Story- 9/10
So, Noragami's premise isn't something you'd think too impressive. A god, his shinki (a human spirit that died unnaturally and has been granted new life. Can turn into an object to the god who holds their name), and a human.
Delivery is everything though!
The first arc deals with very human problems and it's in a way that I must warn could be triggering to many with a few mentions of suicide. It mainly focuses on how being ignored or feeling alone can lead to someone go to extreme lengths to gain some attention including crime.
Afterwards there are many other forms of this but a lot of it is coated through family issues, dealing with death, child abuse (a driving theme), abandonment just off the top of my head.
The story itself is for the first arc and many side arcs set in Tokyo. Not in the main part but in what I assume to be the outskirts. The other settings it is held in are, to put it in terms easy to understand, hell and heaven (though not exactly...).
Noragami is a very finely weaved plot, you have no idea whether a small detail is a small detail or a huge plot point for later in the series and everything seems to have been laid out beforehand.
Art- 10/10
The art in Noragami is detailed but not in a way that it becomes messy and hard to look at. The backgrounds are specifically detailed and you can tell that the mangaka truly loves drawing their characters. The characters all have unique designs and even characters who look similar will have at least one detail that'll make them stand out. Some characters are flashier than others and very often that's because they're meant to stand out more. Even if you're a side or one off character the designs are very important.
Characters- 10/10
Characters in Noragami are very well rounded, even the side characters. They all fit very well and the dynamics you'll experience between each character and the way they interact with the world will feel very real. Even if you don't directly relate to all the characters there will be at least one that you do. They all have a very subtle development that happens in a way that you won't realise it's even happened until you compare the character from before an arc to after it and you could be amazed that you never noticed it before. The main trio is made up of Yato (a god), Yukine (Yato's shinki (explained above) and Hiyori (a human).
Hiyori is the person who keeps Yato and Yukine grounded and despite being antagonised by Yato at first, after sticking around out of obligation for Yukine she starts to warm up to both of them, becoming a staple in Yukine and Yato's lives who care for her as much as she cares for them. We see glimpses from her family life as to how she ended up the kind of person she is and the details are very important to her character.
Yato is an aspiring god of fortune, a delivery god at the start of the manga. He himself has went through some serious stuff that I will not get into for the sake of spoilers. He starts off with a lack of human understanding having never really having a friend or someone who treats him as an equal. He finds that person in Hiyori and after getting more acquainted with her more, he starts to open up and change, maturing a lot along the way. His personality is different at the beginning from what it develops into after being taught that he isn't useless, he can change and he can protect people.
Yukine is a very interesting character. Yukine is a shinki which, if you missed it before, is the spirit of a dead human who died of means unnatural and out of their accord. They can't remember their past life and neither should they, once named by a god they will be bound to said god and can turn into an object, often a weapon, for the god that named them. Yukine died at the young age of fourteen and as a teenager he has heightened emotions. He is the course of the whole first arc. He faces problems from being dead and unable to properly interact with people like he wants to and after getting to a very low point he goes through a rigorous, painful lesson and he changes.
Enjoyment- 9/10
I feel the need to specify the word 'enjoyment' denotes that you gain pleasure from reading the manga and it's amazing and all but some times are so heart wrenching that it's painful. Noragami knows when to use humour and how to use it. There are manga who like to interrupt moments with humour but Noragami isn't like that. Sad moments stay sad and they have a lasting affect on both you and the characters for ages, even forever, it may even shape them in who they are. Happy moments may be interrupted however and Adachitoka is ruthless with no mercy. The depressing moments never feel forced, they flow naturally, almost scarily so sometimes.
Overall- 10/10
No surprise after the above ratings. I would recommend Noragami to almost anyone and it's worth it to stick around. You don't get the boring parts, in a manga published monthly you can't afford to have boring parts and every single page is used effectively to build up hype, tension, foreshadowing, you name it.
