夏目友人帳 －Natsume’s Book of Friends

For as long as he can remember, Takashi Natsume has had the ability to see spirits, inheriting the power from his grandmother Reiko Natsume. This ability resulted in his having a lonely childhood because children his age considered him strange. He had also been passed from one relative to another. Upon her death, Reiko bequeathed to her grandson her Book of Friends, a book containing the names of spirits she had bullied into servitude.

The Book of Friends is considered a highly prized item in the spirit world, and spirits – both good and malicious – haunt Takashi constantly because of it. Whereas Reiko formed the contracts, however, Takashi spends his time dissolving the contracts and releasing the various spirits that come to him for help. Malicious spirits on the other hand try to kill him to obtain possession of the book. Which is where Madara (called Nyanko-sensei by Natsume) comes in; Madara serves as Natsume’s bodyguard and spiritual advisor of sorts, even though ostensibly he is motivated by his own desire to possess the Book of Friends. He later begins to become more attached to Takashi.