Yuki Midorikawa

In the first part of the volume, Natsume and Tanuma help Taki clean up the creepy storage places at her home (her grandpa's old home? my notes are unclear). In the process, they awaken a dangerous doll yokai that Taki's grandfather accidentally sealed. In the next part of the volume, Natsume realizes that he's finally emotionally capable of looking at his parents' photo again. He also decides that he wants to visit his parents' old home one last time before it's sold. In order to visit the show more house, though, he first has to go to the family he used to live with to get the key. This requires dealing with an increasingly dangerous insect-eating yokai and the family's daughter, who was always jealous of the attention Natsume was given when he lived with them.

I always forget how warm and gentle this series is. Even when it breaks my heart, it does so softly. The art style doesn't really appeal to me - too light and scratchy (or wispy?) - but it works fine for this series and I love the characters and stories enough that it doesn't matter.

I absolutely love volumes like this one, that deal with Natsume's friendships. He's gradually learning to trust his human friends and ask them for help, and to accept help when it's offered. The bit where Tanuma had all his and Natsume's friends stop what they were doing and look for Natsume's missing photo was wonderful.

I also enjoyed the flashbacks to Natsume's past, and the brief glimpses of the Fujiwaras just being all domestic and kind. This is a "fuzzy blanket" sort of series, the kind of thing I want to wrap myself up in.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Being able to see supernatural stuff is not what it’s cracked up to be. It’s pretty scary and makes you a weird outsider. I feel for Natsume. Luckily, even after years and years of having yokai follow him around, Natsume’s heart is still in the right place and he is trying to be kind to everyone.

I wasn’t sure about this manga at first, because I disliked the art so much. But it grew on me, a bit like all those yokai – you say hi to one of them, and before you know it, your house show more is swarmed and you have to be a good host.

I feel both satisfied and melancholy now, these pages are about loneliness and finding friendship and affection in strange places.

*3.8 stars*

5/6 of my birthday mangas show less

In the first part of the volume, a yokai tricks Natsume into letting him in - he wants Natsume to use the Book of Friends to summon a yokai named Karikami in order to restore a fragile old note. Natsume gradually learns that the yokai had once loved a human woman. The man she loved left without telling her and married someone else. To keep her from being hurt, the yokai pretended to be the man for a while. In the next part of the volume, Natsume meets an elderly former god who wants to show more return a mirror to a dangerous yokai who, it turns out, was actually Reiko, Natsume's grandmother. The volume ends with a story in which Natsume gets trapped in a jar by a yokai. Tanuma tries to save him and ends up in trouble, at risk of being eaten by yokai. He and Natori finally cross paths.

The first story was very bittersweet and part of an established pattern in this series, in which yokai have fond memories of humans they loved who have long since moved elsewhere or died. I couldn't help but wonder about the woman's part in this story, and what she thought about this strange event in her life.

The second story felt a little scattered - it was intertwined with a cup yokai and a dangerous yokai that could cause trouble for the Fujiwara household. Still, it was nice to see Reiko again, even though it was yet another bittersweet moment in her life. The poor girl thought she'd finally found a human friend, and it turned out it was yet another yokai. I wonder if the series will ever touch on how she died, and who the father of her child was? I hope he was one of the rare humans she could trust, but I worry that he wasn't.

The third story hurt my heart. There was Tanuma, trying to help Natsume but worried that he was just making things worse. And Natsume, worried about Tanuma getting caught up in his messes - he still can't help his knee-jerk desire to keep his supernatural troubles from his friends. Natori is what Natsume might have been, if things had gone a little differently, and he knows it. He's jaded, but hopeful that Natsume can have the kind of life and relationships that he felt he had to cut himself off from.

Not as good as the previous volume, but still quite good.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

I liked Natsume's Book of Friends so much that I ordered volume two. I was not disappointed. Orphan Takashi Natsume has not been chased out of his current home with his distant paternal relatives, kindly Mr. & Mrs. Fujiwara. Of course he's still trying to hide his ability to see spirits and demons from them. The yokai who wants to be called 'Nyanko Sensei' can be seen by normal humans because he melded with the beckoning cat statue in which he was imprisoned. Takashi has a pet 'cat' and the show more yokai (real name 'Madara') has a place to live and activity to amuse himself.

As we learned in volume one, Takashi has inherited his power from his late grandmother, Reiko, who used to beat up demons and force them to write their names in her 'book of friends'. So long as a Yokai's name is in that book, that yokai must obey whoever has the book. Takashi is trying to give them back their names.

Chapter (Story) 5: Takashi is begged/nagged into being one of the 20 students who will participate in the annual haunted schoolhouse challenge. This year is special because it's going to be the last: the school is going to be torn down.
The students gather together. Nyanko Sensei followed Takeshi. He's talking to his human, when another student asks if the cat made a weird sound. A 'mrowr' is enough to convince him it's just a weird cat.

All the kids have to do is go in as pairs, walk down the hall, and sign their names on a sheet at the end. It hasn't been set up as an American-style Halloween Haunted House, or so Takashi has been assured. All 20 numbered slips have been drawn, but one hand in the circle of hands has no number to display. Oops.

A girl named Sasada tells the legend of the school, which involved a greedy merchant and a god of luck. Tatsuke and Tsuji, another boy, are the fourth pair to enter even though the three pairs that went in first haven't returned. I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that the school really is haunted.

Sasada is smart and figures out that Takashi can see spirits. She tries to get him to admit it. As we learn, a yokai helped her out during last year's challenge and she wants to see him again to thank him and tell him how much what he did has meant to her. Can Takashi and his 'cat' help her fulfill her wish and save the captured kids? (The disguise Madara puts on in this story made me smile.)

Chapter (story) 6: Takashi frees a Yokai shaped like a frog and follows it. He meets an evil Yokai tied to a pine tree. The Yokai leaves a mark on Takashi's arm. Nyanko Sensei touches that arm and the curse causes him to lose control of his powers. He's small enough to fit in a teacup, so he advises Takashi to summon Misuzu, the giant horse-headed Yokai introduced in volume one. Misuzu summons a female Yokai named Hinoe to be Takashi's substitute bodyguard. Hinoe loved Reiko and hates men. She's rather upset to see Reiko's face on a boy's body, but she investigates. Meanwhile, Takashi keeps seeing a human-shaped shadow. He calls the shadow 'Mary' after an urban legend about a threat that gets closer and closer to the victim. We know the evil spirit isn't going to kill Takashi, but how the teen is saved was interesting. Hinoe gives Takashi some good advice. She and Misuzu both indicate their willingness to have Takashi call them again.

Chapter (story) 7: This one starts out with Takashi walking his 'cat' on a leash. I enjoyed a dog's reaction. Takashi meets a film star named Shuichi Natori who has a gecko-shaped tattoo that moves around his body. Takashi has a scary experience that night (Nyanko Sensei is out boozing). He meets the actor again. Natori is also an exorcist who wants Takashi to become his assistant. He lives in he town of Sasaki with his two familiars, Sasago and Urihime. He's on a case. Natori hates and is violent with Yokai, aside from his familiars. Takashi thinks Natori is too violent and Natori thinks Takashi is too reckless.

Chapter (story) 8: We learn that Takashi wants to get a job and be independent as soon as possible instead of going to college as he chats with a classmate just before a haunted umbrella shows up. The Yokai in the umbrella wants Takashi's body for Asagi, who was lute player in the mythical Isozuki forest until a disease prevented her from playing for the god of Mibu. Takashi calls him 'Mary II' because he won't give his name to a mere human, but Asagi says he's Akagane. Akagane succeeds and Takashi is forced to make a new lute (koto) for Asagi. She's not leaving his body until she can play one last time.

I enjoyed volume two as much as volume one. Natsume is a very nice boy and Madara/Nyanko-sensei a fun supporting character. I can't say he's the best of bodyguards, given how often he leaves Takashi unprotected at night while he's off drinking and doing who knows what else. show less