Noragami is about Yato, a minor god of calamity who can't get a shrine of his own, and is kind of a bum, who lives with other gods. He also can't seem to keep a servant spirit, because they all run off because he's too poor, and they want a higher lifestyle. Enter Hiyori, a girl who has an accident that causes her to slip in and out of astral travel. This is very dangerous for her, and so she ends up befriending Yato who promises to find a way to save her. Along the way Yato battles lots of demon monsters who are corrupted spirits.
To many people, Noragami is just another shonen. Battles and action sequences, and some light comedy. And to many people that's all it will be.
But at it's core, Noragami is a spiritual piece. It contains elements of Buddhist (and Shinto) teachings that make up the core of this anime.
The main premise of this anime is all about the Buddhist concept of Karma, and Sange. Sange is the act of making spiritual contrition: being freed from the burdens of one's mistakes, and harmful acts, by truly being sorry and remorseful.
Noragami, is at it's core, a story about people who do willful, harmful behavior, and then when the karmic burden becomes too great, realize the error of their ways, and truly and sincerely redeem themselves.
It's an extremely powerful, and deep story in that sense. For many people, they won't get that, they will see gods, and demons, and spirits, and ghosts, and a girl who does astral travel, and think it's all about battles, and another shonen. People have even oddly compared it to Hataraku Maou-sama! (the Devil is a part-timer!) simply because Yato has a part time job. But it's while there are some similarities in the comedy aspects, in Noragami, Yato's "job" aspect truly is a very minor, almost glossed over aspect of the story, and the anime itself is about much deeper concepts.
Noragami has a lot of different elements in it. If all you want is action and battles, hey, it has that, and enough to keep you entertained. If you want romance, it has bits of that too. And if you want character development it's loaded with that.
But if you want something deeper, there is an extremely deep spiritual element too. And that, to me is really the heart of Noragami. All else is just window dressings to provide entertainment. But it's the spiritual development of the characters, and the overall deep spiritual meanings that make this one special.
