English Dub Review: Natsume’s Book of Friends “From the Path of Dreams”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Natsume takes in a strange origami doll that shows wonderful dreams.

Our Take:  

After another intriguing trip to Reiko’s past, we’ve finally reached the end of the road for the show’s seventh season.  It took us nearly a month to get to the remaining episodes due to the weather in Texas affecting the English dub productions, but we were able to pull through.  Not that I’m glad we reached this point since I still enjoy the show’s tranquility and heart despite the repetitive structures, but at the same time, it might be time for me to move on with something else.  So, how does this recent season of Natsume’s Book of Friends conclude?  Simple: with another slice-of-life confrontation with a yokai, similar to the other episodes that came before it.  This time, it’s a spirit residing in an origami doll, which happens to be a traveling buddy of another yokai that he helped a few days ago.  While safeguarding the origami yokai, Natsume and Madara were given a glimpse of the yokai’s travels in their dreams and showed her around Natsume’s town in return. 

So, if you’re hoping for the season finale to have an emotional impact similar to the season four finale, I hate to say that you might be slightly disappointed with the result.  “From the Path of Dreams” offers a simple and low-stakes plot involving Natsume and Madara babysitting Origami until its traveling companion returns.  There was a skinny black blob targeting Origami that seemed like a threat, but it was eventually revealed to be Origami’s true form that lived inside the doll, emphasizing the show’s subtlety in its stakes.  Although the ending of our reunion with Natsume and Madara is not particularly exciting, the episode serves as a sweet and beautifully animated conclusion to the show’s seventh season.  The latter, of course, came from the dreams of the ravishing locations Origami has seen, showcasing the episode’s reflection of the treasured memories from how we view the world’s beauty.  As of now, there’s no word on whether the show will return for its eighth season, but if it were to happen, I wouldn’t mind returning to this spiritual and tranquil world once again.  Let’s hope it doesn’t take nearly a decade to reach that point.