Everything To Know About Natsume Yuujinchou's Yuki Midorikwa (2024)

Since its anime debut in the early 2000s, Natsume Yuujinchou, otherwise known as Natsume's Book of Friends, has become a huge title. The franchise has lasted for 16 years and will be airing its seventh season in October of this year, 2024. Despite keeping her identity mostly a secret, fans of the most wholesome Yokai franchise have a lot of thanks to give to the original creator Yuki Midorikawa.

The beloved franchise Natsume has followed the title protagonist as he explores relationships with humans and supernatural beings alike. This story isn't likely to be biographical, but it came about after years of Yuki Midorikawa's hard work. After toiling through the ranks of competitions, Midorikawa has become more than the creator of an acclaimed franchise. Understanding Natsume is only scratching the surface of Yuki Midorikawa's legacy.

Yuki Midorikawa Went From Hopeful Mangaka To Setting The Standards

Midorikawa's Humble Origins In Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, Explained

Like many manga artists and writers, Midorikawa dreamed of creating manga since she was a little girl. In a 2005 interview with Pafu magazine, she talked about how she began writing manga while she was an elementary school student. While in high school, Midorikawa sent a fully drawn manga submission to the semi-monthly Shojo magazine Hana To Yume. It wasn't until she was 22, however, that she was given her big break.

• Yuki Midorikawa was born in on May 23, 1976, in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.
• She has over 216,000 followers on her Instagram/X account and more than 1,000 member favorites on her My Anime List profile page.
• Midorikawa is said to have been inspired by her rural hometown while creating Natsume's Book of Friends.

At the 18th LaLa Magazine Manga Grand Prize, Midorikawa won the "Fresh Debut Prize" for her short comic Coffee-Hirari, giving her name the spotlight she needed to launch her career. The first award win was followed by another win for the "Athena Great New Face Award" through Hakusensha magazine one year later, this was won with Midorikawa's first published story Akaku Saku Koe. Akaku Saku Koe would be published as a stand-alone volume featuring its five chapters, but the title would continue to be published with two more volumes featuring Coffee-Hirari among other short comics from Midorikawa.

Yuki Midorikawa Finally Achieves Industry Fame

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Now known for selling books on top of chapters for magazines, Yuki Midorikawa would begin to enter fame with her beloved series Natsume Yuujinchou, which translates to Natsume's Book of Friends in English. Nine years after publishing her first three-volume manga, Akaku Saku Koe, Midorikawa put her name in a competitive spotlight. In 2008, Midorikawa's Natsume's Book of Friends was one of twelve finalists for the Manga Awards. That same year, the manga was adapted into an anime, lasting six seasons, two films, and another season to be aired during the Fall anime line-up in 2024.

Anime fans in and out of Shojo fandoms are at least familiar with Natsume's Book of Friends, which gives Yuki Midorikawa a bit of fame as the original creator of the entire franchise. What only hardcore fans of Natsume may know is that Midorikawa didn't stop at becoming a well-known manga creator.

Midorikawa Sets The Standard For Future Creators

Midorikawa is fairly quiet about herself, only focusing on her work during interviews. However, her aspirations and passion for manga are clear with her early career decision to be a judge for a major competition. Like how her short comic Coffee-Hirari was judged in the LaLa Magazine Manga Grand Prize competition, Midorikawa herself has been a judge since 2007, nine years after winning the "Fresh Debut Prize." More recently, she began sitting as a judge for Hakusensha's Shojo Manga New Face Award in 2017. Only the most successful creators from these magazines are given the chance to sit on the judge's panel for these life-changing competitions.

From her humble beginnings as an aspiring manga creator, Yuki Midorikawa built herself up to create a famous name. More than being a fan of manga, she is now an influential figure in the industry who is setting the standards for the newest aspiring manga artists and writers.

Natsume's Book of Friends Isn't Yuki Midorikawa's Only Success

While the Natsume franchise is what Yuki Midorikawa is most famous for, she's created other works that have found their own success among manga fans, especially Shojo fans. In total, she's created 17 short comics from 1998 to 2020. Outside of her 31 Natsume volumes, so far, Midorikawa has eight volumes of original manga published. As much success as Natsume has found in the manga and anime industries, it's repeatedly overshadowed Midorikawa's most popular anime.

Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light Is a Short Comic That Was Almost Completely Forgotten

After building an audience and a small name for herself with her first published book volumes titled Akaku Saku Koe, Midorikawa released another series of anthologies in 2002. Following the theme of Iyashikei -- basically, a healing, slice-of-life inspired way to tell stories -- the short comics in this volume were all rooted in realistic drama except for one. The short comic Hotarubi No Mori E -- which translates to Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light -- is about a wholesome supernatural romance. The story follows the relationship between a human girl and a cursed boy who can't be touched by human beings. Midorikawa used the title of this short comic to be the title of the anthology book, but none of the stories gained much fame outside the manga community, at least not right away.

A couple of years after the volume anthology was published, Midorikawa's career gained a huge boost with the success of Natsume's Book of Friends. A few years after the anime adaptation debuted, Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light made a surprising comeback. In 2011, the short comic was adapted into a feature-length animated film with the same title and has become a classic among Shojo anime fans. The anime film far surpasses Natsume's popularity sitting in the 10th spot of popularity according to MAL. As far as ratings, Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light is in 19th place on MAL with a score of 8.27. The 45-minute film also won two awards after its premiere.

Natsume Garnered So Much Success For Good Reason

On My Anime List, Natsume is, so far, the second highest-rated Shojo anime -- the top score currently goes to the final season of The Fruits Basket anime remake. As far as popularity, MAL has the first season of Natsume currently ranked at the 18th spot with approximately 550K members following it -- later seasons have less and less of a following. While popularity has gradually gone down for the franchise, this doesn't take away the impact that the franchise has had on anime at large and the Shojo genre.

An Atypical Plot And Characters Are Why Natsume's Books of Friends Lasted So Long

While many successful and long-running Shojo manga have been cut off for a second or third anime season, Natsume has stood the test of time and continues with an upcoming seventh season in Fall 2024. The anime hasn't come close to overshadowing famed Shonen series like My Hero Academia or Bleach, but it has a strong reputation among Shojo series. Coincidentally, the similarities to Shonen series are a part of the franchise's success.

Few Shojo series step away from the major theme of young love, and while there are plenty of die-hard romance fans, that fandom is a niche community in the larger scope of anime fandom. Natsume's focus on yokai characters and supernatural plot threads keep a wider array of fans entertained than the typical high school romance. With well-written and carefully layered plot threads and characters, both human and yokai, this adds more investment for viewers to enjoy. With twists on fantasy and slice-of-life themes, Natsume is a series that everyone can enjoy whether they enjoy emotionally-stirring drama or a dose of supernatural mystery.

Natsume's Plot Is a Twist On An Over-Used Anime Trope

At the core of Natsume's plot is yokai, which is a fairly common theme used across fantasy anime. Typically, yokai stories are rooted in horror or action and depict yokai characters as vile, dangerous beings. Yokai and many monster characters are often shown to focus on harming human beings or be used for violence in fight scenes, sometimes against other yokai. Yuki Midorikawa takes on a different approach to these mythical beings and depict them with a human touch.

Natsume's yokai aren't centered around violence, but as the title suggests the main point is for the protagonist to befriend them. This wholesome twist on the yokai trope has been an unexpected but welcomed narrative. For manga readers and anime viewers who want fantasy but without the overbearing horror and violence, Natsume has been a breath of fresh air.

Breathing Life Into Slice-of-Life And Fantasy

The fantasy genre is the most common genre in anime to the point that certain ideas have become tasteless and overused. Natsume broke all the fantasy tropes back in the early 2000s mainly by mixing the slice-of-life genre within the plot. While the details of magic and yokai aren't that far from the norm when first introduced, each episode adds a wholesome twist of healing and relaxation. This uplifting tone comes from the slice-of-life subgenre Iyashikei.

Yuki Midorikawa's Greatest Achievements

Throughout Yuki Midorikawa's 26-year-long career, the manga artist and writer has earned herself several achievements. These honorable feats in manga and anime include awards and art shows. On top of her two manga debuting awards in the late 1990s, Yuki Midorikawa has continued to earn awards for her manga anime adaptations. When Midorikawa was 36 years old, Natsume's Book of Friends won third place at the Book of the Year 2012 Manga Award by Da Vinci magazine. The anime adaptation has won several awards including Supernatural Anime of the Year in 2017, 2020's Anime of the Decade award, and Takashi Natsume, the franchise's protagonist, won Man of the Year in the 2018 Annual Awards.

According to an announcement made by Hakusensha magazine, the Natsume manga sold over 12 million copies in 2017. The 2018 Natsume film, Utsusemi ni Musubu earned 500 million yen at the Japanese box office, which is roughly 3.4 million US dollars. Not every manga artist is given the chance to have their own exhibition, but Yuki Midorikawa has done two exhibitions. Both events have garnered incredible success. In 2013, an exhibition of her work was visited by approximately 30,000 people in only 13 days. This manga exhibition was held across three cities throughout Japan, but her second manga exhibition was bigger, being held across five Japanese cities in 2016.

From a hopeful creator to an influential voice, Yuki Midorikawa is an important figure in the anime industry. Like so many manga creators, she's most famous for her most successful anime series, but her work goes deeper than a famed franchise. Among Midorikawa's other works, the anime film based on short comic Into the Forest of Fireflies' Light is actually more popular than her mainstream franchise Natsume's Book of Friends. Both series, especially Natsume, have left a deep impression on the manga and anime industries, making Yuki Midorikawa an unforgettable name.

Natsume's Book of Friends

Animation

Comedy

Drama

Fantasy

Horror

When Natsume Takashi inherits a book that belonged to his late grandmother he realizes the book is filled with the names of spirits she defeated and bound to her will. He then decides to return their names so they can be free once again.

Release Date

July 7, 2008

Cast

Matthew Elkins , Marisa Duran , Hiroshi Kamiya , Kazuhiko Inoue , Christopher Wehkamp , Miki Itō , Ryōhei Kimura , Hisayoshi Suganuma , Miyuki Sawashiro , Kristian Eros , Hiroshi Shimozaki , Akira Ishida , Kazuma Horie

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

Creator

Yuki Midorikawa

Producer

Production Company

Number of Episodes

82 (8 – Season 7)

To the Forest of Firefly Lights

Anime

Drama

Fantasy

Hotaru is rescued by a spirit when she gets lost in a forest as a child. The two become friends, despite the spirit revealing that he will disappear if he is ever touched by a human.

Director

Takahiro Ômori

Release Date

September 17, 2011

Cast

Koki Uchiyama , Ayane Sakura , Shinpachi Tsuji , Izumi Sawada , Hayato Taya , Kanehira Yamamato , Masanori Machida , Hiroki Gotô

Writers

Yuki Midorikawa , Takahiro Ômori

Runtime

45 Minutes

Main Genre

Anime

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