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Natsume's Book of Friends Season 5 Reveals October 4 Debut, Theme Song Artists
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The October issue of Hakusensha's Monthly LaLa magazine is revealing on Wednesday that Natsume Yūjin-Chō Go, the fifth television anime season inspired by Yuki Midorikawa's Natsume's Book of Friends (Natsume Yūjin-Chō) manga, will premiere on October 4. The magazine is also revealing the theme song artists.
sasanomaly is performing the anime's opening theme song "Takarabako." Aimer is performing the ending theme song "Akane Sasu."
The anime will premiere on TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TV Setouchi, TV Hokkaido, and TVQ Broadcasting Kyushu on October 4.
All of the anime's main staff members are returning from previous anime titles in the franchise. Takahiro Ōmori (Samurai Flamenco, Princess Jellyfish, Durarara!!), director of all the previous television anime seasons, is returning as the chief director at the studio Shuka (Durarara!! ×2 The Third Arc). Kotomi Deai (Silver Spoon, The Rolling Girls), episode director of the fourth season and director of the Natsume Yūjin-Chō: Nyanko-sensei to Hajimete no Otsukai original video anime, is serving as director. Sadayuki Murai (Knights of Sidonia, Boogiepop Phantom) is returning from the anime's third and fourth seasons to handle series composition. Akira Takata (Hotarubi no Mori e, Haibane Renmei) is designing the characters, and Tatsuo Yamada (Samurai Flamenco, Durarara!!) is designing the monsters.
Yukihiro Shibutani (RIN-NE, Case Closed) is in charge of art, and Hiromi Miyawaki (Gintama, Kamichu!) is handling color setting. Hitoshi Tamura (Penguindrum, Fantasista Doll) is in charge of photography, and Kazuhiko Seki (Samurai Flamenco, Princess Jellyfish) is handling editing. Makoto Yoshimori (Hamatora, Baccano!) is composing the music. NAS (Kuroko's Basketball, Yu-Gi-Oh!) is again in charge of production.
The anime seasons and Midorikawa's original manga revolve around Natsume, a boy who has been able to see ghosts since he was little. Unfortunately, humans shun him, and there is not much fondness between him and ghosts either. One day, he inherits a Yūjin-Chō ("Book of Friends") from his grandmother. The book is actually full of contracts that his grandmother made to trap ghosts. As one ghost after another shows up, Natsume tries to release or help them — even while many of them seek vengeance on him.
The television anime series' fourth season premiered in 2012. Crunchyroll streamed all four previous television anime seasons outside Japan. NIS America released all four seasons on Blu-ray Disc or DVD in North America.
Hakusensha released the manga's 20th volume (pictured at left) in Japan on April 5. Viz Media published the 19th volume of the manga in North America in January.
Update: sasanomaly's spelling corrected. Thanks, shirokiryuu and Stephanie Kurniawan
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