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Year: 2014-2015
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Supernatural
Episodes: 25
Rating: 4.25 out of 5
When you think of Gods and Goddess, who comes to mind? Do you immediately think of the Greek Gods like Zeus, Hera, Ares, Athena, Aphrodite, and the crew along with Kratos? Maybe not Kratos, but the God of War games introduce the Greek Gods and Goddess. How about the Norse Gods? If you need a clue, think of the Marvel movies, and you should come up with Thor, Loki, and Odin. Can you name any of the Egyptian Gods? They are pretty popular from Osiris, ISIS, Seth, Ra, and Anubis. Here is another one for you. How about the Japanese Gods? If you watch enough anime, some should come up like Amaterasu, Izanami, Izanagi, and Susanoo. Now there are a ton of gods through history and civilization. Here is a question for you to think of. We all know the major ones, but what happens to the lesser-known gods? Do they disappear from the world and memory altogether, or do they fight on trying to have just one person remember them? Noragami is an anime where a god of calamity tries to raise money for a shrine to have people remember him.
Overview
If you need a service, there is a great chance you might see a phone number all over the place. If you call the number, the person on the other line will do any service for you at the great and grand price of 5 yen, and you will be introduced to the one and only Yato God.
Hiyori Iki is an average middle school girl who is always happy and somewhat reasonable. She is one with a very caring heart. Her life suddenly changes one day as she is walking home. She sees a man in the street who is not paying attention when a bus suddenly drives down the road. Fearing for the man’s life, she pushes the man out of the way, causing an accident. The accident causes her soul to slip out of her body. Soon she becomes aware of the existence of two parallel worlds: the Near Shore, where regular humans and creatures reside, and the Far Shore, where demons and human souls linger. Ironically, she is introduced to the man she saved, who introduces himself as Yato, a minor deity and a self-proclaimed “Delivery God” who dreams of having millions of worshippers. Yato is determined to make a name for himself while only accepting 5 yen per job. Along with Yato is his Regalia, Yukine, a weapon from a dead human’s soul and named by the god. Together, the three of them go through life and adventures while meeting other famous gods and the dream of a shrine.
Review:
I thought this anime was a great blend of humor, action, and seriousness. Some might watch this anime and tell themselves that it is pretty dumb or another excuse. I want to say that the animation is one of the highlights and fantastic. The storyline is fascinating, and the characters are excellent and show many emotions throughout the series.
What is the plot all about in this great anime?? Hiyori lived an everyday life until she was involved in a bus accident while saving a stranger. This incident caused her soul to slip out of her body, and she meets a nameless god without a shrine named Yato. Yato is a peculiar god who is determined to make a name for himself by granting any wish for 5 yen along with fixing Hiyori body. Yato also rolls with a Regalia, a human soul that can transform into a weapon.
Now the first season is AWESOME!!! I want to say that I was entertained all the way through. If you can get through the first few episodes, then it will really pick up., I like the first season because we learn Yato is a god, but he has a messed-up past. We realize that Yato is a God of Calamity, and he was hired to grant wishes to kill people. When Japan was at war within itself, at his peak, Yato was one of the best. Now, Yato wants to build a shrine just to be remembered as war isn’t needed, and he really isn’t needed. Also, the story shows the immaturity of Yato’s Regalia, Yukine, who was a young boy that never really got to experience life and died at a young age. To see the arc of Yato and Yukine go from hating each other to being true partners is excellent. What I like about season one is that the villain is one from Yato’s past and wants to bring back the old Yato.
Season two somewhat falls off as the anime switches gears and has two stories. The first one is with Bishamon, a powerful God with many Regalia. Bishamon has extreme hatred against Yato because he killed her former regalia in the past. Still, there is a reason why Yato did it. The first half shows how one of Bishamon’s regalia wants to replace her until Yato shows up and settles old scores. The second half of the season is with Ebisu, one of the Seven Gods of Fortune, trying to control the evil spirits. Also, Yukine becomes a boss of a Regalia.
The animation of this anime is outstanding. I love the contrast of colors and how they add to the overall effect of the anime. Each character is drawn a specific way, and the demons are drawn in a way where darkness fills the sky, or a character becomes dark when they are possessed. Also, I love how the anime changes when a character gets mad. Yato has these calm blue eyes, but when he is very serious, they turn dark blue and seem to glow.
Yato is one of my favorite characters. He wants to build his own shrine and is a complete goofball. This was a difference from his past when he was a murdering fool. He wears a tracksuit and scarf and refers to himself as “Yato God.” I would say no one takes him seriously, but seeing him change throughout the series is fun. He doesn’t want to go back to his old ways, but the past seems to have a deep hold on him. Yet, Yato has a great heart with never giving up on the people close to him like Yukine.
Yukine is another character that grows you. He becomes Yato’s Regalia. At first, he is an angry kid because he never really experienced life. This causes him to cause trouble which in turn causes pain to Yato. Through the show and with Yato never giving up on him, he becomes a boss of a weapon.
The character that brings everyone together is Hiyori. She is a girl who gets caught up in Yato’s world after saving him. She can sometimes be annoying as she gets in harm or when her soul leaves her body. Yet, she is the reason Yato and Yukine try so hard. She is the reason they can keep going when she builds Yato a shrine that makes him cry tears of happiness.
The anime is excellent, even if it falls off a little bit in season two. I wish there was a season three and beyond., The characters are great, especially Yato. He is an absolute boss, and when he fights to full strength, people better watch out. When he is paired with Yukine, it’s about to go down. I highly recommend this anime for anyone who wants to learn some gods and see some major action and comedy.
