Story: [2/10]
Anime planet's synopsis:
"Yato may just be a minor god now, but he’s determined to make it big and he’s got a plan. Unfortunately, things just don’t seem to be going his way. He doesn’t have a single shrine dedicated to him, his partner has just quit, and now he’s got to find a new divine weapon."
The synopsis sounds kind of exciting right? A god trying to increase his influence over Japan, have the people errect shrines in his honour and pray to him. A plot that involved world conquest, betrayal, strategy and alliances... who knows what they could unveil, but I would have never guessed it was comedic relief. Yes that's right, Yato runs around doing chores for people like cleaning their bathrooms and that's about the extent of his divine plan. He does slay some pokemon looking creatures that fly around not really doing a whole lot, seems very similar to a certain Puella Magi Madoka Magica girl plot with the storms and the monsters who make people depressed and whatever. Let us see if the second part of the synopsis gives us a better indicator as to what this anime is actually about.
Part 2:
"Just when things look bleak, he (Yato) meets a girl named Hiyori and changes her life forever."
Now this sounds a little more like what the anime is actually about but what exactly does that mean? I watched the anime and I still don't really know, it's not that the synopsis isn't doing the anime justice either. It's more like the anime doesn't really have a plot and Yato's "plan" doesn't actually exist. Yato is supposed to help Hiyori get rid of her "tail", this leads to them becoming friends. That's it. There really isn't much else to say. Yato needs a weapon to kill these inconsequential pokemon creatures, so he needs a weapon and he finds Yukine. Yukine is a pretty good weapon so Yato does everything he can to make sure that he gets to keep him. Why? To slay pokemon obviously, it's not like hes doing anything else.
However the main storyline is actually about Yato's dark past coming back to haunt him, I've seen this trend in The Devil is a Part-Timer where a generous, kind, gentle and all-around harmless bloke is portrayed as the god of evil as well. It's fairly concerning that the divine manifestation of evil is such a pleasant guy, feels like the balance of the world is in danger. Yukine has some issues too, I missed the episode where we are told exactly what they are, did hear a lot of whining from an immortal, eternally young kid about how he wasn't alive anymore but the rest must be for season 2 or something.
A story about nothing, with characters who exist for no reason and it's barely coherent despite that. All jokes aside, 2/10 is a reasonable score.
Animation: [3/10]
Pointlessly cute characters, an unimaginative world with clear inspirations from other anime like FMA and Madoka (not style, just content). Gods had completely demeaning appearences that reinforced the idea that gods are really just humans playing dress up and they might (or might not) have a magical power or two. Boshomon looks like a hooker, the god of povery is literally a 17 year old girl with pink hair and no one really exceeds this sort of expectatons. The creatures are unimaginative and unimpressive, almost every character has their situation in some way undermined by their appearance (Boshomon's ferocity, Yato's cruelty, Yukine's depression and so on). Nothing redeeming about it.
Sound: [6/10]
How do I review the music to a plot that doesn't really plot? I don't know, but there were certaintly some respectable scores and the voice acting wasn't less than average. I didn't really appreciate many of the the main themes though, but I suppose thats a personal taste thing and autotune isnt my thing.
Characters: [3/10]
Every character was fairly one dimensional, the relationships were also extremely one dimensional and lacked the depth necessary for me to become emotionally invested in them. Gods live like humans, eat like humans, bleed like humans and make friends with humans, in other words they are not gods. Yato as the god of calamity did not ever show any sign of him being a "bad" or "immoral" person, he even dislikes Yukine doing "immoral" things because it stings him, what kind of god of calamity struggles with that? I can't even comment on Yukine because his story wasn't even told to us which is pathetic, and Hiyori is easily the most air-headed character in the series.
Overall: [4.5/10]
Noragami boast some impressive scenes but how they got there was most unimpressive, with no strong backbone to the story it really felt more like a magical slice of life with some awful drama elements. I think if you are the type of person who doesn't expect much from their anime and is content with some kawaii characters, some decent action and emotional scenes and some slice of life then you will enjoy this anime. However in terms of technical execution, storyboarding, character design and world setting, there is much left to be desire. I would not recommend this anime to anyone over the age of 18 and I would not recommend this anime to people who appreciate the artistic side to animation.