Special 04, or Chapter 19.5, titled Natsume Observation Log Part 3 —The Same View (特別編4 夏目観察帳3 同じ風景, Tokubetsu-hen yo Natsume kansatsu-chou sanOnaji fuukei), is the fourth special chapter of the Natsume's Book of Friends manga series.
In Japan, it was first published in Hakusensha's shojo manga magazine LaLa DX in October 10, 2007 (LaLa DX November 2007 issue #200711).
Kaname Tanuma was born sensitive to Youkais and able to see them as shadows, although he didn't know about what they were until he met his friend, Takashi Natsume, who is able to see youkai clearly. One day, as he's asked to give a paper to Natsume by a classmate, he runs into his friend's cat, Nyanko-sensei, and discovers that he is in reality a youkai.
Yuki Midorikawa's afterwords illustration of Special 4.
"Tanuma hadn't shown up in a while, and I had thought that he and Natsume would have a good relationship by now. But when I started on the episode, I discovered that they were still pretty awkward with each other. I'm used to Natsume smiling and talking about neutral topics, but it was fun drawing Natsume getting flustered and making the wrong decision in a conversation. It's hard to work Tanuma into the plot since Natsume never goes to him when he's involved in yokai business. I cut his bangs to "expand his world view," but people said he looked better with longer hair (I rarely get requests from readers on how the characters look), so I grew them out again."
This is the third time Kaname Tanuma features in a story and a chapter, and the first time he feastures in a special.
This is the only chapter and special entirely in Tanuma's point of view.
This special (October 10, 2007) was published before Chapter 19 (December 10, 2007) but in the collected volume, it was put after it.
This is the chapter where Tanuma learns Nyanko-sensei's true identity and talks with him for the first time. This is also where he gives him the surname "Ponta."
Just like Chapter 19, although Natsume's Book of Friends started getting serialized in LaLa magazine with Chapter 16, this chapter was exceptionally published in LaLa DX like the ones before it.
