Natsume's Book of Friends, Vol. 6

夏目友人帳 [Natsume Yūjinchō] #6

by Yuki Midorikawa

Takashi rescues a young boy named Kai from an abandoned house, where he had been locked in a box. But this isn't just a case of bullying gone too far. Kai has been complaining about being chased by ghosts. Does he see yokai too, or is there something darker going on?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Supernatural, Comics, Shojo, Young Adult, Slice Of Life

200 pages, Paperback

First published July 5, 2008

About the author

Yuki Midorikawa (緑川ゆき, Midorikawa Yuki) is a Japanese mangaka (manga artist). Midorikawa is best known for drawing the manga series Natsume Yujin-cho ("Natsume's Book of Friends").

Yuki Midorikawa started writing manga when she was an elementary school girl. When she was a junior high school student, she sent her manga for the first time to "Hana to Yume", a semi-monthly Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Hakusensha. Since then, she had kept drawing manga to become a mangaka.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

One long and several short stories structured around the theme of loneliness.

In the series' first three-episode arc, Natsume encounters his most powerful yokai yet. Appearing again are Taki, the girl who can't see yokai herself but knows about them, and Mr Natori the actor/exorcist.

Two of the shorter stories also have returning characters -- the bullied orphan fox spirit (so sweet! I wish he would get a better deal) and Reiko herself.

For some reason the collection ends with a completely unrelated story about a high school girl who develops feelings for an unfriendly teacher. It is well done and fits the loneliness theme but is not fantasy, doesn't have any of the usual characters, etc. In short, I have no idea why it appears in this collection.

[Clau MZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comfort read ;-;

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume features a three-part story--the first in this series. Natsume comes across Natori again, and while they start off at odds with each other about how to deal with a yokai named Kai who looks like a young boy, eventually they come to an agreement. Unfortunately, as Natori and Natsume work together, Natsume's budding friendship with Kai suffers. It's been awhile since I've watched the anime, so I don't remember whether they reconcile, or if they even meet again. I'll have to read more to find out!

I don't think this volume had as strong an impact as many of the previous ones. I'll attribute that to the author getting used to having more room to work with than single-episode stories allow. As of this writing, there are 20 more volumes of this series available in English, and since I have them all, I'll be able to see how this series develops in the long term. I'm looking forward to it.

Other than those three chapters, there are a couple of side stories: one featuring the little fox spirit who Natsume met on a trip, and one where Hinoe tells Natsume about her first meeting with Natsume's grandmother.

And then there's an unrelated short story about a high school girl who falls in love with her male teacher. Not again! It is definitely in Midorikawa's style, and I'm sure it's intended to evoke similar emotions to Natsume, but I'm so resistant to this kind of story by now that it had little or no effect on me.

[Katey Flowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m enjoying the longer Natsume story’s - in this volume, we get one story over three chapters. There are however, some bonus story’s included at the end, one of which is entirely unrelated to Natsume and involves a student falling in love with a teacher. Absolutely not my thing and I don’t really understand why it was included in this otherwise solid volume of Natsume.

[Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️

I think this is the first arc in the manga that spans over three chapters? Nevertheless I really enjoy this. I had a feeling that about Kai and when it was revealed why he did what he did, I could feel the loneliness and sorrow his character evoked. It reminded me of Natsume in some ways.

Again, I’m genuinely happy that Natsume has more friends who understand him now, it feels like he’s growing so much. Taki is so precious, even when she didn’t have the full information of what was going on, she put her trust in Natsume fully.

I love the fox yokai so much in the anime and I’m glad we can see more of him in the manga.

[Nikoletta (nikisjournal) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Natsume = top of the top mang wydawanych w Polsce. Mało kto tak pięknie potrafi opowiadać o uczuciach i istotności relacji, jak Yuki Midorikawa.

[Kejty · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Zabieram gwiazdkę za ostatnie opowiadanie zajmujące 1/4 tomu, a niezwiązane z serią i słabe

[Heather D-G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this volume. This still hasn’t caught up to anime, but it’s lots of fun to revisit these stories. There’s something so refreshing about Natsume and his friends. I never get tired of reading about them.

[Khari · Rating 5 out of 5]

きゃ！チビ狐だ！この子は一番好きなキャラ。超可愛い！もっともっと見せてください緑川先生！
今回の話はアマスパ、小さな神の話が泣かせた。それ以上あまり覚えない。この巻を読んでいる間に手術したからあまり集中できなかった。今はリハビリ中のであまり集中できない。ましょうがない。

[Mely]

The series shifts to something less episodic and more arc-based. I'm neutral to positive on this; I like the series' steady emotional continuity and subtle change, and am happy we're apparently going to see more of it, but I also enjoyed the miniature grace of the individual episodes. It's a big plus not to have to reread the origin story of the Book of Friends in every single chapter, though.

So, we have a three-chapter arc about Natsume's encounter with a young boy who sees spirits and a conflict with Natori, showcasing Natsume's growing connections to and emotional openness with both humans and yokai. Taki shows up again, too. The arc comes to a pause but not a stop; there will clearly be further follow-up.

It is a real joy to see Natsume able to be honest with people -- Taki, the young boy Kei, and even Natori, much as they misunderstand each other.

Filling out the volume is an unrelated short story about a student/teacher romance, which is about as inoffensive as manga student/teacher romances get: it starts with her crush, the teacher doesn't encourage it, the student behaves responsibly rather than stalkerishly, they kind of talk around maybe getting together after she graduates but they can't do anything while she's in school. I still hate student/teacher romances. Please stop trying to make me sympathetic to your massively problematic abuses of authority as signified by imbalances in age, authority, presumed emotional maturity, and power, mangaka of Japan!

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Natsume and his bodyguard meet a yokai who is able to take the form of a human boy.

For the first time, the story plays out in a three part arc rather than separate unrelated stories. This added a nice bit of depth to the story. Natsume is gradually building a group of friends who know about his ability to see spirits.

I'm giving this three stars because the last story, which is not at all related to Natsume, took up too much space. I want more Natsume, not a story about a schoolgirl falling in love with her teacher.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved the story about Kai and the decision Natsume chooses to protect both humans and yokai alike. He struggles in both worlds, especially when he was young, and to choose to help both regardless of this is very admirable.

The short stories from the yokai's point of view are also adorable.

I couldn't stand, however, the last inclusion between a random student and the love she has for her teacher. It left me feeling wrong-footed especially because I couldn't tell where this was supposed to fit in with the rest of the story. I didn't enjoy reading this part of the manga.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the three part story. I want to see more of Kai. He needs his cookies.
The schoolhouse story at the end was out of place and inappropriate. I read Natsume’s Book of Friends and donate the volumes to a library for middle schoolers. The schoolhouse story is not okay for this age group.

[Angela Kocheshkova · Rating 5 out of 5]

this volume is so sad. one story about a crying kid spirit after another. i think kai's story is the most upsetting to me in the whole series.

also this volume has a bonus story that has nothing to do with the series that i didn't care for

[Rebecca J · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last story had nothing to do with Natsume, Yoki, or The Book of Friends…I am so confused…why was it in there at all? A teacher and student relationship? What? The teacher going “yeah no” then by then end going “uh maybe” Make it make sense!!!

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

We get to see more growth from Natori, who as usual pushes growth in Natsume as well. The episodic nature of each chapter is starting to drop off a bit more in this volume for something more cohesive, which I'm delighted to see. It was also fun having the bonus chapter about Reiko.

[Rici · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erneut gute Kurzgeschichten, die immer deutlicher machen, das Natsume zwischen den Menschen und den Yokai steht, sodass er sowohl Vermittler als auch das problem sein kann.

[Elias Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story is just getting better and better. I also really liked the short story at the end. I wonder who those two are. Maybe they could be his parents. Maybe we find out in the next volume

[Mizuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Munch · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5, I took off .5 for the boring nothing related to Natsume or yokai story at the end

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was pretty good.

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story arc! I like the new characters and seeing some different stories. I like the one shot at the end.

[τλιϓλ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still do not understand why it took me so long to finish it, really enjoyed it as the previous ones.

[Bee (BacchusVines) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that we get to see more of the exorcist world. Also, I just love Natsume's personality.

[Jesica · Rating 4 out of 5]

necesito el siguiente tomo.!

[GlutenFreePixels · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to lower my rating because of the unnecessary teacher/student romance. It made me extremely uncomfortable. It wasn't yokai related, and I'm not sure why the author decided to put it in this book.

[Beck B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from the short story at the end, loved these chapters!

[S46354595 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did not like the last chapter. I get it, she's a teenager who does stupid things, but it's still weird.

[Kadee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series gets better and better each chapter I read. Would recommend.

[Rereader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel weird doing this, since I'm still really enjoying this series, but I have to drop this volume down a star because of that LONG AS FUCK short story at the end. No, it's not connected to the original story, but since it is part of the volume I have to include it in determining my rating for the volume. Unfortunately, I really didn't like it and thought it dragged on waaaay to fucking long and I wasn't invested in the characters.

That being said, the rest of the volume was great and I was pleased that the entire story (except for the two side stories and the short story) was one arc rather than episodic chapters. It was a nice change of pace and the arc was super interesting. Also, the side story revolving around the tiny fox melted my cold, dead heart and I am all the better for it. I'm enjoying seeing more of Reiko's past and what she was like. She's an interesting character and I like how her past is integrated via side stories rather than trying to shoehorn it into the main story.

I did really like this volume overall, it was just the short story at the end that soured my enjoyment. I'm still loving this series and can't wait to continue the main story.