Natsume's Book of Friends

Natsume's Book of Friends (夏目友人帳) is an ongoing fantasy manga series by Yuki Midorikawa. It began serialization by Hakusensha in the shōjo manga magazine LaLa DX in 2005, before switching to LaLa in 2008. Chapters have been collected in nine bound volumes. The series is about Natsume, an orphaned teenage boy who can see spirits, who inherits from his grandmother the notebook she used to bind spirits under her control. Natsume's Book of Friends was a finalist for the first Manga Taishō award in 2008.

Natsume's Book of Friends has been adapted as a series of drama CDs, as well as an anime television series produced by Brain's Base, which was broadcast on TV Tokyo in two seasons in 2008 and 2009. The manga is licensed for English-language release in North America by Viz Media, which released the first volume in January 2010.

Story
For as long as he can remember, Takashi has been cursed by the ability to see spirits, a power inherited from his grandmother Reiko. Upon her death, Reiko bequeaths to her grandson her Book of Friends, a book containing the names of spirits Reiko had bullied into servitude. The Book of Friends is a highly prized item in the spirit world, and spirits hound Takashi constantly. Whereas Reiko formed the contracts, however, Takashi spends his time dissolving the contracts and releasing the various spirits that come to him for help. But that doesn't mean there aren't malicious spirits trying to kill him. Which is where Madara (called Nyanko-sensei by Natsume) comes in; Madara serves as Natsume's bodyguard and spiritual advisor of sorts, even though he is motivated by his own desire to possess the Book of Friends. He later on begins to become more attached to Takashi.

Main characters

 * Takashi Natsume (夏目 貴志)
 * The main character of the story. Like his grandmother, Reiko Natsume, Natsume has the ability to see spirits. He has inherited the Book of Friends, a book of names that no one but Reiko, Natsume, and other spirits can read. Because of Natsume's strong resemblance to Reiko, he is often mistaken for her, causing spirits who hate Reiko to chase him constantly. He decided to dissolve the Book by giving all the names back to their owners. He is accompanied by the spirit Madara, who he calls "Nyanko-sensei" or sometimes simply "sensei," promising that he can keep the Book of Friends once Natsume dies.
 * Natsume is an orphan. When he was younger, his parents died, and he was constantly sent to live with relatives. Because of his ability to see spirits, Natsume would scare his relatives because they didn't understand what he was doing. Eventually, Natsume lived with the Fujiwaras, an old couple from his father's side. He loves them, and does not want to cause them trouble, so he keeps quiet about his problem. Though he is rather slender, Natsume is incredibly strong when it comes to Youkai, having enough strength to knock spirits (mainly Nyanko-sensei) out with one blow (backed up with his spiritual powers). He also has a bit of a short temper, since he argues with Cat most of the time. In the anime, he is more cheery and good-natured, while in the manga, he is slightly more dismal and short-tempered. Natsume is described by Yuki Midorikawa as "a boy who is trying to be a kind person."
 * Natsume is able to return the names inscribed in the Book of Friends by first picturing the spirit in his mind in order to learn the spirit's name. The book flips to the page on which the name is written and Natsume takes the page and places it in his mouth while breathing out.  The spell which originally enslaved the spirits used Reiko's saliva and breath, though as Reiko's grandson and one who bears a strong resemblance to Reiko, Natsume is able to use the spell as well.  The cost of releasing the name, however, is that Natsume's energy is completely drained in the process.
 * Natsume also has the ability to channel the dreams and memories of spirits, whether he wants to or not. If a spirit gets too emotional, and sleeps in the same room as Natsume, Natsume can see the dreams the spirit is having. On the other hand, most of the spirits let Natsume see their memories, so that he can understand them better. Natsume can also see their memories when he releases a spirit's name. When Natsume is completely frustrated over a problem and falls asleep in class, he actually sleep-draws in his notebook about whatever is bothering him at the time. When he was being chased by a shadow he called "Mary," he started drawing it in his sleep, making his friends wonder if he was in love with a foreigner. His incredibly strong ability in spiritual magic and strength causes him to smell "yummy" to man-eating spirits, as Madara puts it.


 * Madara (斑) "Nyanko-sensei" (ニャンコ先生)
 * A mysterious feline spirit. Madara was sealed in a shrine until he was accidentally released by Natsume. Because Madara was trapped in a material form for so long, Madara ordinary takes on the shape of a maneki neko (lucky cat), leading Natsume to nickname him Nyanko-sensei. In this form, other people can see him, leading for Natsume having to ask his guardians if he could keep him as a pet. He is a powerful spirit, who protects Natsume from others and teaches him spells on occasion, in return for Natsume's promise to give him the Book of Friends when he dies. They often fight each other, which leads to Natsume punching Madara on the face and knocking him out. Despite his protests of not being a cat, he likes to play with cat toys. Nyanko's design is based on a lucky cat statue Midorikawa was given as a child. In the anime, Natsume is more respectful to Madara.


 * Reiko Natsume (夏目 レイコ)
 * Natsume's grandmother, from whom he inherited the ability to see spirits. When Reiko was young, she was considered a freak by everyone else because of her ability. Since she believed no human could ever understand her, she turned to the spirits for companionship. Reiko was extraordinarily powerful, and so she bullied spirits in to obeying her by playing games with them. If they lost, she would make them give her their names. Reiko gathered the names in to the Book of Friends, and commanded most spirits, except for Madara, who beat her in a game. Reiko died when she was young, so no one remembered her.


 * Kaname Tanuma (田沼 要)
 * Another student that had recently moved into the area. He is sickly and quite susceptible to illnesses. Like Natsume, he is able to detect spirits, but to a lesser degree limited to seeing merely shadows and sensing slight presence of spirits. He wants to help Natsume in any way he can, but is afraid that he will just be a burden because of his weak ability.


 * Tooru Taki (多軌 透)
 * A new girl at school who rarely talks because of a curse a yokai has placed on her, which Natsume later helps her to break. She’s an omniyojist, she can’t actually see yokai but she can with a magic circle she draws with a stick. One of Natsume's friends, Nishimura, has a crush on her, but thinks that she and Natsume are going out.


 * Jun Sasada (笹田 純)
 * The president of Natsume's homeroom. Sasada believes that Natsume can see spirits, although he repeatedly denies this to her. To Natsume's chagrin, she frequently tries to accompany him when he is on business involving sprirts. She is a recurring character in the anime; in the manga, she is rarely seen after the encounter with Shigure.


 * Shuuichi Natori (名取 周一)
 * A man who is also able to see spirits. He is a famous actor and exorcist and has a lizard birthmark that moves around on his body. He has the ability to manipulate paper dolls and has three youkai under his command. Natsume tends to disapprove of his forceful exorcism methods.


 * Atsushi Kitamoto (北本 篤史) Satoru Nishimura (西村 悟)
 * Classmates of Natsume. Kitamoto is a sensible and rational person, while Nishimura is funny and easy-going, with a slightly perverted side. Although Natsume initially rejects their overtures of friendship because of his fears of his ability being found out, he eventually becomes friends with them, although they still hang around more with each other than Natsume. Nishimura has a crush on Taki, but thinks that she and Natsume are going out, and ran off comically crying. Kitamoto said that he would support Natsume all the way before running after his friend.


 * Touko Fujiwara (藤原 塔子) Shigeru Fujiwara (藤原 滋)
 * A childless middle-aged couple and Natsume's current foster parents. Shigeru is a second cousin of Natsume's dead father, and as a boy once met Reiko without recognizing it was her. Both Touko and Shigeru assure Natsume that they consider him a part of their family. Despite this, Natsume goes to great lengths to hide his ability from them. Slowly, Natsume comes to understand that his keeping the Fujiwaras at a distance, including always addressing them formally (see Honorific speech in Japanese), is preventing him from forming close human attachments. Despite this, he still fears being rejected because of his abilities.

Development
Midorikawa created Natusme's Book of Friends as an episodic serial for a manga magazine published every two months, so that each chapter was a story that could be read on its own. As the result of earlier writing a ghost story that an editor made her revise to include more romance than she initially wanted, Midorikawa specifically created Natsume's Book of Friends as supernatural story with less romance, containing supernatural elements that stir readers' imaginations the way stories about yokai and local gods stirred hers growing up in a rural area. For the basic story, she wanted to write about a boy and his non-human teacher, and include the incongruous element of a the boy's grandmother in a school uniform.

This was the first series Midorikawa wrote in which the protagonist was also the central character. Midorikawa claimed that as a character Natsume is almost as bad as herself at expressing his thoughts, which caused her to use use more interior monologue than she was comfortable with for a male character.

Manga
Natsume's Book of Friends is written and illustrated by Yuki Midorikawa and published in Japan by Hakusensha. It began serialization in 2005 in the bimonthly shōjo (aimed at teenage girls) manga magazine LaLa DX; in 2008, serialization switched to the monthly sister magazine LaLa. The untitled chapters have been collected in ten tankōbon volumes.

The series is licensed in English in North America by Viz Media, with the first volume published in January 2010. It is also licensed in French by Delcourt, in South Korea by Haksan, in Taiwan by Tong Li, and in Thailand by Bongkoch Publishing.

In addition, a fan book was published on January 5, 2009 (ISBN 978-4-592-18696-0) and a notebook reproduction of Natsume's book of friends was published July 3, 2009 (ISBN 978-4-592-18690-8).

Drama CDs
Natsume's Book of Friends has been adapted as a series of three drama CDs, which were distributed as extras with issues of LaLa.


 * 1) LaLa Treasure Drama CD (October 2007)
 * 2) LaLa Excellent Drama CD (November 2008)
 * 3) LaLa Double Premiere Drama CD (May 2009)

Anime
Natsume's Book of Friends has been adapted as an anime television series produced by Brain's Base, directed by Takahiro Omori. It was broadcast on the TV Tokyo network in two seasons of 13 episodes each, the first from July 7 to September 29, 2008 and the second, called Zoku Natsume Yūjinchō (続 夏目友人帳), from January 5 to March 30, 2009. For the first season, the opening theme was "Issei no Sei" (一斉の声) by Shūhei Kita, and the ending theme was "Natsu Yūzora" (夏夕空) by Kousuke Atari. For the second season, the opening theme was "Ano Hi Time Machine" (あの日タイムマシン) by Long Shot Party and the ending theme was "Aishiteru" (愛してる) by Kourin (Also known as Callin'). Both seasons were released on five DVDs each.

Separate soundtrack albums for the two seasons were released in Japan by Sony Music on September 24, 2008 and March 18, 2009, respectively. The series opening and closing theme songs were also released by Sony Music. As singles, "Issei no Sei" reached a peak rank of 48th on the Oricon singles chart, "Natsu Yūzora" reached 27th, and "Ano Hi Time Machine" reached 38th. "Aishiteru" was not released as a single, but instead included on an album called Uta no Hibi by Kourin (Also known as Callin').

The series is licensed in English by Crunchyroll, which streams it online; episodes of the second season were available online on the day of broadcast. It is also licensed in Chinese by Muse Communication.

Reception
Natsume's Book of Friends was one of twelve finalists for the first Manga Taishō award in 2008.

Since the fifth volume of the series, the individual volumes have made the best-seller list for manga in Japan. Volume 5 was ranked at number 8 on the charts for the week of March 4–10, 2008; Volume 6 was number 5 for the week of July 8–14, 2008; Volume 7 has done the best so far of the volumes, staying on the chart for two consecutive weeks (number 2 for the week of January 6–12, 2009 then falling to number 16 for the following week).