Natsume's Book of Friends, Vol. 3 (2024)

Do I seem nicer because I'm around nice people?

I'm always amazed by the variety of stories there are.

2.5 stars

The format of each chapter is an individual story doesn’t work for me here. These stories are all so similar, they are good, but repetitive. I might check out the anime adaptation, because I do like the cast and the story’s messages. They just don’t work for me in manga form.

the fact that the crow stays alive in manga makes me so happy i could cry

Natsume's Book of Friends #3 by Yuki Midorikawa

This remains an episodic style manga and the mangaka does say she wants people to be able to pick it up anywhere in the arc and be able to follow the story. Of course that means reading it in a bound version quickly annoys because you have to wade through the same info material about Takashi and how he grew up isolated by his abilities to see demons and how he has his grandmother's book for friends, a book where she wrote the names of yokai in order to control them. Takashi is busy returning the names to the demons to free them.

Include in this volume, Takashi mistakes another yokai for Nyanko, the yokai who guards him (and is fused to a neko kitty form), a man who used to see yokai but no longer can but the female yokai he was in love with him wants one last moment to see him before he marries. Then there's the return of Mr. Natori, a recurring character, an actor who can also see yokai and exorcizes them and this chapter hints there could be a more cohesive theme developing. The most touching story is a side story about a dragon egg that Takashi raises. It's a sniffler.

The art is lovely and delicate. Being episodic we don't get a deeper appreciation of Takashi. It's a superficial relationship. Oddly enough I prefer my TV shows episodic but my manga to have long story arcs. I like this but I wish it were more than the yokai of the day.

Absolutely beautiful, especially Chapter 11 and 12. All of it was as sad and touching as ever. I really love Takeshi's ability to care for yokai despite the trouble they bring him and his desire to find human connections despite the fact that humans are even more quick to judge and dismiss him than natural spirits demons, and elementals.

This series always makes me feel so peaceful, it's just a charming and delightful read that just makes my emotions came into play. Especially since in this volume we have the 'hotaru' romance which is one of my favourite stories from the anime and the raising of the chick which just has sentimental value to it.

As Natsume becomes more committed to protecting both humans and yokai he begins to gain a deeper emotional understanding.

My favorite story in this set was the one where sensei hatches an egg.

In SHORT: Magical, personal and quietly brilliant.
In DETAIL:

Themes: Being different, loneliness, creatures from myth and legend, friendship and camaraderie and the meaning of family.
Setting: Rural Japan in all its loveliness! (When it comes to a time period I’d say, roughly the ‘here and now’.)
Atmosphere: At once magical and ordinary. The focus on interpersonal relationships in a world where a vast array of supernatural creatures are never far, is the key to making this story so wonderful. It is almost always less about the being’s strangeness and abilities, but rather its hopes and wishes.
Characters & Relationships: Every character is incredibly unique and loveable in their own way. What I adore the portrayal of the ayakashi is that Natsume always tries to understand the circumstances of a creature first and only if there is no other way will try to bind it or even kill it. Mostly the ayakashi are shown as having different values or being ignorant of human customs.
Plot: Natsume has to cope with his ability to see ayakashi and with the mysterious “Book of Friends” his grandmother left behind. Not to mention this erratic lucky-cat (that is actually something very different) called Nyanko-sensei. At first the chapters are rather episodic in a monster of the week style (but many really touching and never boring), but somewhere along the line more characters, supernatural and human, appear and as Natsume’s friends and acquaintances expand, the plot branches out.
Cover & Artwork: The artwork has a lovely light touch which adds to feeling of otherworldliness and gives it a sense of fragility.

If you were immortal and someone else was not, would you be okay with loving them? Knowing that the love you two will share will inevitably one day end in a heartache that never goes away, would you still love them with all of your heart? Doing so with that knowledge takes some level of whimsicality as well as bravery.
I really love how Hotaru’s mistaken name was “Veyo” because it was the sound made between the words “… love you…” I wonder if in Japanese, her mistaken name was “Teru” for “aishiteru”? I know the Japanese don’t often use that word to say “I love you” except in special cases, but this one felt like a special, strong case of unending love. Even now, Akifumi still loves her, and of course she still loves him. But if not that word, then maybe “Suki” for “daisuki.”

Chapter 12, A Chick Hatches, hit so many spots for me. This story felt incredibly warm and invigorating. I love, love, LOVE Tama so passionately. I really, really like the rat yokai as well. And I feel like, in this volume, I’ve gotten to know Natsume a bit better as well, or perhaps just again. He’s not hard to describe, but I can’t place the words. He’s kind-hearted and reckless, most of all. And he doesn’t seem to truly know anyone, including himself.
I also find it interesting that Reiko died young, found mysteriously dead beneath a tree. And Natori-san’s yokai whom lives upon his skin refuses to appear on his left leg… What could it mean?

Stories about Natsume, you can see yokai spirits, and his bodyguard/ceramic cat Nyanko

Natsume saves the Lord of the Forest who is disguised as a black cat version of Nyanko

Natsume reuinites Veyo, a yokai who appears as a firefly, with the human she adored

Mr. Natori gets Natsume's help to exorcise a super creepy giant head yokai

Natsume and Nyanko hatch and care for a yokai who hatches and imprints on Natsume

My favorite story was the firefly one - it was sweet and romantic. The expression on Nyanko's face when he wakes to find Natsume has stuck the egg under him to keep warm was worth reading the book alone- small moments like this make this series sing.

The second and fourth chapters were my favorites in this volume. The stories never fail to emotionally impact me and I love Natsume's gradual character growth. His relationship with Nyanko sensei is endlessly entertaining - it's hilarious, sweet, and slightly (but not really) dangerous. This is the last of the volumes that I currently own, but I'll definitely pick up the next one at some point. 5 stars.

This manga will be one of the top manga i have read its amazing how each book made me cry each chapter in each book have valuable lesson full of grate story ill look further for the other upcoming book of it.

4.5
Historia kojąca serducho i wywołująca łzy tymi epizodycznymi opowieściami o yokai, jak i ludziach... Tak jak pokochałam Natsume Yuujinchou jako anime, takie same odczucia zyskuję względem mangi. Rewelacyjny tomik.

2024 reread: I originally read Natsume in 2013, but I never marked this volume as read. Huh, did I truly never read this one the first go around? Anyway, Natsume and Nyanko-Sensei speed running parenthood was sweet.

Two of my favorite stories in this one (the exorcists' meeting and Tama). And a hint of serialization--Matoba is mentioned! Dun dun dun...

Wieder sehr gut Stories, die man zwischendurch lesen kann. Auch gut dargestellt, wie Natsume zwischen Yokai und Menschen hin und her gerät.

good story

I really love this story. I feel how much natsume has suffered. I'm hoping that he'll one day will be able to trust people and not feeling so alone. He is so precious.

Great volume!! Interesting stories and adorable illustrations.

The second of the four stories is really great.

Natsume is definitely a great choice, and I am ready to continue on c:

This warms me and breaks my heart at the same time.

Absolutely beautiful!

Lots more yokai get helped in this volume! Still more a collection of unrelated stories than a continuing plot.

Nyanko sensei and Natsume are the absolute (comedic) duo I've ever know. I love them. I love their friendship. I like it when I see their bickering, hahaha.

Me esta gustando bastante la historia. me gusta mucho natsume te deja esa sensacion wholesome no se porque, pero continuare con el siguiente tomo.

A great collection of chapters featuring the good and bad in everyone not just yokai.

Honestly, I don’t think the core of the stories (一期一会) can be understood by western culture…

really enjoyed this volume. the last episode/story was especially lovely.