A great story with an unfortunate name, Natsume Yujincho [1] is the story of a boy who inherits his grandmother Reiko's book of yokai (spirt or monster) names and her ability to see spirits. In the past, this power made Natsume an outcast, but he meets a powerful yokai Madara and begins to interact with yokai and humans. The series is organized into single and two episode stories, where Natsume usually encounters a new yokai or human and becomes involved with their problems.
While the premise of an object of power and spirits is familiar, as anyone who's seen Ghost Stories can atest to, the magic is in the delivery. True to its shoujo roots [2], the story focuses on the characters' emotions. Unlike most modern manga, the central feelings and theme is not romance, but estrangement and fellowship. The main character Natsume attempts to connect to the yokai and people around him despite his fears of rejection. He finds that helping others is a good way to get to know others, but wonders if he is just using those he helps. While there is introspection, the author manages to keep it from becoming an angst-fest.
Overall, the animation and character designs are delightful. The stories are well plotted and are written with real feeling. It is clear that both the original author and the anime writers believe deeply in this work. This isn't an enervated re-hash like Hajime no Ippo, where the only new energy came from the Engrish theme song.
Despite the name and the sense deja-vu with the set-up, Natsume Yujincho is a winner. Better yet, Viz is releasing volume 1 in English in January 2010.
[1] Available via Crunchyroll, which is now one of my favorite websites.
[2] The original was a shoujo manga written by Midorikawa Yuki and published by Hakusensha under the Lala imprint.
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