I liked Natsume's Book of Friends so much that I ordered volume two. I was not disappointed. Orphan Takashi Natsume has not been chased out of his current home with his distant paternal relatives, kindly Mr. & Mrs. Fujiwara. Of course he's still trying to hide his ability to see spirits and demons from them. The yokai who wants to be called 'Naynko Sensei' can be seen by normal humans because he melded with the beckoning cat statue in which he was imprisoned. Takashi has a pet 'cat' and the yokai (real name 'Madara') has a place to live and activity to amuse himself.

As we learned in volume one, Takashi has inherited his power from his late grandmother, Reiko, who used to beat up demons and force them to write their names in her 'book of friends'. So long as a Yokai's name is in that book, that yokai must obey whoever has the book. Takashi is trying to give them back their names.

Chapter (Story) 5: Takashi is begged/nagged into being one of the 20 students who will participate in the annual haunted schoolhouse challenge. This year is special because it's going to be the last: the school is going to be torn down.
The students gather together. Nyanko Sensei followed Takeshi. He's talking to his human, when another student asks if the cat made a weird sound. A 'mrowr' is enough to convince him it's just a weird cat.

All the kids have to do is go in as pairs, walk down the hall, and sign their names on a sheet at the end. It hasn't been set up as an American Halloween Haunted House, or so Takashi has been assured. All 20 numbered slips have been drawn, but one hand in the circle of hands has no number to display. Oops.

A girl named Sasada tells the legend of the school, which involved a greedy merchant and a god of luck. Tatsuke and Tsuji, another boy, are the fourth pair to enter even though the three pairs that went in first haven't returned. I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that the school really is haunted.

Sasada is smart and figures out that Takashi can see spirits. She tries to get him to admit it. As we learn, a yokai helped her out during last year's challenge and she wants to see him again to thank him and tell him how much what he did has meant to her. Can Takashi and his 'cat' help her fulfill her wish and save the captured kids? (Madara puts on a disguise in this story that made me smile.)

Chapter (story) 6: Takashi frees a Yokai shaped like a frog and follows it. He meets an evil Yokai tied to a pine tree. The Yokai leaves a mark on Takashi's arm. Nyanko-sensei touches that arm and the curse causes him to lose control of his powers. He's small enough to fit in a teacup, so he advises Takashi to summon Misuzu, the giant horse-headed Yokai introduced in volume one. Misuzu summons a female Yokai named Hinoe to be Takashi's substitute bodyguard. Hinoe loved Reiko and hates men. She's rather upset to see Reiko's face on a boy's body, but she investigates. Meanwhile, Takashi keeps seeing a human-shaped shadow. He calls the shadow 'Mary' after an urban legend about a threat that gets closer and closer to the victim. We know the evil spirt isn't going to kill Takashi, but how the teen is saved was interesting. Hinoe gives Takashi some good advice. She and Misuzu both indicate their willingness to have Takashi call them again.

Chapter (story) 7: This one starts out with Takashi walking his 'cat' on a leash. I enjoyed a dog's reaction. Takashi meets a film star named Shuichi Natori who has a geko-shaped tattoo that moves around his body. Takashi has a scary experience that night (Nyanko-sensei is out boozing). He meets the actor again. Natori is also an exorcist who wants Takashi to become his assistant. He lives in he town of Sasaki with his two familiars, Sasago and Urihime. He's on a case. Natori hates and is violent with Yokai, aside from his familiars. Takashi thinks Natori is too violent and Natori thinks Takashi is too reckless.

Chapter (story) 8: We learn that Takashi wants to get a job and be independent as soon as possible instead of going to college as he chats with a classmate just before a haunted umbrella shows up. The Yokai in the umbrella wants Takashi's body for Asagi, who was lute player in the mythical Isozuki forest until a disease prevented her from playing for the god of Mibu. Takashi calls him 'Mary II' because he won't give his name to a mere human, but Asagi says he's Akagane. Akagane succeeds and Takashi is forced to make a new lute (koto) for Asagi. She's not leaving his body until she can play one last time.

I enjoyed volume two as much as volume one. Natsume is a very nice boy and Madara/Nyanko-sensei a fun supporting character. I can't say he's the best of bodyguards, given how often he leaves Takashi unprotected at night while he's off drinking and doing who knows what else. ( )

I got into this volume much more quickly than the first volume, once I finally got around to picking it up. Lots of jumpscares with the yokai — the shadow person with the teethy mouth was especially creepy. Also the fact that so many of them seem to have only one eye. This is the sort of series you can read over an extended period with breaks because the author provides a little recap at the beginning of each chapter—this manga is serialized, so the episodes are being collected in volumes of 4 episodes each. ( )

Love this series! Natsume is a wonderful character. He is loving and kind. I can't wait to see what happens in the next volume. ( )

First story: Natsume is roped into visiting a haunted building by a classmate who suspects he can see yokai. Sasada just wants to thank a yokai that once helped her. Second story: Natsume is cursed and must deal with it before his life force is sucked out or he's eaten by the yokai's shadow. Third story: Natsume meets Natori, an actor who exorcises yokai on the side (or maybe he's an exorcist who acts on the side?). At first, Natsume is excited, but he soon realizes that he and Natori don't always see eye-to-eye where yokai are concerned. Fourth story: A yokai asks Natsume to lend his body to another yokai so that she can play music one last time.

This volume was nice, although it's already possible to see how the episodic format might get old. Natsume's explanations about Nyanko-sensei, Reiko, and the Book of Friends at the beginning of each chapter are a bit repetitive.

This volume has a mix of both bittersweet yokai-human relations, yokai-yokai relationships, and even a bit of slight horror (the creeping shadow, which I thought was creepier in the anime). While I liked it, it didn't move me in quite the same way as the first volume.

One thing: Didn't Sasada stick around much longer in the anime? In the manga, she moves away after the first story in this volume, and she didn't turn up again in any of the next few volumes I read.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )

The second installment in a series about a boy whose grandmother collected the names of yokai (spirits) in a book, and whose task is to return the names and free those yokai. Each episode could stand alone, but the gentle Natsume Takashi and his "Nyanko-sensei" (a powerful yokai contained in the form of a ceramic maneki neko) tie the threads together.