The anime adaptation of Natsume’s Book of Friends (Natsume Yujincho) first began in 2008 and has produced 6 seasons so far. A decade later, a theatrical anime movie will finally be released to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the anime. In this article, I will report on the Natsume’s Book of Friends The Movie special stage held on the Green Stage of AnimeJapan 2018 at Tokyo Big Site on 25 March 2018.

The main cast of the anime appeared as speakers on stage: Hiroshi Kamiya (for Takashi Natsume), Kazuhiko Inoue (Madara/Nyanko-sensei), Kazuma Horie (Kaname Tanuma), Ryohei Kimura (Satoru Nishimura), Hisayoshi Suganuma (Atsushi Kitamoto), and Rina Sato (Toru Taki). Horie and Sato led the event as the MCs. It seems that recording hasn’t yet started for the movie, and there are still no details regarding the cast and story. However, Kamiya alone has been given some hints on the work, and he gave us the impression that there may perhaps be a new character appearing.

As we are still in the dark regarding the content of the movie, the cast decided to speculate about the story for the film in a session titled ‘Natsume’s Book of Friends The Movie: Ki-Shou-Ten-Ketsu’ (‘introduction, development, twist, conclusion’, this refers to the 4 structural elements of traditional Asian narratives). This session is to wildly guess the story of the film from the key visual of Natsume’s listless image, and Kamiya, Inoue, Kimura, and Suganuma were in charge of one element each. Kamiya’s idea for Ki (introduction) sounded totally different from the usual Natsume stories, ‘It’s the usual Yatsuhara. A youkai called “Utsusemi” bursts into life and plans to overpower Tokyo to conquer the world!’ Kamiya praised himself for his idea and claimed that it would make a great story for a theatrical film.

Next, Inoue gave his idea for Shou (development) and said that Natsume would disappear. As the others poked fun at the idea of the protagonist missing, he explained how Natsume (i.e. Kamiya) could enjoy some rest, which provoked laughter. Kimura gave his idea for Ten (twist) and said ‘Rest time’, causing an explosion of laughter at the venue. Finally, Suganuma’s idea for Ketsu (conclusion) was, ‘All the cases are settled somehow and Natsume goes to school the following day. On the way to school, Nishimura and Kitamura see him and say “Good morning, Natsume!” and they all go to school together… 【FIN].’ They were teased about how it ended up with the same old Natsume storyline, but the story for the theatrical film by the cast was somehow summed up nicely and smoothly all in one piece.

Next, the special preview was shown for the first time via the large screen onstage. It was beautifully made (as Natsume’s Book of Friends always is) and both the cast and the audience seemed fully satisfied with it. A special surprise followed, as Eiji Itou and Miki Itou, who voice the Fujiwara couple, appeared on the screen. They sent Inoue a message to celebrate his birthday on 26 March. This was the third consecutive birthday surprise for Inoue at AnimeJapan. Inoue didn’t expect another birthday surprise this year, but appreciated it and gave his thanks to the cast and the audience, smiling at the Nyanko-sensei birthday cake. The venue was filled with people holding Nyanko-sensei paper fans.

Over the 10 years since the first anime adaptation, a theatrical anime film of the super-popular series is finally coming. That means the cast members have extraordinary determination and enthusiasm for the recording. Let’s look forward to the movie’s release on September 29.

Natsume’s Book of Friends Movie

Official Website: http://natsume-movie.com/