Noragami, or as I like to call it “Everyone Loves Yato”, has a lot going for it. It looks nice, it's got appealing characters, and has a unique soundtrack.Okay, I believe that many of you have heard of the term that is widely used in anime reviews, book reviews, moview reviews, etc. Yes, it's the "Don't judge a book by its cover". Apparently, that idiom applies to Noragami as well. Why? It’s quite simple, while the anime has a cover, a nice premise, and also nice previews (which came out several of times before the anime aired) the anime itself isn't nice at all.. It lacked detail and sophistication, a show that would only be worth posing as a time-killer, just another thing to keep you semi-busy until you can find something more interesting to do. Noragami was simply decent, although if someone were to ask me whether I liked it, my answer to that question would lean more towards a "No, not really" oriented answer. Quite frankly, this show disappointed me.
Story (3/10):
The premise of the story – that Yato wishes to become a famously worshiped god and that Hiyori wants her body fixed – is not something that the story spends much time chasing after. Yes, Yato takes odd jobs in order to increase his recognition and earn his offerings however, he seem to have much actual ambition and therefore hardly progresses towards his dream within the course of the 12 episodes.
Noragami is all over the place. First we are introduced to the supposed main conflict of fixing Hiyori’s condition, but that gets put off as we get some filler of Yato desperately trying to make some money. These episodes were amusing and can pull off some good action and laughs, but being time wasters, there pretty much insignificant. The majority of the show focuses on the relationship between Yato and Yukine which was actually well done and the only part of Noragami that had a decent payoff. It contains enough teen angst to be relatable, but not too much to be irritating. But this leaves us with just three episodes left to explore Yato’s past. It not really compelling as its not really explored in depth and in the end, it turns out to be another damsel in distress story. It just ends up feeling insignificant like the filler before it, not the best way to end the series.
Story (3/10):
The premise of the story – that Yato wishes to become a famously worshiped god and that Hiyori wants her body fixed – is not something that the story spends much time chasing after. Yes, Yato takes odd jobs in order to increase his recognition and earn his offerings however, he seem to have much actual ambition and therefore hardly progresses towards his dream within the course of the 12 episodes.
Noragami is all over the place. First we are introduced to the supposed main conflict of fixing Hiyori’s condition, but that gets put off as we get some filler of Yato desperately trying to make some money. These episodes were amusing and can pull off some good action and laughs, but being time wasters, there pretty much insignificant. The majority of the show focuses on the relationship between Yato and Yukine which was actually well done and the only part of Noragami that had a decent payoff. It contains enough teen angst to be relatable, but not too much to be irritating. But this leaves us with just three episodes left to explore Yato’s past. It not really compelling as its not really explored in depth and in the end, it turns out to be another damsel in distress story. It just ends up feeling insignificant like the filler before it, not the best way to end the series.
Characters (5/10):
Yato, our main protagonist, is a well rounded character. He’s funny (with some of the funniest faces you’ll ever see) and can even be bad-ass when he wants to be. But thanks to the shaky plot, what we know about Yato is incredibly vague. Oh yeah, remember how I called this show “Everyone Loves Yato”. Well lemme explain, Yato seems to have a relationship with everyone in the show. Its constantly implied he has history with them, but the show never really touches upon these histories. The side characters aren't really fleshed out and it leads to them just being there cause the plot said so with the worst offender being Bishamon. She’s out to kill Yato for a simple reason, but the show never actually shows the story behind it other than they hate each other.
Yukine is the most developed character in the show. That’s not to say he’s the most likable, but seeing Yukine struggling with the problems of being dead coupled with the frustration of teen angst is believable and at times heartfelt. Seeing him grow and develop is truly satisfying. As for Hiyori, she’s a mixed bag. She starts off rather decent and strong with her inspiration of wrestling moves. But as the series progresses, she suffers something I’d like to call the Asuna effect in which she devolves to become less of a character and less capable of defending herself to the point of becoming a damsel in distress. As likable as she was, she’s really nothing more than the typical schoolgirl archetype with some minor quirks.
Animation (4/5):
Studio Bones once again does a great job with the animation. The character designs were appealing and the phantom had a very creative look to them even if they were just colorful, floating sea creatures. When the phantom’s die, they let some sort of a, how do I say it, wordy explosion and it looks gorgeous at first but later gets tiring. Unfortunately, the phantom fights got to be underwhelming at times as it was just Yato doing the same chant over and over and over again(goush!! )with the same animation and line (sometimes twice per episode) followed by a single slash. The stand out action scenes were the ones involving two gods which was definitely the highlight of the series.
Sound (4/5):
The opening for Noragami just screams cool. While I don’t think the show reaches the Rule of Cool, this opening got me hyped for every episode even when the story got underwhelming. The black and white characters blended well with the blue colored environment. The song on its own is catchy and is fitting with the show. The ending, on the other hand, is meh. Its not bad and it slightly grew on me after a few listens, but it just felt a bit generic and didn't blend well with the upbeat nature of the show or the opening.
The soundtrack for Noragami is a hit or miss. At first glance it may sound a little odd with one of the battle themes sounding like a guy saying “rectangle” over and over again. The soundtrack has quite a bit of hip hop along with some tunes that fit really well with the shinto themes. You’ll definitely get used to it and eventually the soundtrack will hype you up during the battle scenes. The voice acting is fine as everyone fit their role. Standouts include Yato’s voice actor for balancing between goofy and serious and Yukine’s voice actor for capturing the teen angst and struggles you would expect of an adolescent boy.
Its got some major holes in the story which may be fixed in the upcoming season, but I wouldn't count on it.
Yato, our main protagonist, is a well rounded character. He’s funny (with some of the funniest faces you’ll ever see) and can even be bad-ass when he wants to be. But thanks to the shaky plot, what we know about Yato is incredibly vague. Oh yeah, remember how I called this show “Everyone Loves Yato”. Well lemme explain, Yato seems to have a relationship with everyone in the show. Its constantly implied he has history with them, but the show never really touches upon these histories. The side characters aren't really fleshed out and it leads to them just being there cause the plot said so with the worst offender being Bishamon. She’s out to kill Yato for a simple reason, but the show never actually shows the story behind it other than they hate each other.
Yukine is the most developed character in the show. That’s not to say he’s the most likable, but seeing Yukine struggling with the problems of being dead coupled with the frustration of teen angst is believable and at times heartfelt. Seeing him grow and develop is truly satisfying. As for Hiyori, she’s a mixed bag. She starts off rather decent and strong with her inspiration of wrestling moves. But as the series progresses, she suffers something I’d like to call the Asuna effect in which she devolves to become less of a character and less capable of defending herself to the point of becoming a damsel in distress. As likable as she was, she’s really nothing more than the typical schoolgirl archetype with some minor quirks.
Animation (4/5):
Studio Bones once again does a great job with the animation. The character designs were appealing and the phantom had a very creative look to them even if they were just colorful, floating sea creatures. When the phantom’s die, they let some sort of a, how do I say it, wordy explosion and it looks gorgeous at first but later gets tiring. Unfortunately, the phantom fights got to be underwhelming at times as it was just Yato doing the same chant over and over and over again(goush!! )with the same animation and line (sometimes twice per episode) followed by a single slash. The stand out action scenes were the ones involving two gods which was definitely the highlight of the series.
Sound (4/5):
The opening for Noragami just screams cool. While I don’t think the show reaches the Rule of Cool, this opening got me hyped for every episode even when the story got underwhelming. The black and white characters blended well with the blue colored environment. The song on its own is catchy and is fitting with the show. The ending, on the other hand, is meh. Its not bad and it slightly grew on me after a few listens, but it just felt a bit generic and didn't blend well with the upbeat nature of the show or the opening.
The soundtrack for Noragami is a hit or miss. At first glance it may sound a little odd with one of the battle themes sounding like a guy saying “rectangle” over and over again. The soundtrack has quite a bit of hip hop along with some tunes that fit really well with the shinto themes. You’ll definitely get used to it and eventually the soundtrack will hype you up during the battle scenes. The voice acting is fine as everyone fit their role. Standouts include Yato’s voice actor for balancing between goofy and serious and Yukine’s voice actor for capturing the teen angst and struggles you would expect of an adolescent boy.
Its got some major holes in the story which may be fixed in the upcoming season, but I wouldn't count on it.
Final Thoughts and Rating]:
While there is a second season now confirmed for Noragami, these 12 episodes felt forgettable to me. The characters weren't very interesting and there were so few of them that the cast of the show felt pretty lackluster. Its got some major holes in the story which may be fixed in the upcoming season, but I wouldn't count on it.
.Because the show offers very little in overall content – I have a hard time recommending the show to anyone for genre purposes however someone that’s looking for a supernatural anime would not go amiss as the ayakashi and gods are fairly present throughout the show. The action in Noragami i felt was pretty lackluster save maybe the final confrontation in the show however I don’t think it was a worthy payoff and wouldn't recommend it for this reason. I'll rate it 4/10 if am being nice.
While there is a second season now confirmed for Noragami, these 12 episodes felt forgettable to me. The characters weren't very interesting and there were so few of them that the cast of the show felt pretty lackluster. Its got some major holes in the story which may be fixed in the upcoming season, but I wouldn't count on it.
.Because the show offers very little in overall content – I have a hard time recommending the show to anyone for genre purposes however someone that’s looking for a supernatural anime would not go amiss as the ayakashi and gods are fairly present throughout the show. The action in Noragami i felt was pretty lackluster save maybe the final confrontation in the show however I don’t think it was a worthy payoff and wouldn't recommend it for this reason. I'll rate it 4/10 if am being nice.
Reviews by Uncle Benji aka. Levi Senshu
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