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Gilbert and Gubar's The Madwoman in the Attic after Thirty Years
Annette R. Federico, Sandra M. Gilbert
Stolen
Annette LaPointe
Natsume's Book of Friends, Vol. 6 - Lillian Olsen The series shifts to something less episodic and more arc-based. I'm neutral to positive on this; I like the series' steady emotional continuity and subtle change, and am happy we're apparently going to see more of it, but I also enjoyed the miniature grace of the individual episodes. It's a big plus not to have to reread the origin story of the Book of Friends in every single chapter, though.

So, we have a three-chapter arc about Natsume's encounter with a young boy who sees spirits and a conflict with Natori, showcasing Natsume's growing connections to and emotional openness with both humans and yokai. Taki shows up again, too. The arc comes to a pause but not a stop; there will clearly be further follow-up.

It is a real joy to see Natsume able to be honest with people -- Taki, the young boy Kei, and even Natori, much as they misunderstand each other.

Filling out the volume is an unrelated short story about a student/teacher romance, which is about as inoffensive as manga student/teacher romances get: it starts with her crush, the teacher doesn't encourage it, the student behaves responsibly rather than stalkerishly, they kind of talk around maybe getting together after she graduates but they can't do anything while she's in school. I still hate student/teacher romances. Please stop trying to make me sympathetic to your massively problematic abuses of authority as signified by imbalances in age, authority, presumed emotional maturity, and power, mangaka of Japan!