Noragami: Chapter 68

So, I've decided to do a section in which I discuss the latest chapter and such because I need to voice my opinion. This is late and I know I'm starting on the wrong chapter but here goes. After a long, long time (well it was long for me), the latest chapter was scanlated! Yay! I was dying for this. Anyway, I'll just applaud the art for this chapter. Recently the art has been really eye catching, urgh and for the most nerve wracking arc of all things. This chapter was funny, heart touching, chilling, awesome, but also really sad. Which trust me, is a really good thing, it keeps the readers hooked. Going on-

I absolutely adore it when the supposed bad guy just turns out to be an adorable idiot. Yeah, I didn't like Takemikazuchi at all at first. First of all I thought he was in cahoots with Fujisaki and on top of that he killed Ebisu. Yeah, I excused him for the Fujisaki thing early on because Nora seems to be using a lot of kamis. But the fact that he killed Ebisu. Holy cow, I wasn't going to forgive him for that, no siree. But this guy honestly thought it was justice. So, oh well, I can't do much. What I loved about this scene is Yato and Takemikazuchi fighting each other like idiots (it kind of reminded me of Naruto and Sasuke's last battle when they completely ran out of energy, way to be stupid you guys), they're really alike if you look at it. Why the heck are they fighting with bamboo? Oh right, cause they don't have shinki supporting their fight anymore. I also noticed, Bamboo has a lot of symbolism in Japan, so there might be an internal joke, but I cannot spot it, meh...The reason why I find this scene so important is the fact that no matter how hard the two of them fight, they can only exhaust each other, while Yukine and Kiun are seriously discussing serious matters at hand. It also symbolizes that kami are nothing and cannot function without their guidepost (reminding us of when Yato said he was 'butt-naked without a shinki' after Tomone quit). Of course they're plenty strong and whatnot, but their guidepost are essential, which is hauntingly echoed in the very last page, we'll get there.

Also can I just spazz, because we have new good looking males added to my list? Kiun smiled, like honestly smiled! Oh my kami! Also Takemikazuchi looks very, very good with his hair down. May I say cute? My new personal dose of long hair and ponytails. Although, Takemikazuchi can do without the ponytail, I don't know how he does it, but he looks atrocious with the ponytail. Another flag here. Takemikazuchi and Kiun  will have very important roles to play from here on. Anime and Manga rule states that once a character starts looking really good in the good kind of way, he's going to be around the protagonist for a very long time. It means he's coming to the good side (not that Noragami has a good side...erm...Yato's side??).

I'm extremely worried about these two. Kazuma has stung Bishamon and Bishamon obviously knows and feels that, and I think she even knows which one of her shinki stung her. I don't understand how and why Kazuma stung her when he's only thinking of her well being. I'll have to go back and check the scene in which Hiyori notices. Kazuma has never stung her and I think that's very important. The fact that he stung her may drive him to believe she is too good for him and he may back out from being not only Bishamon's guidepost but also her shinki. He's already very insecure about Bishamon using Nana instead of him, this might be what snaps Kazuma. I don't really like the direction in which this is going. As I said earlier, the guidepost is essential to the kami.

Alright, let us all just sit back and give Nana a slow clap. I am astounded at how amazing this girl is. She not only over came her name, but she even hurt Nora. This is just...wow. Nana is a really refreshing character with utter devotion to her former master (makes sense cause she was a Hafuri, you know). But in order to get back at the heavens for killing her former master, she submits herself to Bishamon. Meaning, she isn't really interested if Bishamon gets hurt or not. I think it's the fact that she's completely indifferent that she isn't stinging Bishamon while she's grinning about killing the heaven's armies. But this also leads us to the question: "Doesn't this mean Kazuma and Yukine can do this too?". Probably yes if the situation arose. Kazuma could probably do it and Yukine if it was guaranteed that it wouldn't hurt Yato (oh my gosh...that panel in the last chapter when Yukine was like "I won't let you take Yato from me" **sobs**). I think this page is important because it will determine what Fujisaki's attachments to Nora is. If she gets really hurt and he pulls back, he might really care for her which means he only despises kami. But if he doesn't he could probably care less about the entire world and only care about that freckled girl he's so obsessed with. Damn we need more of her. Without Nora, Fujisaki isn't powerless, but he's going to face a lot of problems fighting an enraged Bishamon. Um, may I also state that while I love Nana and she is friggin awesome, I think she's a very unhealthy shinki for Bishamon.

Now, we need to seriously talk about freaky shinkis. I thought Kiun was bad enough, seriously. I thought, oh hey, Shinkis are cool, they're pipes, jewelry, weapons, pens, commerce tools, pot lids (I have no idea how that works), and then Kiun showed up and I was like "You call that a shinki? That's insanity!" Now we got an entire horseman army. Yato, Yato, you've got a long way to go before you become Japan's number one kami. Because, seriously, one shinki, that's practically one person becomes a friggin army with fancy horses and armor? I used to think it was weird when Yukine was two blades, kay? Somebody please get rid of this shinki for me, please?

Freaked out, utterly freaked out. I was chilled by this utter sense of foreboding. Do you guys know what anime death flags are? If not, please check this out (http://goboiano.com/list/5091-12-death-flags-that-will-definitely-get-you-killed-in-anime). This scene was literally screaming death flag, of course, I could be wrong...but seriously. Little Kazuma doll torn at the neck (anyone remember where Kzuma's blight eye is?), tender flashback of Kazuma and Bishamon's inseparable relationship (she can't survive without him, you know). Kazuma's going to die. No! No! No! I just said that out loud! No kamisama no! Adachi Toka, please tell me I'm wrong! Please! Not Kazuma!

And then our last page. There are so many curse words I want to spout...no no, must keep this decent. Remember my first part was about how essential your guidepost is for you. Educated guideposts also feel the same way, so for Kazuma, this is the utter form of rejection even though he knows why Bishamon is rejecting him. But seriously, did you have to push him out of the sky? Who's gonna save him now? Don't say Yato because he has saved Kazuma one too many times. I think this will lead to a serious rift between Bishamon and Kazuma, and I don't think Nana's even bothered ("My heaven army is waiting for me to devour it, let us be on our way, Bishamon sama") Kuraha's face is like "What did you even do?" I really hope this isn't how Kazuma dies, that would really suck...But I want to know what was going on in Bishamon's head when she did that. Another death flag, the last line is 'You can never go home again'. Yato kamisama, save us all.

"Your wish has been heard loud and clear!"

Noragami: That Freckled Girl!

Alright, so I noticed something when I was rereading the underworld arc and then chapter 60 raised my suspicions again. Fujisaki seemed to just be an evil human roaming around in different bodies who was being a creeper by running after Hiyori and he was terrible for tormenting Yato. But Adachi Toka's manga Noragami plays around with the meaning of good and evil. So, Fujisaki may just be a character trying to take revenge on someone. Why? That freckled girl. How many of you know what I'm talking about? The first time she was mentioned was in the Underworld arc when Izanami was telling Yato and Ebisu about the first brush.

Izanami mentions that someone took the brush before, Yato instantly thinks his dad. There's no proof for this though. Izanami continues to explain that the person who took the previous brush saw a freckled girl while looking at Izanami. Remembering that people see the person most important to them in Izanami, this could be Fujisaki's first weakness spotted. But we still can't prove that it was Yato's father.

And then Mizuchi (That is Nora, I stopped calling her Hiiro cause technically she isn't Hiiro any more) confirms our suspicions by saying that Father did come down to Yomi to take the first brush and that he only succeeded after someone call his name. Given what we know about father, who would call his name, a human on top of that (Hinting at the freckled girl on the sidelines)?  We also see the freckled girl that he saw on Izanami slightly.

Last but not least, in chapter 60, when Bishamon confronts Fujisaki, he calls her a 'mere god', I mean who calls a god a mere god? Well evidently Fujisaki. But if you noticed, he seems to hate all gods, even Yato, which we see from the abuse towards Yato revealed in the chapter. What could cause a human to hate a God? Then he seems to explain, but as we see him explain his hate we see him holding that freckled girl, she looked dead too, and crying and screaming. What is going on? Who is that freckled girl? What is her relationship with father? How can we use her against him? What happened? For some reason, it seems, the fate of Noragami lays in the hands of a dead character's identity. I feel if we discover who this freckled girl is, we'll be able to solve all the problems.

Noragami: Nora and Yato's Relationship

So now I'm finally doing a post on one of the most interesting and positively the most confusing relationship in all of Noragami. Nora and Yato's relationship. It's messed, wacky and well, sort of sweet at times as well. Recently on Mangafox I came across a thread that was full on hating Yato for what he had done to Hiiro/Nora. A lot of people got really mad at Yato while a lot of people just got really pissed off at Nora/Hiiro. Hope you don' mind if I call her Hiiro for now. Anyway, I will be expressing my views and showing you people that it is not necessary to hate either of them.

Hiiro and Yato grew up together, not that Hiiro was actually growing or anything...but anyway, Hiiro is probably a little younger than Yukine, at least that estimated guess. Hiiro and Yato grew up as friends, as siblings, as God and Shinki. Please, those of you that think Hiiro is in love with Yato, get your story straight. She is not, at least, hasn't shown any signs of it yet. Also, if she were, she would be depressed right now and that would mean that she'd be stinging their father and I doubt he'd let her slip past that. They are siblings and they care for each other in that way.

For those of you who blamed Yato for turning Hiiro into a stray. Yato was a child, he had no idea what was going on. If you've seen Ebisu in his reincarnated child form you will understand that his mindset is like of an innocent child's. So was Yato's. He didn't even know what a shinki was at first. He had no idea it was bad to have a stray. He thought it would be fine if he had Hiiro and so did his father. Then arises the question, why didn't Yato release her in the future when he finally understood? The point is, Yato is still under the power of his father even now. He only very recently got the guts to revoke Hiiro's name, plus, personally, I felt like he still has an affectionate side for Hiiro. There is one point when he tells her: "No matter what happens, why are you always smiling?"

In that case why did he so heartlessly revoke Hiiro's name if he was attached to her and she was attached to him? It was something that Yato did after a lot of thinking. We all know how painful it is for a Shinki to have his or her name revoked. It's like having someone tell you that you are of no use to them. It's a way of almost completely cutting off ties. It was horrifying for Hiiro and especially because Yato was the one that had turned her into a stray and he was almost half of her entire life. But Yato obviously felt hurt doing this. Personally, I believe Yato did this because he cared for her. She was being used by his father to hurt those around him, he was being forced to use her to hurt others, I think this was Yato's way of saying that he wasn't going to hate her any more for all that he was forced to do with her. It was a heart-breaking moment for both sides.

Why does Yato treat her like that? It's something that I've explained above. He's tied to his father through the wish he made for him and through Hiiro. He was forced to kill so many people with Hiiro, it hurts him to be around her. We need to remember that Hiiro is a Shinki as well, someone who still wants to live, who died with a pure and noble thought. Yato hates himself for making her kill so many people by his hand. That's why he treats her like that, he's a really tortured character and I wish people realize that. Hiiro probably never falters and keeps smiling because she does not wish to sting any of the Gods who have named her.

There's a point that has actually made me really suspicious about Hiiro actually. In the underworld arc, there is a point where Yato says she's strange and she's feels no emotions and she has always smiled. That point has made me wonder whether Hiiro has actually even fathomed that she is doing anything wrong. It's hard to understand, but I think Hiiro has been seriously brainwashed by Yato's father. We see here that Yato although he's hesitant about being close to Hiiro, even scared because she is so innocent and cares for him, he truly is comfortable around her and cares for her. We all know that Yato is like super-duper bad at expressing himself, so he doesn't know how to show his affection to Hiiro.

Here we see Hiiro get really concerned about Yato. She says that she is not afraid because their father will rescue them. Despite that faith and all her endless smiles, Hiiro still panics when Yato can't get out. She really does care for him as a sister would.

Last but not least, I think this is everyone's favourite Yato and Hiiro scene in the entire of the Manga. Here we actually come to understand these certain things. Yato knows Hiiro is attached to him, loves him like a brother and he pretty much cares for her like a sister, but they both have a past that they simply cannot forget. It's a rather torturous and sad past and it makes things so complicated. I know if possible, Yato would do anything to free Hiiro from their father. I hope they can solve the things between them.

Noragami: Manga vs. Anime (Spoilers)

vs.

When I first started with 'Noragami', I started with the anime first. I found reading the manga of any anime tiresome. But it was through 'Noragami' I realized how important the manga was for any anime because there is so much that you miss out in the anime that is there in the manga and then viewers feel betrayed, because all honestly, it hurts when there is more romance in the manga when in the anime there is less. But there were somethings about the characters in the manga and the characters in the anime that I found really different and it really started to annoy me. So I'll start off with comparing the characters.

1) Yato

VS.

Luckily the main character can't be switched around or changed that much. In the manga, Yato is more serious, more powerful, better looking, even funnier and even bummier. Needless to say that, while the Anime Yato is colorful and amazing, the manga Yato has a better sense of romance. Hehehehe...

2) Hiyori

VS.

Personally, I couldn't help that I believe Hiyori is prettier in the manga. That's just my personal opinion. Once again, one can't change the main character that much. I think Hiyori was fine actually. I didn't mind it that much.

3) Yukine

VS.

Once again, Main character syndrome. But let me just say that when Yukine was stinging Yato in the manga, he was the most annoying little prick on the planet, I felt like strangling him. And in the manga, he doesn't have much of a thing for Hiyori. 

4) Nora

   VS.  

I think I was the most frustrated when it came to Nora's character. In the anime we see her as the plainly evil and horrifying little girl who has a thing for Yato. Are you kidding me? Yato and Nora were raised as siblings and Yato was the one that turned her into a stray, but that's another thing. Nora isn't evil, she just does what she's told to do without question, I don't think she's fathomed that she's doing something wrong yet. She is a confusing character but I honestly don't think she's evil and she actually cares for Yato like some sort of messed up wacky sister.

5) Kofuku

VS.

Kofuku was absolutely adorable and wonderful in the manga and we all loved her to itty-bitty little pieces. But in the anime we see her as a dumb and carefree character. In the manga you actually see glimpses of Kofuku's past before she meets Daikoku and it was so sad that I actually started crying to see the little bright ball of sunshine that she is, crying and blighted.

6) Daikoku

VS.

Daikoku is all that jazz, isn't he? He's serious, he strong, he's fierce and he can see right through Yato's and Kofuku's idiocy. But personally I think I like his manga character more, he looks younger and better looking, plus you get to see the other sweet side of him and how much he truly loves Kofuku and how he really can't say no when she asks for a date, despite her disaster creating tendency.

7)Bishamon

VS.

I think I was frustrated quite a lot with the way the anime depicted Bishamon. We see her a lot as an evil character than a good character. She's beautiful, strong, majestic and all that, but she's also weak, loving and like a mother. We all thought in the manga that it really can't be that bad that she's been chasing Yato around for centuries because of the death f one regalia. But in the end, when we realize Bishamon treats all her regalias like her children and she wears armor because she's weak, we learn to love her and care for her. She even rescues Yato from the under world.

8) Kazuma

VS.

In the anime we saw more of Kazuma's serious and loyal side, but in the manga we see just how caring and sweet he actually is. We see his weak side and his **wiggle eyebrows** love for Bishamon. We also see that he's extremely devoted and sacrificial when it comes to Bishamon's well being. Like the time he threw himself in front of Bishamon to save Yato because she had no idea that Yato actually saved her.

9) Tenjin

 VS.

There was not much of a change when it came to Tenjin-sama. We all know he's that powerful, respected, smart, amazing absolutely ridiculous God. But in the manga for some reason, in the manga I felt like he was really noble and deserving of the name of the 'God of Education' and in the manga he didn't go around at any chance to degrade Yato, no! He's very nice to Yato...although they do tend to fight over who Mayu/Tomone was better suited with.

10) Mayu or Tomone

VS.

Well, Mayu wasn't regarded with that great of a light in the Anime. A lot of people were either like, why did you leave such a great God like Yato. Or they were like, good riddance, you weren't that much of a respectful Shinki either. Or they were like, get lost, Yato is Hiyori's. Plus, she was a lot more gorgeous in the manga, let's not forget the fact that she never stung Yato and she went to go and help him. She is such a strong and beautiful character in the manga, I absolutely love her!

11) Tsuyu

VS.

Well, our beloved Tsuyu didn't get that much screen time in the Anime now did she? Oh keep quiet! She's not a Regalia or Shinki like everyone thinks she is. She's a plum tree spirit that left her tree because she and Tenjin-sama fell in love with each other. There story is so utterly surreal and pink and filled with cherry blossoms it makes me giggle like a little kid!

11) Rabo

VS.

OK, this guy didn't even exist in the Manga. Unless they tried to do something really freaky with Bishamon's rouge Shinki and they turned him into a non-existent God. There is no way Nora would agree to harm Yato by Rabo's hand. Rabo excuse me, you don't even know how to use that mask properly, get out of the way!

12) Ebisu

VS.

Where was my darling Ebisu? He is such an important character! My gosh! He's the one who's name Kofuku exploits. Poor guy, it's ridiculous. He is probably the kindest and sweetest God out there and he only thinks about the good of humans. I mean, tell me that you already don't love this guy. He is also the first God that we get to see reincarnate.

13) Fujisaki or Yato's and Nora's Father

VS.

And if we forget such an important character like him, then we're all going to die because he'll friggin take over the world! This is Yato and Nora's legendary father. He lives by taking over other people's body and he has a thing for Hiyori. He killed Ebisu, killed one of Bishamon's Shinki's and he destroyed Hiyori's family hospital and nearly killed her too! He loves watching Yato get crushed under his feet and Yato has no choice but to obey him because his father is the only one that wished for him. In the OVA 2, he was supposed to be the one that carried Hiyori/Yato on his back.

In the End, in my opinion, Manga Wins!