The April issue of Hakusensha's LaLa magazine is announcing on Thursday that the third television anime season based on Yuki Midorikawa's Natsume Yūjin-Chō (Natsume's Book of Friends) shōjo ghost-story manga has been green-lit for this year. The third season will be titled Natsume Yūjin-Chō San .

Takahiro Omori is once again directing the anime at the studio Brains Base. Also returning are character designer Akira Takata, monster designer Tatsuo Yamada, art director Yukihiro Shibutani, color setting artist Hiromi Miyawaki, director of photography Hitoshi Tamura, and editor Kazuhiko Seki. However, Sadayuki Murai (Mōryō no Hako, Boogiepop Phantom, Millennium Actress) will be the new series script supervisor.

The story revolves around Natsume, a boy who has been able to see ghosts since he was little. Unfortunately, humans shun him, and there is not much fondness between him and ghosts either. One day, he inherits a Yūjin-Chō ("Book of Friends") from his grandmother. The book is actually full of contracts that his grandmother made to trap ghosts. As one ghost after another shows up, Natsume tries to release or help them — even while many of them seek vengeance on him.

More details about the new season will be provided in future issues of Lala. This project and another anime based on a Midorikawa manga, Hotarubi no Mori e , will be on display at the Anime Contents Expo next month in Chiba, Japan. The 11th compiled book volume of the Natsume 's Book of Friends manga will ship in Japan on March 4.

Crunchyroll streamed both of the previous television anime seasons outside Japan, and it ran the second season, Zoku Natsume Yūjin-Chō, as it aired in Japan. Viz Media is publishing the seventh volume of the manga in North America in June.

[Via Manganews, 2channel]

Update: More background information and Manganews credit added.