Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. In keeping with the excitement of the fall animes coming in the next month I give you one of my most requested animes Noragami. Yeah a lot of people have been asking me to take a look at this anime. It’s probably because it didn’t make the Top 11 animes of 2014 list and instead was listed as an honorable mention much to everyone’s surprise. Noragami when translated means Stray God and was one of the fan favorite animes of 2014. It’s a manga written by Adachitoka and follows the story of a stray god trying his hardest to be remembered in a world that has forgotten him. Right away this series had a lot of pressure going into it. For starters the manga is quite popular in Japan so a lot of attention to detail had to be followed when going into this anime. Luckily, the anime was being done by the famous anime studio Bones (Space Dandy and FMA: Brotherhood) who always give us high quality anime and they got a lot of well-known voice actors to come in and voice the characters. Let’s head to the shrine and pray that this anime is a success. This is Noragami.
Opening and Ending Theme
Our opening for this anime is “Goya no Machiawase” by Hello Sleepwalkers. This was one of my favorite openings from 2014. I’ve really been getting into a lot of Japanese rock music recently and this opening just gets me pumped up for the anime. I love the build-up for this song which leaves to a satisfying ending near the end of the opening. Our ending is “Heart Realize” by Tia. If you recall this was my favorite ending from 2014. The song is just so peaceful and heartwarming. Tia’s voice is both sweet and beautiful to listen to. I feel as if I’m going into the minds of the main characters and seeing how they were really alone until they found each other and became friends.
Episodes 1-4
So the anime starts off with our minor god Yato voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya (Law from One Piece) battling against this creature known as a phantom (now it might be because I’ve played a lot of Persona games in my life but I’m pretty sure that’s a shadow). Using his scared treasure weapon Tomone who is a divine knife in the form of a beautiful woman (oh now they’re just copying Soul Eater) he makes quick work of the phantom but things go bad for him after the fight because Tomone wants a divorce because she can’t stand serving a god who doesn’t even have a shrine dedicated to him (I guess he’s an indie god. Scene here: //youtu.be/P_iFx7hLmnk). So she quits and sometime later Yato gets called to find a missing cat named Milord (there’s a unique name for a cat). As he’s looking for the cat we get introduced to Hiyori a normal high school girl who has a secret passion for kick boxers (a girl who likes kickboxing, this is even harder to find then a girl who likes wrestling). She’s voiced by Maaya Uchida (Minori from Outbreak Company). Yato finds the cat in the street but is about to get hit by a bus until Hiyori pushes him out of the way and takes the hit for him (scene here: //youtu.be/qdpl8PhQZ7k, and there’s Yu Yu Hakusho. God, why is this anime reminding me of animes and video games I’ve watched in the past? Am I on the This is My Life Show?). She gets taken to the hospital where it turns out she’s alright and goes to school the next day (wow, Japanese women are tough) where she seems to be doing alright but keeps feeling drowsing for some reason (painkillers will do that to a girl). She begins to question what happened the other day and decides to look for the missing cat believing that if she finds the cat all her answers will be solved (how she arrived to this answer I’ll never know. Must be a girl thing). That night, Yato finds the cat who is about to get eaten by small time phantoms which are just floating eyes (what are you guys looking at?) and saves it to only run into a giant frog phantom (ribbit motherfucker) only to be saved by Hiyori again where the frog tries to eat her but she does a roundhouse kick on its head (Chuck Norris would be proud) which knocks the frog out and she escapes with Yato (also, for some season she has a transparent tail). After getting the cat back home safely Yato explains to Hiyori that her near death experience put her in the middle of the afterlife and actual life and transformed her into a phantom which we find out are incarnations of emotional energy (again, I say Persona) that possess people and cause trouble for them. He explains to her that from now on she’ll slip in and out of her body from time but Hiyori doesn’t want that and pays Yato 5 yen to help her (cheap god).
In the second episode a week goes by and Yato still hasn’t helped solved Hiyori’s problem (just like a cable company). He says he can’t help her at the moment because he doesn’t have a regalia (a divine weapon) which can only be established by making a contract with a phantom creature. After explaining this Yato gets called to do a job which is cleaning the mold off a bathroom wall (divine cleaning at your service). Since Yato needs a regalia to help Hiyori, she decides to search the city and see if she can find a phantom to be Yato’s partner (and who in their right mind would want to work for a god who cleans mold off the bathroom wall? Doesn’t really scream bow down and praise me). As she’s searching we get a little more information about these phantom creatures. We find out that only children, animals, and people like Yato and Hiyori can see them, they’re spirits who have become corrupted by the negative emotions of humans and come in all shapes and sizes and that they’re attracted to people with negative emotions because it allows the phantom to possess the human and take over their body where they can pretty much do anything they want (man we got like a mixture of Persona and Exorcist here). Hiyori finds a frog phantom she thinks would be a good partner for Yato and summons him to meet the frog where the frog attacks them because they smell good (thanks but that’s no excuse to eat them. You don’t see them trying to eat your legs because they look good. Scene here: //youtu.be/fwNiQXqmApA). Hiyori tries to fight the creature but Yato stops her and gets bit by the frog which causes a blight to appear on his hand (basically a curse that will slowly kill him. Kinda of like the poison aliment in RPG games). He tells Hiyori not to be reckless and fight phantoms because her cat tail serves as a link between her human body and spirit world body and if the tail is destroyed she’ll die. They keep running until Yato sees an uncorrupted spirit and makes the spirit his shinki which takes the form of a katana (it’s dangerous to go along take this *hands over katana*). With the katana he defeats the phantom (frog legs for dinner tonight) and goes to a temple to cleanse his hand of the blight (so water is the loophole in their blights. They probably should have thought of this a little more especially since the world they live in is MOSTLY COVER IN WATER). We end the episode by finding out that the katana’s name is Yukinene voiced by Yuuki Kaji (Issei from Highschool DxD) and has the appearance of a boy I can only describe as a 16 year old version of Len from Vocaloid (it’s kinda surreal in its own way. Scene here: //youtu.be/d_V2c5tAE-E).
At the beginning of episode 3 we find out that Yukine and Yato share mind and body so whenever Yukine thinks up perverted stuff Yato will know and he’ll get a tingly feeling down his spine (better get use to it Yato because the voice actor has voiced many perverts in the past so this pretty much comes second nature to him). After that Yato and Yukine along with Hiyori are summoned for a job by Lord Tenjin, the god of learning in Japan mythology (well so far he’s doing his job well) who has a way more godly presence than Yato and doesn’t seem to mind rubbing it in his face (the difference between the two is like night and day). He’s summoned Yato because he wants him to eliminate phantoms in the area that have been causing students studying to get into high school and colleges to commit suicide because of all the stress (again, it’s Japan, school and education is way more important to them than to us). Yato doesn’t seem to be interested in the job because he doesn’t like people who are weak and commit suicide because of grades and ending their life short before it can really begin. This way of thinking doesn’t sit well with Hiyori and she goes off to fight phantoms on her own where she gets captured (worst spirit girl ever) and about to get run over by a train (and we’ve entered an old black and white show. All that’s missing is the ragtime piano). Of course Yato shows up to save her (Yato~ do right to~ the rescue) and he rides the train to destroy a phantom attempting to lure a boy onto the railway. After that Hiyori finally sees why Yato was so cold earlier. It wasn’t that he didn’t wanna watch them die he just didn’t want them to die in front of Yukine and other shinki because their lives were cut unsuspectingly short and they wanted to keep on living and Yukine can’t stand people who have the gift of life but throw it all away for something stupid like failing on an entrance exam (you here that Japan, take it down a notch).
In episode 4 we meet Yato’s supposed girlfriend Kofuku (he has a girlfriend? Some girl wants to with his homeless ass) who is also a god (which god, you’ll find out soon). He goes to her for cash since he doesn’t have any (//youtu.be/65Hbl9J3zlM) but Kofuku’s shinki Daikoku (who may or may not be a possible pedophile) comes in to give him a beating for mooching off his master (scene here: //youtu.be/WTBPannshvs, remind me again how Yato is the good guy in this anime). After Yato introduces Yukine and Hiyori he accidently gets called from a guy committing suicide on a building that seems to have the biggest fall time because the guy tells Yato his life story and how he got to this point in his life (even Yukine and Hiyori address the fall time during this scene. Breaking the 4th wall at its finest). He tells them how he met a runaway girl on the streets and fell in love with her (even though the guy is a full grown adult who works at an ad agency and the girl is in high school. Yep, I’m calling the cops). Everything seemed to be going well in their relationship but a string of misfortunes started to occur around the man to the point where he became completely broke and his job performance dropped greatly. Overcome with the feeling of regret of not being able to provide for the person he loves he decides the only path for him is suicide (yeah, because going out and finding a new job was way too hard huh). After seeing that the girl he was dating was Kofuku (gold digger) Yato explains to him that Kofuku is the god of poverty (holy shit, she really is a gold digger) who goes out and finds people to form ties with which as you would guess causes misfortune to follow them (wow, that’s a very funny twist). Yato uses Yukine to server his times with Kofuku and erase his memories of her from his mind (scene here: //youtu.be/G1-6WoKKlJE, give him his money back). Later on Kofuku tells Hiyori to be careful around Yato since he’s a dangerous guy (yeah he’s a danger to the world, the people around him, and himself). Apparently in the past he killed a regalia with his own hands as well as many other people in the time of war (makes since, he is a god of war it’s only natural he kill). We end the episode by meeting Nora another regalia of Yato who has these marking all over her body. She doesn’t do much she just appears and says she’ll always be waiting for Yato and disappears (well, she wasn’t creepy at all wasn’t she). We also get this funny dream sequence from Yato (scene here: //youtu.be/uGypK0GZGIo, Yatoites?).
Episodes 5-8
In episode 5 Hiyori feels that Yato is unfit to take care of Yukine (she is of course right) and invites Yukine to spend the night at her place (you just wanna sleep with him don’t you) but Yato won’t allow it and gives Yukine a choice in the matter (geez go with the cute girl and stay in a nice house which I’m sure has a bed, bath, and plenty of food to eat or stay with the homeless god and spend another night at a cold and dark temple. Hmm~, I wonder who he’ll choose). Of course he goes with Hiyori (what were you expecting?) where her parents and housekeeper can’t see him so he’s free to do anything he wants. Yato shows up with the parents (scene here: //youtu.be/Kp9GEkWBBAk) where he tells Hiyori to look after Yukine since he’s afraid of the dark and that since they’re not on temple ground phantoms can attack him at will (so that’s why he stays at temples. To keep himself safe. And all this time I thought he was stealing offerings). When night comes Yukine can’t go to sleep so he goes to sleep in the bed with Hiyori (are we sure he’s 16 years old) where he tries to cop a feel of Hiyori’s breast since he kinda has a crush on her (nevermind he’s 16) but Yato is there to stop him (cockblocker. Scene here: //youtu.be/YY5-5whEpi0). The next day while shopping with Hiyori, Yukine gets yelled at by her for attempting to shoplift and not show any remorse for it. He runs away from her where he meets the ghost of a little girl who died in a car accident waiting for her mom to pick her up. The ghost still believes her mother will come to pick her up (okay that’s pretty sad. No I’m serious this is actually quite sad, I really do feel sorry for her) so Yukine stays with her where he tells her her mother isn’t coming and she gets swept up by a phantom and becomes one with the phantom (no~, you were so young and cute). Yato shows up and tells Yukine that the only way to save her is to kill her and much to Yukine’s displeasure he and Yato kill the phantom and save the girl from living in eternal damnation.
Shit happens in episode 6. We see that Yukine is still upset and traumatized by the events from the last episode (dude, the girl was swallowed up for a phantom you had no choice but to kill her). He begins to doubt Yato and start doing bad things like stealing that skateboard he liked from the last episode causing Yato to get a blight on his neck because his follower is fucking up (the sins of the follower shall be the sins of the master). He runs into Yato and makes up the lie that Hiyori bought the skateboard for him (//youtu.be/lNlePuVM3Ic?t=41s, you do know he can read your mind right Yukine because he’s know you’re trying to fuck him like a bitch) and Hiyori covers for him (don’t encourage him discipline this Len rip-off). They’re talk will have to wait because Bishamon the god of warfare and punisher of evildoers comes in to attack Yato and Yukine because the regalia that Yato killed in the past belonged to Bishamon who in this anime is a blond haired woman with a sexy body, wears a skimpy outfit and has been hunting Yato ever since he killed her regalia for revenge. She begins attacking them using her various regalia which consist of a whip, a talking lion, two handguns, a heavy blade, and an earring named Kazuma who is basically a GPS/tracker (Jesus this girl has more gear on her than Snake in a Metal Gear Solid game). Yato tries to use Yukine to fight back but the two are out of focus because Yukine has gone all wimpy on us because he can’t get over the events from the last episode and doesn’t trust Yato (in other words he’s gone all Shinji on us). Add in the fact that because his doubts and misdeeds Yato has a blight eating away at him making him weak and slowing him down (way to fuck him up Yukine). Hiyori gets Kofuku to help save him and she uses Daikoku to blow the two apart but also opens up a wormhole to Hell which unleashes phantom creatures on the city (how can Japan worship these deities?). Bishamon retreats but swearing to kill Yato the next time she sees him (whatever you sound like Charlie Brown’s mom) and Yato begins to wonder if Yukine can work for him.
Not much really happens in episode 7. Kazuma one of Bishamon’s regalias and an old friend of Yato tells Hiyori that if Yato doesn’t do something about Yukine soon he will die. We also learn a little more about regalias known as Noras regalias who have gone from multiple gods (god diggers) and have been known to betray their masters. Their primary focus is to do jobs a god normally wouldn’t give their normal regalia (so in Yato’s case I bet he uses Nora for some freaky stuff). Yato finds Yukine and drags him to their new job which is working at a convenience store where Kofuku and Daikoku offer them a new job in exterminating a phantom (exterminate it yourselves. It’s probably your fault the damn thing is running rampant in the first place). Yukine continues to do bad things (I liked you better when you had dirty thoughts about Hiyori) but Yato takes the job but before rushing out Hiyori stops him, grabs him by the face (now she’ll see why they call him a divine being) and she tells him to start treating Yukine like an actual person instead of a regalia (scene here: //youtu.be/xA7GTLbiHR8). Yato and Yukine go to face the phantom where Yukine has become dull and Yato is weak because of the blight consuming his body. Nora shows up telling Yato to use her (later on tonight woman) but Yato tells her to shut up, tells Yukine not to listen to her, and takes out a bottle of purification water and uses it on Yukine to make him sharp again and defeats the phantom. After that the two walk off together to end the episode (have they made up I can’t say but they have made a step in the right direction). We also get to see a face off between Kofuku and Bishamon (scene here: //youtu.be/0ZbG0rYX4wQ)
Episode 8 opens up with Hiyori at school in the lady’s room (scene here: //youtu.be/w_aWv8pV9Qw). We then focus on a boy at Hiyori’s school who has a bullying problem and contacts Yato to help him out (depending on the level of your grudge I can introduce you to an associate of mine. Her name’s Ai and she does phenomenal work). Yato hears his problem and instead of taking care of the bully himself he gives the boy a knife saying to use it as he pleases (woah Yato promotes violence in school). The boy goes to confront the bully and he pulls out the knife but he also pulls out another knife and throws it to the bully (alright this is better than I thought. You wanna play jokes bully than let’s play jokes, knife style). The boy charges at the scared bully and throws the knife away because he doesn’t want to lose his humanity and become like the bully (excellent resolve). The bully wets his pants (I’m not kidding he literally wets his pants) and runs away crying like a baby (scene here: //youtu.be/DRZbmcnNpJI. See, just like I told you guys a while back. Bullies are just cowards. The minute you step up to them the sooner they buckle under pressure and stop bothering you). With that issue resolved we also focus on Yukine who is finally coming to terms with the fact that he is dead, nobody will notice him, and that he is pretty much alone in this world (//youtu.be/DKwsRF0Y-0g?t=1m5s). Unlike the boy in this anime who faces his reality and decides to change without giving into the hatred of the world, Yukinene does the opposite and goes on a rampage in the school breaking all the windows with a baseball bat out of sadness and anger (scene here: //youtu.be/8oZhEaFlXlA. . .just out of curiosity where is Yukine on the wimpy scale? Let’s see we’ve passed Tomoyo from Clannad and Suzaku from Code Geass, slowing down at Mihoshi from Tenchi Muyo and we’re stopping between Raki from Claymore and Ganta from Deadman Wonderland. That’s quite a stretch Yukine that’s quite a stretch). Because of this the blight on Yato takes full effect and spreads throughout his body, in time the blight will cover his entire body and Yato will die all because of Yukine. Hiyori shows Yukine the result of his actions (all because you acted like a wimp) and they take him to Kofuku (she’s a gold digging god of misfortune going to her isn’t gonna make the situation better it’s only gonna make things worse) but Daikuku sets up barrier around their house after seeing the blight on Yato and we end with Hiyori begging them for help (I told you going to her was a bad idea).
Episodes 9-12 and OVAs
Things look bad for Yato in episode 9. Because of Yukine’s sins Yato has become corrupted and is slowly dying. The only way to save him is to perform an ablution where 3 regalias combine and torture Yukine until he confesses his sins and ask for forgiveness. It’s either that or they kill him (with the way he’s been acting these last few episodes I’m all for killing him). In order to perform an ablution Daikoku needs to find two more regalias to help him so he drives off in his hummer and gets Tomone (now under the name Mayu) to help him but he can’t find anyone else to help out because if the ablution fails Yukine will transform into a powerful phantom and possibly kill them. Hiyori goes to Bishamon’s temple and gets Kazuma to help out since he owes Yato big time in the past. Diakoku, Mayu, and Kazuma begin the ablution where we see that Yukine has a phantom growing on his back (//youtu.be/v6hcyp3VC1M?t=8s) and he begins to feel intense pain where he’s told to confess his sins but he refuses and slowly begins transforming into a phantom (stop being a pussy and just answer the question dumbass). We see how Yukine feels that it’s unfair that he’s dead while everyone else gets to live life leaving him all alone in the world (so I guess Yato and the others don’t count huh idiot?) but Hiyori and Yato tell him that they’re there for him and won’t let him feel alone at all which brings him to tears and he finally confesses all of his sins (including the one where he thought about feeling up Hiyori. Perv. Scene here: //youtu.be/OW71b_JuSxY). With this the ablution is a success, Yato gets better, and Yukine apologizes for everything that he’s done (whatever, you got 3 episodes to make me like you again, better make it count).
In episode 10 Yukine gets a part time job working at Diakoku’s shop so that he can pay back all the money he stole (well that’s responsible of him 50 points). Also Kofuku wants to be paid for her services (scene here: //youtu.be/w19xWT3zh78). In the episode we find out from Lord Tenjin that the best way to fix Hiyori’s body leaving problem (I honestly forgot about that) is to have Yato cut his ties with her which is something he doesn’t seem happy about doing (the indie god has fallen in love). While that’s going on it’s the beginning of a new year and Hiyori and her friends decide to go and pray at the shrine and she invites Yato and Yukine to go pray with her but they’re going to be running late because they got a whole hoard of phantom scorpions to fight against. As they’re fighting against the scorpions (watch out for the deathlock) Hiyori gets attacked by wolves summoned by Nora because she doesn’t like Hiyori (what? Jealous that Yato likes her more than you). She’s able to out run the wolves until morning when the sun comes out and destroys the wolves (wolves: dahh~ the sun, it burns us! *Whispers* It burns us) and Nora tells Hiyori that she’s hired Rabo a god of calamity to kill Yato (more like god of bounty hunting if you ask me) and she does something to her that makes Hiyori forget who Yato is.
Upset and confused in episode 11 on how Hiyori could forget him (scene here: //youtu.be/euOv42-yLy8, yes how could she forget the bum god who lives on the streets), Yato does everything within his power to get her to remember him but he has no luck (scene heres: //youtu.be/eUqevWmJuIE and //youtu.be/MTtaimJlPyc). Nora and Rabo finally confront Yato and Yukine where she reveals that she’s the one responsible for taking Hiyori’s memories (bitch) and that if Yato wants it back he has to defeat her and Rabo who we find out used to be Yato’s partner in crime in the past. The two sides fight with Rabo and Nora getting the better of the two because Yato is still holding back (give in to the manslayer inside you. If not for Hiyori than doing for me the reviewer). Rabo and Nora retreat being dissatisfied (//youtu.be/2O9Uy4cKZoY). Yato decides to give up on trying to get Hiyori’s memories back thinking it’s the best for her (don’t lie to yourself you know you love her) but Yukine refuses to give up on her so he makes a drawing book telling the story of how the three of them met and became friends (scene here: //youtu.be/YNSr3jp7DUk nice work Yukine. 20 points plus an extra 5 points for the cute drawings and storytelling) but Nora fiddles around with Hiyori’s mind again and erases her memories of Yukine and she tells Yato that if he doesn’t do something soon Hiyori will lose all of her memories becoming an empty shell of a human being. Deciding it’s time to get serious (Terry Bogard: Get serious. Scene here: //youtu.be/hAMIrKUEIFI) Yato and Yukine go off to say their goodbyes to Hiyori and promise to get her memories back. As their leaving they get teleported away and Hiyori grabs Yato’s shoulder and her spirit gets transported with them.
In the final episode Yato, Yukine, and Hiyori are transported to Rabo’s shrine which is in disarray because nobody prays to him anymore and have pretty much forgotten about him (kids these days. It’s all about the Hell social links and the Death Notes. No respect for the traditional methods). The fight begins between Yato and Rabo where Rabo is still disappointed that Yato hasn’t awaken to his true god of calamity self and decides to give Yato that one last push to throw him over the edge (really Rabo? You want him to turn into Battōsai the manslayer and kill you? You’re an idiot). Rabo destroys the orb carrying Hiyori’s memories which results in Hiyori passing out and becoming an empty shell of a woman and this also results in Yato pulling a Rurouni Kenshin and turning into Battōsai the manslayer making Rabo happy as The Joker meeting Batman for the first time. As a result of going into Battōsai mode Yato is able to match power with Rabo while being fueled on anger (//youtu.be/qFYO43UCMYE) but during their fight some rocks are about to fall on Hiyori’s body and Yato protects her with his body (scene here: //youtu.be/qBiSh_C-Hjo, yep the god has fallen for the young maiden). While Hiyori’s consciousness is slipping away she recognizes Yato’s scent describing it as the best scent in the world (oh you ecchi girl. I never would have peg her for having a scent fetish) and is able to break Nora’s curse on her and remember who she is as well as who Yato and Yukine are. With Hiyori back to normal Yato finishes off Rabo who reveals that this is what he wanted (//youtu.be/TH6Acpzurb0), yep he wanted to be killed by someone who understood him and wasn’t too far behind him. Yato tells him he’ll never be like him and Rabo disappears with Nora escaping and going back to her father’s place. Yato tells Hiyori to cut her ties with him saying it’s for the best but Hiyori says no and that she wants to be with him forever (ohhhhhh~). Paying him 5 yen Yato hears her request and accepts it to end the season on a good note (scene here: //youtu.be/71s3FV3BhGQ).
There are two OVAs of this anime. The first one came out shortly after the 7th episode. It’s Hiyori’s first day of high school and as she’s wondering what to do Yato shows up and takes possession of her body when she slips out of it unconsciously like always. Once inside Hiyori’s body Yato does all sorts of crazy stuff such as flirt with boys, give people the wrong impression of Hiyori by giving them his business card making them believe she’s an escort, and doing all kinds of embarrassing things that disturb the school atmosphere and even dominate a team singled-handedly in soccer (scene here: //youtu.be/jtZIRWD5IH8, I should complain but to be honest this is probably the only time soccer has seemed fun to me). Yukine tries to get the help of Tenjin and Mayu but they get distracted by the school girls (looks like Tenjin’s about spread his knowledge all over these girls). Kofuku also shows up to trick the teachers into giving her all their money (scene here: //youtu.be/JhpNcp82oJs, that no good 2 cent gold digger. I have no idea what I just said but I’m pretty sure it was insulting). A student gets possessed by a phantom and tries to spy on Yato using a spy camera while changing clothes in Hiyori’s body but Hiyori and Yukine spot him and rather than be caught he tries to commit suicide but Hiyori saves him only to have him slip through her fingers out a window (butterfingers) and gets saved by Yato who breaks Hiyori’s shoulder in the process and spouting out some words of wisdom. At the end of the day Hiyori forgives Yato (that girl’s benevolence rivals even God cause if it had been me I would have kicked his ass) and the next day in school Hiyori is the center of attention.
The second OVA came out months after the anime finished. In this OVA Hiyori and Yukine have invited Yato to have a party by a beautiful cherry blossom tree. Hiyori invites not only Kofuku, Daikoku, Tenjin and his shinki but also Bishamon and her shinki (are you mad woman!? Have you forgotten that Bishamon wants to kill Yato and hang his head from a wall like he’s some kind of trophy?). At first it looks like she’s ready to attack Yato but Yukine stands up to her and tells her that the tree in front of them was once treated by his dear friend Suzuha who was Bishamon’s shinki before Yato killed her. Out of respect for Suzuha she agrees to a ceasefire but only for today. So the party begins with everyone having a good time drinking and laughing except for Yato and Bishamon who get drunk and can no longer stand the tension between each other (just sleep with each other and get it over with) and decide to attack each other (get it on). But in their drunk states Bishamon reveals that Yato isn’t responsible for killing Suzuha (aka Touma) it was someone else. In fact Yato actually saved Bishamon’s life in the past and while she’s grateful she still hates him for it because she doesn’t want to be seen as a weak god (it’s her damn Japanese pride). In this confusion Yato kisses her (//youtu.be/CuOq0Twz31w) and this causes all hell to break out with Bishamon beating the shit out of him (scene here: //youtu.be/Q6ra_wAJDkU, you know you liked it). In the second half we find out that regilas have a monthly magazine where in that magazine there’s a questionnaire where they can evaluate their god (ohhhhhh~). Yato has been keeping this a secret from Yukine for quite sometime but now Yukine is finally able to get his hands on a magazine and fills out the questionnaire talking about all the bad things Yato has done such as stealing all of his money to buy stuff or gamble it away. In the end Yukine turns his in and as punishment for Yato’s actions the crown emblem on his jersey turns into poop but there is an upside to all of this. When asked if Yukine wanted to change jobs he answered no saying that despite everything Yato has done to him and the unacceptable (//youtu.be/07So_lJQyqw) living conditions he doesn’t regret becoming Yato’s shinki.
Final Thoughts
Such an underrated anime. This was a good anime that had a good mixture of both comedy, action, and drama and an okay story. The story could use some work but it’s not all bad here. The characters are all really funny but we never get a chance to really explore their pasts. We get a little exposition into Yato’s past but we never really find out how he got to where he is in his life right now. We never learn how he met Kofuku or what he did to Bishamon which caused her to hate him so much. We don’t learn anything about Yukine’s past such as how he died or what his life was like before he died, and do we ever learn anything about Hiyori or any of the other characters in this anime? No, I didn’t think so. The voice acting is very good here. The best performance has to go to Yuki Kaji who just delivers an amazing performance as Yukine. As much as he can be a spoiled brat in the anime you do understand what he’s going through and feel sad for him. He displays so many emotions whenever he’s on screen and Kaji manages to bring this character to life really bringing those emotions to life. In episode 9 whenever I saw Yukine crying and shouting his frustrations to everyone I honestly forgot I was watching an animated character for a second. That’s how good Kaji was in this role.
The animation is good as you would expect from Bones. It does its best to stay true to the art style of the manga and the character designs are all good to look at that especially on Yato. The action scenes are all good but some could have been a bit longer than others. The best aspect of this anime without a doubt is the music. Everybody loves the soundtrack for this anime. It was done by the same person who composed the music for Black Butler and Soul Eater both of which had great OSTs and were praised for them. The music in this anime never feels out of place and matches up perfectly with each scene. It is godly and one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in an anime.
Final Score
The final score for Noragami is a 7/10. It is a good anime that just needs to work more on developing its story and exploring its characters more. Other than that everything else in the anime is great. The characters are all enjoyable and funny, the action was good, and the soundtrack is godly and out of this world. I look forward to seeing what happens next in this series. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
*All videos, pictures, and music are not owned by me and belong to their respected owners. All rights reserved.*
Thanks for reading. As always feel free to leave a comment, feedback, or request down belong or send to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com