Hello folks!
Today’s review concerns an anime that became easily one of my favourite: Noragami.
I will start by saying that talking about Noragami is quite hard and I will try to hold off my “fangirling soul” and to rationalise the situation.
To be clear: it is amazing!! Give it a chance even if this review do not convince you!!
However, the anime consists of two seasons, respectively of 12 and 13 episodes, and of 4 OAV. In terms of genre, I think it can be classified as a fantasy shōnen, but to be honest I think it is a mix of genres.
Well, let’s cut to the chase: what is Noragami about?
Yato is a god with a teeny-tiny problem: he is snubbed by people, therefore, he always ends up doing chores of any kind to the cost of 5¥, with the only purpose of getting prayers, and he basically lives as a homeless since he does not even have a shrine.
Hiyori is just a normal middle school girl, until she got hit by a car while trying to save a guy who has recklessly jumped into the road to chase a cat. This guy is none other than Yato and from the moment their paths intersect both their lives radically change.
Hiyori indeed will find herself in a very… “unique” situation and, since she cannot fix the problem by herself, she will pray Yato for help. 
He will obviously accept the prayer, saying though that he will need a Regalia (his previous one has left him because of the shame of working for a “not real” god as Yato is, according to her), who will happen to be the young Yukine.
This is how the adventures of this improbable trio begin, between battles with spectres and gods, revelations about the mysteries that envelop Yato’s past, and plenty more, everything spiced with a lot of laughs.
Indeed, one of the strengths of this anime is that, despite the plot gets more serious during the episodes, it manages to be always, at least a little… wacky. In a completely positive way.
This is possible because Yato is able to make you constantly laugh – despite his true nature – and lighten the darkest atmospheres of some episodes. Basically, he can always make you smile, even when there is no hope left, even in the most tragic scenes – who saw the S1E12 knows what I mean – and, at the same time, he can make you feel intense emotions out of nowhere.
Yato is a god who is not afraid to live his feelings to the fullest, positive or negative, and this brings to the creation of a character you can’t help but root for, always no matter what.
And, let’s say it, his big blue eyes make you fall in love with him even more easily.
Besides Yato, Hiyori also quickly conquers the audience and this is quite rare for a female character in this kind of stories.
The point is that the young Hiyori is not a damsel in distress, on the contrary! During the first scene they met, as I was saying, it is Hiyori the one who “saves” Yato – and it will not be the only time –.
And in many other occasions, Hiyori gets herself out of trouble all by herself, without waiting for someone to come to the rescue her. In my opinion, this feature is what makes characters like Hiyori (or Shirayuki) so captivating, so convincing. They are not marginal, they face the problems.
More or less, this was me ahah
Moreover, Hiyori is also extremely sweet without ever turning out to be sappy – S02E07 *coff coff* -, caring about other people without being a nuisance, “feminine” without bother anyone. I do not know if I explained myself, but, if you have watched some animes, you can understand why it surprised me.
At the end, obviously, saying that I shipped Yato and Hiyori since… ehm… the very first moment is almost pointless.
Besides them, there are plenty more amazing characters, developed in a very clever way, with a thousand facets (Yukine and Kazuma, who are lovely, Nora… beautifully created, but who would not love to slap her?, Kofuku, Bishamon, Tenjin…), characters I would love to talk you about but I’d make too many spoilers, and there are amazing openings (especially the second) that enrich an already amazing anime.
The only defect is that, as most of the animes, it does not have a true conclusion (you can always read the manga to know how the story goes, as I will), but it is still totally worth watching. In addition, it is on Netflix!
I hope I made you a little curious and, I repeat, give it a chance anyway, you will not regret it!
IL CAPPUCCINO 