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

Overview (spoilers below):

Natsume and his friends head to a remote hot spring to help with the renovations. When he arrives, he meets an old friend of Tanuma’s, but quickly gets into trouble with the local yokai. Tanuma’s old friend is actually a yokai, and she threatens to do terrible things if Natsume reveals her secret.

Our statement:

Not even a relaxing day at a hot spring can distract us from the problems surrounding the yokai, especially when that yokai is disguised as a human. In the episode, Natsume and the others help Tanuma renovate his aunt’s hot spring. There, Natsume meets an old acquaintance of Tanuma’s, an elderly woman named Ito. However, while she is tending to the guests, it is later revealed that Ito is actually a disguised yokai assigned to guard the mountain festival. She is also here to find another disguised yokai responsible for stealing the festival’s white mask that powers the festival dance. After searching the entire inn, Natsume and Ito finally find the yokai disguised as Otoka, a man’s wife, and exorcise him, but not before Ito warns Natsume to keep her secret until the end of the festival.

“Distant Festival Lights” is another mystery episode where Natsume searches for a ghostly thief. While the plot seems similar to “Shadow of Linked Chains” in its focus on finding a human disguised as a yokai, it differs from the episode in that it delves into Tanuma’s backstory. The episode regularly explores Tanuma’s past with his family, including his relationship with Ito, who helped him find his father at the festival when he was young. Seeing how much Tanuma has grown since meeting Natsume and how much his heart has grown continues to be one of the reasons I enjoy the episode so much. Natsume’s Book of Friendseven though the episode structure has become a bit boring in the fifth season.