I am actually not a God, just a human being. I just put the God title for fun. Anyway, let me say that Winter season anime has been the weakest season. By me just saying this, you would understand that watching and reviewing anime in the winter season is definitely a hard one for me.
However, there are 2 anime that stood out among the crowd in the winter season. One of them is D-Frag and the other one is the anime that I am reviewing now. So without further adieu, let's get on with the review.
STORY (7):
The story follows Iki Hiyori, a normal high school student, who saved Yato, a jersey-wearing person, from the bus. Unfortunately, she became a half-phantom and things happen from there.
The story introduces the concept of phantoms which are evil spirits that exist in the world. Evil spirits can control people's minds and trick them into doing evil things like insulting, hurting, etc... The story managed to blend evil spirits and the real world very well.
There was one scene whereby the phantom says "Smells nice". This sort of reminds me of the time when I watched Venus Versus Virus when Sumire is in her "Berserker Mode". The difference is that the plot is better executed in Noragami than Venus Versus Virus.
ART (7):
The art style was amazing. The art style was very subtle in the sense that it made the phantoms look like they are communicating to human beings.
SOUND (7):
The opening theme "Overnight Appointment" is a rock song that is very catchy and addictive. This opening theme was sung by Shuntaro.
The ending theme "Heart Realise" is a smooth song. It was composed by Supercell and was sung by Ria.
The background music actually fits the tone when performing rituals.
It was very surprising to see well-known voice actors portraying the voice very well for each characters. (eg. Rie Kugimiya voiced Nora)
CHARACTER (5):
The only good characters are Yato & Kazuma.
Yato has charisma and he is also a badass when fighting phantoms. in fact, his statement "People should appreciate the meaning of being alive" was a good statement from him. It shows that he really cared for everyone. During the final confrontation with Rabo, he sort of reminds me of Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin when Kenshin fights with Jinei Udo.
Kazuma was also calm and collected. In fact, he was an interesting character when he was given a back story. Kazuma was voiced by Jun Fukuyama who was the voice actor for Lelouch vi Britannia.
Yukine was very annoying although he went through a development in the later episodes. In fact, I appreciated his development as a character.
Hiyori Iki at least managed to help Yato in the slightest possible way she can. However, this anime never gave her any powers to kill phantoms and bosses. She is treated like a damsel in distress.
I always see damsel in distresses in most action anime nowadays and this really killed the enjoyment I had with the characters and the anime itself. As I have mentioned in my early review Sword Art Online that I am very tired of damsel in distresses and wishy-washy female characters. For male characters being wishy-washy, I can tolerate them to a small extent. (eg. Yukiteru Amano from Mirai Nikki)
CONCLUSION (6):
Although I have problems with this show, I really did appreciate the way how they integrate phantoms into the real world. However, this anime didn't stand out among most anime that I have watched. I was neither surprised nor bored.
I really didn't want to give this anime a very low rating just because of a damsel in distress, Hiyori Iki. I really try to be as generous as possible when it comes to Winter Anime Season.
I also hope they will have an ova or season 2 to cover Bishamon's arc. It is because I would love to know more about her and especially Kazuma.
However, for what it's worth I enjoyed bits and pieces of this anime and I will give this anime a 6 out of 10. If you enjoyed this show a lot, that's good. Stay tuned for more reviews to come.
