Review of Noragami Aragoto
Out of all the series I watched this year to this point this one so far was the biggest disappointment. After final episode I was thinking "How could this series turn into something like THIS?". Detailed information is below. First, art and animation are on the same level as previous season. Characters are good looking, well animated, backgrounds are detailed. Music is... okay, but it is nothing memorable. The problem is story and characters. I enjoyed previous season of Noragami because of unique atmosphere. In previous season there was some mystery, there were weird ayakashi, there was some sort of unique feeling of supernatural and unknown.... and therewere genuine moments of darkness and tragedy.
In this season, every single thing I enjoyed in previous season is gone, and the whole thing somehow degenerated in a cheap shounen anime. The story starts "alright" at episode one, progressively becomes worse and worse, reaches its absolute low at episode 12 (which is abysmally bad), and then episode 13 has ONE nice moment in the whole season, immediately followed by a cliffhanger. During the season, the anime hints at some VERY important details of character's past, but ultimately doesn't elaborate, and leaves many things unexplained.
The worst thing about the story is that it degenerated into completely cliched fighting anime. You have every single trick from the "cliche book" applied in every episode. There are characters repeating someone's name 50 times in row with shocked expressions, classic "leave me behind! - no I can't!", or "we must do that very dangerous thing! - Gasp! - we're doing that very dangerous thing!". Oh, and there are obvious villains who love talking while "smiling in a very evil fashion". It is beyond cringeworthy. Any interactions between two any characters in any critical scene are completely unbelievable and feel fake.
Frankly, I just don't understand how something like this could happen. First season was enjoyable and displayed good potential of becoming something bigger, then 2nd season appeared and threw it all out of the window. Oh well.
The series are worth watching if you really, really, REALLY love Yato, or if you want to have another look at either Bishamonten, Kofuku or Hiyori.... or REALLY enjoy cliched fighting scenes. Aside from that, the anime has almost nothing to offer. It is well done, but the story ultimately ruined it. What a pity.