Reiko Natsume

Reiko Natsume (夏目レイコ Natsume Reiko) is a major character from the anime and manga series Natsume's Book of Friends. She is Takashi Natsume's maternal grandmother and the person whom Natsume inherited his strong spiritual power from.
She is voiced by in Japanese and in English.
==Appearance==
Reiko physically resembled her grandson with long, dusty-blonde hair, amber eyes, and she usually carried a slight smile, just like Takashi. It is because of their similar appearances that youkai often mistake Takashi for Reiko. She has been noted to be quite beautiful by both youkai and humans. Her hair goes to her bust-level, and it seems to be usually unkempt.
In the anime and manga, she is usually only seen in flashbacks wearing her school uniform, which is sometimes torn. She also had a bruise on her cheek at least once because human children have thrown rocks at her.
==Personality==
Reiko was despised by both humans and youkai. She was a bully towards humans and ayakashi alike, resulting in her being socially isolated. She defeated many yokai and made them write out their names in the Yuujinchou (literally Book of Friends), making them "servants" to her.
Although initially her actions were presented as a desire to have control over the youkai, over the course of the series, it is revealed that they were done more out of loneliness and longing for companionship. Despite generally acting apathetic to what other people think of her and, as noted by certain youkai, her expression rarely ever changing from her usual smile, it is indicated that Reiko was actually somewhat bothered by other people's tendency to assume the worst about her, and that in turn, her usual mischievous and bullying demeanor was something she assumed as a sort of coping mechanism. However, she has shown herself to be surprisingly empathetic and kind on numerous occasions where she would help a youkai or another person despite there not being anything for her to gain from doing so, such as when she befriended Shigeru when he was young and even helped him exorcise a spirit named Karime from his house that was causing all kinds of misfortune. 
Despite this, most people would still treat her with wariness or disdain, like when she tried to return a doll that a youkai had stolen to the child it belonged to, only for the girl's folks to tell her to keep it due to assuming she stole it herself, so she often avoided getting involved with them and their problems when she could. Conversely, some of the youkai genuinely appreciated the things she did for them, and on the occasions when she let her guard down, she is shown having genuinely happy interactions with them. This probably strengthened her conviction that she was better at making bonds with them compared to other people, but due to a combination of a lack of social skills as a result of her not having any friends and poor experiences with others, she often went about it the wrong way. 
Despite occasionally showing this positive side, her life was cut tragically short when she died young due to unknown circumstances, and barely any other people remembered her. While many youkai did, they usually didn't remember her in a positive light since they never saw her softer side, though some of the ones that did were genuinely sad when they found out they would never see her again.
Reiko had bad table manners; in one case, her table manners resulted in Tsuyukami's and Susugi's pages being stuck to each other in the Book of Friends. She was also very forgetful, as seen throughout the series, where in multiple episodes, it's revealed that she forgot to meet up with yokai who were anticipating her return for various reasons. However, it's also possible that she always meant to get back to them, but never got the chance due to passing away before she could.
==History==
Reiko had strong spiritual power, enabling her to see youkai. Due to this ability, she was shunned by humans. She found partial comfort amongst yokai. She would take out her frustration on the youkai by bullying, teasing and challenging them to matches. From then on until her death, she would be with youkai more often than humans. She created the Book of Friends, which allowed anyone who owned it to control whatever youkai had their names written in them, and because of this, she would challenge yokai to a fight any time she encountered them, and have them write their name down in the Book of Friends if they lost. Naturally, she quickly developed a notable reputation among youkai for this, and many of the more powerful ones wanted the book for themselves. 
Despite the fear and animosity this caused, she had a good relationship with some youkai, but even in their cases, she ended up forgetting many promises she made with them or events she had made plans for with them. This led to her grandson gradually coming across many of these youkai who were still waiting on her and feeling obliged to tie up all the loose ends she left for him. 
Her relationship with Madara is not yet revealed, only to be hinted as intimate. Madara can imitate Reiko, not only her physical form, but also her habits and manners. He himself states that other than Natsume Takashi, she is the only person Madara has "taken a good look upon", which indicates that they were at least as close as Nyanko-sensei and Natsume Takashi.
In Chapter 57, it was revealed that she was never married, and had a child (Takashi's mother) without marrying. The father of her child has not yet been revealed. The details on her death are not known, and have not been mentioned yet in the series. However, Takashi said in his conversation with Nanase that Reiko died under a tree somewhere.
==Gallery==
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==Trivia==
*Her Japanese voice actress, Sanae Kobayashi, also voiced Kaede in Elfen Lied, Alexis Rhodes in Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Allen Walker in D.Gray-man, Ice Climbers in Ice Climber, Ennis Prochainezo in Baccano!, Hitomi Kashiwa in Welcome to the N.H.K., Ridley Silverlake in Radiata Stories, Madlax in Madlax, and Maria Hikawa in Happiness Charge Pretty Cure!.
*Her English voice actress, Alexis Tipton, also voiced Vinsmoke Reiju in One Piece, Ruby Moon/Nakuru Akizuki in Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Komaru Naegi in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, Mizuki Himeji in Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts, Anya Hepburn in Soul Eater NOT, Sun Seto in My Bride is a Mermaid, Saya Kisaragi in Blood-C, Moka Akashiya in Rosario + Vampire, Alisha Diphda in Tales of Zestiria, Kofuku in Noragami and Mei Hatsume in My Hero Academia.
==External Links==
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Category:Anime Heroes
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Category:Protectors of Innocence
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