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: Yato and Ebisu's Relationship

One of the relationships that I am particularly fond of in the manga is the relationship between Yato and Ebisu. We don't have much of these two yet, but it's really so nice to see them, I feel like they could become best friends. Both of them have taught each other so many lessons that it's beautiful. The part that breaks my heart is that the two of them are envious of each other in the nicest way possible.

I can't say that their first meeting was that great, I mean, would you be happy with someone who tries to buy Yukine from Yato? I was super pissed off at Ebisu and moreover there were suspicions running around that he was the sorcerer. I wanted to kill Ebisu because in my head he was an evil God who attacked Yato and Bishamon. Ooh...I was angry. Yato had mixed feelings. Ebisu asked to borrow Yukine and in return he gave money to Yato to build a shrine and we all know that that has been Yato's dream for centuries.

The second time Yato meets Ebisu is in the underworld when he is forced to go down by his father to save the sorcerer of the masks. He didn't expect it to be Ebisu at all. He actually expected it to be his father. Yato is more than confused, but Hiiro/Nora is calm and explains everything to Yato. Yato was obviously shocked and for a while he wondered if he should even be taking care of Ebisu or not.

And then Ebisu explains to Yato everything. He explains that he wants to save the human world, not destroy it and that makes Yato realize that Ebisu never attacked Bishamon or kidnapped Hiyori in the first place. Ebisu wasn't bad at all. This makes Yato ridiculously  jealous and it makes Yato respect Evisu at the same time because Ebisu is the kind of God Yato has always wanted to be and the funny part is Yato is the God that Ebisu had always wanted to be. So then, Yato sacrifices himself for Ebisu and tells him to get out.

But then Ebisu finds out that the entrances and exits are blocked so he has no choice but to return to Izanami the Goddess of the Underworld hoping that he can at the least save Yato's life. Yato is horrified that Ebisu would even think of coming back to rescue him. He asks if that is all to Ebisu's will and when Ebisu replies negative and gives his reasons, Yato grabs him and they both ttry to escape Izanami. Yato finds himself saving Ebisu not because his father wants him to but because he wants to save Ebisu and it gives him a certain pride. The trip to the underworld, teaches both Ebisu and Yato important lessons. Lessons that they learn from each other.

Happiness does not last forever and friendships do not last forever. When Yato wakes up after being saved from the underworld the first things he does is hug Hiyori and Yukin, cry his eyes out and ask about Ebisu who he rescued successfully from the underworld at the price of his own freedom. He finds out that because of his father, the heavens made a mistake and killed Ebisu and now he has been reincarnated. The horror and guilt that Yato wakes up to is too much to bear and he can't even look Ebisu in the eye or listen to Ebisu thank him. So he goes full out and yells at Ebisu's reincarnation who simply can't remember him.

Yato takes Ebisu to the place his last incarnation wanted to go to and then there they talk and Ebisu says that his last incarnation must have been bad because the heavens killed him. Yato is so filled with guilt that he yells at Ebisu telling him that he was a very kind God. Yato then apologizes to Ebisu, saying that it was all his fault. Yukine and Hiyori who are peaking through the window suddenly feel like Yato has changed after visiting the underworld and Ebisu was the reason for that change.

When Bishamon finds out about Yato's father she asks him how he can even face Ebisu and so Yato tries to ignore Ebisu, but who can ignore that adorable kid, especially after he was almost run over by a truck. I suppose Yato has accepted by now that he can't escape from Ebisu because he feels a responsibility and guilt towards Ebisu.

Yato then explains to Ebisu, he tells everything Ebisu, about his father and everything else and as Ebisu talks and explains the ways of the world to Yato, Yato realizes that Ebisu never really will change, he will always be that kind hearted God ready to lay down his life for others that Yato met in the underworld. This scene was definitely my favourite ever Yato and Ebisu scene. It made me cry. Then Ebisu turns to Yato and tells him that if he's not mad at him, neither was his previous incarnation and then he tells Yato that "It's Okay", Yato sees the older Ebisu and I was bawling my eyes out because maybe, Ebisu is what Yato needs.

This photo was an extra the author added but it speaks volumes and I've decided that Yato and Ebisu need to become best friends because they need each other, they teach other lessons they never could have learned from anyone else. They both make each other happy and feel better and I hope that we will see more of them in the later chapters of the anime.

Noragami: Yato and Bishamon's Relationship

These two started out as clearly misunderstood and idiotic. No other explanation is required. In the anime, it really annoyed me that Bishamon was portrayed in such a negative light when we saw her differently in the manga, but now we know that the next season explains Bishamon's and Yato's relationship, so we're all good. But...I've across people who still really dislike Bishamon. Why would you do that? Here are the reasons why, you shall see them in my review on their relationship.

We were introduced to their relationship in pretty much the most confusing way possible. Her first interaction with him that we see and woah, why is she trying to kill him? Although, we get it quick enough. So fine, it has been justified, she has every right to want to try and kill him because he killed her Shinki, duh. But...that still doesn't explain anything.

And then Kazuma so kindly explains to us when Yato and Yukine have gone to kill Bishamon because they think that she's kidnapped Hiyori. In the end, it was all one big misunderstanding and they should just back off and yell at Kazuma instead. Wait, why would you even do that to the poor kid. OK, so maybe Bishamon had no right to try and kill Yato? But then Yato had no right to try and kill her because Hiyori was captured by someone else in the first place!

Needless, to say, even after everything is cleared and the shinki and everyone else are getting along, it is not getting any better for these two. I mean, not much changes, aside from the facts that this time, the shinki aren't getting involved. I mean, you don't go from being enemies for a couple of centuries to besties the next, definitely not in their case.

I think we all agree that Yato went over board just to shut her up and he definitely didn't make matters any better, if anything, I think he made matters worse by making even Kazuma sort of pissed off. Ridiculous, but how else do you expect drunk people to act? But in a way, after she beats him up for this, I think she's vented out quite enough. I think it also smooths things out and well, it calms things down in it's own way.

But I really think in it's own warped way, our Yato has finally gotten even Bishamon to warm up to him. I mean, who goes down into the underworld just to save some acquaintance you tried to kill a couple of months ago? I know I wouldn't. She fights full on even though she knows that it's most likely a losing battle and she does everything she can to take Yato back with her from the underworld. Let me just say, she has guts to fight Izanami like that.

Oh! And she let's Yato stay in her house after she rescues him. But no matter how chummy everyone around them gets, they forever will be idiots who really can't stand each other's presences because their personalities clash too much!