Natsuno Koide

**Natsuno Yuuki** (or **Natsuno Koide**) is one of the two main protagonists of *Shiki*. Originally a city dweller, he reluctantly moved to Sotoba with his parents. Although he hates life in the village, Natsuno decides to stop the Kirishikis' plans of a "*shiki* town" after he becomes one himself (he becomes a Jinrou, a subspecies of a shiki).

His father's surname is Yuuki. However, his parents did not get married and he has his mother's surname. This makes his legal surname "Koide"; not "Yuuki", as some might assume.

## Personality

Natsuno is a calm and highly intelligent individual, and he is often seen studying in his room. At first glance, he comes off as cold, quiet and uncaring, especially towards Megumi. However, he shows throughout the series that he is very caring of those he considers his friends, such as Tooru, Akira and Kaori. Tatsumi notes this, as Natsuno could have left the village once he learned of the Shikis, but decided to stay and take action against them. Natsuno takes a rational and logical approach to a problem at hand, especially when it comes to fighting the *shiki*, as Toshio Ozaki does. Natsuno demonstrates his rationality when he tells Masao off; and when he told Akira they couldn't rush down to their base, as they do not know how many *shiki* have risen (not to mention the issue of Tatsumi).

After he comes back as a Jinrou, Natsuno accepts that he has died quickly and becomes more quiet, solitary and fearless, as he teams up with Toshio to take down the Shikis even when he knows what might happen to Tooru. Despite this, he is still shown to care about his friends as he saved Akira from a Shiki and reunited Kaori with her brother in a hospital that is near Sotoba.

## Relationships

### Megumi Shimizu

"*You're imagining things, she's dead!*"
―Natsuno sees visions of Megumi after her death[src]
Megumi has a rather excessive relationship with Natsuno. The relationship, however, is one-sided, as he doesn't seem to care for her at all. While Megumi seems to have various fantasies about their relationship, she also hides in the bushes outside of his house so she can admire him from a far.

In the first episode, Megumi is shown trying to send a letter to Natsuno. She kept rewriting the letter since she was never satisfied with them and they had to be perfect! She keeps chickening out and ends up not giving it to him at all.

Megumi is shown trying to talk to Natsuno but he is rather annoyed by this and ignores her when she tries to talk to him. The only time he pays any attention to her at all is when she mentions wanting to leave the village for the city, which is his interest as well.

When she dies, Kaori Tanaka comes to him and asks if she could give him a keepsake. He looks to the side, and tells her it wouldn't be right if he took it, since he didn't know Megumi particularly well and wasn't so close with her. It seems he does feel guilty about this in the end, later shown when he thinks back about her, calling her a "love-sick puppy" in the process.

When Megumi kills Tohru for being closer to Yuuki than she ever was, whatever guilt he had over her death vanishes. He rips up her postcard that arrived after her death, due to Megumi's resurrection and her sudden confidence boost. He tears it in pieces and throws it outside his window, luring Megumi out into the open to confirm her resurrection and presence. Megumi does come as expected and begins to cry in disappointment while picking up some of the pieces before getting angry ready to cause more chaos, not to anyone's surprise.

After Natsuno meets with the resurrected Tohru for the first time, Tohru begins to cry and runs away ashamed of his new self. Natsuno runs outside into the woods looking for him but gets confronted my Tatsumi. Tatsumi threatens to kill him for finding out about the Shikis' existance and fighting back against them, however he tells Megumi, whoms been listening to the whole conversation from behind a tree, to come out and do whatever she pleased with him. Megumi outstretches her arms towards Natsuno and begins walking up to him, willing to bite him, however Tohru comes out from the woods, grabbing him and biting into his neck. Megumi is shocked and despises Tohru even more now, accusing him of stealing Yuuki from her. Natsuno dies several days later.

Megumi and Natsuno never meet again after this, as Natsuno doesn't join the Kirishikis and Megumi thinks he was cremated because he was originally from the city.

Megumi still thinks about him even after and can't get over her love for him no matter how much she tried.

When the war between the Shiki and Humans broke out, she had a feeling Natsuno was still alive and thought if he had been resurrected he would've saved them. Megumi wants to escape to the city. While crossing the road she gets distracted by a nostalgic flashback of Natsuno waiting for the bus, causing her to get caught by the villagers.

### Tohru Mutou

*"Why can't you act more like a vampire and less the guy I used to know?"*

*- Natsuno says to Tohru.*

Tohru is Natsuno's only true friend in the entire village of Sotoba. The two seem to have a close relationship, even though Natsuno doesn't show that much compassion.

Their friendship began when Tohru noticed Natsuno's bike had a puncture and offered to patch it up. After that, Natsuno returned when he got another flat and their friendship blossomed. Despite being told by many that he has a cold attitude, Natsuno is shown to have strong emotional connections to Tohru as shown when Megumi bites him, during his wake, and when Tohru comes to attack him as a Shiki. After his death, Natsuno seems to bare a stronger hatred towards the Shiki.

After rising, Natsuno and Tohru meet again. Though Tohru is happy to see him again, Natsuno tells him that he'll never forgive the shiki, including him as he was the one who killed him. Tohru asks him what he should do and Natsuno tells him to tell him about the shiki and what they're planning. Natsuno still cared for Tohru as after finding Tohru dead, Natsuno looked at his body for a moment with a saddened expression before leaving.

### Tatsumi

*"Aren't you afraid to die?"*

*"I've been dead for some time now."*

*- The final words of Tatsumi and Natsuno*

Natsuno first encounters Tatsumi on the night Megumi bit his friend Tooru. Ever since that incident it is shown that Natsuno has a strong hatred towards the Shiki and Jinrou, particularly those two.

After this first impression, Natsuno and Tatsumi's relationship never shifted from the frictional hatred they had for each other, even on their final breaths, despite how calm they were.

### Yuuki's father

Yuuki is Natsuno's hard-working father. Their relationship seems to be a mixed balance between family love and awkward tension. Because Yuuki and Azusa reject social norms and aren't married, Natsuno has his mother's surname, which causes him some embarrassment and resentment.

Despite having a seemingly cold attitude, Natsuno cares for his parents and is grateful to them, particularly when Yuuki crafts a comfier chair for Natsuno's desk. When bedridden, despite not understanding/wanting to acknowledge the situation, Yuuki became protective over his son and warded off any outside help as a precaution due to the strange ventriloquist Shiki who demanded entrance to the house before.

After his wife left and Natsuno died, it is shown that Yuuki lost his sanity, most likely because his deceased child is risen and well. Even though he had become mentally unstable, his love for Natsuno is still strong, as shown when Tatsumi knocked on their door. Even whilst in this state, Natsuno more than likely still loved his father as he had returned home despite knowing he was now a Jinrou.

### Azusa Koide

Natsuno's mother. They seem to have a neutral relationship just as he does with his father. Not much more is portrayed due to the lack of her appearence throughout the series, but they seem to be an average family that cares for each other.

Azusa is shown to be a very considerate mother as she tells Natsuno he should take a break from studying and go out more. However, even if he went out, Natsuno was normally just studying at Tooru's, not to her knowledge though.

### Other Villagers

"*I don't like it. Everyone's always in everyone's business. Keeping tabs, taking notes, starting rumours.*"
―Second Decay
He dislikes a majority of the villagers and thinks that everyone's too nosy and that they assign roles to everyone.

### Kaori Tanaka

When he met Kaori during Megumi's funeral when she tries to give Megumi's card to him, he didn't care about her and saw her as the same as the villagers. Later when he met her and her brother who were spying on the Kirishiki, he saved them for they were being watched by Tatsumi. It was when they start hanging out more to investigate the Shiki that Natsuno starts to consider her as a friend. He even tried to tell them to leave the village when he was bitten by Tooru. After he became a Jinrou, he made sure Kaori reunited with her brother.

### Akira Tanaka

When he first met Akira, the young boy started to look up to him as a big brother figure and since then they started investigating the Shikis. After his "death", Akira was devastated, but nonetheless vowed to take action against the Shiki. Though Natsuno doesn't show it, he cares for Akira's well-being, even as a Jinrou. This is shown best when he saved Akira from a Shiki despite knowing it would reveal his existence to Tatsumi.

### Ritsuko Kunihiro

After being mulled over by her dog, Natsuno and Ritsuko have a conversation about the village. He complains about her calling him Natsuno, though she says that she likes his name. He asks her why she doesn't leave the village since a nurse would have lots of job opportunities elsewhere, but she claims to like living in the village.

## History

He is one of the main protagonists in the series, a 15 year old boy who lives and attends school in Sotoba. He is in the same grade as Megumi. He moved to Sotoba last year. His parents preferred to live in the countryside, so they came to Sotoba. He hates living in the village and would prefer to be in the city. Originally a city dweller, Natsuno reluctantly moved to Sotoba with his parents when they wanted a change of environment. He is usually seen wandering around the bus stop, planning to return to the city one day.

He often exhibits a cold exterior, especially disliking Megumi Shimizu, who has a crush on him. However he is friendly to some, such as the Tanaka children and especially Tooru, an amiable boy, who persistently tries to become his friend.

## Before the Uprise

Before discovering the Shiki. Natsuno is shown to be living a normal life. He often studies in his room. He is also stalked by Megumi Shimizu, and he seems to dislike her. He isn't moved by her death, though he goes to her funeral. Before the funeral he is attacked by Taro, Ritsuko Kunihiro's dog. They discuss life in the village and how he wishes to leave.

After talking to her, he goes to Megumi's funeral, but leaves before the burial, saying that it was too hot. He refuses when Kaori offers him Megumi's letter, saying that he didn't even know her.

That night, while he's studying, he imagines Megumi hiding in the bushes, thinking about their relationship and that he hadn't given her any reason to think that he would ever like her.

On August 21st, while studying, he sees bushes moving and decides to shut the window.

On the 23rd of August, he is shown to be studying with the windows closed again.

On the 24th of August, he ponders why he feels the need to close the windows even after Megumi had died. As he is about to open it, he imagines eyes watching him and doesn't open them.

## Discovering the *Shiki*

Natsuno was the very first person to realize the existence of *Shiki* or "the risen", because of Megumi, who became a Shiki after death and continually stalked him. As a result of sleepless nights due to nightmares about Megumi, he had a sleepover at Tooru's place, where he witnessed Megumi biting Tooru. After Tooru's death, he was sure of the existence of Shiki and asked Toshio Ozaki, the village doctor, whether he thinks Megumi really died or not. Unfortunately, he wasn't taken seriously. However, still determined, he began to get suspicious of the Kirishikis who recently moved into Kanemasa, a castle on top of a hill.

During an attempt to look out for anything unusual about them, he noticed the Tanaka children, Akira and Kaori watching the Kanemasa and being stalked by Tatsumi, a servant of the Kirishikis. He found out that they were also aware of Shiki and are hoping someone would believe them. Overjoyed, they decided to work together to prove the existence of Shiki to the adults. They began to dig up Megumi's grave to find that her corpse is missing. On their way back, they were attacked by a Shiki. Natsuno knocked the Shiki unconscious and were able to inspect it carefully. Then, they decided to leave the Shiki half-buried so people would find him and the village would be aware of their existence.

As a result of Natsuno's father's carelessness, the Shiki were invited into the house. A resurrected Tooru visited Natsuno and tried to attack him, despite being unwilling to kill him. Natsuno tried to negotiate with Tooru but to no avail. Natsuno managed to run away from Tooru and was surrounded by Tatsumi and Megumi. In a state of confusion, he was unguarded and was bitten by Tooru. The next day, realizing what he was soon to become, he warned Akira and Kaori to stay away from him. Now completely hopeless, he willingly let Tooru bite him every night and soon, died.

As a Jinrou, he never really died, just changed. His father called the city funeral home, mistaking him for dead. As they came, they found that he had woken up, so they got sent back with an empty coffin.

#### September 12

Natsuno catches the bus. As he sits there, he begins to fall asleep. As he does this, he hears Megumi speaking to him. He jerks up and looks around, seeing her sitting in the seat ahead of him. He jumps up but when he looks again she's gone. He tries to reassure himself as he knows that she's dead.

Getting off the bus, Tooru runs up to him. He notices how exhausted that he is and Natsuno asks if he can sleep at his house. Tooru agrees and says that he wanted to talk to him anyway.

In Tooru's room, Tooru, while playing video games, warns Natsuno that he's going to make himself sick if he stays up studying for the entrance exams. Natsuno, half asleep, tells him that he didn't ask him and to stop calling him Natsuno. But he just replies "Sure, Natsuno."

Tooru says that he has a favour to ask. He wants to ask Ritsuko to go on a drive with him on the weekend, but he's too nervous and wants him to come along when he asks. Natsuno says that she was already with him earlier when they drove, but Tooru clerafies that it would be more of a date.

Natsuno doesn't think that it's a good idea and says that he should rethink what he's asking. Ritsuko's quite a bot older than Tooru and he doesn't think it's a good idea. Tooru's disappointed, making Natsuno feel bad. He finally gives in.

Tooru is overjoyed and turns to hug him but Natsuno pushes him away with his foot. He says to cut out the physical affection.

Natsuno says that he's really tired and begins to fall over onto Tooru's bed. He says goodnight but Tooru says to hold on, that he already has somewhere else comfortable that he can sleep, and that he can think of it as a bed away from home.

In the middle of the night, Natsuno imagines Megumi sneaking into their room. As someone opens the door, though, it turns out to be Aoi who had come in to ask help with homework.

As he begins to relax again, Megumi calls his name. He opens his eyes in shock and sees Megumi under the bed. She crawls out from under the bed, smiling. She seems happy until she notices Tooru. She doesn't like him because she is jealous of their relationship. She asks Tatsumi what he thinks and Natsuno realies that he is outside of their window.

Megumi moves in to bite. Natsuno tries to call out for her to stop but he can't say anything.

#### September 13th

Natsuno tries again to convince himself that he was just dreaming when he seen Megumi.

#### September 16th

At school, he goes to Aoi and asks why Tooru's not at school again. apparently, he's playing hooky. Apparently, he got a new video game and can't detach himself from it. She asks if he's coming over and he says that he'll come over the next day.

#### September 16th

On his way to Tooru's, Toshio drives past Natsuno on his bike. He runs into Tooru's house and Natsuno quickly follows him.

Toshio checks Tooru over as his family and Tooru crowd around him. Toshio announces that he's dead.

Natsuno realizes that he hadn't been imagining Megumi and that she really had bit him.

In his room, Azusa knocks on his door. She asks if he's ready to go to the wake. He says to go on ahead of him. She says she understands.

As she's about to leave, she says that a postcard arrived in the mail for him. It's from Megumi. She thinks it's strange that he's just getting it now but he says that it probably just got lost in the mail.

After she leaves he opens his window. He rips the postcard up and throws it out his window.

He finds that Megumi did find the postcard are realizes that she was there with Tooru. She vows to not die so easily.

#### September 21st

Natsuno goes to the Mutou house and is greeted by Aoi. He asks where Tamotsu is and she says upstairs. Aoi asks if he went to Masao's wake and he says that he hadn't. She says that he's cold, but he says that he would have been unhappy if he had went.

Upstairs, Tamotsu says that it's not normal to go to a mourning family's house and watch horror movies, but Natsuno says that a comedy wouldn't have been any better. Tamotsu asks if he likes these kinds of movies and he says that he doesn't. He then asks if he likes movies about people coming back to life and he looks back in surprise. Tamotsu explains that they have okiagari in the village. They rise up at night because they bury their dead in the village. They come to punish children. He jokes that his dad would say the okiagari would come get him if he didn't go to bed.

#### September 22nd

Natsuno goes to the library to look for books about okiagari or vampires, but there aren't any. He finds that Seishin took three vampire books out on August the 28th.

At the temple, Natsuno is greeted by Miwako. She recognizes him as the son of Yuuki who moved in last year and says that she's seen him a couple times in the village. Shinmei looks at him as he lays in the bed behind her. Natsuno asks where Seishin is. She says that he's out on business. She says he should be back soon and says that she could make some tea. He politely declines and says that he was just wondering about the books.

She apologizes for him interfering with his studies and says that he writes novels on the side and uses lots of books for study material.

#### September 27

As Tatsumi spies on Kaori and Akira, Natsuno suprises them by asking what they're doing. He recognizes her as Megumi's friend. Natsuno says that they should get out of there.

After they leave Kanemasa, Natsuno says that Tatsumi was watching them from behind the trees. They are surprised and say they hadn't noticed. He asks what they were doing and why Akira has a bat, but then realizes that they think something's going on at Kanemasa as well. Akira begins to cry and hugs him in relief, saying that he's the first one to believe them.

He pushes him away and says that they should find somewhere else to talk.

Elsewhere, he says that he thinks they're okiagari. Akira agrees saying that he knows he seen Yasuyuki. Natsuno says that he seen Megumi. Kaori begins to cry. Kaori says that before Megumi died Megumi had said she seen Chizuru, as did Yasuyuki, though she still doesn't think that confirms anything.

Natsuno says they have to make sure, by digging up Megumi's grave. They agree. As they have this conversation, Tatsumi listens as well.

#### October 24

Natsuno and Toshio plan to kill the shiki. Natsuno tells him to include him as well. Toshio is shocked but doesn't disagree.

#### November 3rd

Tatsumi goes to **Natsuno Koide**'s house. His father stabs him with a knife as he rings the doorbell. His father is overjoyed to have killed one of the undead, but the wound doesn't hurt him and Tatsumi asks to come in. Yuuki is happy to oblige.

Natsuno asks what he wants he comments on his father and asks if he knows he's a werewolf. He already does and realizes that someone has been leaking information. He explains Jinrou more and asks what happened to Akira Tanaka and Iwao Maeda. Natsuno feigns ignorance, making Tatsuno furious.

Tatsumi lifts Natsuno up by the neck. Like he suspected, Natsuno hadn't been drinking blood so he hadn't accessed the true powers of a werewolf. He says that he could kill him right them, but says that Sunako Kirishiki wants him as a comrade. He throws him back into his chair and tells him to come to their side. He sais that he cant decide right then anyway. Tatsumi says that he'll return the next morning.

## A New *Jinrou*

After disappearing for a while, he reappeared as a *jinrou*, a superior sub-species of Shiki and worked together with Toshio Ozaki in order to annilihate Shiki. By preemptively biting Toshio and giving him the command to keep his own free will and never surrendering, it allowed Toshio to resist any hypnotism attempts from other Shiki such as Chizuru Kirishiki. Natsuno was also seen spying at night to search for clues and watching Toshio.

## The end

*"You don't have to do this. Aren't you afraid of dying?"*
***"I've been dead for some time now."***
—Tatsumi's and Natsuno's last words in the anime
In the final episode of the anime, Natsuno and Tatsumi fight each other, a conflict which leads to the two falling into a pit filled with dead *shiki* corpses—as Natsuno had planned, just in case the fall didn't kill them. Natsuno pulls out and lights a bomb. Tatsumi tells him that he needn't do this, questioning him; but Natsuno counters his question about being afraid to die—after all, he was already "dead for some time now." With that, the bomb explodes, presumably killing the two *jinrou*.

In the manga, he fell into the pit along with Tatsumi, but it was implied that both of them simply died from the fall.

## Zodiac and other

Natsuno originally comes from a big city. He was either an atheist, an agnostic, or a Protestant Christian considering he held up a wooden cross when approached by his undead friend.

* His Chinese zodiac sign was **Fire Snake** (1977) - People born in a year of the Snake are supposed to be the most intuitive. Snakes tend to act according to their own judgments while remaining private and reticent. Snakes represent the symbol of wisdom. They are good at communication but say little. These Snakes are quick-tempered and sometimes act without thinking. They don’t like relying on established groups and are innovative entrepreneurs. If they listen to others’ warnings and wait for the right opportunity, they’ll enjoy great success.
* His blood type was most likely **O** - People with O blood type are daring, outgoing and go-getters. They have a habit of setting high standard for themselves and do all they can to achieve them. These people have excellent leadership qualities and little things do not bother them, which makes them appear as selfish to other people, especially to A type. They are generous, kind-hearted and loving. They adapt well with changes. They are resilient and flexible and can do better than other blood types in tough situations. Positive personality traits are leadership, easy-going, positive outlook, confident, calm, outgoing, cautious, loyal, peaceful, passionate, independent, reliable, carefree, trendsetter and devoted. Negative personality traits are jealousy, ruthless, rude, non-punctual, insensitive, cold, unpredictable, self-centered and arrogant. Japanese people call people with O blood type, warriors because they are strong and enduring. These people are honest and hate people who hide the truth.
* His Sun sign is **Sagittarius** (December 15) - People who are born under the Sagittarius sign are often known for their honesty. They're the types of people hate lying and being lied to, which means they're incredibly trustworthy, too. ... The Sagittarius is one of the most honest of all the zodiac signs, and they don't have any interest in deception. Sagittarius is a deep thinker. They will want to examine who the other person is and where they are going and can see the end with a clearness that others mostly lack. Sagittarius can be wonderful people, but they can also be extremely self-centered. You can tell when a Sagittarius individual is cold-hearted because they'll rarely ask you about yourself. They're much more concerned with what's going on their fabulous life than in yours.

Over Natsuno's chart most likely ruled the **air element** - Feeling of importance to balance and they are usually quite calm but when a certain balance is broken, they can become as violent as a storm. People of Air element are generally learned, intelligent, cold, fair and sociable.