#hakozaki arc

[coquelicoq]

if i had to guess why they switched the order of abandoned station and two wheels within the episode, it would be for the juxtaposition of what matoba says his motivation is for coming to the station alone with what matoba does at hakozaki's mansion that completely contradicts it. abandoned station actually bookends two wheels, with the part that's to be directly compared saved for the end of the episode only after we've seen the entirety of two wheels.

like in the episode it goes 1) matoba, alone, gets one youkai (big rainy day guy) to eat another youkai (hitokubi) at the station, 2) on a later occasion, matoba nonchalantly gets one youkai (eye-eater) to eat another youkai (the shadow doll) at hakozaki's mansion in front of several members of his clan, 3) natsume says in voiceover how uneasy it makes him to see the matoba clan use the eye-eater for their own ends, 4) natsume flashes back to the end of the abandoned station encounter, which we are seeing for the first time, in which he asked matoba if he came alone to avoid putting his clan in danger, and matoba responded that he just didn't want them to see him taking the easy way out.

only a few seconds elapse for the viewer in between 3 and 4. we're meant to see that matoba was clearly lying about only coming alone so his clan wouldn't see him take the easy way out; we (and natsume) now know, thanks to two wheels, that he has no compunctions about doing the exact same thing in front of them.

[joelletwo]

chobi ep next is still insane to me. what the hell are they DOING with the pacing of this season. how many matoba ones did we have confirmed again were most of them just my wishful thinking that they would be normal about the order of those. sigh

[divinityunleashed]

"Thank you all for coming."

"Of course. As it stands, unknown forces have made a beachhead on the main island, and are already offloading large quantities of troops."

"And unfortunately, Fenix is nowhere to be seen."

The Sparrow however, remained silent as he had no idea what to even say. Fenix was the one who tried to look after him more than the other Templars, so without him he lacked a voice.

"Rtas, ready the Royal Guards. Chika, I want you to assemble our military. We need all of them. Custodes, Victores, Exuls, Umbras. All of them. Send word to the other nations as well, ensure that their borders are properly fortified against this new force."

"Right away."

Chika simply nodded as she began making numerous phone calls. The Sparrow left to ready himself for battle as well. Rtas smacked his armored chest as he made for his ship; the Shadow of Intent. He's lucky these Imperials aren't aware of it's cloaking technology.

[treecakes]

the reason chapter 120 isn’t officially part of this arc is because we’d already be at part 5 if it were

[coquelicoq]

[Image description: Two stills from an episode of the "Natsume's Book of Friends" anime and a panel from the manga. In the first image, Matoba looks back over his shoulder while saying to Nanase, "Since I don't see him, Natori probably went to seal it away." In the second, Nyanko-sensei is perched on Natori's shoulder and is headbutting him in the cheek and saying, "Look everybody, it's the exorcist Screw Up Natori!" The third is a manga panel in which Matoba is smirking slightly and saying, "You have to use what you can. I just want strong ayakashi so I can protect humans. If you worry yourself over being despised, or about the price, you can't be in this business." /end ID]

Rewatch: S3E7 Exorcist

🎯Summary Revenge, tears, and Matoba being a jerk.

🎯Canon Notes +this episode corresponds to all of manga volume 7 +paper with ink symbols can be used as binding charms +matoba needs a charm over his right eye, to protect it from being eaten +the matoba family curse is explained (long ago, an ancestor asked a youkai for help and promised away a right eye in return. he broke that promise, and now the youkai chases after every matoba head after, trying to claim that eye) +matoba already has an old wound over his eye +nyanko upgrades natori’s nickname from “that shady guy” to “the screw-up exorcist natori” +matoba fights using bow and arrows, and is also capable of using paper dolls as a tracker on people

🎯Comments

originally, natori is said from his first appearance to hate youkai. but right away in this episode, we get an extremely cute scene of natori carrying nyanko-sensei around on his shoulders (because he’s a stuffed animal, see?)

i also have a previous post that goes into more detail on the canon interactions between nyanko-sensei and natori. at the very least, from the amount of times they have encountered each other, nyanko-sensei is willing enough to hang around natori and also bicker with him, the way he might with natsume (“look everyone! it’s the screw-up exorcist natori! rahhh!”)

nyanko-sensei also asks about more info on matoba from natori, to which natori replies: “He’s the type who’s not afraid to use dangerous youkai for his own ends.”

nyanko-sensei asks if that was why natori had left behind his own shiki. natori denies that he was trying to protect his own shiki from matoba. with his own shiki, hiiragi clearly worries about natori, even if she claims she was not mad that natori didn’t take her with them so she could protect him.

and in an interesting twist, while the current natori is not entirely a jerk to youkai, he does understand the expectations that the exorcist community has. youkai are either servants or not, are either useful or to be banished.

while sympathetic to the woman who had lost her crow shiki, he says “In this line of work, the youkai we use are…[nothing but tools].”

matoba’s own view on youkai lines up with this sentiment that natori expresses.

“I just want to have strong youkai to protect people. If that means people hate me, or that I pay a price, that’s fine.” “[Natsume, thinking] He’s an exorcist, but he’s very different from Natori-san.” “I can’t use that youkai. I’m leaving.” “If you don’t need a youkai, then don’t spend time on it. Blast it to nothingness.”

matoba is all ruthless efficiency, expediency. if a youkai or a person is not interesting to him, he abandons it immediately.

we don’t really get a full picture of what it means to matoba to protect people, but from his family’s curse, we get an inkling; for matoba, any interaction with youkai is a life-death situation, and each time, matoba will choose to protect himself (to protect the clan).

matoba seiji and his clan is powerful, yes, but it rests on a precipice, drawing entirely from a bargain based on fear, on bloodline, and half of his sight (which allows him to watch out for enemies, both youkai and human).

both matoba and natori are exorcists, and both of them are acquainted, at least. in issues of sight, both of them seem to struggle with skewed perceptions; natori and his fake glasses, which he thinks would help him see youkai better. matoba and the paper charm on his right eye, which protects him and blocks half his sight.

as for any relations between natori and the matoba clan, we are reminded again how nanase-san is familiar with natori’s personality, when he is hiding something, and how he would react in certain situations (“Natori? I only teased him a little and he came running. What a child.”)

matoba seiji also seems to know natori, at least is aware of natori’s abilities and personality as well.

one of matoba’s earliest comments to natsume, after natsume is trying to break a paper binding charm, is to mention natori’s name: “Interesting isn’t it? Normal people can’t see that paper. Ah, the Natori family knows more about that paper than I do. Ask them.”

when in the end, natori goes back into the cave to seal the youkai, matoba does not seem surprised (“Since I don’t see him, Natori probably went to seal it away.”) both are exorcists, yet both choose different paths of action in this episode.

and in the last scene, as natsume is wrestling with his understanding of the casual cruelty of the Matoba exorcists, natori sounds more resigned when he just tells natsume not to worry about it, that: “Some people are like that. That’s all it is.” 

was matoba always like that? is that all it is? natsume wants to protect friends both youkai and human; so what is it that matoba or natori hopes to protect?

Previous posts: S1E9 rewatch. S1E13. S2E3. S2E11. S2E12-13. S3E6. More exorcists meta can be read here.

[connan-l]

Now that Season 7's first trailer is out, it slightly validated some of my theories about which chapters is going to be adapted — so I decided to make a prediction of what Seasons 7 & 8 could looks like (I mean, we still don't have any confirmation for Season 8, but there's no way we don't get it, right?) I'm probably going to be very wrong but it was fun to try and think about!

I'm going to make the assumption that we'll get 13 episode instead of 11 because of something fun I found out: so far there's been 74 episodes of NatsuYuu (OVAs notwithstanding), which means that if we add two seasons of 13 episodes we'll reach the 100 :) So I hope we actually do get 13 episodes this time (I've also seen some people wondering if we'll exceptionnally get a 22 or 26 episodes season because of the 15th/20th years anniversary, which could be fun but I doubt they'll do that sadly).

Season 7:

Episode 1: Chapter 84 (Mini-Nyanko) Episode 2: Chapter 80 (Yorishima intro) Episode 3: Chapter 77 (Hakozaki 2) Episode 4: Chapter 83 (Kitamoto bookstore) Episode 5: Special 17/84.5 (Teen Matonato 2) Episode 6: Chapters 95 & 96 (Isamu arc) Episode 7: Chapter 81 (Flower bed) Episode 8: Chapters 92-94 (Miharu arc) Episode 9: Chapters 92-94 (Miharu arc) Episode 10: Chapter 87 (Nishimura) Episode 11: Special 8/31.5 (Chobi special) Episode 12: Chapters 88 & 89 (Souko arc) Episode 13: Chapters 88 & 89 (Souko arc)

Season 8:

Episode 1: Chapter 71 (Ake & Shiro) Episode 2: Special 14/67.5 (Birds & Reiko) Episode 3: Chapters 106 & 107 (Yorishima arc 2) Episode 4: Chapters 90 & 91 (Tenjou-san/painting arc) Episode 5: Special 19/89.5 (Matoba station) Episode 6: Chapters 85 & 86 (Tanatsutaki inn arc) Episode 7: Chapters 85 & 86 (Tanatsutaki inn arc) Episode 8: Chapter 99 (Origami) Episode 9: Chapter 108 (Chobi) Episode 10: Chapters 100-104 Homura arc Episode 11: Chapters 100-104 Homura arc Episode 12: Chapters 100-104 Homura arc Episode 13: Chapter 105 (Post-Homura)

For Season 7: I know some people wish the season could start with the exorcist chapters, but I think it makes more sense we begin with a ‘normal’ slice-of-life Natsuyuu episode rather than the more heavy stuff. It’s been seven years, after all; they need to reestablish the series’ characters and world properly, and I think chapter 84 with the clay mini-nyanko is th best one for that. I mean, in this chapter we have: Natsume returning a name, mentions of Reiko & the book, cameos of Tanuma and the Fujiwaras (the anime could probably briefly add Kitanishi, Taki & Sasada too), and a bittersweet story about a yokai Natsume befriends — so I think it’s perfect for a new start to a new season. Then it makes sense to follow this up with the exorcist stuffs in episodes 2 & 3. I'm hesitating which one would go first though; if we follow the manga chronologically then it would be the Hakozaki one, but I think they'll likely choose to reintroduce Natori first... I do believe it's important to introduce Yorishima early on too so that they can later adapt the second Yorishima arc in Season 8, to really establishes him as this new important recurrent character. (Though I wonder if 2 exorcist episodes side-by-side would be too much, so maybe they'll adapt Yorishima intro for ep2, then have another slice-of-life episode, then have the Hakozaki chapter.... who knows)

After that I’m no sure on the order, but there must also be the Taki brother arc for a Taki-focused episode, then the Kitamoto & Nishimura chapters. I think it’d makes sense to adapt both of the Kitanishi chapters in season 7 so that then in season 8 they could adapt the Tenjou-san/painting arc in order to make it feel balanced (or they could do the reverse and adapt Tenjou-san arc before in season 7, but I think it's better if it comes after). And then have the flower bed chapter as another slice-of-life episode (which I think is important to have before the Souko arc thematically). Not gonna lie it really frustrates me that they decided to adapt the Tanuma & Misuzu chapters in a movie, because now Tanuma doesn’t have his own arc like Taki has :( At least he still appears more than her in other arcs, but they’re not focused on him so it’s not the same.

So the Chobi special from Volume 8 might seems weird to be in season 7, and admittedly I doubt it'll ever be adapted (maybe in an OAV?? But who knows) - but I thought about it because of Chapter 108 which is also centered on Chobi. Having the Chobi special before Chapter 108 seemed logical to me, though there's more chance we'll get another special like Special 14 or 18. (UNLESS they manage to adapt the Chobi special with Chapter 108 in a single episode... I dunno).

And there's no way they don't adapt the second teen Natori special, which has to be before Miharu arc. I think the Miharu arc will happens either in the middle or towards the end of the season, but I believe having Souko's arc as the final would be pretty emotionally impactful, with ideally 2 episodes. It’s the origin of the Book of Friends after all, so it’s important to really highlight it (though I doubt they'll do that unfortunately, I think they'll likely try to cram everything into a single episode as usual with the 2 chapters arcs -_-).

For Season 8: I think it makes sense to start with slice-of-life chapters with this season too, but admittedly I wasn't really sure which one. The Ake & Shiro or the origami chapters seems the more likely. Then there's still Special 14, which could also make a fun slife-of-life episode.

The Tenjou-san/painting arc and then the Noren inn arc in this season was more fitting than the last in order to balance the focus on Natsume's school friends - and like I said earlier, even though chronologically it happens later in the manga I think they will adapt the second Yorishima arc as well here. I think it’d make sense they decide to adapt the special with Matoba here too (It could be in Season 7 I suppose? But then it would a wayyy too exorcist-focused season).

What I’m the most confident in is that they’ll decide to end Season 8 with the Homura arc, and that it’ll take 3 episodes. This is such a long, important arc, and if they don’t mess it up it would make an amazing final; especially if after that we don’t get another new season until at least a few years.

(Hopefully we won’t have to wait 6 years for Season 9 afterwards… There was 2 years between Season 2 and Season 3, and then 4 years between Season 4 and Season 5, so if Season 8 is released in 2025 then I hope we’ll get Season 9 in like. 2028-2029. please.)

Anyway, just for fun I tried to imagine what a Season 9 could look like too:

Season 9:

Episode 1: Chapters 109 & 110 (Kaka arc) Episode 2: Chapters 117 & 118 (Occult salon arc) Episode 3: Chapter 112 (Taki Matoba tea party) Episode 4: Chapters 113-116 (Younger Cousin arc) Episode 5: Chapters 113-116 (Younger Cousin arc) Episode 6: Chapters 113-116 (Younger Cousin arc) Episode 7: Chapter 111 (Tanatsukitanishi beach) Episode 8: Chapter 120 (Hakozaki 3) Episode 9: Chapters 121-126 (Portrait of a Girl arc) Episode 10: Chapters 121-126 (Portrait of a Girl arc) Episode 11: Chapters 121-126 (Portrait of a Girl arc) Episode 12: Chapters 121-126 (Portrait of a Girl arc) Episode 13: Chapters 127 (Homura cats returns)

This would make for a super plot-heavy season, but well all the recent arcs ARE very plot-focused lol. I initially thought that maybe the Portrait of a Girl arc could make it more to a potential Season 10 while the younger cousin arc could the final for Season 9, but ending the season on such a personal, Natori-focused arc like that would be a bit... strange. So! If we have Portrait of a Girl as a final, I think it makes sense for the occult salon arc to be at the very start of the season to introduce Shinobu and Clara (I vaguely thought it would be fun if they introduced them in Season 8, but the idea of a whole season where we start with the looming threat of Matoba's mysterious sister only to have her identity revealed at the very end is really cool too). I think the beach chapter too could be nice after the Natori arc as a sort of break before we got back into the heavy plot stuff with the 3rd Hakozaki chapter. I gave Portrait of a Girl 4 episodes here because I think it's what it wolud need to be properly adapted (it IS the longest arc to date after all, with 6 chapters!) but because of that I had to scrap the Hinoe chapter (which could then be adapted into Season 10). However I think it's more likely they adapt it into a three-episodes arc sadly (same thing with the Younger Cousin arc, they'll probably cram it into 2 episodes rather than three...)

And here it is haha. Can't wait to see how completely false my predictions will be lol.

Following this, the still unadapted chapters would include: Chapter 119 (Hinoe/Natsume crossdressing), Chapter 128 (current arc) that would fit into Season 10, then Special 18 (Nyanko meets little boy), Special 20 (movie special), Special 21 (little traveling yokai), Special 22 (Ribbon Nyanko & Mana Kitamoto), all of which could either fit in Season 10 or in an OAV.

[worldunbent]

"i've seen weird things since i was little..."

i was curious when the standard chapter intros started disappearing, so i skimmed around a bit and here's some observations:

special chapters generally don't get this intro, since they're often from another character's pov, and even when natsume is the pov character they're generally too short to waste any time on exposition.

tanuma gets a variant in sp5. "i've seen weird things since i was little. things other people can't see. i have no idea what they are."

natori also gets a variant in sp15. "since i was little, i've been able to see things other people can't. our family apparently used to be exorcists, but the ability to "see" died out. the family business folded." this doesn't come back in sp17.

the only standalone main chapter not to get this intro in the first several volumes is chapter 19, temporary house (the one where natsume learns how shigeru met reiko as a child). my guess as to why that is is it comes right after the first multi-chapter arc, taki's introduction. the second chapter of taki's arc doesn't have an intro, as becomes standard for all multi-chapter arcs, so maybe midorikawa was experimenting with dropping the intro in general. clearly it doesn't stick, because...

after this, all main standalone chapters and the first chapters of arcs continue to have the intro for quite a while. the next main standalone chapter with no intro is chapter 70, games party. genuinely no idea about this one. it comes back for 71, then...

chapter 72, closed room (beginning of the hakozaki arc) has no intro.

73 is the second part of closed room, then 74, 75, and 76 all are standalones and all have the intro.

chapter 77, the two rings (return to hakozaki manor) has no intro.

after this, 78 & 79 (bb!natsume and boar nynako) are the last chapters to have the intro. from chapter 80 (yorishima's first appearance), we never see the intro again.

so even though there are a handful of chapters with the intro afterwards, i do think the hakozaki arc really marks the turning point.

[p5x-theories]

@loufiy sent me this GitHub folder they found with what appears to be decrypted versions of some of the BYTES files I can't open myself, and there's some potential new story information in here!

Two disclaimers:

As I can't decrypt these myself, I can't absolutely confirm they're real. However, considering how many of these files there are, and the fact that I can see these files exist in the game files even if I can't open them, it would be an awful lot of trouble for a fake.

Note that these files are from Version 1.3.1, according to the poster. Some things here may have changed since then, and/or Google translate may not give completely accurate translations of everything.

As a warning, this could be considered spoilers for the next story arc, as it goes through what the in-game text indicates will happen.

I'm focusing on the ConfQuest files, as those are the ones loufiy pointed me in the direction of. There's so many other files in this folder that it'd take me forever to look through all of them- it'd be a bit of a needle in a haystack situation, haha. So I appreciate them giving me a direction!

The animal girl's quest is marked as "obsolete", along with the original version of the orange cat's quest. Given the cat's quest was redone and re-added, this probably means they're reworking the girl's quest to add in later. It looks like this may be the case for one of the other side quest characters as well?

Interestingly, the Shibuya mascot's quest, the blonde Shinjuku man's quest, and Kazuhiko Tsuda's quest are all not marked as obsolete, despite not being available in-game at the moment

"Concerto for Rule-Breakers"- the next story arc- has quests listed here despite them not being implemented in the game yet. It seems a new teacher will be introduced at Kokatsu, 明石 (probably Akashi?), and reacts oddly towards Ms. Katayama. Later, in Mementos, the shadow that Wonder and Cattle fought when leaving Mementos for the first time reappears, and they have to defeat it again. It rains the next day, and Wonder runs into Riko on the way to school. The new teacher is formally introduced to the school, but now Katayama is acting weird. Another day passes, and it's unclear exactly what happens- other than Wonder eating lunch with Shun on the roof- but the text for that evening says some "unpleasant things" happened that day. The day after that, Katayama gets in trouble, and Mr. Hakozaki substitutes in for her class. The next day passes, and Wonder talks to Riko. The Phantom Thieves go to Mementos again to look for the next Palace. Apparently they find it, as the next quest says they found the new teacher's Shadow in Katayama's Palace? After that, Shun invites them to eat at Toraiken, and the next quest says Wonder learned some things about Katayama that day. The next day Wonder sees Riko talking to Katayama. More time passes, and the Phantom Thieves gather on the rooftop to discuss Katayama; a quest mentions her "past mistakes" she's being punished for. The day after that Wonder apparently made plans to meet up with Riko in Kichijoji, which Motoha and Shun join him for. After they talk, Riko apparently wants to get more information about the new teacher, leading to Wonder talking to the teacher as a distraction. This sounds like it goes well, and they meet back up with Riko at the cafe in Kichijoji, then head into Mementos after that. Later, Riko and Wonder go to the Student Guidance Room together, while Shun and Motoha have a conversation elsewhere in the school, and it seems they manage to gain some information from the new teacher's laptop. The next day has Wonder meeting up with Shun and Motoha, but then the following quest mentions they all return to Shibuya safely, and Riko asks them about the "other world". This day ends, and Wonder visits the Velvet Room in his sleep, then wakes up in the morning to no Ruferu. At school, Riko apparently asks people about the Palace. Motoha adds her to their group chat. They end up meeting up at a bar in Shinjuku, and after that, talk to Katayama herself. This conversation causes Riko to speculate there may be two Palace rulers in the Palace. At school the next day, the school summons everyone to the gym, and after, the Phantom Thieves discuss the new teacher's change of heart. Meanwhile, Polter is in Yongen-Jaya, with a weird app on her phone.

TLDR for the new plot: A new teacher comes to Kokatsu, and though it's Katayama's Palace that the Phantom Thieves find, the new teacher seems to have a Shadow in there as well. Riko gets involved after the real Katayama gets in trouble at school, and eventually helps them gain even more information about the situation when they access the new teacher's laptop. This endeavor seems to lead to Riko joining the team. After eventually causing the new teacher to have a change of heart, Riko speculates there's actually a second Palace ruler involved with this Palace.

[haru-chi]

May I manifest this for it to become true <3

the 7th season gonna be the dream exorcist season ~

where we'll have :

Yorishima first anime debut

Hakozaki mansion 2nd story

Hand extended story

Miharu arc story

MAKE THIS HAPPEN !!! I HAVE FAITH IN YOU !!!

[otakween]

I'm Standing on a Million Lives - Volume 14

Woohoo! New character and a new arc. I like new girl's shaggy hair and her black and white outfit is cute too.

Ch. 65

A nice, strong start to this volume. Very surprised to see COVID incorporated, but I guess it's set in present day after all. Interesting that the mangaka decided to use the 2020 situation for commentary/character development.

The idea of sorcerers being unable to produce viable offspring is super interesting. It's always good to give big debuffs to OP characters (unless they're child free and don't care lol).

Malita moment with Yuusuke was nice, but I feel uncomfy seeing him so wholesome all of the sudden. He's definitely developed as a character, but he still spews stupid, self-righteous BS so it's like...has he changed though??

Hakozaki confronting Yuusuke about his weirdo misanthropy was satisfying, especially the "you're no better than those who commit genocide" bit. You tell him! His "I'm just doing what seems right from my perspective" seems like a weak excuse...

Kinda yikes for a manga character to be "on the side of COVID," but at least he says "but the innocent lives being taken thing isn't cool" lol. Edgy, but not "get the mangaka cancelled levels of edgy."

Glenda based as always with her "teenagers say dumb shit because their brains aren't fully developed" observations (paraphrased haha).

Kinda hilarious how Glenda was like "Oh, by the way feminism is a thing" to Jangani and he was like "that will never catch on." Cue it immediately catching on a panel later LOL. I was surprised to see Yuusuke say "Japan is pretty behind" when talking about gender equality in the US vs. Japan. Love that a Japanese writer acknowledged that. (Not to be all rah-rah USA though).

The goblins IRL being labelled "Chupacabra" is genius.

Ch. 66

Yuusuke helps Keita rehabilitate his dad who just got out of prison. Good to see some more 1 on 1 character time.

Yuusuke's such a smartass. It's a good thing he was taken down a peg last chapter because in this one you'd think he was smarter than everyone (although I guess the bar is low with Keita's dad and his goons)

The revelation about how dragon bishops are created was interesting. I'm a little confused about the dead fetus thing. Does that mean the younger dragon bishops were that way from birth and then just grew normally?? That would be an interesting story to follow. Are they evil as little kids or does that come about during puberty? lol

Keita's dad just conveniently doesn't notice Keita and Yuusuke using magic right in front of him. Also isn't surprised by two teenagers easily beating up 3 grown men.

I was relieved that Yuusuke acknowledged that Keita's dad isn't "healed" and that he'll most likely relapse again. We don't need anymore talk-no-jutsu insta redemption

Ch. 67

Hmmm that chapter was kinda weird. All over the place in tone. Excited to have a new character and a new arc though!

New girl is Taiwanese, I like her design and air-headedness, but like a lot of the other characters, I was kinda annoyed by how quickly she got used to the idea of being in another world. Also, I rolled my eyes when she brought up feng shui (like: "geddit?? She's from Taiwan!")

Not sure if it's clever or lazy to have the fantasy world mirror the politics of ours. I guess for me it makes things more interesting because it's more relatable and cool to hear the differing perspectives the characters have on things like dictatorships and imperialism. (We get another nod to America in this chapter). Interesting to think about Japanese people keeping up with American politics (although I guess that's only natural considering America's place in the world).

Yuusuke has an existential crisis because they've time-skipped another 85 years. I feel like a big jump like that makes things less interesting because they won't be able to do as many callbacks to older characters. Will we get a resolution to Malita's story?

I liked that Hakozaki called out the fact that the Master only reaches out to Yuusuke and no one else. I really hope they continue to develop her skeptical side. It'd be cool to see her take on Yuusuke in a fight one day.

That Chinese dragon design was so cool! I hope we get to see more of that monster.

Ch. 68

The corruption of the local government and strategies for solving this arc's goal are discussed. In other words, mainly a world building/team work heavy chapter, which I always enjoy the most.

I feel like this writer is actually pretty good at explaining politics/government in easy-to-digest ways. Could they help me understand IRL stuff too, please? lol

Interesting use of the revival mechanic here where they use Hakozaki as live bait. I like that their "immortality" has a lot of clear cut rules so they can't really abuse it too often, but it's still a nice advantage to have.

Yuka getting abruptly eaten by a sea serpent was pretty funny. Hope she's not just absent for the rest of the chapter now.

I found it weird that the refugees were like "oh that money? Worthless." but then they say "it will keep the 8 of you fed for a month." So...not worthless? That still sounds like a good chunk of change to me!

Ch. 69 (nice)

Holy shit! This chapter was so, so good. First of all, Iu finally gets some long-awaited focus and second, there was just so much intrigue jam packed into this between the revelations of how the new city's religion/culture works, the different characters reactions to that, and that cliffhanger ending with Iu being suddenly acknowledged as a messiah! Only problem is...the next volume isn't out yet so I gotta sit here in suspense ;-;

The oppressive theocracy being portrayed here is clearly supposed to mirrored after the Taliban. Pretty heavy stuff for an isekai manga, but a fair target I would say. I thought it was interesting how Iu and Keita went back and forth between "well, it's a different culture we need to respect that" and "fuck that! This is inexcusable." Obviously, when it comes to the Taliban, the "fuck this" attitude is probably the "correct" one, but sometimes other cultures/religions skirt that line and you need to judge on a person-by-person basis...if that makes sense. Like how there's a difference between women who wear head coverings because of an oppressive regime (fuck that!) and those who wear them as a personal choice (different culture, let's respect it). I feel like philosophy fans would like this manga...a lot to discuss.

Iu stepping into the leader role but being insecure about it ("what would Hakozaki do?") was interesting. I kind of thought she was more confident than that, but she has so little screen time I guess I didn't really know her after all lol

Iu being like "lol kay, ready to die now" when she gets sentenced to death but knows she'll just revive was great. Imagine facing a firing squad with that kinda swagger. Kinda badass.

I've never seen Dr. Stone, but the kind of old timey engineering Yuusuke and Kusue did in this chapter (fashioning rope out of sea serpent scales to build a rope/pulley system) reminded me of that series (based on what I've heard). Fun seeing Survivor stuff like that.

[coquelicoq]

i want beniko and yorishima to hang out. i think they'd balance each other out well. antisocial old man and woman who resents a different old man for dying before she could socialize him. yorishima probably knew her grandfather and probably was cranky about his whole youkai friendship situation, which beniko was also cranky about. ultimately beniko has to make her peace with the fact that she avoided her grandfather because she couldn't share his world and that now that he's dead it's too late to reach out to him. yorishima isn't a substitute for her grandfather, but he is a guy who's isolating himself not just from humans who can't see, but also from humans who can see and from youkai. his perspective overlaps with hers in some ways and with hakozaki's in some ways and completely diverges from both in others. i think it would be good for both of them and i would like to see it.

[joelletwo]

if theyre being sensible they simply have to put eye-eater hakozaki 2 in this season but that would make. count. four exorcist arcs and three of them matoba-centric. and that feels. too good to be true. but well also we're getting into the (more) matoba-centric parts of the manga i GUESS???? idk. idk. idk. [losing my mind]

[scorpionatori]

again. can natori and hiiragi PLEASE get a chapter where they just have fun with natsume. get to do normal friend things. crying

[akitania]

nanase’s best chapter in general is special 17, but i’m incredibly fond of her throughout the entire hakozaki arc and especially this one panel:

has natsume ever been as scared of anything in the entire manga as he is of an old lady popping out of the bushes to give him a friendly greeting

[nyanko3sensei]

Ah... I’m once again left in tears after watching the season finale for Natsume Yuujinchou Roku! (TT ^ TT) <3 <3 <3 As an avid fan of both the show and the manga, I think that season 6 has moved up the ranks and become my new #1 amongst the whole series \(^////^)/

While I do wish for there to be more, I am perfectly content with the fact that Shuka Studios decided to end the season with the Hakozaki Arc. Not only do we still have a sense of resolution, but we also finally get some light shed upon Natsume’s mysterious grandfather. While I am a huge fan of the HC that Reiko had given birth to Natsume’s father through a fling(?) with a yokai, from the evidence that Midorikawa Sensei has provided us, I’m leaning more towards Reiko’s husband(?) either being an actual exorcist or at least a member of one of the exorcist clans. 

On the other hand, I’ve gotta say that I’m proud of myself for emotionally preparing myself for Natsume’s big reveal to Natori about the Yuujinchou (^^)b (Though that probably lies in the fact that I had an additional episode to mentally and emotionally prepare myself for this moment~)

Now, here’s to hoping for a season 7!