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Noragami Review

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Noragami is one of those action titles that actually lasted for a long while. I felt like it would just quietly keep updating with new chapters even though almost nobody really talked about it. At least compared to the bigger titles. It does have a solid fanbase and they’re always waiting for the anime to return but the manga just felt really quiet. It’s a good action title but one that is held back by having one of the weakest supporting casts for a long running title that I can think of. Seriously I didn’t care for just about any of the characters which is absolutely crazy. Most of them were forgettable or annoying.

The series focuses around a god named Yato who is in a bit of a pinch. In this world gods gain power based on how many people believe in them. They need humans to build shrines to them and give them gifts. Nobody knows who Yato is though, the average person can’t even see him. So that’s definitely not a good thing. One day he meets a girl named Hiyori who accidentally hops outside of her body. She now has an astral form and is fully aware of the supernatural. It’s an inconvenient power though as she’ll jus randomly fall out of her human body which causes everyone to just think she fainted. It’s also dangerous for her because she can now be attacked by any number of creatures. Yato vows to protect her and get her back to normal condition but he’s no exactly the most reliable guy around. Can he actually pull this off?

Of course that’s the pre arc plot and as you can guess with 27 volumes, that’s going to change real quick. There are a lot of other dangers out there and people who would have the gods be dethroned. The main villain even hits close to home as Yato’s father ends up being a rather big player in all of this. We definitely cover a lot of ground but this is a series where the anime really helps to elevate it a whole lot. The manga itself is less impressive as a whole but still a good time without a doubt.

As a main character Yato is pretty solid. The guy jokes around a lot but he has a good work ethic and really tries hard. The guy’s entire existence is at stake and yet he still finds time to joke around and have fun. He started the whole small businesses thing in order to stay alive and at least get a little recognition. He’s super desperate but never gives up so I can appreciate that. As the series goes on he is tested a whole lot but rarely falters. It’s not a perfect performance, sometimes the villains do get to him but most of the time Yato pulls through. He’s the kind of guy you can count in and a great main character to follow.

In some ways he reminds me of Kenshin and other older main characters like that. Yato has been around for a long time and seen many things. He has vowed to not be an assassin anymore and it takes a whole lot of perseverance to stick true to that path. He’s one of the stronger characters in the series but in a way Yato has to nerf himself so that he doesn’t just murder everybody. It can be a lot harder than it looks.

Hiyori is a solid heroine as well. I appreciate the fact that she doesn’t lament her fate of being stuck to the spirit world all that much. She guilt trips Yato at times but for the most part isn’t worrying about thing. Hiyori even tries to fight once although she quickly thinks better of this after how the first attempt went and I don’t blame her there. The most important thing for her is to stay safe with how many crazy fighters are all around. It would have been nice if she could have learned how to fight a little mor but at least she has enough abilities to run and get out of trouble.

Yukine is a character I never ended up liking though. To be clear, the kid does have it rough since he has a super tough background. It wasn’t an easy life/death but as a ghost he keeps getting in the way. I should explain the spirit system a bit more here. Every spirit master is a god like Yato and they can use familiars which are people who died. These ghosts are given a new name by the master so that they can fight and turn into weapons/items. It is forbidden to tell a spirit about their former life because it will often end up driving them crazy.

The spirits are basically kept in the dark on this. It’s a reasonable enough system. Naturally I don’t agree with this and think the spirits should be told straight up but unfortunately there is a ton of evidence within the system to support that this doesn’t work. Even the best of spirits will inevitably turn evil or panic and get destroyed. So Yukine goes through this drama more than once. The first time he takes a dive is before we even learn about his prior life. He starts perving on Hiyori for a while there and even becomes a delinquent where he is breaking windows. All of these things start blighting Yato of course which nearly goes to the point of no return.

Yukine was definitely way too crazy there and he’s lucky that Yato is so lenient. Most of the other gods would have absolutely destroyed him by that point. The very fact that this was so close was annoying. Then when Yukine starts to learn about his prior self, he really goes off the deep end and becomes a full on villain. Hey I could overlook part of this the first time, but twice? Nah he was on the hot seat by this point with no way off. Then he started falling for Nora and her advances which was not a good look for him. Yukina was just way worse of a character than I expected him to be.

Yukine’s struggles were a good way to end the pre arc though. While he never became a good character, it helped to finish setting up the main cast so we could really get going. At this point in the story we had mainly seen Yato tackle easy cases and beat the occasional monster. Now we would really see him going all out against some real opponents and what better way to start than with Bishamon. She is a powerful god who is a master of combat and so the idea of Yato beating her is definitely tricky. Or at least it should be right?

In a lot of ways Yato reminds me of Archer from Fate. Everyone tries to gaslight you in universe that he’s super weak and yet he seems to be able to hang with anybody. That’s the case with Yato as well, half the time he isn’t even trying to fight. You actually get the impression that he would completely crush Bishamon if he was fighting seriously. Technically I don’t think that’s even what the author was going for here but it’s definitely what it felt like to me. Yato also had to go through a lot with murdering Bishamon’s army a while back to save her and having to come close to doing it again. Yato’s job really is a thankless one and if anything just creates more enemies for him.

Bishamon also ends up looking a little naive here. Like I mentioned before, getting stung can be absolutely fatal. If the spirits continue to do or even think bad thoughts, then the master get injured and can eventually die. So it’s a huge deal and Bishamon needed to do more about it. Instead without Yato she definitely would have died for a second time. She really lost sight of the forest for the trees which was not a good look. She was also too quick to take Kuguha’s side and banish Kazuma despite the kid being her most trusted advisor for years. That just made no sense. I do happen to like Bishamon though. She definitely has her large set of flaws but she’s a great fighter and is less of a government stooge than most of the other gods who just follow orders. I would like more rule breaking from this series because too many of the gods show that they just don’t have any internal ethics and do whatever they’re ordered to.

I also can’t say that I like Kazuma all that much. He’s a little too arrogant at times and while he respects Yato, he could probably show more gratitude as well. Then he allows himself to fall for Bishamon which is not a good idea since she is literally his god. Kazuma is at least reasonably strong and he was at his best when he joined up with Yato. Still, he’s not really one of the better characters. He’s useful in a fight but that’s about all that I can say for the guy.

Kuguha made for an interested villain but the guy got way too lucky the whole time. I don’t get how everyone trusted him so much considering he was basically a newcomer next to most of the other characters. Sure he was a good healer but that’s about all that you could say for the guy. It’s definitely not enough to be putting him on a pedestal. His plans just didn’t feel all that great even though he got pretty far. Fairly underwhelming villain all things considered and his ultimate motive didn’t help him.

Tenjin is a supporting character who shows up a lot but he tends to be super annoying. This guy pretty much always gives the wrong advice like telling Hiyori to cut ties with Yato. You can feel free to skip all of his dialogue because the guy is nuts. Now granted, he is knowledgeable of course so if you want an info dump then he’s your guy. If you want quality advice and good vibes though? Definitely avoid this guy and he’s so old that he can’t even fight.

Kofuku is a lot more entertaining at least. She brings bad luck to those around her but she never lets this get her down. I appreciate her optimism. She can be a little shady at times like with how people waste their money on her but I do get the logic of it being their choice. Either way she’s a fun supporting character and does step in to help Yato when she can. I would think of her as a good friend without a doubt.

In the next arc Yato basically gets blackmailed by his father into going on another mission. So he takes the stray Nora and heads into the underworld. The god Ebisu is there as well for knowledge and now they have to contend with the ruler Izanami. She is a powerful shapeshifter who really just wants to be loved and the whole thing is pretty rough for her. Nobody ever ends up wanting to stay with her. Personally I feel like she would find a ton of able volunteers if she checked the real world a bit more though. Considering she intends to use force though, you can really only be so sympathetic to her plight.

This arc is fairly big because it starts up a ton of subplots. For one, this is Ebisu’s final appearance as an adult since he is reincarnated back to being a kid after this. That was annoying because he was very interesting as an adult but I didn’t really like him as a kid. He just didn’t have that air of being distinguished anymore and I felt like he lost a considerable amount of his skills in the process. There was just no going back after this point.

We also got to see the stray Nora finally show up in a real role. She’s actually a lot of fun but unfortunately she has basically been brainwashed by Fujisaki into being the ultimate murder weapon. She has tons of names so any god can use her. She really wants to be close to Yato and is jealous of Yukine but he wants nothing to do with her. I do feel like Yato should have found some way to try and bring Nora to the light side though. For the most part I feel like she is always on her own and it’s tough because there is no way she can escape on her own. She absolutely needs some help so can’t anyone show up and actually try to help her? That would have definitely been appreciated.

She is also one of the stronger fighters in the series so she would have been a real asset to the series. If she was a good guy then the final arc would play out way differently. Ah well, things definitely aren’t easy for her but she sure keeps things interesting. It was a pretty solid mini arc and there were definitely some good action scenes while in the underground. You could even argue that Yato is near the peak of his power here since I would still argue that Nora is more powerful than Yukine despite his blessed blade status.

After a pair of arcs we get to one of the biggest arcs in the series where the heavens show up to take down Bishamon. I would say this is around where we see just how weak willed most of the supporting cast are. The heavens are insanely corrupt and yet so many of the characters just watch or decide not to help. I don’t know about you but if the characters aren’t stepping up to help then they are basically accomplices. There’s no easy way to slice it, that’s just how it goes. In this arc Bishamon looks really good though. After Fujisaki murdered one of her guardians, Bishamon has decided that she wants revenge.

As Yato’s father, Fujisaki’s death would mean that the lead dies too so it is a little complicated there but she’s still got to do it. Also I don’t think she knows about the link at this point in time. So she even wakes up a legendary fighter named Nana to help her in the big battle. It’s a pretty impressive climax to be sure and Nana is one of my favorite characters. Here’s someone who loves to fight and is also super talented at it. That’s what I call a very useful combo here. Nana doesn’t get to appear a ton but makes the most of each appearance. Taking on a whole army of heaven’s finest is no easy task after all.

Meanwhile Yato take scare of Takemikazuchi, another yes man who was annoying the whole time. At least getting absolutely demolished helped calm his mind for a while there so he got better. Even then he never left much of an impression on me which does tend to be the case here a lot of the time. This is probably my favorite arc in the series though. It was real solid all the way through and we definitely got a really solid rage mode from Bishamon. It also wouldn’t be the last time that the heavens decide to make a move.

After that Fujisaki causes more trouble like trying to get Yukine to look into his past so his soul will crumble and he turns into a monster or fades away. It becomes imperative that Yato take him out so he turns back to Kazuma. The annoying thing about this is it does mean that once again Yukine has a lot of loyalty issues and thinks Yato is turning his back on him. Solid communication would definitely prevent a lot of the issues that continue to come up here, that’s for sure. We are deep enough in the series though where I wish that Yukine would just listen more. It’s obvious that Yato is here to help and isn’t trying to hurt him. So Yukine should trust him for once instead of constantly being manipulated with ridiculous ease.

Then we quickly approach the ending here which was long enough where I remember getting faked out a few times. The heavens decide to destroy Fujisaki and do their best but they all get absolutely crushed so the task falls to Yato once again. Fujisaki really looks impressive and deserves his hype because he still does great in the fight here. The guy has so many names, powers, and summons at his disposal. He’s a super versatile combatant and proves why his experience is the real deal here. Yato is consistently outgunned the whole time here and has an extremely hard time fighting. There is also still the fact to consider that is Yato wins, he will still die due to how the system works. He also has to worry about Yukine and Hiyori the whole time.

There’s a super boring subplot about Ebisu and the thunder god going to a village to find the root of why Fujisaki is basically immortal. Turns out the guy is like Voldemort and you have to destroy objects that are connected to him as well. I still wonder what the gods were even doing to let things get this far though. We get some cool super forms in the end and a lot of fights so that’s always fun. The ending had me a little nervous there but ultimately it wasn’t bad. The very ending definitely saved it there because things were looking dicey for a minute there.

As a villain Fujisaki is not bad. The guy wants to change the system and is absolutely crazy so you can go far on that kind of combination. In some ways he is like a budget Aizen but the society here isn’t nearly as corrupt as the Soul Society so what that means is it’s a little harder to really sympathize with the guy. Instead it just looks like he is completely off his rocker. I’m no fans of the heavens in this verse either. They seem needlessly cruel with their punishments and murder each other over the smallest infraction. That said, at least they are protecting the human world while this guy is just indiscriminately murdering everyone in his way.

The art is definitely pretty solid throughout the series. At times it can get a little chaotic, especially near the end of the series with all of the big explosions and wide attacks. You can generally tell what is happening without too much fuss though. The fights are on point which is the important thing but it can also be clear during the comedic moments. At worst sometimes there is just so much text on the screen that it can be a little intimidating. That goes back to one of my issues in the series which is that it can be a little too lore heavy at times.

A title like Jujutsu Kaisen or Hunter X Hunter can get away with it because the dialogue is always very interesting but that’s not really the case here. A lot of the time you just really don’t care about what they are saying. It’s basically inconsequential. Most of the lore isn’t really taken advantage of which is why you don’t even want to hear about it. This just isn’t that kind of series in the end and so no amount of lore could really change that. This is mainly an action title with a lot of good comedic moments and the lore is like white noise in the background.

Then throw in the weak cast like I mentioned earlier and that gets thing trickier. Again, I tended to like them all a lot more in the anime so that should help but I barely cared about the gods in the subplot because of this. Every time it would cut to the characters on the boat I would be shaking my heads. Also, so many of the gods died and turned back to kids/new selves that it was a bit annoying. It may be the same soul but they often have no recollection of the previous life so it may as well have been a new character.

I’m still skeptical as well as how close Fujisaki came to winning here. He was outnumbered so badly by the heavens so why are they so weak and ineffectual? He should have been taken down real quick. Also, it’s all not a great consolation to all of the humans down below as they started getting slaughtered for being corrupted. The heavens were certainly not merciful here as they basically told the gods to wipe everyone out. Now that’s just great. In general I’m not sure that some of the world building here holds up. The whole gods being damaged by their minions even thinking bad things still seems absolutely excessive. They can never be sad or mad or anything without blighting the host. It seems to me that you’d basically have to brainwash them in order for anything like that to be possible.

Noragami should have really kept things a little more simple here. In some respects you almost could have gone the full on comedy route here and it would have worked pretty well. Or have your occasional action scene with it but you don’t need this massive cinematic experience of huge world building and hundreds of characters fighting in a big war. That part really felt like the series bit off a bit more than it can chew. If the series played to its strengths on a more local setting it would just be even better but at least that’s the way I see it. I sort of know what it’s like when fans say that for other series now although I tend to disagree 99% of the time and again I may feel differently there when I read it as a marathon.

Overall, Noragami is a good series. I think it’s one of those series that will also play better on the re read when I can binge through all of the story beats. Any that seemed to drag on a lot like the Yukine scenes won’t be as bad this way and you also get the payoff a lot quicker. This series deserves a lot of credit for lasting so long. I definitely look forward to the next anime season because you know they will continue to amp up all of the fun moments and the action scenes. It’s what the anime does after all, they are always ready to pull this off. It looks like that is going to take a while though so in the meantime I definitely recommend reading this series. In a way Noragami is at its best when it’s having fun mixing the action and comedy as opposed to getting ultra serious but in the end it still does good on both fronts.

Overall 6/10

Noragami: Aragato Review

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It’s time for the return of Noragami! Everything you enjoyed about the show returns for season 2 and the action scenes get even more intense. Part of what made the first season a hit was the stellar soundtrack, solid animation, and it was a good time. The humor was really on point with likable characters to go around it. The only thing holding it back was how annoying Yukine was and that plot’s over now so we don’t have to worry about it. As a result what we get is a season 2 that’s devoid of any big issues like that. It may have a little less time for some of the wacky season 1 humor but it finds its moments to get that across. This one’s definitely a winner.

Season 2 starts off fairly quick with Yato and Yukine completing missions and having a good time with Hiyori. One day Yukine makes friends with Suzuha, a guy who really enjoys working on his tree. The two of them hit it off pretty well but one day Suzuha is brutally murdered and Yukine is upset at Bishamon for not spending much time with him. He feels like she has too many regalia and as a result doesn’t truly know any of them too well. Well, he may be more right than he realizes as one of her regalia, Kugaha appears and kidnaps Hiyori and Kazuma. Yato believes Bishamon ordered him to do that so he sets off with Yukine to rescue Hiyori and destroy anyone who gets in their way.

The first arc here is a full revenge arc through and through. We get to see a more serious Yato like how he was back when he was a god of calamity. Hiyori is one of his main ties to the human world so he really needs to save her but even more importantly, she’s a close friend. Yato saved Bishamon in the past even though she wouldn’t admit it but this time he may have to end her. It’s a very solid arc with a whole lot of action and character development. It also has the single best scene in the whole Noragami series when Yato does a spin move to dodge Kugaha’s attack and instantly counters.

For some reason several regalia seem to believe that the gods are powerless when they don’t have a regalia at the ready but that couldn’t be more wrong. Yato has shown time and time again that he can absolutely dish out some serious damage against any opponent even if he is by himself. He wouldn’t be a true god of calamity otherwise, but I believe the same is true for most of the gods. They tend to get underestimated quite a lot which you think wouldn’t be possible given their titles and all.

Yato is really excellent in this first arc but falters in the second one. I like that Yato doesn’t hesitate to save his friends and was really going all in here. He couldn’t afford to hold back against someone like Bishamon and also talks Yukine into helping out at full power. He’s just a dependable guy and someone that you want in your corner for any fight. Now the reason why he falters in arc 2 is because he allows himself to be easily manipulated by Nora and his father. It just feels too easy especially when he had been on such a high earlier. He should have been able to stay strong and just say no or at least get Yukine involved. Yato has a lot of powerful friends after all and while many of them may not be able to do a lot, I feel like coming clean and contacting them would have been way better.

Just vanishing like he did was really the wrong call and put him in a lot of hot water that he didn’t need to be in. Meanwhile Yukine wins the award for most improved character here and it’s not even close. He’s no longer a delinquent and has also learned to master his emotions. Even when Yato goes missing Yukine doesn’t panic in the slightest and stays calm. He knows that any negative emotions would hurt Yato and so he holds back. He does his best not to be a burden anymore and also to live up to his new position and status as a blessed vessel. He does great in that and while he suffers some self doubt, I don’t blame him. Yato just disappearing like that is still a big blow even if Yukine tries to ignore it. Then getting wrecked by Kugaha at first had to hurt.

In the end Yukine overcomes every obstacle thrown his way though and really ends up being a solid character. Meanwhile Hiyori is solid as always. She does try to fight at times which I appreciate even if the situation may be too dangerous for her to do much more than that. Either way she always proves that she has their back at all times. Whether it’s in a fight or just to say something inspirational. She keeps Yato and Yukine’s spirits up and is probably the best supporter you could ask for.

As for Bishamon, well we finally learn the truth behind the tragedy that happened to her family a while back. With Yato murdering all of her followers it’s definitely easy to see why she bares such a grudge. It’s not like she was ever given a full explanation back then and Kazuma was certainly not going to mention anything. To an extent she was in denial which she admits later on but either way that’s not something you can just let go. So I totally get her wanting to destroy Yato since he didn’t give her a chance to try and save them all. Fighting to avenge your family is a powerful motivator after all and she did well to keep fighting even after obtaining numerous blights.

Bishamon really gets to show off her stamina throughout all of this as she’s put through a ton in the arc. Ultimately she is able to get past the situation but having her family murdered twice is not something you can easily forget. I suspect she will still be struggling with this for a long time yet. At least she is trying to look on the bright side of things though and has a better setup now. She also returns for the second arc and does really well in the fight. It’s a little surprising that the new villain was so powerful that even Bishamon couldn’t do much though. I guess it goes to show that the power levels will keep on rising.

Kazuma was surprisingly really solid here. I remember not being a big fan of his in the manga but in the show he’s really been dependable. He’s a solid teacher and I was also glad with how confidently he took down one of the angel guards. At this point there aren’t many regalia who can challenge Kazuma. A big part of being a regalia is having a lot of confidence and with Bishamon trusting him completely, Kazuma’s got all the confidence he needs. Both he and Yukine get a lot of time to shine in the series and have to be the two strongest Regalia in action. The only possible competition is Nora and she seems like more of a tactical type than pure power.

Kugaha is the big villain in the first arc but I wouldn’t say that I’m a big fan of his. He also gets off wayyyyy too easily here. I get that Bishamon is a nice person but now you have someone who actually is directly murdering her family and the reaction is way milder than it should be. I don’t care that this guy thought he was a hero, Bishamon should still be taking him out right away. The guy tried every underhanded trick in the book. It’s a shame that they didn’t let Yato handle this because he would have definitely taken the guy down a peg. He wasn’t wasting any time like when he took Kugaha’s hand.

Kugaha is one of those manipulator types so he doesn’t fight on the front lines much but surprisingly he actually can fight when there is no other option. Between his summons and strong borderlines, he’s a legitimate threat to a lot of the fighters. I don’t think I’ll ever grow to like him since his motives are so petty but maybe one day he’ll rise up if he ever returns. His last scene seemed pretty open ended.

Aiha is the regalia that Kugaha tricks the whole time so I can’t say I liked her very much. She made his job very easy with how she was already bullying someone and causing blights on Bishamon. Basically Aiha was jealous because she wasn’t on the front lines anymore. Yes, she was blighting her god over jealousy, that’s just awful. Then meanwhile she was fully willing to do anything Kugaha said and would have possibly murdered Hiyori if Yato didn’t step in. So while she has her big redemption arc, I just wasn’t buyint into it here.

Suzuha was a good character, it’s just too bad that his spirit was broken so quickly. A few words from Kugaha was enough to distract him before he was taken out. Realistically he would have died anyway but maybe he could have put up a fight. That’s the only moment in the season that’s surprisingly brutal as he’s ripped apart. It’s mainly off screen but not the way you want to go out, that’s for sure.

In this first arc we also got to see Yukine’s true form which is a solid power-up for him and Yato. It’s good to see them getting stronger because while Yato is fairly high ranked, he didn’t seem to fare as well as you would expect against some of these fighters. I’d say it’s a mix of Yato holding back and Yukine just not being sharp enough yet. Yato doesn’t really want to murder people anymore and I think that ends up holding him back during a lot of the fights as well. He’s worried that he’ll end up being like his old self.

Then we jump into the final arc where Yato gets blackmailed/forced by Nora and his father into going back to his murdering ways. He murders a bunch of crooks and accepts any mission they tell him to complete. The final one is to rescue Ebisu from the Underworld and then he’ll be free again. The tricky thing is that the underworld is ruled by Izanami who is even stronger than the gods. Getting out won’t be easy particularly as Ebisu insists on stealing her brush which will let you summon demons a lot easier.

Right so I had more issues with this arc like the whole Yato thing that I already went into. I also thought the climax was a bit convenient involving the heroes having to figure out Yato’s true name. Perhaps with the kanji it makes more sense in Japan but if Hiyori just misspelled the name by mistake then that’s way too “destiny” for me. That just shouldn’t be happening. Now I do still leave the door open for this to be a kanji rule where you can break the symbol up into different word variations. Then I’d say that’s okay.

Izanami is really impressive with how powerful she is. Her vines just can’t be cut by Yato or Bishamon. I like to think that with Yukine, Yato would have been able to win though. Because the only reason he’s losing is because his blade isn’t sharp enough so that tells me that the match changes as soon as he has a sharper blade. Yukine should be able to cut just about anything right now so that would be a win. Meanwhile Bishamon did better because she had more weapons but ultimately also ran into the same issue where she just couldn’t land any cutting damage.

It’s Izanami’s domain so she gets an extra buff too. Honestly you feel bad for her by the end because she just wants a friend. The heroes ultimately did lie and betray her the whole time so it’s not like she even started the fight. From the context we have, she is just an innocent person in a bad situation. I feel like Ebisu should have stayed with her since he was dying anyway. There’s no indication that she is actually evil or would have done anything crazy to him so then he could have given the pen to Yato to hold onto for him until he reincarnated.

In this arc I thought Kofuku and Daikoku looked a lot better than usual as well. This time they did stick around to back Yato up even when the gods appeared. So there was no backing off or hiding when the going got tough. They just made sure to keep on supporting him even if they were branded as traitors as well. That’s the kind of determination and loyalty I like to see among the friends.

Meanwhile, Nora is super useful in combat of course but you can see why Yato tries to distance himself from her. She’s always acting rather sinister and the fact that she has a contract with just about everyone is a bit unnerving. You can’t really trust that she’s really on your side. I like to think she would choose Yato over the others but who wants to take that kind of a chance right? She is always quick to pull him to the side of evil too so you want to get bad influences like that out of your life.

Ebisu never hit it off for me here but at least I’m glad that he’s able to fight thanks to his regalia. Ultimately it feels like he had no plan though because imagine what would have happened if Yato didn’t show up? He wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes down there. It’s made clear from the jump that this guy isn’t a big fighter like that so this was all very poorly thought out on his end and he should feel bad since strategy is at least something that he should be able to do.

Ultimately both arcs don’t have clear cut happy endings so you can see why this season’s vibes are a lot more serious than the first season. There’s less time for the characters to mess around because something serious is always happening. You even have some romance drama with one guy trying to get together with Hiyori. Unfortunately when he takes advantage of her she doesn’t immediately report him to the school or her friends and just starts running. I’d like to see the guy get called out one of these days for pulling a stunt like that.

The season has a bit more fanservice than the first one though. Bishamon ends up taking a lot of baths to try and wash away the blight but I wonder how effective that can really be. Seems to me like doing an absolution for everyone would still be easier. Additionally it feels low risk since Yukine’s only got dicey since he was already so far gone. When you’re in good shape I feel like the process would be fairly painless. I could be mistaken on that though I suppose.

One them during the series is that gods can’t make mistakes. Yato explains that any action a god takes is automatically the right one and I would disagree with his logic there. Of course he is a god so he would believe that and he was also mentioning this during season 1. Given what we see from Ebisu and Bishamon though, they can still make the same mistakes as anyone else. I’d say they commit sins too and they just don’t get blighted because of how the world’s logic works. I get why Yato would think this since effectively they make the rules but it’s that kind of thinking that leads to so many of the gods getting overconfident and corrupt.

They all look really shady in the climax after all as they don’t give anyone a chance to sit down and think about what’s going on. They just launch right into their attacks and trying to bump Ebisu off. They’re not exactly paragons of moral virtue. The only one I liked here was the Hawaii guy who was eager to go help Ebisu and wasn’t about to get captured. We learn that he waged war against the heavens once before and based on his confidence I’d say that it went pretty well. I like the fire behind this guy’s eyes and he’s someone to keep an eye out for.

I had some slight power level issues here at times but nothing too crazy. I just feel like Yato’s power fluctuates a lot from being able to destroy the most powerful spell of the heavens to having trouble with Ebisu. Yes, his slashing power is dependent on his regalia but his physical abilities are always on point. He was holding his own with Bishamon and had great reaction times with Kugaha. He should not be having trouble with almost anyone here. I just have to go on the theory that he’s constantly holding back but I can only use that for so long before it gets stale. I assume the whole speech Kugaha made about how strong the Nora are is pretty much fake but at the same time I want to see the regalia have more attacks beyond the single shockwave. There should be a bigger bonus to having a contract with the god that would give you an edge over a nora who knows your name. Otherwise it does feel like you’re at a disadvantage.

I suppose the reason the power levels come to the forefront more here is because of how there’s a lot more action than in season 1. At least true fight scenes so not counting quick battles against the minions. Here you have the heroes going up against enemies who can actually fight back so you get to gauge their power a lot better. The show still has its somber moments and happy scenes of course but you can usually expect a big fight scene almost every episode. The stakes are constantly high and the show gets tense. It’s also always good to see the serious Yato return for the battles since he did have quite the reputation back in the day. You know that he can slip into that persona at any time.

As mentioned earlier, the soundtrack is still excellent like in season 1. You’ve got a lot of very catchy tunes that fit all occasions. From serious themes to comedic ones, the show has great variety. The animation is also great here and doesn’t hold back. All of the fights are really good and there’s a lot of detail. It’s a show that will absolutely still hold up 5-10 years from now and well beyond that as well. The show goes by quickly at 13 episodes but the pacing is really fast so a lot happens. There’s also a good amount of setup for the future story moments as well like with Yato’s dad being around. I can’t say that I’m a big fan of the guy at all since his appearances here are pretty bad. Hopefully he’ll end up being more interesting. The one weakness to the series right now would be that the villains are fairly weak. The guy from the season 1 climax stomps all of these guys so far.

Overall, Noragami: Aragato is a very solid follow up to the first season. It does everything the first did but even better and that’s what you always want to see out of a sequel. Yato is also just a great main character. Another standout moment for him is when Tenjin tells him to avoid Hiyori and Yato just doesn’t. That promise was rigged from the start so I’m cool with Yato breaking his word there. Tenjin was just trying to take advantage of a really bad situation and proved that he wasn’t a true friend in the way that some of the other gods were. Yato may have slipped in the second arc which I still find a little hard to buy into but I like to think that was the last time he will stumble. If you haven’t seen this show yet then you’ll definitely want to jump in now!

Overall 8/10

Noragami Review

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Noragami is a title that’s been around for a while and is even still going but always seems to be hidden behind all of the other big ongoings. You just never see anybody ever talking about it and the same with the anime. This one isn’t even that old and yet I don’t remember seeing it make any headlines. It’s a shame because the production values on this show are really way better than I expected. Yukine single handily sabotages the show enough to keep me from calling it great all around but you’ll have a lot of fun with this one.

The show starts by introducing us to Yato who is one of the gods of this realm. He accepts any mission for 5 yen and one day hopes to have his own temple where people can come worship him. In the meantime though he is pretty poor and so nobody really wants to work with him. His latest regalia (partner) decided to quit so Yato is on his own one day. He gets someone else into trouble when a girl named Hiyori pushes him out of the way as a bus was about to hit him. Of course it wouldn’t have hurt since Yato is effectively a ghost but she didn’t know that and her spirit self was shot right out of her.

Hiyori now has a rare condition where she will just fall out of her body at times. Her spirit form can then run and jump across buildings but the danger is that it attracts evil spirits. She is now a prime target for all kinds of villains and so she hires Yato to heal her of this condition. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like he knows all that much about her situation so this may not be as easy as all of that. He does finally find a new regalia in Yukine but this kid has a lot of issues. Will they be able to form a true team and save Hiyori or should she turn to another god for help?

Right off the bat I like the setting for Norgami. It’s a very classic city but one that actually makes use of this. You have the characters fighting while jumping on buildings, checking out the sites, and the place always feels very modern. It’s very much the kind of place you would see in a slice of life title, only you’ve still got your consistent action here. Additionally, the gods dynamic is fun with how they’re always around and normal people just have a hard time seeing them. Whether the god stays alive and powerful or not depends on if people continue praying to them. It adds a sense of urgency for why Yato wants to keep on clearing missions and to get bigger. If he doesn’t then he’ll literally cease to exist.

Gods also have special privileges here like how they don’t suffer penalties for committing crimes and such since they are supposed to be above good and evil. You can see how the rules are slanted in their favor but they made the rules so of course they would do that. Season 1 doesn’t introduce us to too many gods yet but it’s clear that there are quite a lot of them running around. They’ll just be slowly incorporated into the mix.

Noragami also has a lot of really solid humor. One of the best gags was when a guy decides to finally end his life and gets to the roof. Yato approaches and you figure he’s going to talk this guy down but by mistake he falls on him and so the whole group (Yato, Yukine, Hiyori, and this guy) all fall off the building. So Yato is still talking him down as they are plummeting to their doom. They’re falling for close to 20 minutes and the characters even comment on this but Yato takes it in stride and never panics. There are some twists about how this guy’s life went so crazy and the show turns what would usually be a rather grim moment into something rather amusing.

The show just has a good sense of humor and a lot of that comes from Yato. He’s really an ideal main character who is strong but doesn’t take life too seriously. In a few ways he reminds me of Train Heartnet. The guy’s been in the game for a very long time at this point and so he has learned to not take everything too seriously at this point. He’ll eventually clear all of his goals so why stress about it right? It’s a pretty good motto tbh. Yato’s just a lot of fun and really does a good job in carrying his part of the show. He has a lot of the best scenes without a doubt and never gave up on Yukine even when it seemed like he should.

Yato’s certainly someone who owns his mistakes. Now he probably could have handled Hiyori’s case better, I won’t argue against that but for the most part he’s always on point. Then the show also has a really great soundtrack. It’s just epic and always has a very electronic kind of vibe to it. At the same time the slice of life moments can be low key. The opening song is really catchy and there are even a bunch of lyrical songs that play from time to time. This is close to a 5 star soundtrack for me and it just never lets up.

Then the animation is also a cut above the rest. It has aged really well and could hold its own with any of the newer shows. The fights are on point and I like the effects they use for when a villain is exorcised. The whole show has a lot of extra detail thrown in the whole way. A lot of care and effort was put into the presentation. There isn’t much in the way of fanservice also which is always nice to note. There is a bit here and there so I can’t say that it’s devoid of this but for the most part you get to dodge this issue.

So as you can see the show was just great all around. I thought it exceled in every area that a show can in order to enhance the manga quality. Of course it still does have to follow the story and the show’s only weakness is Yukine who can be almost unbearable at times. He doesn’t learn from his mistakes and just keeps on making them. I’ll get into him more in a moment but yeah the show would have easily reached an 8 without him. That kid just gets to be too much.

In fact, Yukine’s plot is most of the season. So his dilemma is that he is having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he is dead. This can be an issue for a lot of characters for sure but he takes it really poorly. Yukine feels like he died so young that he never got to experience what it meant to be alive and to have friends. As he is a kid right now, that means that was the age in which he died so you can see how the whole thing was tragic for him. We’ll certainly find out more about that in the future but for now it’s a mystery and it wouldn’t be good for Yukine to find out more.

Yukine decides to rebel as a result. One rule I haven’t mentioned yet is that if a regalia feels bad, has malicious thoughts, or actually commits a crime, then this is all transferred to the god through a searing pain/curse. These stings will eventually destroy the god and so for that reason, most Regalia are tossed aside after a single burn. Yato doesn’t do that since he wants to stand by Yukine all the way to the end but unfortunately that just means that Yukine continues to do this without stopping.

Now, in Yukine’s only defense I feel like the characters could have been a bit more straight forward about how his sins impact Yato. Yato says it but in a way where everyone seems to think he’s joking at first. To an extent I’m not sure if Yukine ever actually believed Yato until Yukine mentioned it in the climax of the arc. That’s the one weakness of always joking around, when you’re actually serious people may not even believe you at the time. It’s something that Yato should really keep in mind.

This in no way absolves Yukine from what he’s doing though. He’s smashing windows, stealing stuff, etc. The guy has no moral compass and even came close to taking advantage of Hiyori when she was asleep if Yato hadn’t come around. These things are really tough to come back from and so Yukine was easily the worst character in the series. A whole lot of focus is on him too which hurts the season a bit. After a while we get it, he’s an awful person so you just wish things could speed up a little more because you want to go back to seeing Yato and his crazy shenanigans. That’s when the series is at its best along with the solid action.

Yato probably would have been better off with a different regalia. Meanwhile Hiyori is a good heroine. Jumping in front of the car to save Yato was very heroic and she takes her new condition in stride. Of course she isn’t thrilled about how Yato is always giving her the runaround but who would be right? He’s clearly just stringing her along and she knows that. Still, Hiyori takes the situation into her own hands several times like when she tries to fight some of the monsters in her ghost form or when she tries to find Yato a regalia.

Hiyori always throws herself into the plot and does her best to try and find a cure as well. I liked the fact that she wasn’t just waiting on Yato all day with no plan. Hiyori was doing everything that she could and that’s a good thing. Her two friends are also reasonable with how patient they are about Hiyori’s “sleeping bouts” (Which is what it looks like to people when her spirit form runs off) and her having to ditch them from time to time. I doubt they’ll ever get a big role but they’re nice enough.

Then we’ve got some of the other gods like Tenjin. He’s a fairly nice guy but probably not the god you want to work for. He’s quite extreme with how he’ll toss out a regalia over a single infraction. He also doesn’t seem like he would be quick to help Yato in his time of trouble. So in the end I don’t see him as being too reliable. Then you have Kofuku who is a lot more likable. She is the goddess of misfortune so she does tend to make the situation worse but it’s by accident so at least she isn’t trying to do that. I can certainly give her a pass and of course she is willing to help Yato in his time of need.

She steps in when Bishamon shows up and even threatens the war goddess. So Kofuku’s got Yato’s back and that’s appreciated since you probably couldn’t say the same for most. There’s also her regalia Daikoku who is decent enough. He’s very protective of her and always has a tough exterior. Ultimately he means well but his priorities are clear, Kofuku is the one who matters above all else. A fine attitude for a regalia to have since that’s their purpose and fortunately she likes Yato so he ends up helping out a whole lot as well.

Bishamon is one of the goddesses with the biggest role here. She has had a long standing feud with Yato for some time now over him apparently murdering one of her regalia. There’s clearly more to this story than it appears as her regalia Kazuma considers himself to be in Yato’s debt but she seems unaware of this. Either way she makes for a very solid antagonist as a result as she gives him no breaks or any room to explain himself. She just wants him dead at any cost. It’s not like he’s trying to explain himself anyway though, for some reason it seems like he wants to keep that a secret.

As for Kazuma, well he’s good in this season. He does aid the heroes even if he has to keep a secret and the guy comes across as being rather reasonable. It would be nice if he could explain exactly what the situation is to Hiyori, but it’s not like he’s under any obligation to do so. Ultimately he does still work for Bishamon and just helping out in the climax is good enough in order to repay his debts.

Nora is a mysterious figure who is also tied to Yato’s background. Apparently she used to work for Yato during his darker days when he was murdering everyone. Now Yato doesn’t want anything to do with her so she has gone further and further into the realm of the dark. Her role is rather large at the end of the season since she orchestrates the whole scenario with the heroes having to fight Rabo.

As for Rabo, I like this guy as a villain. He doesn’t have a whole lot of motivation beyond just wanting to fight Yato at his best and causing general mayhem. Rabo is a rather simple villain but an effective one. He has one singular goal and will do whatever he can in order to accomplish it. It doesn’t get much better than that for a villain. He’s also strong and his battles with Yato are really solid. Rabo even had the upper hand for good portions of that fight but of course you know that Yato would absolutely be able to claim victory if he was truly going all out like in the old days.

Now while I did enjoy the animation a lot, I do think the show could get a little lazy at times. There’s one flashback they show where Yato murders these two guys a ton of times. It was almost every episode after Hiyori found out about his past. They would play the same scene over and over and over again. It got old really quick and felt obvious as a way to save time on the animators part. In general I’m not usually a fan of recycled animation. Even when used stylistically, I can’t help but feel that it’s just really lazy. It doesn’t have to be lazy all the time of course but that’s just the vibe that I get. There is also recycled footage for when he’s entering into battles so it’s just a bit much.

Still, like I said the show’s excellent on a technical level. It’s just got really good vibes and is a blast to watch. Each episode is over in an instant and Yato’s such a good main character. This is a perfect example of an anime elevating the source material quite a bit. It’s all a lot more impactful than in the manga and if anything helps you to get more involved/invested in the current material.

Now that Yukine’s finally not acting like an awful delinquent making you cringe at every opportunity, I fully expect that season 2 should see a boost unless production values drop off or something. I can’t say I remember too well what happens next since I read this part of the manga so long ago but something cool should be around the horizon at least. Hopefully a lot of good action as well and then we’re really set. In general I also wouldn’t mind just seeing more of Yato being a nice guy. Even the small things like cleaning around the house and showing someone that violence was not the way when he was getting bullied were really good tips on his part. Yato actually does give good advice even if he acts aloof all the time.

I think part of what makes the series so much fun and what gives Yato time to shine is that this is an action show that still has time for its more day to day scenes. Who doesn’t like to see the main cast just hanging out and having a good time between the saving the world events right? I would argue that was always a strength in titles that happened to get huge globally like Naruto, Bleach, and other titles like that. While the action is still the biggest point for these titles, a strong case can be made that these got big because we got to know the characters on a personal level as well. For me the humor was just as important as the action in making this show a success. It really helped make the whole series an all around balanced title.

Overall, Noragami is a lot of fun. Yukine keeps me from calling it great, but it’s still a solid show that I would recommend to anyone. Whether you are a big action fan or just want a show with some good humor, you should have a good time either way. I see this show as being very accessible to everyone and that’s one of its many charms. I don’t want to overhype it or anything but it’s just got that calm vibe that really works out. I would compare it to Shenmue in some ways. We’ll see if Yato can ever reach his goal of being a really big god. He’s not close yet but at least the guy hasn’t lost heart.

Overall 7/10

Noragami Stray Stories Review

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It’s time to look at the Noragami short stories volume that came out recently. It may get a follow up at some point but seeing as it has been several years I think it’s unlikely so I may as well write the review right? It’s not that good unfortunately as it’s an anthology series which is already difficult and it forgets most of what makes the main series good. It could have been better if it didn’t rely on fanservice for quite a few of the jokes as well.

Let’s start with the stories! One adventure starts off with a guy who is down on his luck so he has decided to jump off of the largest skyscraper in the world. He ends up calling the main character accidentally so Yato jumps off with him to listen to the story. This guy has been using up all of his money to please the whims of a girl he just met since she is broke. The problem is that he gave all of his money to this cause including rent and such. Now he has nothing. Yato helps set him straight and we find out that it was one of the gods messing with the poor chap. It was a bit of an unexpected twist but it makes the girl look pretty mean. Perhaps she didn’t realize I guess. It’s a decent story even if you can’t feel sympathetic to the guy who was wasting his money since he made his choice.

Another story has the main cast chilling at a cabin in the middle of nowhere but someone appears to be trying to assassinate Yato. Someone knocks him on the head with a blunt instrument, poisons him, etc. Of course the main character is a god so he can’t die through mortal means but this killer must be stopped! I think the villain gets off rather easy here as it was an aspiring writer who just wanted to see what murder was like. That’s an interesting justification but the guy should still be locked up if you ask me. Instead he is taken to an institute though so at least he’s not running around scot free. It’s definitely the most fun story here. While Yato is never in any danger or anything like that, it’s still pretty fun to see him try to figure out what’s happening.

Following up on that we have a story where Yato wants to join the main group of gods so he can get rich and famous. The problem is that none of the other gods like him. They have all either dealt with him before or just don’t see what he has to bring to the table. That’s when he decides to possess the main heroine to make it instead. This gets dangerously close to succeeding. It’s a fun story for the first half but you always end up feeling bad for the heroine when she is thrown into these scenes. Yato always crosses a line when he unexpectedly takes control of her like that. He needs to respect the boundaries.

In another story Yato is tricked by a clever fortune teller. The guy tricks Yato into giving away his secrets and then the guy “predicts” them in exchange for money. Yato decides to get revenge by turning the tables on him. It’s a fun enough story and maybe the best one in the batch. It was a little sad to see Yato get played like that but he evened the scoreboard before very long which was good. The guy doesn’t just crumble before a loss, he embraces it! Yato is certainly petty, but that’s part of what makes him such a fun character at times.

One of the shortest stories is when Yato’s sword finds out that he can actually apply to get a real job instead of just hanging around Yato all day. The lead tries to stop him at every turn, but at the end of the day it’s his sidekick’s decision to make. The kid decides to stay with Yato which is the smart thing to do since none of the other gods can be trusted of course, but at least he pretends to be tempted for a while to mess with Yato. Considering how much Yato messes with everyone all the time that is definitely a reasonable thing to do.

Finally we also have the story where someone appears to be stalking Yato. Naturally this is a little distressing to him for 2 reasons. 1 is that mere mortals can hardly even see him and then tend to forget about him entirely a few minutes later. The second is that tracking him should be nearly impossible since Yato is always teleporting around quite frequently. As a result he is quite terrified, but it turns out that the stalker is fairly harmless. Having an internet god makes sense with how big it is and it’s almost too bad that she’s not in the main series. Cyber powers can always be interesting.

The art is pretty solid as always which is good. All of the character models are on point and the art is clear so it’s easy to read. Noragami in general is pretty consistent in that regard. The only time the art tends to get tricky is when there’s a large scale action scene but naturally you won’t be seeing something like that here. It’s just consistent from start to finish.

At the end of the day your enjoyment of this series will largely depend on if you’ve read the main series. Without it you’ll have no reason to care about these characters and most of the gags are based on character traits that we know about the characters through their adventures. At the same time, as this is a pure comedy you won’t care for it either way if you mainly enjoy Noragami for the action scenes. The cast can lend itself well to comedy so a spinoff like this would have potential but the series has definitely got to curb the fanservice if it really wants to get ahead of the crowd.

Overall, The stories here are fairly entertaining but they are brought down by the fanservice that tends to show up. If the series had played it straight then it would have been a solid comedy one shot that I could recommend. As it stands I’d say that you should just read the main series instead. It has its share of issues as well but it has big fight scenes to distract from them. It’s still surprising in general that this series got a spinoff but the more the merrier right?

Overall 4/10

Noragami

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I’ve started a new series! Off to a decent start so far. I’m glad that the main character switched partners since the original one was pretty annoying. It’s at the point where the series can go in any direction so I’ll have to wait and see if a tournament starts or if it’s time to go to the demon world Either way, I’ll have a review for it when I finish the series to its completion.

Overall 6/10