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Yay! Finally I get to bring you my review of Noragami volume 2. *Spoiler warning.*
For those who need a little reminder, Noragami: Stray God is written and illustrated by Adachitoka, a two-woman team made up of Adachi and Tokashiki. This is their debut work, though they did work on "Alive: The Final Evolution" by Kawashima Tadashi and assisted Katou Motohiro ("Rocket Man") and Shimizu Aki ("Suikoden III"). Noragami is published by Kodansha Comics.
In volume 1, we are introduced to Yato, a wandering god who does jobs for 5 yen offerings in order to eventually build his own shrine and then be worshiped by the people of Japan. He encounters a young girl who is now able to slip out of her body and become a spirit, half human half ayakashi. She follows him around, waiting for him to fix her condition and attempts to help him however she can. Yato kills ayakashi using a shinki, a pure spirit that becomes a weapon. At the end of volume one, Yato claims the spirit of a young boy as his shinki and names him Yukine.
Enter volume 2. While volume 1 is used for world building, it ends with many questions still to be answered. Immediately in volume 2, we get those answers. Yato and Yukine are dead but can still interact with the living when they choose, but the living never remember interacting with them. We also witness a wealth gap between the gods. Some are willing to pay Yato to do jobs for them or even offering an employment but he takes these jobs and offerings grudgingly. Shinki are revealed to be the spirits of those who died but wanted to live. This makes Yukine's situation sad since he's only 14. This also explains why Yato is so angry whenever another character mentions wanting to die.
We're also introduced to the rules regarding shinki and their gods. Yato explains gods don't have any morals but learn right from wrong based on their shinki's actions and experiences. When Yukine knowingly steals, it causes Yato pain and illness. This leads to Yato introducing Hiyori and Yukine to another god, Kofuku Ebisu-- one of the seven gods of fortune. She shows what another god may look like. According to the end-notes, she is the god of fishermen, yet her design is a cute, school girl type.
This interaction with Ebisu provides both Yato's backstory-- a warrior god who killed humans as well as another god's shinki-- and introduces the antagonist. Bishamon is another of the seven gods of fortune-- the warrior god. When she appears and attacks Yato, it's confirmed it was her shinki Yato killed and in revenge she plans to kill him and Yukine even though the boy has no connection to the events of the past. A fight ensus and is only stopped when Ebisu steps in to "help." Because of Yukine's theft, Yato isn't at full strength and Bishamon even mocks him for this. The most interesting part about the end of this battle is the fact that one of Bishamon's shinki bows to Yato as they leave.
I'm deeply interested in knowing what happened between these two warrior gods. Why would yato kill a shinki, especially when he's so adament about hating corrupted spirits? Was the shinki turning evil? Was something else going on between Yato and Bishamon.
The artwork is beautiful, just like in the first volume. We get to see more ayakashi designs as well as more gods and shinki for the characters to interact with. I'm predicting we'll meet all of the seven gods of fortune and they will play a bigger role in the series.
Hiyori continues to be a pushover and acts as little more than a reason for the reader to follow these characters around. I hope she'll develop a bit more as things progress but at the moment, she's not that important to the plot.
Yukine is interesting because we see him happily stealing and taking advantage of others, yet we also know he's scared of the dark. He's also caring; staying with a young girl who doesn't realize she's dead. He does fight and protect Yato but there's some debate as to whether this is from his own free will or if it's the fact Yato is his master that this happens.
Yato is the most complex. He has strong opinions about the spirits and humans; unable to forgive anyone who wants to die because the shinki are only spirits who died despite wanting to live. He's willing to mooch off of others but he will complete any task given to him. An interesting thing I noticed is how he lets Yukine do as he pleases. There's never a point where Yato punishes Yukine for his behavior but he does make it clear it is affecting him, is not appreciated, and will not allow some behaviors when it comes to Hiyori. At the same time, he seems to want Yukine to figure things out on his own. He willingly takes them to Ebisu with the intention of letting them find out more about him. As a warrior god, he killed a shinki and now he's repentant for this. The more I read,the more I want to know.
The last page of the volume introduces a new character. Yato refers to this shinki as "the stray" and may have been mentioned in volume 1 when Yato is still looking for a shinki. He mentions the stray being elsewhere that night. The most interesting part about her design is the number of marks on her skin. A shinki's master gives the spirit a name and that appears as a mark on their skin and is used to transform them into a weapon. The fact this girl has multiple marks suggests she has multiple masters and multiple names, but then I wonder how that is possible. Could other shinki take on multiple masters or is this one special in some way?
Again, Adachitoka does an amazing job creating a new world, answering questions, and presenting new ones in order to keep the readers attention. I highly recommend this series (so far) and look forward to picking up the next volume when the chance arises.
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