Takashi Natsume

About Natsume, Takashi

Natsume Takashi is the protagonist of the series. He inherited his grandmother Reiko's ability to see ayakashi—spirits that most people can't perceive—along with her Book of Friends, a collection of contracts binding youkai to servitude after Reiko defeated them. Since Natsume looks strikingly like his grandmother, angry spirits often mistake him for her while simultaneously hunting him for possession of the book. His solution: return all the names in the book to their original owners and break the contracts. He's partnered with Madara, a youkai he calls "Nyanko-sensei," who agreed to guard him in exchange for inheriting the book when Natsume eventually dies. Growing up orphaned and shuffled between relatives, Natsume's ability to see spirits made him an outsider. People dismissed him as a liar or attention seeker when he tried explaining what he could see, and his fear of youkai only reinforced the idea that he was unstable. He learned to keep quiet and tried blending in, until he landed with the Fujiwaras—actually kind people from his father's side who genuinely care about him. He returns that affection and keeps the ayakashi situation hidden to avoid burdening them. Natsume's spiritual power is unusually strong; he can actually hit and injure youkai rather than just perceive them. He forms genuine friendships with both spirits and exorcists, though many are interested in exploiting him. The anime portrays him as cheerful and well-meaning, while the manga leans into a darker, moodier version who's quicker to snap, especially at Nyanko-sensei. Releasing a name from the book requires him to visualize the spirit, locate its page, remove the name, and breathe it out—a process that mimics the saliva-based spell his grandmother originally used. The drawback is brutal: each release drains him almost completely.

Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.