Series Synopsis
Japan is a land of gods who
grant wishes to those who ask. The most powerful and well know deities enjoy a
steady stream of patrons and followers seeking assistance. For a war god named
Yato (voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya) this is not the case.
Without a shrine of his own, Yato is a bit of a deadbeat and has developed quite a reputation of little importance. Still, when the occasional job does come up,
he puts all…okay some of his efforts into seeing it through.
On one such mission
(finding a lost cat) Yato runs into Hiyori Iki (voiced by Maaya Uchida), who saves him from being hit by a car. An act which was meaningless since Yato could have easily dodged it himself. Unfortunately, Hiyori is struck in his place. She survives the accident physically unscathed, however what
happened to her spirit is a lot more annoying.
At complete random, Hiyori’s
soul will leave her body. Though this form allows her to achieve some pretty
amazing feats, it’s still mostly inconvenient. She makes a contract with Yato
to help her get back to normal. He accepts and gets right on it…eventually.
Other issues keep coming up which need to be addressed.
One of the main jobs of a
god is slaying dark phantoms from corrupting the minds of humans. To do this gods
rely on Regalia, wandering spirits who assist their masters
in battle. Since Yato’s last Regalia quit, he's been left completely
defenseless. This changes when Yato finds a young spirit who he names Yukine (voiced
by Yuki Kaji). |
| Yato |
Yato, Hiyori, and Yukine have a knack of
getting into tough situations. Due to Yato’s past exploits, he’s also managed to piss off a
few powerful gods. Yet Yato also carries with him a rather dark history of
violence which he's never been able to escape.
Series Positives
This…show…is…AWESOME!
 |
| Hiyori |
Holy crap, Noragami was so damn good. Why did it
take me so long to watch this series? My god, everything about it was
incredible. End the review here, go watch it if you haven’t. Hell, go
watch it again if you have.
Where do I to begin?
The Animation and Music
This is a one two punch. I
can’t talk about them separate since they complement each other perfectly.
 |
| Yukine |
Noragami is
brilliant to look at. Immediately it hits you. When this show is being silly and goofy, it feels more subdued and not
shoved in your face. When this series is being tense and frightening, it gets
creepy but it’s not afraid to use bright, vivid colors.
The music and soundtrack is
bad ass. It puts you at the edge of you seat. It gets you
smiling with triumph. It has feeling. You’re pumped when you
need to be pumped. You’re uneasy when you need to be uneasy. You’re concerned
when you need to be concerned.
Both the visuals and the
music are telling much of the story. While there is banter and dialogue,
lengthy exposition is kept at a minimum. Sure the world of gods and spirits does take a bit of explanation. What I’m referring to is character
development.
A god of poverty named Kofuku
(voiced by Aki Toyosaki) is portrayed to be ditzy, energetic, and carefree.
She’s an overgrown child who doesn’t seem to know her own strength. Mostly
she’s here to lighten the mood; or so I thought.
A god of combat named
Bishamonten (voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro) has it out for Yato. She wants his
head on a spike. Bishamonten keeps a highly disciplined air around her and is
not someone you want to anger or annoy. That is unless you’re Kofuku who
doesn’t care.
Unlike Bishamonten, Kofuku
adores Yato. This isn’t a secret and it hasn’t been an issue. That is until
Bishamonten gets the idea that maybe Kofuku is protecting Yato from her.
Bishamonten brings this up and warns she will personally deal with Kofuku if this turned out to be the case. This is a god who wouldn't hesitate to follow up.
Then the music starts
playing. It’s very ominous, somethings not quite right. This isn’t for
Bishamonten, it’s for Kofuku. She doesn’t back down. Instead she turns the
situation around and actually intimidates the powerful combat god. This was not
the happy-go-lucky girl we’ve been seeing. This is a deity with the power to
destroy. With a combination of the music, the visuals, and
little dialogue, this became a character I would not want to f@#$ with.
Then of course there are the
action scenes which are beyond all kinds of epic.
Balanced
This is what makes Noragami so fantastic.
This series is able to have
slapstick comedy, unnerving imagery, and serious moments all coexisting. They
never overstep their bounds. They never take away from the others. They never
feel awkward, forced, or unwanted.
When a powerful, touching
moment is happening, don’t throw in a joke; Golden
Time. When a story is trying to be fun and comical, don’t go dark and
extreme and then completely ignore it; Angel
Beats. Noragami knew exactly when
and where to take a turn and come back from it.
For the first half of this
series, the atmosphere was more or less nonthreatening. Slowly, more curiosities
would be thrown in which would put characters into a different light. When an
actual, cannot be taken lightly event occurred, the lacks nature would be pulled back.
These moments were allowed to play themselves out fully before next the joke
would get uttered.
There’s a scene where Yukine
has to face the sins he has committed. It’s powerful and hard to look
away from despite how difficult it is to watch. Yukine is in great pain and
final breaks. He confesses all the bad things he’s done. One these things
include an attempt to fondle Hiyori while she was asleep, and she was there to
hear it.
In a lesser anime which has
already established itself as being a series with comedy, it would have
made a joke here to keep that image up. It could have been as big as a highly
animated freak out or as small as a dumbfound look. By doing either though, it would have
completely ruined the power of the scene.
Do you know what Noragami did? Nothing, it did nothing.
Hiyori heard this and didn’t react with a “how dare you”. She was concerned
over how much suffering her friend was going through and who was legitimately asking for forgiveness. The ordeal ends and the relief
starts set in. AND still there are no one-liners, physical comedy, or mood
breakers. This episode ends on a touching note and it isn’t until the next when
the humor is brought back.
This is how you do it. A series can have these polar opposites and have them be
good. A show shouldn’t be afraid to pull back if necessary.
Thank you Noragami for doing this.
Series Negatives
This section isn’t going to
be that long, even though I do have something to say. While I love this series,
I can’t help but feel there was a bit of a waste with Hiyori.
She’s a great character; that
is not the problem. She mostly serves as support for both Yato and
Yukine, and plays the role perfectly. Hiyori is kind, funny, considerate, and
can hold her own in a fight.
And right there’s the
problem. She stops fighting because the show nerfed her.
When introduced and obtains the ability to go into her spirit form, Hiyori became a
formidable combatant. She’s fast, agile, and has some pretty sick moves in her
arsenal. The first time she confronts an evil phantom, she takes care of it
herself.
However, when she learns she
will die if the link between her body and spirit is were to be severed, she
stops going into battle. While this makes sense why someone would do this,
Hiyori didn’t seem like the kind of person who would value her own safety at
the cost of her friend’s lives. I firmly believe she would take a stand.
The whole thing came off as
a missed opportunity. It was a little strange coming from a show which didn’t
have a problem doing this at first.
Final Thoughts
Season two, season two, oh my
god I’m so happy there’s a season two.
From the animation, the
music, the characters, the story, Noragami
is a brilliant series. It’s fun, exciting, tense, creepy, and all around
entertaining as s@#$. This is a show that knew how to take conflicting
atmosphere and have them work together to create something truly outstanding.
I already recommended this one
at the beginning of the review. I’m surprised you’re still here.
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