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lady39jane
[yuujinchou]
29 February 2012 @ 10:21 am
What does Natori-san know?
A while back, in another thread (which, of course, I can't find now) they were having a discussion on who, if anybody, might know about the Book of Friends. (You know who you are.) So it was on my mind.
Spoilers shead!
I was just watching a few of my favoite episodes of Natsume Yuujinchou a few days ago, and I happened to notice something verrrry interesting. So I went and looked up the story in the manga, and "Booya!"
Chapter 14, volume 4, is the story where Natori-san takes Natsume on the trip to the hots springs in what turns out to be an exorcism. On page 92, where Natsume is returning the name to the youkai, it show Natori-san coming into the room just as Natsume RETURNS THE NAME. So Natori has seen SOMETHING.
Yet... after the Three-Eyed youkai has taken the other youkai, things settle down, and Natori-san apologises, NOTHING IS EVER SAID.
Does Natori-san even realise what he has witnessed? (I can't believe he's that unobsevant) Yet he doesn't say anything to the effect of " What were you doing with that youkai?" or "How did you do that?" or even, "Why did you do that?" No, it's just "...we had a nice trip, maybe we can get together again?" "Yeh, maybe."
Sooo.... What does Natori-san know? How long has he known it? Any thoughts?
P.S.It wasepisode3 of Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou:"Ayakashi Exorcism at the Hot Springs."
Tags: discussion
Current Location: somewhere in the universe
Current Mood: contemplative
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17 comments | Leave a comment
17 comments —
ree_rhea on February 29th, 2012 07:06 pm (UTC)
I always thought the point was that when Natori says "if you get tired of keeping secrets, you should come live with me" but there's as many secrets between those two as Natsume keeps with everyone else (and it's not like Natori tells Natsume everything either) and neither of them are able to ask the other for those secrets. That really just because they know that they can both see youkai doesn't change the reality that they both have secrets to keep.
And really Natori would have seen Natsume doing something but that doesn't mean he has any idea really what that was - or that he has any right to ask what it was since he invited Natsume without telling him the real reasons for going.
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kitsune_no_ame on February 29th, 2012 08:08 pm (UTC)
(ha, I was discussing this not too long ago on LJ as well)
From my point of view, Natori knows, although evidence for this has yet to appear in the manga (I'm at vol.12). I'm looking forward to that actually, who out of Natsume or Natori will first mention the Yuujinchou to the other.
Even if Natori might not have understood what was happening at the moment itself, I'm sure he's capable of doing some digging. If he hasn't already done so, considering Natsume's powers he might have had his shiki ask around or overheard Natsume Reiko being mentioned at the Matobas.
Edited at 2012-02-29 08:09 pm (UTC)
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lksugui on February 29th, 2012 08:38 pm (UTC)
I think Natori knows that Natsume is hiding something big but feels that he has no right to question since Natori himself has kept the whole exorcism thingy a secret. Afterwards, he probably thought that Natsume should decide whether to explain whatever happened at the hot springs or not.
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wanderingdreamr on February 29th, 2012 09:17 pm (UTC)
I was wondering this with a few other people on another forum, guess this means that no one has a concrete answer. XD I had forgotten about that scene but I imagine Natori knows that Natsume has some kind of secret and probably has done a bit of digging (it wouldn't be hard for him to at least realize that it's something shared by Takeshi and Reiko). I think he's trying to give Natsume a bit of space and let him tell him himself.
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queen0fs0ng on February 29th, 2012 09:19 pm (UTC)
I think he knows about the whole thing. I think he knows and has known about Reiko and the Book of Friends and I think that was one of the reasons when they first met that he kept an eye on him. I also think that he doesn't really bring up the topic is because he doesn't want Natsume to start thinking stuff like, "Oh, he's only hanging around me because of the Book of Friends and actually doesn't care about me at all." I think he wants to build Natsume up in terms of self-esteem and self-worth so that he doesn't have to form friendships with youkai.
And if Midorikawa ever writes Natori "discovering" the Book of Friends I think Natsume will be the first to bring it up or something will happen where Natsume knows he's in Natori's field of vision when he whips out the Book of Friends and then would tell him about it.
That's how I think of it anyway. XD
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cloud_orion on February 29th, 2012 10:19 pm (UTC)
I don't think Natori knows exactly what happened in the ryokan. He knows that Natsume hides something and he has some information about Reiko (she is Natsume's grandmother, she had spiritual powers) so probably he could do some research. Plus Nanase is interested to Reiko and I believe that natori would like to know more also for the purpose to protect Natsume. But I'm pretty sure that he prefer to wait until Natsume trust to him enough to talk honestly about his secrets.
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iridaceaena on March 1st, 2012 02:11 am (UTC)
I don't think Natori has enough information to piece together the truth. I mean, he knows that (1) Natsume "gave back a name" to free the youkai at the ryokan; (2) Natsume had a grandmother named Reiko, who was like him; and (3) probably even that Natsume has a notebook labeled "The Book of Friends"; Natsume was holding it in plain sight in front of Natori after Kai disappeared. Still, there's this exchange from volume 9, when Natsume has been captured by Matoba:
Nyanko-sensei: So they haven't looked into your bag yet.
Natsume: No.
Nyanko-sensei: Well... It'll only look like doodles anyway.
Natsume: Matoba-san could have heard something about the Book of Friends.
Nyanko-sensei: He might've heard of it as a myth. Youkai, at least, know instinctively when to keep their mouths shut.
That line about "might've heard of it as a myth" leaves the possibility open that Natori could recognize the name "Book of Friends" or the significance of returning a name, but I think it's unlikely. Matoba thought that Natsume was oddly protective of his possessions, which included a "Book of Something," but he didn't appear to actually recognize it, or to know anything about Reiko beyond the usual "beautiful and powerful" despite having done research on her. If there were any real rumors about the Book of Friends out there in the human world, Matoba would probably be familiar with them.
As for the name thing, Reiko appears to be the only human to take the names of youkai, or we would see other exorcists doing it and/or Reiko wouldn't be so famous for it. I doubt Natori understood what he saw at the ryokan - and it's not like he hasn't seen Natsume help youkai in various ways that had nothing to do with the Book of Friends, so while he may have thought it was odd to see Natsume performing a spell, it wasn't that unusual. He probably didn't push Natsume about it because he really didn't have much ground to stand on; not only was it fairly early in their relationship for that kind of invasive questioning, Natori was keeping plenty of secrets of his own during that trip, so calling Natsume on his would have been kind of a pot/kettle situation.
TL;DR version: I think if Natori finds out that there is such a thing as the Book of Friends, he'll know what Natsume's up to, but right now, I don't think he knows about it.
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lady39jane on March 1st, 2012 02:26 am (UTC)
Hmmm... all very interesting viewpoints. It seemed to me that Natori-san did not react, even with surprise, when he walked in on Natsume. This is the only the second time he has been in Natsume's presence, (I think) so somehow, he must have found out some sort information before hand. That maybe THE reason he invited Natsume along. (wink, wink)
Do the Matobas know about Natsume at this time? I thought "Assembly of Conjurers" came after this. Even if the knew about Reiko, they don't seem to know about Natsume until after that.
Any other ideas?
Edited at 2012-03-01 02:28 am (UTC)
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twirble on March 1st, 2012 07:07 pm (UTC)
Natori has his paper dolls spying on Natsume and he knows what happened with Matoba, so perhaps he knows even more than we think.
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smexy_cakes on March 2nd, 2012 03:35 am (UTC)
omg! I just saw this episode yesterday 8). I know Natori knows and if he didn't until he saw what happened at the springs he is not bringing it up. They both have many secrets and until Natsume is willing to speak will they come out. In some way I think Natori knows this. He and Natsume might have different views on yokai now but they have both felt alone at one point. That should be a sort of friend connection... Well, just wait and see I guess. ^_^
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shirono on March 2nd, 2012 04:12 am (UTC)
I noticed when he popped in as Natsume was giving that name back- I wouldn't have thought it important if Natsume and Nyanko-sensei hadn't just been talking about not telling him about it.
I think he knows all about it... not only does he have his little paper dolls spies, I think he has a good research network. I almost suspect he knew about it before hand (probably did research on Natsume, right?) but if not, I'm sure he looked into it after.
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twirble on March 2nd, 2012 06:41 am (UTC)
Something is going on, he seems to be keeping an extra keen eye on Natsume, more so than I would write off as simple concern. He is even taking cases so that no one else can get near Natsume....he has to know something is up.
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lady39jane on March 3rd, 2012 05:48 am (UTC)
Uh oh! I just found out something very interesting! I'm reading back through my Book of Friends manga (mangas?), and it turns out that the meeting of the exorcists appears in Vol. 3, chap. 11. That's three chapters BEFORE the exorcism at the hot springs. For some reason, they reversed the order in the anime. And Natori-san was listening when Ms Nanase talked to Natsume about Reiko being his grandmother, and how powerful she was. So he actually had time to "research" before he met Natsume again. With the way youkai seem to love gossiping almost as much as humans (or more!!), I'll bet his shiki might learn allot about Reiko. If Natori-san thought the grandson might be as powerful as the grandmother, he might have wanted Natsume even more as an helper. Hmmm...?
Also in this chapter Natsume first wonders if humans might be able to control youkai using the Book of Friends. Not a happy thought.
Edited at 2012-03-03 08:25 pm (UTC)
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wanderingdreamr on March 4th, 2012 03:37 am (UTC)
Huh, that does sound like there's an awful lot of foreshadowing in just one chapter, think I'm going to go re-read the manga soon and look at it all myself. And thanks for making this topic, it's great to hear (erm, see) everyone's thoughts on this!
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main_titles on March 6th, 2012 10:03 am (UTC)
I want to add - if he knew about the Book of Friends it would certainly contribute as to why he wants to keep Matoba away from Natsume. He probably has a very good idea of what Matoba would do with the book. Matoba is already pushing Natsume to join his clan as it is.
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lady39jane on March 8th, 2012 01:56 am (UTC)
True, true. But if Matoba DID try anything, Natsume might deside to let Madara eat him. He's getting a little more pragmatic, I think. Although, that might make Madara ill. Xp
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ooiieef on May 28th, 2012 04:02 am (UTC)
Actually at the end of chapter 62, Natori walks in on an ayakashi exclaiming that Natsume is the one that possesses the 'Book of Friends'. Dun dun dun....
Unfortunately it ends there, but it is most likely that in chapter 63, we'll get to see how Natori reacts and etc.
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