‘Natsume’s Book of Friends’ is a paranormal comedy manga created by Yuki Midorikawa and released by the Tokyo-based publisher Hakusensha since 2005. Originally picked by Brain’s Base, a 2008 anime adaptation was released and was later picked up by the Japanese animation studio Shuka in 2016. Crunchyroll announced that they would be premiering an English dub starting with the first season.
They released the voice cast on their website:
- Adam Gibbs (Hachiman in My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU) as Takashi Natsume
- Christopher Wehkamp (Aizawa in My Hero Academia) as Madara
- Mike Haimoto (Banri in Golden Time) as Atsushi
- Matthew Elkins as Satoru
- Paige Guillory as Young Takashi
- Jennifer AuBuchon (Touko in My Senpai is Annoying) as Toko
- Alexis Tipton (Kaguya in Kaguya-sama: Love is War) as Reiko Natsume
Jad Saxton is working as the ADR Director for the show.
You can watch the trailer below:
MyAnimeList describes the synopsis as follows,
“Due to an unusual ability to see strange creatures called youkai, Takashi Natsume has never fit in. Passed around from one foster home to another, he was left isolated and lonely. Over time, he has accepted that no one would ever believe him and has closed himself off to his current caretakers and classmates.
When Natsume accidentally breaks an intangible barrier, he frees Madara—a mighty spirit in the form of a lucky cat. Madara notices that Natsume bears a remarkable resemblance to his late grandmother Reiko Natsume, an outcast girl who became known across the youkai world for creating the Book of Friends. It is now in Natsume’s possession, along with its power to call upon the written names of the youkai Reiko had defeated.
With no interest in its powers, Natsume decides to keep the book for the sake of his grandmother’s memories and to protect it from scheming youkai. Therefore, he makes a deal with Madara: he will hand him the book once his time is up, and in turn, Madara will act as Natsume’s unofficial bodyguard, nicknamed Nyanko-sensei. With his newfound goal of freeing those Reiko had sealed, Natsume’s relationship with both youkai and humans slowly begins to improve.”
NIS America originally held the license to release it in North America.
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