Recently I took a liking to this anime. It's called "Natsume Yuujinchou" or Natsume's Book of Friends. I started to watched this anime a few days ago which i don't really remember. =3= So...let's start!
Before I watched this anime, my mom bought me a manga (comic book) from her way back to Malaysia from Thailand like a few years ago. The manga she bought for me is called , "Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light" or if it was translated into Bahasa Melayu, based on what my mom bought is called, "Cinta di Hutan Kelip-Kelip". The manga was written(or drew) by Midorikawa Yuki. I really like her style of drawing , simple. In the manga, it contains 4 different stories with 4 different settings.
I've searched the author of the book and it lead me to wikipedia (of course) , In japanese , the manga was called, "Hotarubi no Mori e". It was said that, reading this manga first before you watched Natsume Yuujinchou is the correct order! XD The Wikipedia said that "Into the Forest of Fireflies's Light" is considered a starting point for Natsume Yuujinchou, one of Midorikawa Yuki's greatest work!
Talking about "Into the Forest of Fireflies's Light" ,I read the manga right away my mom gave me. Yes, exactly before kids' bedtime (around 9pm)pfft.. While reading it, I noticed i was actually crying the hell out of my eyes! I was even bawling my eyes out! But I'm so gratefull it was not that loud. The story was quite nice, drawn beautifully but it was... sad and beautiful at the same time. *sigh* If you want to read more about "Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light" you can go here! I can't believe that the manga is actually 2003 manga though. XD anyway, thank you for buying me the manga or i'll never knew Natsume Yuujinchou, mommy! <3
Alright, sorry for the long introduction i typed above. XD Can't help it. XD So... off to the main topic!
Natsume's Book of Friends, by Yuki Midorikawa
Story...
For as long as he can remember, Takashi Natsume has 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 haunt 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.
(source: Wikipedia)
There's currently 4 seasons of this heartwarming anime. The first season was released in the year of 2008, followed by the year of 2009, 2011 and 2012. There might be season 5 from what I read from some of the anime fans in the forum I've searched in Google. (Yes, yes, I'm a hardcore-fan XDXDX pfft) . Most of them said that each season covered a few chapters in the Manga from season 1 to the season 4. To produce season 5, the media involve will need enough chapters from the manga. (Ah... i'm really not good in explaining this!! ASDFGHJKL)
Each and every seasons have 13 episodes. That makes Natsume Yuujinchou have 52 episodes currently. Each episode has it own story , some was divide in two parts. Sad and happy ending is all in there. There might be some episodes that makes you wanna cry and sulk in the corner though. pfft. When i was watching the 1st and 2nd season earlier, I cried ...uh..a lot. XDXDXD That's me for being such sensitive child. Even my own parents said that. XDXDXD Can't help it.
There will always be new charactes appear in every new episode, which is quite interesting. What more the new characters is mainly ghost! <3 Some of the spirits are kind and some are not. Some are targetting Natsume Takashi for his Book of Friends, the only thing that he inherit from his grandmother, Natsume Reiko, besides his ability to see ghost clearly.
The 4 seasons of Natsume Yuujinchou are:
- Natsume Yuujinchou
- Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou
- Natsume Yuujinchou San
- Natsume Yuujinchou Shi
So, now, let's meet my favourite characters! <3
Natsume Takashi,
the main character of this anime. He has a great(for me) resemblance of his late grandmother Natsume Reiko. He inherit both the ability to see ghost/spirits (In japanese it was called as "Youkai" or "Ayakashi") and the Book of Friends.More like, he was cursed by the ability to see Youkai. Because of his appearance, he was often mistaken as Reiko and was chased by Youkai eversince. He is often seen walking with his self-proclaimed bodyguard, the cat, whom he call "Nyanko-Sensei". (you know~ the big fat cute cat XD)
Unlike Reiko, Takashi is kind towards spirits and human. He's a soft-spoken boy ealier in the series due to his troubled past. He usually hate for his ability to see ghost. Because of that ability, he was often called a liar and was often alone during his chilidhood, making him having trouble communicate with other humans. He's an orphan, his parents died when he was a very young child, leaving him to be passed from relative to relative most likely because of his attempts to share that he could see Ayakashi. But, thanks to the Fujiwara couple, a middle aged couple on his father's side of the family, eventually took him in and take care of him as if he was their own child. (*cried*) Takashi has incredibly strong spiritual power, allowing him to actually hit and hurt Yokai whenever they caught him. For he that inherit the Book of Friends is often being targeted by the Youkai's and Ayakashi's , making his life is sometimes in danger or trouble.
He has the ability of returning names to respective youkai. In order to return the names, he first, have to picture the youkai in his mind. The book later flips to the page on which the name is written and Takashi takes the pages and places it in his mouth and exhales. He was able to do this because he is Reiko's direct blood relative. However, the cost of releasing the name, Takashi will drain a lot of energy in the process.
Besides that, he have the ability to read the Youkai's dream if they're unstable. Due to being direct grandson of Reiko, he has strong spiritual power, which causes him to smell "delicious" to many man-eating Youkai.
Madara,
or... Nyanko-Sensei, as he was called by Takashi, is Natsume Takashi's self-proclaimed bodyguard, or so he says. XD Madara is a "powerful" youkai whose seal was broken by Natsume Takashi in the very first episode in Season 1: Natsume Yuujinchou. By breaking the seal, Madara made a deal with Takashi , that is ; He will protect Takashi while he is still alive and wishing to return the names, and in return, when Takashi dies, the Yuujinchou (Book of Friends) will come into his possession. But it seems that, he's forgotten the details of the deal later on.
He takes the form of a Maneki Neko (lucky cat) ,round and cute! <3 In his real form, he is a colossal wolf-like youkai with white fur, red markings on his face and gold eyes.
In the series , he was called with many nicknames, mostly from Takashi's friends, such as , "Ponta" , "Pig-Cat", "Nyangoro", "Nyankichi" and "Nyan-nyan Sensei"
*sigh* as much as i like this pig-cat he often drinks sake(alcohol) himselfs and loves to eat Japanese snacks and other food, making him heavier and rounder. *Arent he's cute when he's getting fat? XD* Madara, has the ability to transform between his cat form and his wolf-like form. He also can take human form but either Takashi or Reiko.
*nope, he don't act like Takashi's bodyguard at all XDXD kidding! and yes, this is the plushie i bought! <3 <3 <3 <3 NYANKOOOOOOO-SEEEEENNNNNSSSSEEEIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!*
I'm currently watching the 3rd season of the anime, Natsume Yuujinchou San. Overall, i quite like the series from the beginning 'till now! It's a good thing for me to watch since I really like these type of genres though! And.. the soundtrack used is nive to hear! I've download it ~ XD Besides that, I watched this too because I think i nearly have the little similarity with Takashi Natsume. though! XD I can somehow feel the presence of ghost around me and often hallucinates about creppy stuffs. Day and night ! It's scary. though... I thought of wanting to say it to my parents but i don't as i don't want them to worry about me, so i keep it to myself. *shiver* Anyway! I'll write more about the similarity some other time!
For those who wanted to watch the anime, You can go to :
In anime ultima.tv it has only the first season, 2nd season and the 4th season. So for those of you who wanted to watched the 3rd season you can go to anime fushigi! <3
Thank you for reading!
Sources from Wikipedia and Natsume Yuujinchou Wikia!
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