English Dub Review: Natsume’s Book of Friends “Depths of the Page”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Natsume and Kitamoto are victims of a horrid curse.

Our Take:
The bookstore is usually a great and tranquil place to read imaginative stories and study many parts of history without any distractions.  But, in Natsume’s case, it’s also a place to confront a curse from a deadly yokai.  Most episodes tend to have Natsume encountering ghostly problems with Tanuma or Taki.  However, this episode did something a little different to the dynamic by having one of Natsume’s friends, Atsushi Kitamoto, join in on the yokai fun.  Of course, it isn’t without its share of depth in this character that makes his appearance more than just a last-minute decision.
The reason is Kitamoto’s connection to an old bookstore, which he went to with his father when he was young.  Throughout the episode, he visited the bookstore often to experience those memories again.  However, his trip was interrupted constantly by Kaeda, a shopkeeper later revealed to be a yokai tasked with protecting the bookstore from Dei, who specializes in cursing readers by draining their body parts.  The episode also briefly mentions that Kitamoto’s father has been ill, but this plot element doesn’t actually have as much of an impact as Kitamoto’s memories from the bookstore.  So, in a way, it was nice that the episode gave its time to explore more of Kitamoto as a side character, even though the narrative couldn’t grasp its emotional core long enough.  It can also be a little repetitive, with Natsume and Kaeda exploring the bookstore for Dei, but the moments involving Kitamoto and the bookstore were enough to make this a serviceable read.