Natsume Yuujinchou Vol 1 Review

(Natsume’s Book of Friends)

Hello, My name is A Wonderful World, I review manga, (Japanese comics) on this blog.

Natsume Yuujinchou is a shojo (girl) manga about an orphaned boy, Takashi Natsume who can see spirits, who also inherited a notebook from her grandmother. Natsume’s grandmother was special like him, being about to see spirits, unlike him and unfortunately for many youkai, she chose to bully spirits or youkai into playing games with her and take their names, thus taking command of a lot of them and binding those youkai into her notebook. Thus Natsume takes the responsibility of giving back names of the youkai his grandmother kept, with help from his fortune cat companion, Madara, who openly wants to take the book from Natsume should he fall but secretly is a huge jerk with a heart of gold.

Before I continue, first, get the idea that a shojo has to have recurring romance and sparkly, bubbly backgrounds out of your head because Natsume Yuujinchou is not like that, it’s got heartwarming stories but its approach with that is a lot different from other yokai stories, like other demon stories, it’s got demons that just want to eat people but the majority of yokai in this series have sorrow, loneliness, rejection, dejection, negative feelings that normal humans have. This series deals with Natsume trying to reach a helping hand to those demons.

This first volume gives us a smooth introduction by not overextending or trying to go out its boundaries, instead of giving us a huge cast right off the bat which would take time to digest, Natsume Yuujinchou gives us just two main characters, Natsume and Nyanko and a simple concept for the story.

The first volume introduces the story, deals with a deity who might die due to his worshippers dying before him, an exorcist who has been causing trouble in the area and a girl, once sparrow, who wants to meet the man who had once tried to save her. It’s fairly realistic that not every yokai gets a happy ending but the stories always end on an optimistic note.

Natsume is a refreshing character, at first he seems like the normal lonely, orphan character we see in every manga to garner sympathy but here’s the thing, unlike most orphan stories, he’s not angsty, mopey or whiny, he takes him being an orphan fairly well. His reaction to isolation is also more realistic, because before when he tried to tell people about the yokai, they thought he was lying to gain attention and so, he keeps to himself and always take care of himself which distances the people who want to help him, it’s not that he wants to be alone, it’s that his nature prevents him from opening up. But I thought the most winning quality about him was his selfless need to help. Unlike other altruistic characters, who come off as unrealistic do-gooders who help out for no reason and butt in pointlessly, he doesn’t feel the need to push a offer for help without good reason, that reason? Natsume wants to help yokai is because he senses that the yokai are in just as much pain and loneliness as him and so he tries his best to help others so that others won’t continue to have the same pain as him. Nyanko is a mix of funny and menacing, since he is a yokai, he does have a scary form but he usually goes by the form of a fortune cat and is hilarious, I dare you not to laugh at page 24 of chapter 2.

The art… I love it for not being typically shojo and it gives a tranquilizing feeling of calm with thin lines, although a little rough at first. But the thin lines takes away from the dramatic times but it makes the heartwarming scenes, which are numerous, all the more heart-wrenching. Also the yokai aren’t made to all be beautiful or cute, some are scary and are fairly accurate to what real demons look like.

There was one scene that was particularly touching, a local deity, is about to die due to having his last worshipper dying. Natsume offers to pray for him every day, the deity’s reply?

“That wouldn’t work, Natsume.” “You are my friend.”

He eventually dies but he’s able to meet his last worshipper in the afterlife.

Overall Natsume Yuujinchou is a refreshing departure from normal shojo and I recommend anyone read it, especially one susceptible to tearjerkers.

You can buy this at Sakura Media or read online at www.mangareader.net or otakuworks.com

~ A Wonderful World