Sleep Is For the Weak

PG-13 for violence and creepiness, I assume, although the manga ran in Lala so this will probably remain tame territory; informational website

Yes, yes, yes. This is what Mushishi should’ve been like. This beautiful, tranquil story about a young man’s relationship with the spiritual world and how it’s different from but just as fulfilling as his relationship with the human world. But since this is a shoujo (and not a josei or most critics’ go-to favorite, the almighty seinen), and since it’s not boring and pretentious, and since it has, God forbid, a talking animal sidekick even though that’s 100% appropriate in a series about being surrounded by talking monsters, it will never get the critical acclaim that Mushishi gets. Ever.

Natsume is a teenage boy with the ability to see youkai, aka “supernatural beings” often associated with Shinto or other branches of Japanese spirituality. It was never a huge problem until he moved to the country where his grandmother grew up, at which point the youkai suddenly starting calling him by a girl’s name and trying to murder him. It turns out his anti-social grandmother, who died young, had his very same ability, only she used it to form “tough love” relationships with the youkai of her homeland. She kept a book of the, well, slave names of the youkai she dominated/hung out with (?), named (somewhat satirically) “The Book of Friends.” Now that the youkai sense her blood in Natsume, they’ve come back to reclaim their names and their freedom. In other words, no viewer will ever complain about a “bad” inheritance ever again, because you could always be Natsume, who inherited AN ANGRY HORDE OF MONSTERS DRIVEN BY VENGEANCE.

So Natsume decides the best thing to do is take the Book of Friends, track down the youkai named in it, and free the names one by one to restore peace. Some youkai are friendly about it, others are decidedly not. He swiftly teams up with a feral youkai sealed in the body of an awesome fatass kitty in order to gain a little help - although his deal with Master Kitty, aka “you can have the Book of Friends and thus control over every youkai in it if I die during this quest,” gives the kitty absolutely no incentive to protect Natsume’s life. But the kitty does anyway. Which maybe says something about the kitty’s intentions, or maybe says something about how much a sealed demon kitty can miss the sweet taste of cat food only human hands can serve.

This show is brilliant, beautiful, and totally, perfectly chill - which is exactly what a story about the Japanese spiritual world should be like. Not unlike Spirited Away, the batshit insanity that surrounds Natsume just sort of is, and although he balks from time to time, he takes most everything in stride. Eyeball Beast trying to tear out Natsume’s tongue? Natsume kicks her in the face, gets the book, and frees her so she’ll go away. Big-headed monster comes to the door to politely ask for his name back? Natsume pours some tea, gets the book, and frees him so he can go back to lunch. I found myself laughing a lot at this show, mostly because of the monster designs and the fact that the youkai just show up and do their thing while Natsume tries to do his. The spirits can be cute, or scary, or funny, and often are all three. That’s what nature’s like, right? Cute and scary and funny. So these spirits, which are connected to Japan’s beliefs on the power of nature, are exactly that.

But there’s also a very human story in here. Natsume has trouble making friends because he’s constantly distracted by creatures no one else can see, but when he finds out that his oddball grandmother was actually incredibly social in the youkai world - and, indeed, as he frees the youkai he learns more and more about her relationships with them - he starts to wonder about the meaning of “loneliness.” Not being surrounded by people doesn’t mean you’re necessarily alone, now does it?

I really, really like this show. And as a semi-closeted voice actor geek, I have to say that casting Hiroshi Tamiya as Natsume was a stroke of brilliance. The man does chill schoolboy like nobody’s business. I was also shocked to see Kazuhiko Inoue as the kitty cat, since his voice is usually reserved for roles of Pure Sex. But he uses a bizarre little cutesy voice when he’s in kitty form, and his sexy man voice when he turns into Giant Flying Cat Beast, so it’s absolutely awesome.

Initial impression: So far, I like this better than Spirited Away. Natsume’s Book of Friends is pure win. (Lianne)

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