Natsume's Book of Friends Volume 1

If, as many people say, the point of a story in Japanese writing isn’t the destination, but the journey, then Natsume’s Book of Friends is right on target.

This is a sweet, thoughtful collection of stand-alone stories about a high school boy who can see spirits and the possessed Beckoning Cat that helps him release the enslaved yokai who were captured by his grandmother. Will Natsume ever succeed in freeing all the spirit names trapped in his grandmother’s book? Will Nyanko ever succeed in stealing the book away from Natsume? Who knows. Who cares. It’s the journey, remember?

Natsume is plagued by yokai, the spirits, demons and other creepy creatures from Japanese folklore. Although he’s been able to see them his whole life, it's only after moving back to the area where his grandmother grew up that they’ve begun chasing after him, ambushing him in the forest, and peering in at him through his bedroom window. And they all seem to want something from him.

Natsume's grandmother was a woman who bullied the local yokai and enslaved them by writing their names in her "Book of Friends." Now that Natsume has inherited her book, the yokai are looking to him to release them.

Nyanko, a demon trapped in the body of a Beckoning Cat statue, agrees to help Natsume release the spirits, with the understanding that, should Natsume die in the process, Nyanko gets to keep the book for himself.

With a set-up like this, it's understandable to expect a boy-versus-demon story, complete with lots of action, adventure, and slapstick comedy. Instead, this is a quiet, gentle story about a lonely boy and his struggle to find acceptance.

The first story introduces both Natsume and the enslaved yokai as being desperately alone. After the death of his parents, Natsume has been shuttled between family members who are creeped out by his ability to see what isn’t there. He has learned to cope by becoming a wallflower, trying to stay under the radar so he won’t be thought of as weird.

The yokai are bound to come when Natsume's grandmother calls — but she never does. They are trapped in a book of "friends,” but never allowed to be a friend. As Natsume learns the spirits’ stories he begins to care for them as individuals, and they for him.

Much like Aria, this book of loosely connected stand-alone chapters works because of its sentimentality and charm. Natsume is charming in his desire to help. Nyanko is charming in a tsundere way, wanting to snatch the book from Natsume, but unwilling to see him get hurt. Even the yokai are charming, one wanting to meet the human who once made her feel warm and safe, others teasing and flattering Natsume so he will protect them from the local monk.

The pace of the book is contemplative and this gentleness is mirrored in the artwork, which is wispy and sometimes faint. The thin lines work against the few dramatic moments in the story, but work well to enhance the cuteness of the characters and the heartfelt sentimentality of the more romantic chapters. Often the screentones do what the linework doesn’t, lending depth and motion to otherwise sketchy art.

This first volume of Natsume’s Book of Friends is clearly a set-up for what may become a more plot-driven story. It’s really too soon to tell. But there is enough in this first volume to make me want to pick up Volume Two.

Eva Volin is the Supervising Children's Librarian for the Alameda Free Library. She has served as the chair of YALSA's Great Graphic Novels for Teens committee and is a member of the Good Comics for Kids blog at www.schoollibraryjournal.com.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.