madara-dono:

Rewatching Natsume Yuujinchou made me understand the extent of what Natsume was feeling. Season 3 episode 4 is so important.

To have that dusty coat given to him so he wouldn’t say anything against the foster parents even though we damn sure saw this was covering up the abuse, it meant the world to him. If he is so enlightened by receiving that, and a hug from a cat to have him just smile again, it really does show how sad and devoid of care he really was to the point he didn’t even want to return home til the sun went down. To the point others didn’t provide consolation, only solitude.

And this, this really rips my heart out because he finally got this smile back again. He finally gets the care he was missing in childhood. He’s finally getting something he can reminisce about that he never could have before and he finally could open up without being shunned. It tells so much about healing from abuse and understanding that this show really has left a huge impact on me, hence why I’m in so many tears right now. It hurts, because Reiko could’ve had it the same or even worse. She very well was abused the same way if both of them hated them all and wanted to live by themselves far far away.

But Natsume is managing himself so well now. He’s trying to set both his and Reiko’s past right. He had a rock thrown at him again by Kai’s gang and called a liar, and despite all the shit people have done to him in the past, he still tries to go out of his way to help others so they wouldn’t suffer? This is such strong development because he has a reason to smile. I love this show. I love it so so much. Because it’s so special, you can’t help but feel healed too.