Review of Noragami Aragoto

Ehh. :< So it was alright, just kinda meh, nothing really outstanding for me, a bit mediocre even. The second season seems to be split in two; In the first half, it deals with Bishamon. There's treachery among the midst, Kazuma gets development, Hiyori gets kidnapped (again), and Yato is gonna kick some butt. There were some cool interactions and developments, but in the end, the majority of the conflict I found lacking. It could have been solved easily with a little bit of talking. I feel like the conflict was very fabricated and fake, and so I couldn't really get into it. I'm sad Hiyori once again got todo nothing. She was built up to be a strong female protagonist, and I like her, but in the end she was less than a side character, which is a shame.

The villain reveal was meh, I don't understand them, I don't get why Nora was involved, and the villain conclusion I didn't care for. So basically, the storytelling didn't draw me in, or even connect at all.

More than that, there are no consequences to any of it, other than "we're friends now I guess", which I don't like - especially not after what they built up. I'm fine with happy endings, but if that's what you're going for, you probably shouldn't do what they did-- I never like when there are no consequences to massive wrong decisions, that just kind of takes the oomph out of any show. It means nothing bad will ever happen, so what's the danger?

In the second half, we learn of a new god named Ebisu who tries to buy Yukine (that goes nowhere - feels like they just kind of forgot about this) and who travels to the Underworld to try and find a way to control phantoms. Again, the concept is interesting, and some cool things happen, and there are some really sweet moments, but to me, it gets held back, because...

Yato gets kidnapped, somehow, and for some reason he can't escape, and no-one cares. Again, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Maybe in the manga, but not here.

The villain from before is back, then trips and falls for no reason and is gone. Like a total afterthought.

Nora is being spooky mysterious for reasons.

Hiyori is used as a plot device and nothing more (as before)

There's not enough (screen)time to really care about Ebisu before the end. Which is the biggest crutch. There are just not enough episodes to really build the guy's character before..

And then it's over!

It's definitely not finished yet, either. Yato finally cuts some ties and makes a decision how to move forward, Yukine gets super saiyan and stops being whiny, Hiyori is kinda there, everyone is alive, and there is mention of a mysterious father figure + an after-credits scene.

But ehh; I felt it just wasn't cohesive enough, the conflicts felt fabricated and mutter mutter I'll just go back to my shed.

Please enjoy it if you like it, but it wasn't my cup of coffee. ^^;