Like its promotional materials, Natsume Yujin-Cho The Movie: Ephemeral Bond is exceedingly pleasant and peaceful — and also rather sleep-inducing. All the characters are extremely agreeable, and there’s hardly anything that stimulates the senses in the film. Even the strange and weird ghosts are child-friendly and adorable enough that it hardly draws a reaction from you. There’s something to be said for a film that has completely nothing offensive in it, but it’s also a little bit difficult to get into since it’s just so… nice.
The film revolves around a mystery that the titular character stumbles upon. He eventually finds out that it’s related to his grandmother, Reiko, and that solving this enigma may shed more light on her. However, getting involved in this decades-old mystery has far-reaching consequences that even Natsume (Hiroshi Kamiya) may not be prepared for.
Natsume Yujin-Cho The Movie: Ephemeral Bond tries to ease you into the story as gently as possible, taking the time to introduce the premise of Natsume Yujin-Cho, its main characters, and the special characters in the film. It also tries to inject a little bit of action by showing how the Yujin-Cho (Book of Friends) works and integrating it into the plot of the film. Unfortunately, this also means that the first Act is terribly, terribly yawn-inducing, even though it hews to the tone of the anime series.
The story picks up midway, but by then your eyes may have glazed over due to the pace of the film. It’s a touching, if somewhat convoluted, tale, and you do feel for the tragic circumstances of Yorie (Sumi Shimamoto) and Mukuo (Kengo Kora). They’re pleasant, gentle characters that are so well-meaning that you can’t help but root for them. At the same time, they’re so agreeable that they’re almost bland. It’s not to say that they’re not well characterised, it’s just that they have absolutely no traits that would engage you as a viewer. It’s the circumstances of the plot, rather than the actions of the characters, that generate most of the drama. As a result, Yorie does seem shoehorned into the story, instead of being organically introduced into the movie.
Nyanko-sensei (Kazuhiko Inoue) is as cute as ever though, and is an important comedic element in the film. Natsume himself is the same, although he does have the tendency to ramble on and on. The other characters perform their function, although none of them are changed by the film. As with most anime films, it’s obvious that everything will return to the status quo once it’s over — but because the movie is so gentle, it’s incredibly apparent that the film will have absolutely no impact on the lives of the regular Natsume Yujin-Cho characters. Nobody learns any real lessons, and life will just go on, as it always has… pleasantly.
There are some plot holes, such as the nature of the supernatural creature’s powers and who or what it affects. However, with a movie that’s just so agreeable, you can more or less forgive these logical loopholes. Natsume Yujin-Cho The Movie: Ephemeral Bond goes out of its way to be as pleasant as possible, so you can’t help but want to forgive these problems and watch on.
The premise of Natsume Yujin-Cho is a heartwarming one, but ultimately it’s more suited to the regular 22-minute episode format than a 104-minute feature length film. The stakes are low and the action is almost non-existent. But it’s hard to find a film that has as many agreeable elements as Natsume Yujin-Cho The Movie: Ephemeral Bond has, and that’s where its merit lies.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? No.
Score: 3.0/5
Secret ending? Yes, but the post-credits scene amounts to little more than a few stills.
Running time: 104 minutes (~1.75 hours)
Natsume Yujin-Cho The Movie: Ephemeral Bond is a supernatural anime drama that’s from the Natsume Yujin-Cho anime series. It is also known as Natsume’s Book of Friends The Movie: Tied to the Temporal World.
The movie revolves around Natsume, who can see the supernatural, and the Yujin-Cho (Book of Friends), a book that can help him put ghosts at rest. When he puts a ghost to rest, he inadvertently discovers a link to his secretive grandmother. However, following up on this link has unintended consequences, and Natsume must discover what exactly is the mystery behind the story he has stumbled upon.
Natsume Yujin-Cho The Movie: Ephemeral Bond is directed by Takahiro Omori and Hideaki Ito, and written by Sadayuki Murai. It features the voice talents of Hiroshi Kamiya (Takashi Natsume), Kazuhiko Inoue (Nyanko-sensei), Sanae Kobayashi (Reiko Natsume), Akira Ishida (Shuuichi Natori), Kazuma Horie (Kaname Tanuma), Rina Satou (Touru Taki), Sumi Shimamoto (Yorie Tsumura), and Kengo Kora (Mukuo Tsumura). It is rated PG.
Natsume Yujin-Cho The Movie: Ephemeral Bond opens in cinemas:
– 10 January, 2019 (Singapore)
This article was written for and first published on Yahoo Singapore.
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I’m an independent scriptwriter who’s written for popular shows like Lion Mums, Crimewatch, Police & Thief, and Incredible Tales. I’m also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. You can find me on social media as Optimarcus and on my site.
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