Klitch

If you are looking for a time-filler that won't bore you to death or annoy you incessantly, then Natsume Yuujinchou will serve your needs if you are willing to forgive its plot problems. If you are looking for a memorable anime or one with an impact, I'd advise you to look elsewhere.

Story:  As a self-described story snob, chances were very good coming into an episodic anime like Natsume Yuujinchou that I would find a lot of negative things to say and, lo and behold, I do. The name of the game when it comes to Natsume Yuujinchou is "ummm what?" There were so many glaring plot holes and completely inexplicable (and typically stupid) events that I actually kept a list which I won't post here due to potential spoilers and space consideration.

The anime begins with Natsume, a boy who has always been able to see spirits (or Youkai, or Ayakashi, or Gods, the anime can never decide exactly what to call them), accidentally releasing a spirit in the form of a fortune cat named Nyanko-sensei (or Madara) while running away from some attacking spirits. Why Nyanko was sealed away is never explained. Nyanko recognizes Natsume as the descendant of Natsume Reiko, who was in fact the protagonist's grandmother. Nyanko then explains that the reason why spirits have been attacking Natsume recently is because Natsume has the "Book of Friends" which holds the names (and thus enslaves) a large number of spirits that were captured by his grandmother.

Whoever holds this book has control over many powerful spirits and could use this power however they see fit. After Nyanko threatens to kill Natsume and demands that he give him the book and admits to planning on using it for evil purposes, Natsume says that he will release all of the names in the book and then give it to Nyanko once he's finished and Nyanko, bizarrely, agrees. So in effect Natsume has unlimited power in his hand and decides to throw as much of it away as he can and then give what's left to the first evildoer to come asking. Nyanko merely has to eat a weak human (something spirits do regularly and without contrition) to grab this power but instead agrees to protect him as a bodyguard as he destroys the power while Nyanko waits to be given the scraps. Sorry if I make this sound confusing, but that's literally what the anime uses as its story base.

From that basis, you'd expect to see something of a reverse catch-em-all with Natsume releasing progressively more powerful names from the book. You'd be right for the first 6-7 episodes after which the Book is completely forgotten apart from a cameo role in the second to last episode. After the halfway point, the anime devolves into completely unrelated episodic garbage that serves no purpose in the sense of a story arc including the traditional "school trip to the hot springs" and "classmates go to a festival" episodes. I suppose I should be grateful that they didn't include the beach episode in there, though maybe they just ran out of time with only 13 episodes.

I will say this one positive of the story, however: the progression of Natsume from a shy, ostracized loner to a friendly, kind young man is well done and seamless.

Animation:  The animation score is entirely contingent on which half of the anime you're watching. The spirits in the first half of Natsume Yuujinchou are all extremely well drawn, uniquely designed, and are the real eye-candy of this anime. In the second half, character designs are reused with only a change in color used to differentiate between the spirits and none are particularly interesting. Natsume and Nyanko (especially his alternate forms) are consistently well designed and I especially like the touch with Natsume's unique eye color.

I do, however, have a bone to pick with the animation sequence when Natsume releases a name. I have a question for people who have seen this anime: does this sequence seem to have sexual undertones to you, or am I just being overly-sensitive? For those of you who haven't seen this anime, good luck not seeing those undertones now :).

Sound:  My copy of this anime frustratingly had the OP and ED edited out of every episode so I had to go look for them on YouTube. The OP is your standard slow-paced J-Pop, but the ED shines with an acoustic guitar melody with pleasantly soothing vocals.

The voice acting is without fault and the voices of the spirits in particular are perfect. The tones and accents given to the spirits all match perfectly and give them a certain flavor. Thankfully, this is one thing that carries over past the halfway point of the anime. Apart from the spirits, Reiko's voice acting is great and perfectly matches her personality and egotism.

Characters:  There aren't really any qualities that will make Natsume or Nyanko stand out in my mind in the future. Natsume is your cut-and-paste protagonist full of irritating naiveté and the will to do everything for everyone. He does mature a little over the course of the series, but that alone isn't enough to make him an interesting character. Nyanko is frustrating in that he consistently says that he wants the Book for its power but not only watches Natsume destroying it, but actually helps him in the process making him nothing more than a plot device to save Natsume from powerful spirits and to explain the machinations of the spirit world to the audience. Nyanko's propensity for self-indulgence does offer a smile or two during the series, however.

Reiko is an unbelievable jerk, going around beating up innocent spirits and enslaving them and then abandoning them to their loneliness, Natsume's female classmate is a breathtakingly stupid girl who Natsume treats like crap, constantly making her look one direction while he ditches her, and Tanuma and Shuichi don't have enough of a presence to create an opinion on them.

While the spirits are generally well designed and well voiced, as characters they suffer from a series of motives that are, at best, obscure and, at worst, non-existent. The little fox spirit is a charming little girl who makes up for some of the lack of identity with the spirits (edit: curse you androgynous character design).

Overall:  I'm not entirely sure what to make of Natsume Yuujinchou. Despite the glaring plot holes, I actually enjoyed the first half of the anime largely due to the unique and interesting voice acting and character designs of the spirits. But the second half commonly reuses spirit designs and, instead of having plot holes, has no plot at all. It's almost as if the people who made the first half weren't the same people who made the second half.

After finishing Natsume Yuujinchou, I think the main problem I can identify with the series is a lack of identity. Natsume Yuujinchou isn't a catch-em-all with spiritual elements, it's not a dramedy (drama/comedy), it isn't a ghost hunt with supernatural enemies, and it's not a relationship/coming of age anime. It just sort of muddles around in the middle ground and, unfortunately, loses itself.