I was really struggling with deciding whether to upload this or not.
[Scenario: Tanuma and Natsume (and Sensei) are eating Manjuu together on a cold winter day. Tanuma notices some crumbs on Natsumes cheek and imagines wiping them away with his finger before bringing the finger to his lips and— he quickly snaps back to reality and scolds himself for having such "indecent" fantasies about his *friend*]
Drawing manga is fun but it’s so difficult :,D
also, Tanuma is actually really cute and fun to draw, maybe I’ll make more fanart of him.
there's always been a link between mehrak and alhaitham for kaveh and this event really emphasises this :')
mehrak being named 'little light' i think is really interesting in that kaveh created mehrak after having moved into alhaitham's house, where his future was turbulent, and that he had sold what had once been his home - a home that is described to have been filled with warmth and light, only after the death of his father, is described as a cold, lonely hall
after kaveh moves into alhaitham's house, he still is without a place to call 'home', since he believes that there is a condition for him being there due to the fundamental misunderstandings between him and alhaitham, so mehrak signifies a kind of stability that kaveh can rely on in this dark period of his life
this is seen in how originally kaveh creates mehrak as an assistant but also as a companion that doesn’t talk back (as opposed to Alhaitham)
And then when his and alhaitham's relationship progresses, kaveh programmes mehrak to recognise alhaitham’s voice because now kaveh LIKES alhaitham’s back chat
And NOW mehrak follows after Alhaitham instead of kaveh which kaveh takes as a sign of betrayal (like he didn’t program mehrak to recognise alhaitham’s voice for joint custody plsss)
Mehrak becomes concerned when they’re bickering, or pretending to bicker, because mehrak understands that, actually, they’re getting along great! (bickering is their love language cool okay)
And Alhaitham correctly interprets mehrak’s reason to volunteer to go to the temple, being that mehrak could be HOMESICK? So he’s thinking about mehrak’s origin and its emotional capacity right right
And then Alhaitham putting his BOOK down to defend both kaveh and mehrak, showing his explicit loyalty
i'm feeling many things about this, like kaveh made mehrak after moving into alhaitham's house, and was created as a form of company and some kind of loyalty which kaveh believed he didn’t have in Alhaitham, only now he KNOWS that he DOES have this in Alhaitham, and since he shares everything with Alhaitham (his flaws, his strengths, his past, and now his present) ofc he’d share mehrak since mehrak is important to him, and so mehrak is important to Alhaitham, like it’s just that simple im ??
Mehrak is now entirely interlinked with the both of them, like being mentioned alongside kaveh and alhaitham in act 4 of nod-krai's archon quest
and in kaveh’s bday post where mehrak sways to the music kaveh plays at ‘home’
and also in the coffee motif that is tied to haikaveh, like mehrak being used to bring them coffee in cyno’s second character quest, it going missing getting coffee beans in nahida’s birthday event
and now with mehrak accompanying them to get coffee rather than being left at home (since kaveh isn’t working, what use would an assistant be? Right!! because mehrak isn’t just an assistant anymore!!)
kaveh's 'little light' bridges the darkness of kaveh's past to the hope of his future, which is so intrinsically entwined with alhaitham's - so yeah!! it is a very good name!!!
I’m thinking,,, family unit,, that’s their child now <3
Not a summary, just something I think interesting.
Spoilers under cut.
Ban said his eyesight has temporarily deteriorated due to some ayakashi problem. So he wanted Tanuma's help.
Natsume retorted that Ban had stolen something from Tanuma at the auction—
But Tanuma wanted to know why Ban was looking for "him," since he had no idea which box contained the Disaster.
Ban pointed out that if one wanted to know the aura of the box's seal, they should indeed consult Natsume, who excels in this area.
However, he didn't care what was inside the box at all.
What he wanted was Tanuma's ability to identify antiques.
He wanted the genuine artifact, not a replica, but the unique box itself.
Natsume refused Ban's request, and asked Tanuma to leave with him.
However, after Natsume turned away, Tanuma asked Ban, "...If I accept your request, what you said about 'the location of the painting', is it ture?"
Ban nodded.
Tanuma gave him a serious look before catching up with Natsume.
"The successor of a famous temple and a boy with supernatural powers" LOL
Natsume wore a completely sour face when facing Ban and Matoba LOL
I had considered the possibility of Natori appearing before, thinking the chance was around 20-30%, but it turned out that this was the one who won.
"Please continue. The Matoba clan is in charge. The reason they're making so much noise is simply because they can't take action, so they say things that cause confusion. Don't be afraid, complete your mission."(Matoba is using a commanding tone here.)
In contrast to Matoba, Natora comforted Nire from behind, saying that he was now his eyes and would protect him no matter what happened, and that there was only a little bit left in the ceremony, so please persevere.
After the ceremony, Natsume and Tanuma were exhausted...
Sensei: "Okay, let's eat."
"Why would you come to a rural place like this, Natori-san!!"
"I've said it many times, this should be my line. As an exorcist, it's perfectly normal for me to be here. Why would an ordinary student specifically come to a border region like this!!"
Tanuma greeted Natori, explaining that he had been asked to come as a representative of his family temple, and that Natsume had followed out of concern.
Natsume immediately shouted, "Tanuma! That's not it!! It's because I'm interested!!"
Nyanko-sensei added, "I thought it was a festival!"
Natori was so speechless that even his drawing remained a draft LOL
"...it's strange. During the 'Hako-sama passing Event,' four boxes were clearly being passed around, but among these boxes..."
"──there wasn't a real 'box'."
Ban disappeared.
+
I think that although the head of the Kugi clan appears serious, he's actually quite suspicious...
However, it seems the ritual of passing the box is just an appetizer; the main focus is the village's strange occurrences (the primary reason Natori came to investigate) and the location of Hako-sama.
Furthermore, if Tanuma wasn't deliberately lying, and the four boxes aren't real, then Ban did indeed get his answer. Will he really tell Tanuma the help he promised in finding the portrait?
After all, it seems the portrait is currently the main plot device...
At the end of this chapter, Natsume, Tanuma, and Natori were talking, but Sensei wasn't around. I guess the next chapter might start with Sensei sneaking off to find food and discovering something LOL
After Rachel Feder „the darcy myth: jane austen, literary heartthrobs, and the monsters they taught us to love„ I need to stop reading realtionship with Matoba as a romantic story and start reading it as a gothic one. 🫣
i need midorikawa to actually resolve the “matoba definitely knows abt the book of friends” situation because he’s been sitting here for nearly 100 chapters with this knowledge. interesting character tidbit at the very least i wonder why he’s not doing anything abt it except occasionally going. “so natsume you don’t have your bag today? /_^” but i’d like to see where she’s going w/ it. lol.
@coquelicoq he most likely doesn’t know exactly the extent of what the book of friends is or does (perhaps not even its full name?), but in chapter 36 matoba had this conversation with one of the members of his exorcist clan as they were watching natsume, the dogs’ circle, and rokka’s youkai interact and fly away
regardless he’s definitely made the connection that natsume has a mysterious book that he is oddly protective of, and that youkai flock to natsume like crazy- that’s probably enough to pique his curiosity and have him look into it some more. i doubt youkai would be forthcoming about its name but i don’t doubt that matoba went and asked that one worker for more info. but aside from a snide comment in letter from the exorcist he’s mostly left natsume alone (and even let natsume be when it was clear that he was trying to hide the existence of tanuma from him during the exorcist auction arc… he seems mostly content to let natsume be secretive abt stuff now lol)
lala procured as vowed!! also theyre including a free folder if you buy three volumes of manga and one of them is natsuyuu so i got them for my birthday hehe 📚
So, for anyone interested, I did the en subtitles for the special episode (Natsume Yuujinchou Shichi Special) and since I haven't found a proper way to share it, I'm just gonna leave the google disk link here.
It's the version 2.0 dated october 6th (if anyone is coming from reddit), LOTS of stuff was fixed thanks to the user u/Outrageous-Free (whom I literally can not thank ENOUGH)
natsume yuujinchou is a fantastic show with great characters, excellent writing and worldbuilding that knows how to tug on your heartstrings in ways you wouldn't think possible.
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