Sunday, January 29, 2012

Natsume Yuujin-chou Shi 4: Mimic


Another one-episode arc of Natsume Yuujinchou. This time, it's about a youkai that can imitate voices, humans and youkai alike. This youkai imitates Touko-san's voice as a ruse to get Takashi to open the door to it. Fortunately, the youkai isn't evil although it is still after the Book of Friends because it wants to call on a certain youkai whose name happens to be listed there. Takashi promises to help the youkai only after he hears the story. So the youkai obliges and tells a sad story about how he loved a human woman whose lover's voice he once imitated out of pity for her since the lover, who comes from a wealthy family, had to marry someone else. Consumed by guilt, the youkai finally revealed his true identity to the human woman and the truth about her lover. Afterwards, he went on a journey in the hopes that she would forgive him his transgressions. He returned many years later to find only a letter that may be for him or for her lover. The paper, however, has aged with time, so now the youkai wants to have it restored by the youkai whose name is in the Book of Friends. After telling his story, Takashi does as promised and helps the youkai. The letter is restored and it is revealed that the human woman is already dead but that her letter contains only words of gratitude for the youkai who told her the truth.

This. This is one of the reasons why I continue to watch this series. Little bittersweet stories like these.

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