I racked my brain for a while trying to think of what to write in a year where a) I was only deeply invested in a small handful of anime that came out during 2024, most of which will almost certainly make it onto Glorio’s annual top 10 list anyway, and b) the world kinda sucks and it’s getting increasingly hard to find the energy to care. If nothing else, I think 2024 will live on as the year everyone collectively found themselves spread far too thin, and struggling to devote the amount of time and effort they would have wanted into something they’re genuinely happy about as a result.

Sounds like the perfect time to talk about Natsume’s Book of Friends.

Almost more than any other anime I’ve ever watched, and yes, even after seven entire seasons, Natsume’s Book of Friends very successfully delves into some fairly heavy themes that, at first glance, may put the weary anime viewer off. Completely aside from the now 80-odd episodes to wade through if you’re starting out for the first time (it’s got nothing on One Piece of course, but even so), I imagine not everyone wants to sit through a show that sometimes gets you right in the feels with topics centered around loneliness, anxiety, and general childhood trauma, with occasionally pretty dark undertones of (past) abuse. I wouldn’t necessarily call myself an especially emotional audience when it comes to works of fiction, but this absolutely did make me cry on several occasions, particularly over the first four seasons.

So why am I wholeheartedly still recommending this increasingly long and apparently painful anime, even in the year of our lord 2024, when we all just need a damn break?

In part, it’s because long-running shoujo anime that maintain their consistent high quality while continuing to come up with good stories are surprisingly hard to come by. For every One Piece or Demon Slayer or Dragon Ball or Bleach, I’ve come to expect a miniscule portion of the same for its counterpart demographic. In part, it’s also because yes, Natsume’s Book of Friends is genuinely very good. It’s lovely to look at (especially the largely rural backdrops), the soundtrack is pleasant, and as previously mentioned, it’s been extremely consistent throughout its run thus far, keeping the same core staff and with an only subtly noticeable change in art style when switching anime studios from Brain’s Base to Shuka.

The main reason, though, is its heart.

Natsume’s Book of Friends will only ever make you cry in a way that’s constructive. It’s not an anime that’s interested in hurting its viewers for the sake of it. There’s no shock value here and no needless violence (with almost all the core ‘action’ being internal in any case). Through and through, Natsume is an iyashikei anime – a heavily episodic slice-of-life drama that mixes modern humanity with classic folklore-style yokai. It will make you feel nostalgic for a place or a time that you might not have ever had, and then make you feel fine about that. It will make you smile, at least inwardly, more than it will make you ache. It will break you into pieces, but it will also put you back together again, and in a way where you feel more whole than before.

It will assure you that yes, even still, even now, everything is probably going to be okay.