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Kaname Tanuma (田沼 要, Tanuma Kaname) is a main recurring character of Natsume's Book of Friends series.

He is one of Takashi Natsume's best friends and schoolmate. Additionally, he's also one of the few humans that knows Takashi can see youkai.

He, too, can see youkai but much less than Natsume, as he can only see them as vague shadows and feel their presence, often making him sick easily or giving him intense headaches.

Appearance[]

Tanuma has the appearance of a slender teenage boy. He bas messy black hair that frames his whole face until his neck and fall on his eyes, as well as dark black eyes. He is pretty tall, at least more than the other boys his age in the series, although he's still shorter than adult men like Shuuichi Natori.

Personality[]

Tanuma is a quiet and reserved boy. He often worries for Takashi's involvement in youkai but knows that he can't stop him from helping them. He tries to help Takashi when he can and was discouraged by Madara, saying he was "useless" since he can't really see spirits. In the manga, he desires strongly to protect Takashi and is angered quickly when someone (usually Madara or Shuuichi Natori) calls him powerless.

Tanuma is also insightful as he notices when Takashi attempts to hide his feelings or tries to protect him as he often sees the hidden meanings beneath the surface but doesn't understand them. This is supported by his curiosity about Reiko when Madara mentions her and his notice of Takashi's reaction.

In the anime, he merely asks because the name was unfamiliar and forgets about it afterwards.

History[]

Kaname Tanuma is the only child of the Tanuma family.

His family is only composed of him and his father; nothing is known about his mother, not even if his parents were married, or if she died or just left the family. It seems his father has been a single parent since he was very small, so she must have died or left when he was either a baby or a small child. Natsume thinks that "He lives with a single father. Life can't be great for him either."[1]

His father is a Buddhist priest, and as such he spent his childhood living in temples. They moved a lot because of his father's work as well.

Kaname was born being very sensitive to youkai; although he cannot see them as anything but shadows, he can be very affected by their presences. This heavily affected his health and gave him a frail constitution, so he spent a lot of his childhood being sick.

Kaname has a aunt named Satomi, probably his father's sister, who owns an inn. When he was little he used to live for a while in a town next to hers, and so if his father was too busy with work he would often leave him to her when he was sick.

Plot[]


Tanuma is first introduced when Takashi [2]


Relationships[]

Takashi Natsume[]

One of Tanuma's best friends. He befriends Natsume once he learns that the former's spiritual powers are infinitely stronger and far more developed than his own.

Tooru Taki[]

One of Tanuma's best friends.

Kaname Tanuma's Father[]

Tanuma's father.

Nyanko-sensei/Madara[]

Atsushi Kitamoto[]

Tanuma's friend.

Satoru Nishimura[]

Tanuma's friend.

Jun Sasada (Anime Only)[]

Tanuma's friend.

Shuuichi Natori[]

Misuzu[]

Satomi Tanuma[]

Tanuma's aunt.

Ito[]

Powers & Abilities[]

Tanuma has a small amount of spiritual energy that makes it possible for him to sense the presence of youkai. However, due to only having a small amount of energy, he can't see the actual youkai (for instance, he can see the shadow of the fish pond in temple yard reflected on the ceiling but can't see the literal pond, unlike Takashi Natsume). He easily gets headaches due to the heaviness of most youkai's spiritual aura.

However, as the series progresses, Tanuma no longer has frequent headaches nor sickens as much as he had at the beginning of the series. He claims that it's because of Natsume's influence, which Madara agrees, using the analogy of a pin that's stuck to a magnet will gain magnetic properties.

Etymology[]

  • His given name "要 [Kaname]" means "Cornerstone/Keystone." It is a gender neutral name, although it tends to be more often given to girls.
  • His family name "田沼 [Tanuma]" can means "Swamp field"; "田 [Ta]" meaning "Field/Rice paddy" and "沼 [Numa]" meaning "Swamp/Pond."

Trivia[]

  • In Chapter 84, Tanuma knows how to play the piano.
  • In the manga, Tanuma shows some interest in becoming an exorcist.

References[]

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