I had no idea how the anime was going to be, because I did not read the manga. From observing the net about both the sources I found there was not much hype about Noragami being aired. The only thing that drove me to watch was the cast-with Kamiya Hiroshi and Yuki Kaji as the main leads, I decided there was no way I was going to miss this and boy am I glad I watched it fully, even taking the time to re-watch it two to three times.
One thing that attracted me during the very first episode was, undoubtedly, Yato. I could swear to god that he is one of the most dynamic and best characters I have seen in anime history. He was like Lelouch, yet at the same time, he was funny. Despite being a God, you could say he was vey un-god-like, but this is exactly why this character was good and extremely funny. Understanding his character can be done only when one watches the series, and coupled with his voice actor, Hiroshi Kamiya, Yato was the man of the show for me.
Hiyori Iki was also in my list of favorite characters for one, major reason: she was NOT ANNOYING. Unlike other heroines in shounen anime where the girls are either too arrogant or too shy, Iki was the correct example of how a girl actually could play an important part in the anime. There were other characters I loved too- Kazuma, Bishamon and Yukine were perfect side characters.
The story is something that can be executed nicely, and it has indeed played itself well. I like good, sensible and logical anime that have supernatural elements along with these aspects. However, it does not loyally follow the manga during the last episodes, and it turned out to be somewhat disappointing because adding a new character just for the sake of finishing the anime was something I do not support in any anime. It certainly would have been nice if the episodes were extended a little, that would have helped the anime to be more faithful to the manga.
The art, as usual, was brilliant, as expected of Eureka Seven's producer, Bones. The scenes where Yato summons Yukine, coupled with the music, were amazing to watch, except they were used repetitively. Yato's design was attractive, and the whole anime was in the manga's style.
What I liked more than the art, though, was the music. There were some themes that sounded very absurd, yet, they were addictive and nice to hear, such as the theme called "Harmony" where a high-pitched voice sings something called a "sangathi", which is a very famous style of singing in South India(yes, being a south Indian, I am very familiar with the sound). The main theme used autotune but was a liitle lacking in the sense that it was repetitive. I liked the opening theme, "Goya No Machiawase" by Hello Sleepwalkers, as the tune was catchy and addicting. I did not give much attention to the ending song as it was quite boring and gave a gloomy feeling.
Overall, I enjoyed this series very much and would recommend it to anyone who wants to watch supernatural elements with drama.
Thank you for reading my first review.
