English Dub Review: Natsume’s Book of Friends “A Difficult Two”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Taki’s brother suddenly comes home from college, and has something very important on his mind…

Our Take:  

This week’s episode introduces viewers to a new character joining Natsume’s yokai adventures in the form of Taki’s older brother, Isamu.  However, unlike Natsume and Taki, Isamu doesn’t strongly believe in yokai, as he seeks to prove they don’t exist.  However, what Isamu doesn’t realize is that he has one hitching a ride on his back, altering his social skills toward Taki.  His antisocial personality sparked a pretty interesting dynamic with their beliefs conflicting, with Natsume struggling to tell Isamu about the ghostly hitchhiker.  But, the real focus of the plot is their finding a special key leading to a secret box hidden by the phoenix bookcase.  As for the hitchhiking yokai, it turns out it was riding on Isamu to return to his shrine by Isamu’s college. However, it affects Isamu whenever he goes inside the house, which is guarded by his grandfather’s barrier.

Isamu’s lack of belief in yokai is unsurprisingly one of the more interesting parts of “A Difficult Two”, especially regarding the siblings’ grandfather.  However, the real heart of the plot came from the siblings and their estranged relationship.  With its focus on character development instead of yokai misadventures, the episode further elevated the show’s supporting characters while providing some genuine, heartfelt moments to accompany them, mainly Taki and Isamu.  While Isamu doesn’t believe in yokai as much as Taki, his memory of making flower-patterned stones with his grandfather for her helped him realize how much their yokai studies meant to them.  This touching moment remains part of my enjoyment of Natsume’s Book of Friends.  While the yokai misadventures are pretty fun, too, it didn’t hurt to have certain episodes involving character depth to retain my interest in its seventh season.