Natsume's Book of Friends, Volume 1 by Yuki Midorikawa

Natsume does not have love interests so far, so I wouldn’t call this series a romance. Nayanko-sensei is often the source of comic relief in this otherwise dramatic story. His character provides spiritual guidance for Natsume as well as camaraderie. His reason being that Natsume is entertaining to watch.

Although Nyanko-sensei deems Natsume a tasty meal at their first encounter, he refrains from eating him. His spiritual form resembles Amateratsu, a great white wolf. He is a powerful yokai that is able to make himself visible to humans by attaching his spirit to a maneki neko, or cat statue. Nyanko-sensei is the main supporting character. The loneliness that Natsume feels as well as his empathy for yokai and humans is what makes him endearing to readers. He often doubts the reality of what is around him because of his experiences with yokai, and tends to relate better with yokai because they can understand that he is able to see them and don’t consider him strange. His experiences in life have left him feeling isolated from others, and he has had few opportunities to form close relationships. The Characters/Romance: Natsume is a lovable male protagonist whose evolution and development is the driving force of Midorikawa’s story. Powerful, yet inexperienced, Natsume will need the help of yokai and humans alike to return the names if he is ever to have peace from the “Book of Friends”.Īnime Cover – Natsume, Nyanko-sensei/Madara, and Reiko Now the yokai come after Natsume, demanding their names be returned. The book contains the names of yokai that his grandmother trapped and made into servants. Now in high school, Natsume discovers a book among his deceased grandmother’s possessions called the “Book of Friends”. Orphaned from the time he was a young boy, Natsume gets passed from one family member to the next due to the strange events that occur around him. The Gist: Natsume Takashi has inherited the gift of seeing yokai, or spirits, from his grandmother. Released in North America by Viz media in 2010, Natsume’s Book of Friends continues to charm readers here and overseas.

It was a finalist for the Manga Taisho award in 2008.

Natsume’s Book of Friends is a fantasy manga by Yuki Midorikawa that is ongoing in LaLa magazine.

Natsume’s Book of Friends vol 1-9 – Yuki Midorikawa May 2, 2012

Natsume's Book of Friends, Volume 1 by Yuki Midorikawa