Review of Noragami Aragoto

[First of All] This is going to be a combined review of Noragami and Noragami Aragoto. Since my feelings are the same for both seasons, this shouldn't be a problem. From now on, I will refer to season 1 as "Noragami" and season 2 as "Aragoto", just to further simplify things. Noragami the series is awesome. From beginning to end, this anime was a consistently good time. If there is any question about it, I highly recommend watching Noragami and Aragoto. [Writing] This story manages to fuse comedy and tragedy like no other. It's very rare to see an anime that strikes that perfect balance, but when it does,it really does add to the experience. I love comedies and I love tragedies, but there are heavy consequences to having them in the same place.

One example of misusing the combination of tragedy and comedy is High School DXD. Yes, the fabled boobu festu anime. The writing is actually kind of good for an ecchi-harem anime, but the tone is all over the place. I mean, you can't go from having every girl get naked to killing off a protagonist in the same episode. Crazy tone shifts like that are what confuse the audience and thus kills any investment one might have in a series' story. In Noragami as well as Aragato, this isn't a problem. The comedy moderated to the point where the transition from tragedy to comedy is seamless. You never feel like the stakes are gone because comedy is usually done and dealt with before the drama starts to coalesce. That's only one possible result of misusing tragedy and comedy, though.

While it is hard to strike that perfect balance between ROFL and ROFC, as a writer, you really should try. Having more than one tone for an anime will increase its longevity significantly. One example of this rule is Dororo (2019). Very well made anime, but it's stuck in tragedy mode for 24 episodes straight. The drama is truly compelling, but I felt the need to put it on hold because I was simply growing bored of the depressing atmosphere. Noragami and Aragoto have several tones within their separate 24 minute confines. That's just separately, though. Incidentally, the overall tone of the series from beginning to end is like a gradient from comedy to tragedy. This works well to the show's favor since comedy is more likely to attract viewers while drama is more likely to keep them enthralled. That's a trap that I don't mind falling into, and you shouldn't either. It's good writing.

Now, I've rated the story 9/10 for a reason. Despite all my praise, there was a minor hiccup at the end of Aragoto. If you decide to watch, you'll notice that the pacing and character building become rushed in the final arc. This is minor and the ending is still very much watchable, but it's disappointing especially considering the fact that a 3rd season is unlikely at best. Now, onto the art (and sound) [I'll call it presentation].

[Presentation]

Noragami is a beautiful, polished anime. To begin with, the art style is simply amazing. The emphasis on specific colors as identification is a very good way of marketing. I have a theory that the people behind designing this anime were actually very passionate about it (I know, shocking), so they tried their absolute hardest to make it a successful franchise. Think about it: Yato is a sharp light blue, Yukine is a burning orange, and Hiyori is a bright pink. Even the minor characters get their own colors. Purple, violet, green, black, red. All of them distinctly related to a specific character. This concept is further emphasized by the series' kickass OPs. All the color is flushed out to make the marketing turn into straight up art. Not to mention, the music choice is very suitable for both seasons of the anime. Delving further into the sound, the voice acting is superb. Full disclosure, I am biased; Hiroshi Kamiya is listed as a "favorite person" on my MAL page, but objectively speaking, I think he was well cast. He can deliver great performances as Happy Yato, Sad Yato, and everything in between. I only decided to mention Yato's voice actor since he's the one you'll be hearing the most of should you decide to watch. Overall, masterful presentation all around. Now onto the characters.

[Characters]

The characters in this anime are charming, relatable, and well written. Almost never do they break character for the sake of the story. The characters actually grow too- all of them. It's sort of amazing how an audience can like a character both before and after they change throughout a story. If only other writers would take note of this possibility and stop making garbage exposition deliverers, the industry would be even better. I don't have much else to say, since it'd be spoiling integral parts of the story, so now into the final stretch.

[Overall]

When I'd first watched this series when I was still a young buck. Back then, the best anime i'd seen was High School DXD because it did magical things to the state of my pants. Now, roughly 4 years later, I've decided to re-watch to see if this series was worth the 10/10 I'd originally given it. Yes, it was. Noragami and Aragoto are great anime and you definitely should watch them.