English Dub Review: Natsume’s Book of Friends “The Maiden’s Circle”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

There is a new girl in school, Taki Touru. With her appearance at the school, circles resembling crop circles begin to appear. As Natsume tries to find out more about the circles and Taki, he is visited by another yokai. Only this time, the yokai isn’t looking for his name to be released, but for a snack.

Our Take:

There’s always room for one more person to help us celebrate the Christmas season. However, this week’s episode doesn’t have anything to do with the holidays unless you count the season’s second episode as a holiday-themed episode. Fortunately, we still have a new addition to the cast joining in on the spiritual fun.

The new character appearing in the second season is Taki Touru, a girl who recently joined Natsume’s school. Taki is also shy and less talkative than the other students, but she can be very giddy around adorable things, including Madara. Additionally, she also has the ability to see spirits like Natsume. However, she can only see them by drawing circles on the ground, like the crop circles used to communicate with aliens. But, of course, we’re still dealing with the yokai instead of the extraterrestrials. We don’t want the show to start jumping the shark right now.

In a way, Taki has much in common with Natsume and Tanuma, as they have the same ability but with different limitations. But, of course, there is a reason why Taki rarely talks to anyone until the second half. She’s been cursed by a monstrous yokai who can hunt people whose names are said aloud by her. Since Taki accidentally said Natsume’s name, the latter is now cursed by the spirit. The yokai challenges the two to find and capture it in 360 days, or it’ll eat them.

So instead of an episode dealing with crop circles and aliens, “The Maiden’s Circle” focuses on Natsume and Taki hunting the yokai and breaking its dreadful curse. So don’t expect any alien-like ghosts in this episode. Like the season one episode “The Mysterious Person At The Eight Fields” with Tanuma, “The Maiden’s Circle” did its part in introducing Taki as more than just a fish-out-of-water trope regarding her ability and comedy. The latter primarily consists of Taki getting all enthusiastic over Madara and the big-headed yokai with a small mustache. Since she’ll be another recurring character for the rest of the season, it’ll be interesting to see how much help she can be in Natsume’s quest.

So far, the episodes in Natsume’s Book of Friends have usually ended whenever the characters solve a yokai problem. However, “The Maiden’s Circle” marks the first time it ended on a cliffhanger, with Natsume being captured by the yokai they’re hunting. It’s a good change of pace in the formula that gets me more excited for next week’s episode compared to the other ones. It looks like their dangerous game has taken a sudden turn for the worse, as Taki, Madara, and the big-headed yokai are the only ones who can save him and end the evil spirit’s curse.