English Dub Season Review: Natsume’s Book of Friends Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Natsume Takashi (Adam Gibbs) has the ability to see spirits, which he has long kept secret. However, once he inherits a strange book that belonged to his deceased grandmother, Reiko (Alexis Tipton), he discovers the reason why spirits surround him.

Our Take:

Natsume’s Book of Friends is an anime adaptation of a manga series written by Yuki Midorikawa and published by Hakusensha. The series is directed by Takahiro Omori and produced by Brian’s Base, with Kenichi Kanemaki handling the scripts. Makoto Yoshimori composed the musical score. The opening theme for season one is “Issei no Sei” (“Simultaneous Voice”) by Shūhei Kita, while Kousuke Atari performs the ending song “Natsu Yuzora” (“Summer Evening Sky”).

Many shows involving the supernatural usually provide plenty of action and frights to get a jolt from their audiences. Of course, they aren’t without a few comedic moments, but aside from that, these ghostly shows are fun in a disturbing and scary way. However, there’s one supernatural show that’s surprisingly more light-hearted and dramatic than the rest.

That show is Natsume’s Book of Friends, which made its television debut in Japan in July 2008. The series lasted for six seasons and six OVAs until it aired its finale in June 2017. However, it didn’t receive an actual English dub version until July 2022, five years after the show ended. Honestly, I was surprised that it took them this long to release an anime show outside of Japan. Usually, they release the English dubs of specific shows weeks or even months after they end their seasonal runs in Japan. There’re even times when they release the dubs while the seasons are ongoing. This is the first time I encountered this occasion while watching anime shows, and I’m already assuming it might not be the last.

Consisting of thirteen episodes, the first season of Natsume’s Book of Friends sees the titular character having his life affected by his ability to see spirits. One day, he discovers his grandmother’s prized possession, the Book of Friends, which houses the names of the spirits she collected. Unfortunately, the discovery makes Natsume a bigger target for the ghostly beings, with the malicious ones attempting to kill him to obtain the book. With the help of an ungrateful inugami named Madara (Christopher Wehkamp), who takes the form of a Maneki-Neko (lucky cat), Natsume attempts to fix his grandmother’s misfortune by releasing the spirits’ names.

While the series has Natsume performing this task, most of the episodes also see him encountering a different spirit and helping it overcome a specific problem it faces. In short, it’s another monster-of-the-week series with the main character meeting a new yokai in each episode. It doesn’t break the barrier entirely, but execution-wise, it’s surprisingly a heartfelt and gorgeous coming-of-age series that happens to have supernatural elements in it.

One thing that stood out to me was the tone. As mentioned earlier, plenty of supernatural shows and movies tend to be dark and scary regarding their disturbing and grim nature. But there are also a few that focus on putting a harmless and story-driven spin on the genre. Natsume’s Book of Friends is one of the shows that offer the latter. Of course, it’s not without moments of peril and scary imagery, but Book of Friends effectively balances these elements with its character-driven sequences and entertaining comedy.

The presentation may sound boring at first since it’s more of an unwinding and gentle version of Mieruko-chan, another supernatural series about a person’s ability to see ghosts. But after watching the first few episodes, it’s more endearing and interesting than I thought it would be. The first season starts with Natsume already having the ability similar to Reiko, but as it progresses, it showcases brief flashbacks of how it affected his childhood. Additionally, Natsume gradually learns about the silver lining of his gift when he befriends several friendly yokai, including a young fox spirit named Kogitsune (Kristen McGuire).

Writer Kenichi Kanemaki made a solid effort to provide strong empathy for Natsume in the series, especially regarding his calm and sympathetic personality portrayed by Adam Gibbs’ vocal performance. I would even say the same for the supporting characters, which ranged from likable to endearing. One of them is Madara, who agrees to help Natsume in exchange for Natsume’s promise to give him the book when he dies. Madara is often obnoxious and rude toward Natsume and the other spirits, which puts him at risk of being the most annoying part of the show. However, there’s something charming about Madara’s selfish personality that makes me adore him more than I thought I would. The comedy involving Madara consists mainly of him being annoyed over being called a “pig” and getting his butt kicked by karma, which never fails to make me laugh. What makes it better is Christopher Wehkamp, who effectively manifests Madara’s characteristics through his performance. With Kanemaki also responsible for writing its second season, I’m hoping he’ll impress me even more with how he’ll progress the character arcs.

Another element I enjoyed was the animation. Season one is one of the show’s four seasons to be developed by Brian’s Base, the same company behind other projects like Pluster World and Penguindrum. It resembles something from a children’s storybook regarding its visuals and presentation. It’s heavenly divine in its style, but it’s also as relaxing as its light-hearted tone. The animation also did well in showcasing some decent designs for the spirits. Unfortunately, the only issue I had with the style was its use of the sun flare effect, mainly in “Swallow at the Lake Bottom”. It’s supposed to represent the authenticity of the rural area during the daytime, but it became an unnecessary distraction with the over-saturation of the sun’s rays.

Overall, Natsume’s Book of Friends is as gorgeous and serene as it is heartwarming and diverting. The first season kicks off the long-awaited English dub version of the show with a series of yokai encounters and uplifting scenarios that’ll touch the hearts of many anime fans. More importantly, it also serves as another solid breather from the overly disturbing supernatural shows regarding its tone and animation style. It’s far from a yokai masterpiece thanks to a few tiny flaws in the season, mainly the sun flare effect, but it offers enough to make me and the fans eager for its second season.