Noragami Review

Imagine a world without limits, where everything could be decided with the flip or flick of a 5 yen coin. You could wish for something, and receive an answer from the gods a day later. Some people could use this power for greed, or personal gain. But some, could use this power to help others, eliminate the world of evil. Most people’s emotions can’t handle that sort of power. And so, like most stories end, the human becomes consumed with visions of power and possession. Ever wondered what the world would be like if gods roamed among us lowly humans? Would they be disgusted at our creations and actions to make the world a better place? Or would they help humanity get rid of problems being the weight on people’s shoulders? In the multitude of gods in Shintoism, not all are recognised as being legendary, or even notable. In the world of Noragami, there is one god, a lesser god, who yearns to be like the gods everyone knows. However, to get to the top, he must collect 5 yen coins, one by one, wish by wish, to build his shrine to become a true god.

The story of Noragami revolves around our main protagonist, Yato, a very unnoticed god of calamity. Yato used to be a mighty god of war, filling wishes to slay enemies, or avenge a fallen comrade’s death. Each for the price of 5 yen. But times have changed since ancient Japan, and people are not dependant of war and battle in the modern ages. Instead, most people look towards gods of knowledge or success for advice. His adventure starts when he is saved from a truck by a girl by the name of Hiyori Iki. Hiyori soon discovers that by saving Yato, she is no longer human. Instead half human, and half phantom; a species of monsters that spawn from the negative feelings or held back emotions in a person’s heart. In other words, Hiyori is half monster, and can lose her humanity easily if she is not careful. With this change, every so often, her human body is left unconscious while her spirit runs free with a tail-like life force. Hiyori demands that Yato change her back to her original form, and pays the 5 yen required for a wish. However, Yato is a bit of a procrastinator, and always has other quests on his mind, such as finding a new regalia. A regalia for the gods of Noragami is their weapon; a soul of a person passed on, become servant to a god, able to become humanoid, weapon or tool at any time the god requires or calls for it. Yato however, is stuck without a regalia, as his previous regalia quit the job. Unfortunately, Hiyori’s condition requires a regalia to fix, and the duo are soon on their way to finding a suitable regalia. What results as a regalia is a stubborn teenager dubbed Yukine, who is dissatisfied with his new life as a regalia. Our trio is then thrust into many adventures concerning various phantoms, and other gods.

Our main protagonist Yato, is a stubborn, arrogant, and careless god, not minding what goes on around him, only trying to scrape by as a god with his small bottle of 5 yen coins, a track suit, and an old beige scarf around his neck. He often has fantasies about his future life as a true god, and ways of getting more coins for his to-be-built shrine. Although he is stubborn, Yato always tries to get the best out of a situation, be it a 5 yen coin, or a friendship guaranteed more coins in the future. Yato has a bit of a back story with other gods, mostly negative, being as he is a god of war. Here we meet our female heroine, Hiyori Iki. Hiyori is your typical student, slightly air headed, but still sharp. One thing that points her out from the crowd is her love for wrestling. Unlike her classmates, Hiyori is a boxing and wrestling otaku, which enables her to have great fighting ability. After her becoming half-phantom, Hiyori is seen as sleep-deprived, unhealthy, or just odd due to her body going into a state of unconsciousness unexpectedly as she goes into her phantom-soul figure. This can be a major problem, especially in important situations, and can give some good comic relief to the series when it’s starting to fall serious. Next we have Yukine, the regalia. Yukine is a bit of a teenager stereotype, being arrogant, mischievous, and stubborn. He rarely listens to Yato, his master, and this ends up getting him into all sorts of trouble. From theft, to harming his master, Yukine has done it all, but no one notices, because since he is not a regular human being, Yukine is not able to be seen by everyone. After our main trio, there is also a slew of side characters, including the other gods, and their multiple regalia. Through the series however, character development is slightly lacking, and more of it would make the story more interesting as a whole, including character motives, and back stories.

The Noragami soundtrack was composed by Taku Iwasaki, and is your typical anime soundtrack, complete with battle, and character themes, to pieces perfect for a stroll in the park or adding to a conversation with your friends. The opening and ending themes were perfect for the series, complementing the characters and the story well. The opening theme, Overnight Appointment, by Hello Sleepwalkers, is a great opening for the start of every episode, and gets you in the mood for what’s to come. Although no pieces stood out in particular in this series’ soundtrack, it is still sufficient for what the series has to offer. The dubs are well done, and the voice acting in the Japanese dub helped the personalities for the characters greatly.

The animation was done in the winter 2014 season by Studio Bones. The action sequences are well done, and the backgrounds look very nice with contrast with the characters. No complaints about the character designs, and the slower scenes looked good as well. The bits of computer graphics done in the series blended in nicely, and weren’t too jarring for the viewer, which is a good refresher from other series with CG that does nothing to help the series as a whole.

Overall, Noragami is a good series to get into if you’re looking for something quirky, fun, and action-packed. For a short 12 episode series, with two OVA side stories, Noragami has a satisfying conclusion, and good story that will keep you watching until the end of the series. So, considering the categories of sound, animation, story, characters, and my personal enjoyment, Noragami receives an overall score of 8.42 out of 10, with a recommendation to stream rather than buy. Although Noragami is a very entertaining series, the plot holes near the end are not enough to be suggesting you buy the series. However, Noragami is available for legal streaming on Canadian Netflix, and Funimation’s website, and is available for purchase from Funimation.

And that’s a wrap up, thank you for reading. I will be posting reviews daily through the month of November, so stay tuned!

-Takami