AidinAzarkerdar| AidinVision

7/7:
Natsume follows a quieter path, and that is precisely why it resonates so strongly with its small, silent fandom. They rarely feel the need to argue with outsiders or defend their taste, because the work itself speaks gently for them.

6/7:
In a way, they are not wrong. Unlike the many series, usually in shounen, built around edgy characters, constant fights, or hyper-sexualized female figures, Natsume avoids all of these aesthetics.

5/7:
The mainstream, hype-oriented fandom often looks confused when they encounter Natsume. They call it “not edgy” or compare it to “white bread”, and many only know it as a Slice of Life show rather than an iyashikei work; and for that reason they usually do not find it interesting.

4/7:
Instead of competing with hyper-visible fandoms, this group moves through the broader fandom landscape in a contemplative and understated way, which makes them an unexpectedly compelling community to observe and perhaps to speak with.

3/7:
This subtle dynamic reflects the character of the source material itself (Natsume), a healing text that works gently rather than dramatically. There is no power scaling, no competitive tension, no spectacle. Only quiet encounters, often as solitary as the lonely yōkai themselves.

2/7:
They are still active, but like many iyashikei communities, they tend to move beneath the surface, forming a quiet and steady kind of engagement. Like a harmless "cult."

1/7:
The Natsume’s Book of Friends fandom shows an unusually subdued presence, especially when compared with the trend-oriented cultures that dominate many contemporary fan spaces.

Needed some fresh air in my online presence again, so I ditched the logo on Bluesky and put up my real photo. Feels strangely like early Twitter days, old, familiar!
yet not bad at all. Feels a bit more like letting “me” breathe.

It’s wild that kindness is treated as a red flag, while aggression, detachment, or outright cruelty are read as “strength.”
In a society collapsing economically, culturally, morally, and ethically, being an unkind person is a faster path to power, while being decent makes you suspicious and creepy.

our current late-capitalist society, showing genuine compassion, especially toward the opposite gender, often gets you labeled in the cruellest ways.
If you’re a man, you’re called a creep or manipulative.
If you’re a woman, you’re branded as desperate or “trying too hard.”

Sad that instinctive suspicion running beneath our society as symptom of late-capitalist toxicity, a reality where basic politeness and compassion aren’t treated as normal.
You wouldn’t be called a freak for seeing yōkai, but in this society, you would be dismissed for being genuinely compassionate

There’s something in Natsume’s Book of Friends anime that unsettles me.
In a society collapsing under economic and cultural pressure, where people are increasingly harsh with each other, the kind of genuine kindness Natsume shows would be read as weakness, gullible, or worse, as “hidden agenda.”

. @lilithmaxmusic.bsky.social is my top artists, apparently I’m into bears and wolves.
Since 2022 and my involvement in Woman, Life, Freedom, even my taste in art has the weight.
After what I’ve seen, I’d feed myself to the bear before letting one of my comrades, who deserve to live, go in my place.

Looks like I’ll be diving into more research on Natsume, Japanese folklore, maybe even Edo-period texts. Frankly, I’m just enjoying learning more about this more fun area of studies, even if I don’t end up writing anything on this topic, at least not yet.

Even characters such as Madara, opens up a rich ground for looking at Japanese folklore differently, the way traditionally “masculine” and trickster yokai can reveal a gentler traits, or even we argue more on how shape-shifting destabilizes fixed ideas of gender and invites readings of fluidity.

I’m personally fascinated by how Natsume’s Book of Friends contains such a rich and smooth narrative beneath the simple surface of its gentle iyashikei and slice-of-life framework. Its understated complexity, especially in character development , makes it an exceptional subject for deeper study.

This is surprising, as Natsume offers a remarkably rich narrative & nuanced character development that themselves are meaningful examination across multiple fields within the humanities, including literature, cultural studies, media studies, psychology, and even broader socio-anthropological aspect.

Natsume’s Book of Friends (Natsume Yūjinchō) is widely appreciated within fan communities, in both its manga and anime forms, however it remains noticeably overlooked within academic discourse.

a brown and white dog is sitting on a bed with a cat collective logo on the bottom ALT: a brown and white dog is sitting on a bed with a cat collective logo on the bottom

Now that the news is out that I anonymously mentioned my female manga-fan friends, one of them made a Bluesky account just to monitor when I "shit-talk" them. I’m officially under surveillance.

I am in danger now. Help.🥹

- You studied/work in Film and TV, but you still haven’t watched [insert title]?
- Wait, you don’t know director/actor/writer [insert name]?

I’m pretty sure I’ve become the next victim for their fan-made yaoi fantasies.
And the expressions they make when imagining my damn “character” in their mischievous scenarios?
That’s the moment I realize I should’ve kept my mouth shut and studies as a secret.

Now I’m getting all kinds of titles from my female manga-fan friends as they realize how deep I’m diving into this field:
“Academic weeb,” “dark weeb,” “wannabe weeb,” “old-boy weeb,” and, worst of all, “my yaoi boy.”
I deeply regret telling my female manga-fan friends about my studies. (Maybe not)

Finally, a Shōjo series that isn’t magical-girl and is rising into my all-time favorites, episode by episode and chapter by chapter. Natsume’s Book of Friends is on another level.
Shout-out to my Shōjosei-fan friend who introduced me to this gem and well... she called me out as an “academic weeb.”🤦♥️

Whenever I log into Bluesky, it feels like everyone’s a White House or Senate staffers. Do you folks ever talk about anything other than politics? Like anime? Manga? Maybe the neighbor cat who cosplay as Luna from Sailor moon? Asking as your lonely international friend in this too American platform.

The beauty of unrestricted unlimited RP AIs? They won’t yell “BRO, NERF THAT!” or "THAT'S NOT IN THE RULES" like your D&D group. No rules lawyers, no passive-aggressive sighing; just you and your unhinged fantasy character living your best life.

2/2

— Their absurd, Dadaist storytelling often rebels against mainstream narrative conventions with more confidence and artistry than many mainstream series desperately trying to “make sense,” where you can practically smell that the creator grew up in a basement with zero contact with reality.

1/2:
Some so-called “brain-rot” anime and manga are actually far more coherent in their intentional nonsense.

—

see. Thats pretty amazing coincidence to catch people talking about one of the most brilliant shows ever. I wish more coincidences like this happened in my timelines. I’d love to see more tweets, threads, and conversations like this.

What’s happening today with Revolutionary Girl Utena? I’ve been seeing a lot of talk about it on Twitter, too. Am I missing something? I am curious.