English Dub Review: Natsume’s Book of Friends “The Abandoned Station, Two Wheels”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Natsume meets Matoba in an unusual place.  Matoba hunts for a dangerous yokai at an abandoned mansion.

Our Take:
Natsume and Madara have once again crossed paths with the leader of the exorcist clan, Matoba Seiji.  However, Matoba isn’t looking for trouble, as it may have found him first.  The episode sees Natsume and Matoba facing not one but two yokai, although one is more dangerous than the other.  During Natsume’s visit to the Hakozaki mansion, he encountered Matoba hunting a yokai that one of his own created by using forbidden magic to trap it in a doll.  Fortunately, the solutions to this problem are the mirror fragments set as traps to eliminate yokai.  There’s also the matter of the clan leader being hunted down by a dimwitted black blob-type yokai who’s extremely eager to take his right eye.  Unsurprisingly, Natsume was reluctant to help because why would he?  But when he realizes what the can has been dealing with regarding the blobby creature, Natsume agrees to assist Matoba with the issue at hand.
“The Abandoned Station, Two Wheels” is another episode that showcases Natsume’s confrontation with the Matoba clan as the show’s most interesting aspect.  It represented the complicated rivalry between Natsume and Matoba, which is not always black and white.  Even though Matoba may seem antagonistic at first, the series usually peels back a layer to show that he, too, has some personal demons, especially his avoiding the blob yokai once a month.  Of course, that blob may be one of the more dangerous spirits that Natsume has to watch out for, as one of them could disguise itself as someone close to him.  It also took a surprisingly dark turn for its tone in the beginning when Matoba fed the young yokai in his birdcage to a greater one, but not enough to alter its tranquility.  In short, it’s another episode that compensates for its familiar hunt-the-yokai structure with its compelling conflict with the exorcists.