Natsume's Book of Friends is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Midorikawa. It follows the story of Takashi Natsume, a teenage boy who has the ability to see spirits. Natsume inherits a mysterious book from his grandmother, Reiko, which contains the names of spirits she had bound to her control. As Natsume tries to free these spirits and return their names, he encounters both friendly and malevolent spirits who seek to possess the book for their own purposes.