Natsume's Book of Friends Vol. 1by Sheena McNeilReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 6 Takashi Natsume can see spirits other humans cannot. And he's inherited more than this sight from his later grandmother. It seems she beat up most of the surrounding yokai and gathered their names in her "Book of Friends", and having their names gives her control over them. Now all these yokai are after Natsume; some are friendly, and some will stop at nothing to get their name back. One spirit his grandmother never beat has proclaimed itself Natsume's guardian having made a deal to stay with him till all the names are given back or Natsume dies (and this spirit gets the Book). Nyanko Sensei as he's called keeps a simple lucky cat form most of the time, but can change at will to his huge, ferocious true form. Amidst all this, will loner Natsume gain new friendships, human or yokai?Natsume's Book of Friends is quite entertaining. I love stories that involve mythologies or fantastic creatures, and the various yokai of Japan are numerous and neat. Even with all the different spirits this story would have quickly ended (with Natsume's being eaten or killed by a yokai) or become boring ... that is, without Nyanko Sensei. This feline spirit is mischievous, devious, and curious. In the lucky cat form it is adorable (and often falls to doing rather cute kitty things — like batting at things Natsume is holding) — but there's still that unpleasant spark in his eye, always watching and waiting for his prey to slip up. He ends up helping and saving Natsume more often than not though, much to his chagrin sometimes, but he's made a deal and he's also rather curious how things are going to for Natsume and the prospects of friendship that exist. It's a well crafted relationship that's constantly growing and evolving, and without that the story would get too repetitive to keep ones interest. And speaking of repetitive, I assume this manga was released at some point as a serial because each new "chapter" sums up the overall plot. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's fairly lengthy and basically says the exact same thing each time so by the third or fourth time reading it I've lost interest, become a little annoyed, and am glossing over it. The catch is, there's always a little line or panel in there that's different and pertinent to the unfolding story so I can't skip it altogether. The art is fairly wispy. There's little-to-no shading, and what there is, is light. Most of the characters are drawn with sketchy lines with no real distinction to their forms. This makes a certain amount of sense for the yokai, but the yokai often have distinct, dark lines; it's the humans that are drawn with sketches and barely-there airy qualities. Maybe it's a statement on how these spirits are more real than many humans, or it's symbol of the spiritual level in this manga, but I don't really think there's that much depth to it. The art will definitely be a turn off to some, and it affected the grade of this review. Even so, I enjoyed it enough that I would definitely read volume 2 and recommend it to others who like yokai stories (or would if they weren't so scary — this one's not). Written: December 14, 2009
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