Natsume's Book of Friends, Vol. 1

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 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

I wanted to read Natsume's Book of Friends after I read a review of the first volume at James Nicoll Reviews, so I was very happy to receive it for an early birthday gift. Takashi Natsume, the hero of this manga, is a really nice boy. He's also a very lonely one. Orphaned at a very early age, Takashi has been handed from relatives to relatives because of the psychic powers he inherited from his late maternal grandmother, Reiko Natsume.

Takashi can see and hear yokai, which are ghosts, demons, monsters, shapeshifters, tricksters, or other supernatural beings. He's long wondered why no one else can see them, while his relatives think he's creepy because he talks to thin air. He's high school age now and living with distant paternal show more relatives, a kind older couple, Mr. and Mrs. Fujiwara. He doesn't want to freak them out, so he doesn't tell them about what he can see.

Don't worry about cliff-hangers. This is a collection of four stand-alone stories. Yes, it means each story starts out with a brief synopsis of the plot. I think it's a good trade-off for not having to wait for the next volume to come out to find out what happened.

This volume starts with one of Natsume's new classmates and another boy being startled when Takashi falls out of a tree, then barely talking before he runs off. Takashi is desperately trying to reach a shrine before the yokai chasing him catches him. He doesn't make it this time. A recurring fact in these stories is that the yokai can't tell her grandson from Reiko herself. Takashi manages to free himself, but then trips over and breaks the kekkai around the shrine. (In this case, the protective barrier was a rope.) Takashi is worried that he has accidentally released something dangerous. He has. That cute ceramic "beckoning cat" figurine in the shrine was imprisoning a yokai. He comes walking out looking like the ceramic cat.

The cat-shaped yokai knew Reiko. He tells Takashi about her, particularly her habit of dueling with yokai and forcing them to write their names in the book she called The Book of Friends. The cat disappears. Takashi goes home and searches among his boxes of his grandmother's things until he finds the book. The cat shows up and tries to take it from him. He's stopped.

The cat yokai decides that he owes Takashi for freeing him and offers to be his bodyguard. He suggests that the boy address him as "sensei," which is like "san," but used for teachers, instructors, doctors, and, I think, politicians. Takashi uses "Nyanko" as the cat's name. Nyanko-sensei explains that the book gave Reiko power over the yokai whose names she had. No wonder yokai who mistake Takashi for Reiko are chasing him. They want to be freed by being given their names back. More yokai come to the house, so Takashi flees. Nyanko-sensei comes with him, suggesting Takashi give him the book. The kid's no fool so he refuses. Then we get to see the cute little round cat transform into a sleek, giant wolf-like creature.

Takashi makes a bargain - he'll be giving back those names, but if he dies before the task is completed, Nyanko-sensei may have the book. Nyanko-sensei agrees, saying he'll see it to the end. Instead of killing Takashi on the spot, he tells the boy how to give those names back. It does explain why Takashi has a piece of paper in his mouth on the cover. Interestingly, Takashi gains the memory of Reiko's interactions with the yokai whose name is being released. An unpleasant side effect of the ceremony is that it saps Takashi's energy.

In the second story, we learn that Nyanko-sensei's real name is Madara. He continues to help Takashi with the other yokai.
There's a bit of comic relief when two mid-level yokai beg Takashi's help with an exorcist. Takashi meets another boy from school who is also psychic, but not as powerful as our young hero. Luckily for the other boy, his father is very understanding.

There are scary scenes, but also sweet ones. I enjoyed this manga enough that I ordered the second volume. show less

This series is, for the most part, pretty episodic, so I'll try to briefly mention which stories are covered in each volume. In this volume, Natsume learns about the Book of Friends and gains Nyanko-sensei as a bodyguard. Many years ago, Natsume's grandmother traveled from place to place, dominating yokai (spirits and supernatural beings) and forcing them to write their names in her Book of Friends. As the owner of the Book of Friends, Natsume could opt to control those yokai, but instead he decides to give as many names back as he can. In the second chapter, he helps a Dew God get his name back and sees that there can be good/bittersweet relationships between yokai and humans. In the third chapter, he learns that someone has been show more exorcising yokai in a particular area, and he discovers that one of his classmates can probably see yokai too. In the fourth chapter, Natsume helps a swallow yokai see the human who befriended her one last time before she fades away.

Even though I've seen the anime multiple times, and nothing in this volume was a surprise to me, it still made me cry. Natsume says he doesn't care for yokai and maybe sees giving them their names back as a way of cutting them out of his life. However, in reality, his efforts seem to increase his empathy for them. Natsume's a kind kid, and I think Nyanko-sensei senses that too.

The artwork is nice, but has a very wispy feel to it, different enough from the anime that it took me some time to get used to it.

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

This took me a while to get into; I found it a bit scary at first, and the panel layout was occasionally hard to follow, even with the guide on how to read manga. The dialogue sometimes made it feel like multiple layout options were possible. My favourite chapter was Chapter 4, “The Swallow Underwater,” which was a beautiful story. I also liked the little yokai who showed up in Chapter 3 (I think), following Natsume to school like his personal cheer squad. I’ll probably continue the series eventually.

I rathered enjoyed this slice of life supernatural Manga by the talented Yuki Midorikawa. The story focuses on Natsume, an orphan boy who can see yokai (a class of supernatural entities and spirits in Japanese folklore), and has had a troubled childhood therefore, ends up with a better foster family in a small rural Japanese town. In this town, he inherits from his grandmother Reiko something called "The Book of Friends", which turns out to contain pages with the true names of a lot of yokai which she'd obtained in her youth, subjugating them (shame on her!). The yokai naturally want their names back.

The first volume is Episodic, as Natsume solves different yokai problems each chapter or so, with a gradually developing story arc as he show more finally starts to make friends both human and other. show less

Sweet, honorable guy meets trickster, man-eating spirit trapped in a porcelain cat. Then discovers that his grandma was something of a mean girl who liked to trap gullible spirits, creepy and nice. Delightfully weird and entertaining.

This is one of my favorite manga. It definitely sits in my top ten. I've reread it so many times that I know it by heart and it makes me want more.