finally ready to leave, Tanuma said that he wanted to take a detour to find a mailbox because he wanted to mail a postcard. Suddenly a strong wind blew the postcard away. Natsume immediately chased after it and saw some pattern on the postcard.

When the post card flew up, what Natsume saw was: beautiful seasonal flowers carefully painted with watercolors, and densely written words that did not contrast with them. Why he thought this way, he himself didn't know. "Is it a hand-painted postcard? Sorry, I saw it by accident..." But it looked like a love letter.. "Oh, this is a letter my father wrote to my mother."

Natsume could only look at Tanuma, think that his friends didn't usually ask about his family, and he didn't often talk about them. The same was true for Tanuma.

"Mom is far away. Oh, far away really means far away, they live separately. But they don't have a bad relationship. ──How should I put it? My mother never seem to be in good health. After she was with my father and gave birth to me, her health deteriorated rapidly... Her health improved slightly after she was admitted to the hospital. But when my father happily visited her, her health deteriorated again. Because the cause was unknown, the doctors said that maybe meeting dad caused her some stress. And there was a period of time when we had a bad relationship with my mother's relatives... Dad decided to live separately because of mom. However, mom was quite against it and made a fuss about it. Although my mother is recuperating now, she sometimes comes to visit me as long as she feels better. "

Natsume remembered that Sensei once mentioned that Tanuma's father was possessed by a youkai with divine power, and that the youkai was very powerful. But it may be jealous of the people around him. (Vol.16 Ch.66, this part was deleted from the anime) (The Youkai I see can sometimes be very unreasonable...) "So my father writes letters occasionally." (It's just like a love letter.) Because she is important, they cannot meet. Because they cannot meet, he put his heart into it──

Natsume could only say Tanuma's name helplessly, and then Sensei asked: "Hum, did you write a letter then?" Tanuma put his hat on Sensei's head. "Eh? Me?... I did write to her, but it's hard to make a reply lately..." When Natsume asked why, Tanuma said his mother had wanted him to send photos because he unintentionally mentioned something in the letter. "Photos...? What did you mention by accident?" Tanuma thought awkwardly for a long time, and finally said:

"...I made a best friend here."

+

We finally know about the situation of Tanuma's mother. I am glad that he did not grow up in a single-parent family... But maybe Tanuma's mother is also sensitive to youkai? That's why she met her husband? I believe how these two people met and interacted can be a good story LOL

Also, for Natsume's first "like a love letter"... did he actually think that it was written by Tanuma (Huh? Natsume's second "like a love letter" might be referring to the feelings of those unreasonable youkai who want to monopolize the people they value...

[fuanteinasekai]

You're right, that first part really looks like Chap. 117. Both Natsume's "repressed fear" face and Tanuma's rushing pose. In 117 I think the point was to emphasize Natsume's paranoia so we know he's making an emotional sacrifice when he agrees to stay for the seance.

In this case it's immediately followed by the bit about his dad fussing over his clothes, so together it emphasizes the fact that Tanuma is perceived as fragile by people close to him. Maybe to strengthen the parallel with his mom?

Back in Intermission Detectives the "twist" was that the killer had already died naturally and the leading lady was perfectly safe. I've always wondered if that was meant to hint at something in the future.

Tanuma's mom didn't get really sick when she met his dad, only when Tanuma was born. It doesn't make sense Tanuma would be born preloaded with a dangerous yokai and he can visit her fine anyway. And why would Tanuma-san's yokai only become jealous when Tanuma was born, yet not be jealous of Tanuma himself? A hospital seems like the perfect place to pick up a malicious/jealous yokai. (I'm assuming she gave birth in a hospital like most people.)

I've always thought it was funny how Tanuma would get possessed by yokai that only wanted to use him, only for those yokai to get attached and empathize with him in the end. What if his mom is the same, and a yokai got attached to her? That would fit with the jealous yokai concept and your idea about connections between yokai and "love letters."

Maybe Tanuma-san didn't even have his powerful yokai yet.

[fuanteinasekai]

I made a script for special #23. It's not a scanlation, just a script you can match up if you have the Japanese raws but you're struggling with the translation.

I fudged the translation a bit so it would flow more naturally, but I promise it's nothing important. Just things like using natural English or removing the 3 million "apparently"s that Japanese requires because otherwise they think you sound psychic.

A couple of translation notes: I kept "Japanese confectionary" as "wagashi shop" because I thought it sounded too unnatural translated (and wagashi is sometimes used in English). Wagashi are traditional Japanese sweets including anything from those fancy flower things (nerikiri) to simpler dango. Wagashi are often served with green tea, which I think fits Tanuma's kind of traditional vibe. Manjuu is also wagashi.

I translated shinyuu (親友) as "close friend" because it flowed best and is pretty close to the literal translation. But if you ask a Japanese person to tell you what they would call their best friend, it's shinyuu. Shinyuu literally means "intimate friend" and refers to a friend you are particularly close to, who understands you deeply, and who you can count on in hard times (and vice versa). Japanese does not have a word that literally means "best friend," so you can technically have more than one shinyuu. But Japanese people don't tend to throw these words around lightly, so for a lot of people shinyuu refers to one's singular closest friend. It varies. You can specifically say "close friend above all others" or muni no shinyuu but you'd generally have some kind of reason for that.

There is also a term "daishinyuu" which is more clearly "very (most) close friend," but I don't think it fits the tone or characterization as it's more modern and informal. Also, part of the reason I was specifically waiting for shinyuu is because Natsume is so stubborn about using yuujin for literally everyone that almost anything would be a milestone, but shinyuu is the classic.

Obligatory comment that I am non-native and not advanced, so minor grain of salt, etc.

Page 1

Sensei: Honestly! How long is he going to make us wait? He was supposed to be here ages ago.

Natsume: It's hardly been three minutes, Sensei.

Sensei: Those few minutes could be a fatal error! If the fresh dango are sold out how are you gonna make it up to me?

Natsume: But really, maybe something

Tanuma: Natsume

Tanuma: Sorry! I didn't mean to make you wait.

Page 2

Natsume: Woah, you're so fluffy, Tanuma.

Tanuma: Ugh… "They said there's a cold front coming through today."

Natsume: Ahh, Shigeru-san said that, too.

Tanuma: I said I was fine but he wouldn't let me go without wearing it.

Natsume: Haha, the priest?

Tanuma: ….

[Tanuma's dad is a Buddhist priest. Ever since he was little, Tanuma has drawn a lot of concern, one way or another falling ill often, so his dad is always worrying and looking after him.]

Sensei: Alright, to the wagashi shop, then!

Tanuma: Can we take a little detour first?

Sensei: WHAT!?

Natsume: Of course, I don't mind. [What for? ]

Tanuma: Just some mail.

Natsume: Mail?

Tanuma: I want to send this—

Tanuma?: Ah

Page 3

[It's blowing away]

[That's—]

Tanuma: Natsume

Natsume: I… I got it.

Tanuma: Are, are you okay, Natsume?

Tanuma: That was so risky…..

Tanuma: —But… it was about to be blown toward the river…

Page 4

Tanuma: Thank you, Natsume.

[When it was blowing away I saw beautiful seasonal flowers carefully painted in watercolor and writing so dense it didn't suit them.]

Natsume: Is that a hand-painted postcard? Sorry, I didn't mean to look.

[Even I don't know why I thought this but]

[it looked]

[just like a love letter…]

Tanuma: Oh, this.

Tanuma: My dad wrote it.

Page 5

Tanuma: To my mom.

[Our friends don't really ask me much because of my family situation.]

[And they rarely talk about their own families in front of me.]

[It's the same for Tanuma.]

Tanuma: My mom is far way.

Natsume: …. Ah.

Page 6

Tanuma: Oh! By "far away" I mean actually far away.

Tanuma: She lives separately.

Tanuma: But that doesn't mean there's a bad relationship.

Tanuma: —How do I put this.

Tanuma: My mom has always been in poor health.

Tanuma: But when she got together with Dad

Tanuma: and had me, her health suddenly deteriorated….

Tanuma: When she was hospitalized, she started to get better little by little but when dad happily went to visit her—

Tanuma: her health failed again—

Tanuma: The doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong, so they though maybe my father's visits were causing her some kind of stress.

Tanuma: So there was trouble with my mother's side of the family for a while, but…

Page 7

Tanuma: Dad decided to move out for mom's sake but

Tanuma: Mom hated it and begged and made a huge fuss.

Tanuma: Mom is still in convalescence but she's a lot better now so sometimes I go visit her.

Natsume: —…

[Nyanko-sensei once told me]

[Tanuma's dad was accompanied by an ayakashi with divine power, so terrifyingly strong and capricious]

[if it were jealous of someone like a close relative…]

[The ayakashi I see are sometimes terribly unfair.]

Tanuma: So my dad

Tanuma: Sometimes writes letters like this.

[Just like a love letter]

Page 8

[Because she is dear, they cannot meet. Because they cannot meet, he pours his heart into it—]

Natsume: … Tanuma…

Sensei: Hmph. Don't you write?

Tanuma: Er. Me? … I had been writing but recently it's been hard to write back…

Natsume:—Huh, why?

Tanuma: … She keeps pestering me "send a photo, send a photo." … because I wrote something carelessly…

Natsume: …Photo…? What did you write carelessly?

Tanuma: —…

Tanuma: …—I made a close friend here.

A final note: Japanese frequently drops pronouns so you have to use context to determine who is doing what. The "because she is dear" bit has zero pronouns. That is, a more literal translation is something like "because dear, unable to meet, because unable to meet, pour heart into." You see the issue. At first I thought, given it follows "just [like] a love letter," that it was a more general description of love letters, but "unable to meet because one is dear" seemed too specific so I chose to translate as being about Tanuma's parents in particular.

[fuanteinasekai]

Important questions: Tanuma's mom has always had a "weak constitution" like Tanuma. Does that mean she has the same weaknesses and powers or is it misleading and she has an ordinary genetic condition? If she does have the same "thing" as Tanuma, does that mean her health would be affected by Natsume in the same way, or is Natsume "aligned" with Tanuma like crow boy and his girlfriend? If the latter it would add to the soulmate vibe, but the former would have... interesting implications.

[fuanteinasekai]

On a related note, I'm curious about the long-term here. Are we getting a bittersweet ending for the Tanumas or is Natsume going to completely change Tanuma's family life?

If Natsume is right, then fixing things seems hopeless because Tanuma-san's yokai is extremely powerful and (seemingly) unreasonable. So no exorcism and no negotiating. Then again, Midorikawa-sensei is the writer and she has a habit of coming up with things nobody expects.

[fuanteinasekai]

Important questions: Tanuma's mom has always had a "weak constitution" like Tanuma. Does that mean she has the same weaknesses and powers or is it misleading and she has an ordinary genetic condition? If she does have the same "thing" as Tanuma, does that mean her health would be affected by Natsume in the same way, or is Natsume "aligned" with Tanuma like crow boy and his girlfriend? If the latter it would add to the soulmate vibe, but the former would have... interesting implications.

[fuanteinasekai]

Clarifications About Tanuma

I keep forgetting to make this post, so I’d better go ahead and write it now. Some clarifications about Tanuma, for people who can’t read Japanese or don’t know some important cultural context.

1. There’s nothing strange about his dad being a priest.

Buddhist priests in Japan haven’t been celibate by default for hundreds of years. This is a Japan-specific thing that’s related to the EXTREMELY complex socio-political history of Buddhism in Japan. They used to fight wars over it. 

There are many, many sects of Buddhism, so there’s considerable variation. There are celibate sects, as well as individual priests who voluntarily take vows of celibacy, but priests with wives and children are common. No Japanese person would think that Tanuma having a priest dad suggests he’s adopted or anything of the sort. In fact, there’s a pretty good chance Tanuma expects to become a priest and take over his dad’s temple when he’s older—and still have the right to get married.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Tanuma-san took a vow of celibacy at some point after his son’s birth, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t a priest when Kaname-kun was born.

2. We don’t know what the deal is with his mom.

Tanuma’s mom has never been addressed directly (though it’s possible there’s something in a fanbook I don’t have). Both times Natsume has referred to the issue of the Missing Mom, it’s been worded the same way:

“The Other Side of the Glass:” お父さんと二人暮らし

“Unchanging Form:” お父さんと二人暮らし

The literal meaning of 二人暮らし is something like “pair living.” So, “Tanuma lives alone with his dad.”

Contextually, this is similar to saying “Tanuma-san is a single dad.” Why is he a single dad? Did the mom die? Did she abandon her family? Is she a wanted criminal on the run from international police? We don’t know!

Natsume says Tanuma living alone with his dad is the reason he assumes Tanuma also has 色々苦労 or “various struggles” but he doesn’t seem to know what those struggles are. If Natsume knew that Tanuma’s mom was dead, I think he’d say so. Other characters are fairly upfront about Natsume’s parents dying—they just use more polite words, similar to “pass away” or “be lost.” We don’t have that for Tanuma.

If this issue is never addressed in the manga by the time it ends, we can probably assume Tanuma-mom is dead, since that’s the “default,” less dramatic assumption. But for the time being, it’s ambiguous, and that means there’s room for it to potentially come back in a dramatic way. I’ve seen native-speaker fan works using both “mom is dead” and “parents divorced,” so the ambiguity doesn’t seem to be a non-native misconception.

3. Tanuma hasn’t said “Ponta” since Omibashira.

[fuanteinasekai]

Oh, look! An old post that's not relevant to recent events at all!

I didn't say it at the time, but I always assumed the mom thing would be important because of the way it was connected to Natsume talking about his grandmother in Unchanging Form. You could argue that the Distant Festival Lights back story counts as "various struggles" but that never felt right to me. It was bittersweet and certainly counted as part of his struggle, but there was no acknowledgement of his mom and I honestly felt it wasn't strong enough to "match."

Anyway. I'm satisfied now!

[fuanteinasekai]

I'm going to expand on the mom thing a bit because it's not that long anyway.

(a) Tanuma's priorities are basically 1. Natsume 2. his dad. He has shown zero interest in girls or a girl. (He's very friendly with Taki, but it's not remotely romantic.) Even if he did show an interest that wouldn't really be relevant to Natsume's story, but... zero.

(b) Despite this, Tanuma is a romantic. Nishimura is a "romantic" but mostly in the sense that he's girl crazy and wants to be a really good boyfriend. Tanuma thinks it's romantic to pine for your lost lover or to serve a goddess from afar, her never knowing your loyalty. Tanuma wants the couple in Natori's movie to live happily ever after even though it's a detective story and that's not the point. Tanuma cares about romance. Why? What is the relevance to his character?

(c) We now know that his parents are literally star-crossed lovers separated by forces beyond their ken (lol), and that his father still sends his mother beautiful love letters. This somewhat explains why he's a romantic, but it also strengthens the association. Tanuma has strong role models for romantic love, but the only character that comes remotely close to being a target for his affection is Natsume. Again, what is the purpose?

(d) Given the likelihood that yokai are behind the situation with Tanuma's parents, it seems that at some point Natsume is going to have to get involved, even if that just means telling them what's happening. (I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually the mom who is possessed by a jealous yokai—after all, Tanuma probably got his vulnerability from her.) That's pretty intense.

(e) Natsume's initial reaction to the postcard is kinda... ambiguous, but he's definitely really focused on the concept of a love letter, for some reason. "Even I don't know why I thought [it was a love letter]." lol

(f) The bridge.

(g) Tanuma finally calls Natsume his shinyuu (lit. intimate friend, often used to mean best friend). I've been waiting for that a long time, because it's a pretty big milestone for them. But for it to be in a story heavily centered on romantic love, rather than something more focused on the two of them... Again. Why?

Anyway, Tanatsu canon.

[rethrone-deactivated20250221]

Bring attention to this campaign!

Hey, you there. Reblog this!!!!

Now that I have your attention:

Some of you may know that I was recently in Palestine.

While there, my resolve to do everything in my power to help only strengthened, and I came back wanting to check in on a few of the campaigns I had adopted. To my disappointment, a couple of them were frozen or reported, even though they had been tirelessly vetted and verified.

The worst part is that there are talks of a temporary ceasefire happening again, with the Rafah border crossing opening once more, and my friend Fidaa fears that after all of the hard work, she might not be able to get her two young children (a toddler and a baby) out. She is their sole provider right now.

So we have set up a temporary fundraiser for her on Chuffed, while we work to get her funds unsuspended (if we can). We have to act fast. Please know that two things are true: giving even a very small amount helps, and if you are unable to right now, spreading this campaign and getting more eyes on it helps.

The goal is $15,000 USD. We're starting this off at $285. Please help me get eyes on this.

Help Fidaa and her children evacuate Gaza

I am Fidaa from Gaza. I am 29 years old. I stand before you as a person trying to preserve his family. I am married and a mother of two chil

You can also donate through Paypal directly. This would provide immediate access as well.

This campaign has been vetted here and here. I appreciate anyone who gives or helps this campaign get seen.

Thank you again for any help. Tagging for visibility:

@27moremoons @sivavakkiyar @tamamita @chexcastro @secretpremonition @aire1111 @gracelandmp3 @inyourcity @starsplitter @irangp @vilecrocodile @melimelu @lotus-tower @cygnettes @elliot @phobic-human @killy @golgothas-hymn @gabajoofs @death2germany

[rethrone-deactivated20250221]

Almost at $7500 out of $15000. We are so close to her being able to afford to get herself out along with her children. Please, let's try to prevent any further separations!

[fuanteinasekai]

Also I'm not really back exactly because I don't have that many things to talk about, so I don't expect to post much.

On an unrelated note, congratulations to the 0 people who got Tanuma's mom right. I can't imagine a more pro-Tanatsu background story, though.