English Dub Review: Natsume’s Book of Friends “Distant Festival Lights”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Natsume and his friends go to a distant hot springs to help with the renovations.  When he arrives, he meets an old friend of Tanuma’s, but he quickly gets caught up in local yokai trouble.  Tanuma’s old friend is actually a yokai, and she threatens terrible things if Natsume reveals her secret.

Our Take:

Not even a relaxing day at a hot springs inn can keep us away from the troubles surrounding the yokai, especially when that yokai is disguised as a human.  The episode sees Natsume and the others helping Tanuma renovate his aunt’s hot springs inn.  There, Natsume encounters an old acquaintance of Tanuma, an older woman named Ito.  However, while tending to the guests, it’s later revealed that Ito is actually a yokai in disguise tasked with guarding the mountain festival.  She’s also here to find another disguised yokai responsible for stealing the festival’s white mask, which powers the festival’s dance.  After searching throughout the inn, Natsume and Ito eventually found the yokai, who’s disguised as a man’s wife, Otoka, and exorcised it, but not before Ito warns Natsume to keep her secret hidden until the end of the festival.

“Distant Festival Lights” is another mystery episode in which Natsume searches for a ghostly thief. While the plot may seem similar to “Shadow of Linked Chains” in its focus on finding a yokai-disguised human, it distinguishes itself by delving into Tanuma’s backstory. The episode periodically explores Tanuma’s history with his family, including his relationship with Ito, who helped him locate his father at the festival when he was young.  Seeing how much Tanuma has grown since meeting Natsume, along with its heart, continues to be one of the reasons I’ve been enjoying Natsume’s Book of Friends, even if its episodic structure has become a bit stale in its fifth season.