I somehow had gotten it in my head that it was one of those shojo-friendly series that nonetheless runs in a shonen magazine, but your comment made me doublecheck...whoops, it's serialized in a shojo mag. My bad! But my general point stands even if I screwed up the gendered marketing demographic -- it reminds me of the seinen Mushishi, but younger and gentler and more innocent. I love it to bits and have been nagging Chomiji to give it a try, as I think it's just the sort of full-of-heart title she would really enjoy.

(And speaking of Natsume, I really owe you some thanks on that front! That music discussion on Sartorias' LJ last year where you linked the lovely Kousuke Atari closing theme was the first thing that seriously put it on my radar, and while I'm way behind on the anime as I'm more of a reader than a viewer, I have been enjoying the manga immensely.)