Nyanko-sensei
Comic 2003 · Natsume's Book of Friends
Greedy for sake and dried squid, gruff on the surface but quietly protective; transforms between a chubby maneki-neko form and a massive white spirit beast.
Yuki Midorikawa began serializing Natsume Yuujinchou, known in English as Natsume's Book of Friends, in Hakusensha's LaLa DX magazine in July 2003 before it moved to LaLa proper. The story follows Takashi Natsume, a teenager who inherits a book of yokai contracts, and Nyanko-sensei is the lazy beckoning-cat-shaped vessel housing the powerful spirit Madara. Madara originally agrees to act as bodyguard in exchange for the book upon Natsume's death. The series passed 30 volumes by 2024 and has spawned an animated adaptation that has run since 2008, making the maneki-neko-styled Nyanko-sensei one of the most recognizable manga cats of the 2000s.
0 words. Cross-referenced against the Wikipedia entry. Sources: see /methodology.
Tags
lucky-cat-shape
white-with-purple-markings
yokai
sake-lover
gruff
bodyguard
shapeshifter
beckoning-cat
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