Technically, I should be calling this an “End – and Series Review” post. But even with an eighth season of Natsume Yuujinchou not announced (we are getting an OVA in April) it just seems unthinkable that we won’t be getting a sequel. I mean, why stop now? The manga still sells and the franchise engenders as much affection as it ever has (or close). I have to think anime will finish it eventually – if Midorikawa Yuki ever does, anyway.

It’s so very Natsume to finish with an episode which could as easily have been the first or fifth of the season. We have occasionally gotten plot-mover episodes to close the season (like exorcist two-parters). But at heart this is a purely episodic series. That’s why the adaptation can jump all around the manga timeline without losing any sense of continuity. There are chapters that have to come in a certain order, but those are the exception and not the rule. This sort of simple and wistful tale is as good a way as any to leave things for the moment.

This ep makes a nice bookend for the season, with the Mini-Sensei episode having started it. Natsume has returned another name, this time a youkai who says he’s constantly journeying with no set place to call home. That night Natsume has a dream of someone crying outside the house, and in the morning finds a little origami doll in the grass near a tree (Nyanko-sensei’s very cat-like “throw it away!” mannerisms are the highlight here). And that night a kite-gram shows up letting Natsume know that the youkai from the night before has dropped his traveling companion, and asks Natsume to protect it until he returns.

Both Sensei and Natsume start having wonderful dreams that night, and it’s obviously not a coincidence. This is Origami showing its gratitude to them by granting them visions of all the places it’s seen on its journeys with its friend. This is a wonderful notion – who wouldn’t want to have a friend who could do that? Even Nyanko-sensei is thoroughly enjoying this experience, and he starts talking to the creature. As with Mini-Sensei Natsume can’t hear it for a change, but that doesn’t stop him from a steady stream of “conversation” as he shows Origami the modest beauties of his corner of the world.

In effect, I think most Natsume Yuujinchou chapters are Buddhist parables, or folk tales, whatever term you want to use. They teach us a simple lesson through the events they depict, and whether or not we’re receptive is entirely up to us. Here, it’s a reminder to enjoy the small pleasures of our daily lives. There’s beauty in our humble sunsets and our bookshops and train stations, and most especially in our time with those we share them with. And after we learn to treasure them, to make sure we remember those small moments of joy and carry them with us on our own journeys.

I’m on a journey even as I write this (on the Shinkansen to Tokyo for a fortnight of cat-sitting) so as always the kismet of Natsume Yuujinchou is strong with me. This series always makes me reflect both outwards and inwards, and I’m grateful to it for reminding me to do so. There’s not much drama to this storyline – the rumored dangerous youkai coveting Origami never show up – but it doesn’t remotely need any. In fact the only youkai we see is Origami herself, who reveals her true form to Natsume and laments that she’s not beautiful in human terms. But he’s seen enough not to measure her in such superficial ways. And her gift of flowers is another understated blooming of the fragile and fleeting moments when the human and eternal worlds intersect.

Yesterday I named Natsume Yuujinchou my #9 series of 2024, and this finale does nothing if not validate my faith in it. This series continues to deliver because it never fails to be fully itself. The plot-driven excursions are a part of that, even if they’re not my favorite side. Nothing else in anime exists in the Natsume Yuujinchou ecosystem, even if it has spawned a fair number of imitations over the years. The long waits between seasons are never a problem because whenever a new season begins, it feels as if no time at all has passed. That’s the magic of this series, and it’s something I never tire of.