Reviews
Like Death Note via My Name is Earl: nonobnoxious melodrama. Natsume is cleaning up after his psycho grandmother, with an obviously Satanic familiar by his side. But it’s all relentlessly wholesome and pleasant, and the dangers are met with understanding and at most a punch in the mouth. There’s also a Small Gods angle - spirits as parasite memeplexes - but even this gets given a good hard scrubbing, so that the small god is happy to fade with his last human follower. Almost closed the book when the boy seals the stupidest deal with Kitty Satan: KS gets the terrible artefact… as soon as the boy dies. Its cuteness and positivity is quite strange, almost edgy: there’s plenty of tragedy (the baby bird abandoned by its nest, Natsume being too spaced out to relate to any other humans) but it’s all smiling and defanged. I can’t decide if this is artful or artless. A slice of life artist trying to do horror.
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 finally starts to make friends both human and other.
This book is actually really cute and it seems to have a pretty immediate plot. Possessing the powers of his grandmother to see spirits, Natsume is tasked with returning the names of the spirits his grandmother met to them. Some want them back violently, others are happy to wait until he's ready as it exhausts him. The story has a sweet nature to it, almost like reading Fruits Basket. It's almost a calming read, with a hint of standard humor.
More sweet tales about Natsume and his encounters with Youkai. Though it's called "Book of Friends" these stories do an excellent job in invoking a sense of loneliness. Natsume is so isolated because of his condition, as are the trapped youkai that he meets. Though the stories are simple, there's a feeling of something profound within them.
I'm always amazed by the variety of stories there are.
Really liked this episode. I hope to see more of Tooru, since Natsume really could use some friends his own age. The icing on the cake was meeting Natsume's uncle and hearing stories of his meeting with the enigmatic Reiko. I hope we learn more about her as the story progresses. Something I forgot to mention in my past reviews are the end notes. In general I don't think end notes are super useful since they're removed from context, but the ones in Natsume are particularly hard to use because the pages are so infrequently numbered. So it's an arduous task to even figure out what the note is referencing. I'm glad there are notes, but I wish they'd find a better way of handling them.
A fun series about a young man and his relationship with Yokai. It kind of reminds me of Card Captor Sakura. The Yokai can range from mischievous to man-eaters, but there's an inherit innocence and optimism with Natsume. Instead of exterminating them, he opens his heart to the Yokai. It's really refreshing and positive.
Several of my friends are into manga and so I have an extensive to-read list compiled, yet I found this on a whim instead. As Midorikawa mentions in the little asides throughout this book, it is an episodic manga. This made it a nice quick read to pick up on impulse, and not too much of an investment. As it is episodic, there is no singe plot to really summarise. The main gist is Takashi Natsume seeing strange creatures - yokai - that nobody else can. After inheriting his deceased grandmother's strange notebook, he discovers that she had the same ability. Due to being such an outcast amidst her village, though, she takes her frustrations out on the yokai. Natsume's Book of Friends - the book Takashi inherited - is basically a collection of contracts signed by various yokai pledging their 'devotion' to her. Owning this book gives Takashi complete power over them, and naturally many of the yokai are eager to take it. Instead, Takashi sets out to return the names of all the yokai. He is accompanied by one yokai who he accidentally freed from a shrine, Nyanko Sensei - who, after being trapped inside a ceramic cat, usually takes the form of a cat. Takashi likes to remind him of this frequently (and Sensei is definitely not amused). The episodes can each be read as a standalone, though they do connect in some ways. Takashi slowly begins to understand what he's doing, and the relationship between him and Nyanko Sensei develops somewhat. While most of Takashi's interactions are with yokai, there is one particular chapter in this novel where he meets another human who he can relate to. There is also a touching chapter - the final in the novel - where Takashi helps a yokai to meet the human that saved her in her past life. The art is lovely and the relationship between Sensei and Takashi is really amusing. There isn't a huge amount of character development or depth due to the episodic nature of the novel, but Takashi is likeable and kind. I would definitely recommend it for a quick/light read, and I may have a look for the rest of the series. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Very kind and beautiful manga.
Still just as amazing!
