Natsume's Book of Friends: Volume 9

by Yuki Midorikawa, 189 pages

After dealing with adorable little fuzzball yokai, Natsume finds himself in a far more serious situation when monkey-masked yokai spirit him away to their home forest. But it's not the resident yokai he's afraid of.

Ooh, Matoba! Sometimes, human beings can be just as frightening as evil spirits. I love that, episodic as this series is, there's still room for a very slowly-building background arc.

For more details about this wonderful series about a boy who sees spirits (and his majestic / ridiculous cat guardian), please see my full review of the first nine volumes on NoFlyingNoTights.com.