“Often imitated, never equalled” is probably a fair expression to apply to Natsume Yuujinchou. For me it’s more or less the template for so many subsets of animanga. The youkai series, the iyashikei, “that” niche. Certainly when you try and combine them. There are certain series that stand as icons, and this is one of them. The alchemy is seemingly simple but devilishly hard to reproduce. And for me, the reason Natsume is significantly more impacted in anime form is that many components of that alchemy which are specific to the medium (music, seiyuu casting, et al).

We’ve eased into the seventh season to be sure, with two episodes that lean heavily into the relaxing and “healing” (I’ve come to loathe that overused descriptor but when the shoe fits…) mode it does so well. NY has several different modes of course. And with Natori slated to appear next week, it’s very likely going to slip into a very different one. But eps like these first two are probably the default setting and the face it wears most naturally. Again, I’d be perfectly fine to stay here for the rest of the season.

This whole ep could hardly have been more wholesome. That would be a pitfall in lesser hands, but Midorikawa and Team Omori never fail to pull it off. Natsume offers to build a flowerbed for Touko, and goes to Shigeru for advice on how to do it. Anything involving the Fujiwaras tends to be heavily on the heartwarming side, and this ep is no exception. Building a flowerbed is, if we’re honest, not all that hard. But in this case the border stones keep getting knocked over in the night – and eventually start disappearing. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out a youkai is probably involved, and a quick stake-out confirms that.

To wit – a bunch of ayakashi who act as caretakers for a Kami’s (Princess Shida) miniature house are taking the stones, which they identify as “stacking stones”. Sensing Natsume’s (and. Nyanko-sensei’s) spiritual power, they eventually draft (they’re persistent) him into taking over the job of restoring the little house for Princess Shida’s next visit (they have clumsy youkai hands and no fingers). It’s hard work and combined with his day job of finishing the flower bed (seriously, how long does that take?) Natsume is pretty exhausted. But he gets the job done, as usual.

The nice part of this was Princess Shida taking it on herself to give Natsume and Nyanko-sensei a chance to see their work close-up. And to give Touko’s flower seeds a little head start in brightening up the garden. It truly is a lovely little house, never mind the fact that it puts Natsume in mind of the one he grew up in (my allergies threaten to act up just thinking about that place). There’s a serene poetry to the way this all comes together that really is existentially Natsume Yuujinchou. Nobody does it better.

What stands out about these two eps for me – and what acts as the dividing line between the two most elemental forms this series takes – is the lack of conflict. We have a variety of youkai stories, and some of them can get genuinely heartbreaking. But generally, those don’t tend to have conventional antagonists and conflict-resolution plots. It’s when the humans (like Natori) take the spotlight that those things become part of the equation. There were no enemies here, just some old youkai dudes that could get kind of annoying. And no opposition to overcome – just a bit of patience and elbow grease to bring a little more beauty into the world. Something this series happens to be very good at itself.