Japan Synopsis
劇場版 夏目友人帳 ～うつせみに結ぶ～
The movie of Natsume's Book of Friends series. Natsume has been busy, navigating between humans and Yokai when he coincidentally reunites with an old classmate, Yuki. It brings back painful memories of a certain Yokai. Meanwhile, Natsume also became acquainted with Yorie Tsumura, a woman in the memories of a Yokai whose name he had returned. Yorie knew much about Reiko, but now lived a peaceful life with her only son, Mukuo. Being with this family was comforting for Natsume, but apparently a mysterious Yokai has been lurking in their town. On the way back from investigating, a "Yokai seed" that had latched itself to Nyanko Sensei drops into the Fujiwaras' garden and grows overnight into a fruit tree. When Nyanko Sensei eats a fruit that is somehow shaped like himself, he suddenly splits into three!
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Natsume's Book of Friends: Ephemeral Bond. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Animation + Fantasy in Japan
1095 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Animation and Fantasy genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Natsume's Book of Friends: Ephemeral Bond itself).
The 2017–2019 Japan Window
Natsume's Book of Friends: Ephemeral Bond holds position #238 of 569 Japan films in the 2017–2019 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
#1The Relative Worlds
★ 9.1 · 2017
#2Sonic Mania Adventures
★ 9.0 · 2018
#3Godzilla vs. Evangelion: The Real 4-D
★ 8.9 · 2019
#4Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
★ 8.7 · 2019
#5DARLING in the FRANXX
★ 8.6 · 2018
#6Dr. STONE
★ 8.6 · 2019
#7The Rising of the Shield Hero
★ 8.6 · 2019
#8Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
★ 8.6 · 2018
The 2010s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2010s in Japan, 1769 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Natsume's Book of Friends: Ephemeral Bond premiered alongside 194 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 194 other Japan films in 2018.
The 3809th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
17 audience reviews — more than 30% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 42th percentile among Japan films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Natsume's Book of Friends: Ephemeral Bond, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- human animal relationship · 5
- rural setting · 4
- folklore · 10
- shoujo · 10
- youkai · 8
- japanese mythology · 8
- anime · 711
- friendship · 134
- supernatural · 89
- slice of life · 58
- demon · 45
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #1,498 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (67th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +0.5 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Animation productions specifically: #1,114 of 2,532 (top 44%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Shuka, Aniplex, NAS, Hakusensha, TV Tokyo |
| Runtime | 1h 44m |
| Release Date | September 29, 2018 |
| IMDb | tt9081300 |
| Official Site | natsume-movie.com |