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Midorikawa Yuki - Natsume's Book of Friends, vol. 01-04 (Eng. trans.)
(original title: 夏目友人帳/Natsume Yuujinchou)
(OMG posting about BOOKS YAY!!!)
Natsume Takashi has always been able to see strange things, and because of this, people think he's lying, and he's been passed around from foster family to foster family. Currently, he's been living happily with his distant relatives the Fujiwaras, but because of that, he doesn't want to let people know about his spirit-seeing abilities and get kicked out yet again. Unfortunately, he's recently found a book of names. Apparently, his grandmother Reiko was also a bit of an outcast because of her spiritual abilities; to compensate, she basically enslaved spirits by writing their names in her book.
So far, I like this series, but I'm not in love with it. I like Natsume and the looks at his distance from everyone else, and I find Nyanko-sensei particularly amusing, but I keep comparing this to Mushishi, which is a bit more otherworldly, though Ginko is less sympathetic. I suspect things will improve once we stop getting a "This is what the Book of Friends is!" every. single. chapter.
Also, unsurprisingly, I wish there were more girls and women, especially since the one major female character (Reiko) is both dead and not a great model, given that whole enslaving of spirits thing.
That said, I really like the looks at Natsume slowly reaching out to people, and unlike Mushishi, I very much like that the spirits of the week aren't just cases to be solved. I also like that Natsume seems to have more of a connection with the spiritual world than the human one, and I especially like his sympathy toward the spirits, particularly when contrasted with the other exorcist guy.
Pretty, and I will keep reading it, but it is not on my best-of list yet.
(OMG posting about BOOKS YAY!!!)
Natsume Takashi has always been able to see strange things, and because of this, people think he's lying, and he's been passed around from foster family to foster family. Currently, he's been living happily with his distant relatives the Fujiwaras, but because of that, he doesn't want to let people know about his spirit-seeing abilities and get kicked out yet again. Unfortunately, he's recently found a book of names. Apparently, his grandmother Reiko was also a bit of an outcast because of her spiritual abilities; to compensate, she basically enslaved spirits by writing their names in her book.
So far, I like this series, but I'm not in love with it. I like Natsume and the looks at his distance from everyone else, and I find Nyanko-sensei particularly amusing, but I keep comparing this to Mushishi, which is a bit more otherworldly, though Ginko is less sympathetic. I suspect things will improve once we stop getting a "This is what the Book of Friends is!" every. single. chapter.
Also, unsurprisingly, I wish there were more girls and women, especially since the one major female character (Reiko) is both dead and not a great model, given that whole enslaving of spirits thing.
That said, I really like the looks at Natsume slowly reaching out to people, and unlike Mushishi, I very much like that the spirits of the week aren't just cases to be solved. I also like that Natsume seems to have more of a connection with the spiritual world than the human one, and I especially like his sympathy toward the spirits, particularly when contrasted with the other exorcist guy.
Pretty, and I will keep reading it, but it is not on my best-of list yet.
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Like Mushishi, Natsume Yuujinchou really benefits from colour, motion, music and voices. It takes their atmosphere to the next level.
That said, I do enjoy NY more, perhaps because the 'otherworldliness' is made almost domestic? I mean, Mushishi can feel like quite a cold barren world, albeit interposed with moments of wonder, but it has this tendency to rip my heart out and stomp on it, whereas NY tends to be quite comforting, and is at it's saddest, more bittersweet than anything else.
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---L.
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I do like the domesticity; that is a great word for NY, especially in contrast to Mushishi, which I think has the beautiful eeriness of the mushi, but in a more clinical way.
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I am intrigued that Mushishi can rip out one's heart as well, b/c it seemed like anything but that kind of series on first watch. Hm...
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The mushi seem kind of like...not a metaphor, even, but an expression of nature, both the possible hostility and wonder of it. The series normally shows what happens when humans have to face that. A lot of the time it feels as if mushi are almost supernatural diseases ^^;, so plenty of scope for heart-ripping. While I haven't read ch46 of NY, I find that overall in NY there's always the feeling that Natsume will be okay - things are slowly getting better for him as he grows up and meets more people. Whereas in Mushishi, the characters pretty much have no choice but to accept some quite heart-rending things, and it doesn't get any better than that.