WARNING THIS CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS

If you first took a look at Noragami, you'd just think it's just your typical shounen manga, but it's not. Noragami is a hidden gem and I can tell you this, this manga deserves much more praise for the directions it takes with the story,characters, art and just pretty much everything.

Story:
Noragami takes place in an alternate universe where gods grant human's wishes and protects humans corrupted spirits called Ayakashi. Our story revolves around a homeless, delivery god Yato, who grants wishes for 5 yen, what Japanese people usually give at a shrine. He gets in an accident with a human girl called Hiyori which results in occasions where her soul leaves her body. Yato and Hiyori come across a wandering spirit who is picked up by Yato and made him into his Shinki, named Yukine. Then the story just revolves around the main 3 and their adventures.

Now I got to tell you it's an interesting concept but I've never seen a manga that has it’s magic rules established and followed like Noragami has. The concept of a Shinki ‘stabbing’ his master due to sin is such a brilliant idea and is used in interesting ways for conflict. This concept was a really nice way to establish how the Gods have a weak point and it allows the authors the benefit of not having their characters too powerful. It’s even more impressive that their weak points come from their means of protection, their weapons. I really appreciate that there’s a limit to the God’s powers and they haven’t tried to bend the rules that they have set up. Let’s be real, how many mangas have this much thought in their world building?

AND OH GOD THE FORESHADOWING. I mean the way they revealed who Yato’s dad was so really impressive. The Foreshadowing was so amazing that when I went back and thought about it, all his actions synced to him hiding an identity/ having ulterior motives (e.g. suddenly transferring during his senior year, kissing Hiyori)

What’s so great about it was that I don't think anyone ever saw it coming and the reveal was all the more powerful. This whole plot twist deserves a slow clap and kudos to Adachitoka!

Art:
The artwork is beautifully drawn and just amazing. Everything from the hairstyles to the eyes is just beautiful. Also I have to give credit to the artist for making this so clear and easy to follow. Have you ever paused for a moment in a manga and said “ What just happened?
Yep, many popular manga suffer from a lack of flow in it’s pages. Tokyo Ghoul, Shingeki No Kyojin and Ao no Exorcist. All of these I love dearly but I can’t count the times I had to reread the pages just because I didn’t know where to look.

Characters:
The characters are the highlight and, without a doubt the best part of Noragami. Every character doesn't actually feel useless and they all serve a purpose, which is a major problem when it comes to other manga. There is alot of characters but I will be only talking about our main characters, Hiyori, Yato and Yukine.

Our main protagonist, Yato, oh boy this will be a long one. If someone ever asks me to describe Yato, I would say, Yato is someone who's not good with words-I will go into detail why later. He's very goofy and a big dork. The majority of the comic relief mainly comes from his antics. He dreams of having a shrine with millions of worshippers. Yato has a tragic past, where he was abused by his father and killed people so he could get praise of him. Yato regrets killing people and he now wants to become someone who could make people happy.

Not to mention Yato’s own underlying self-esteem issues, which have him privately convinced that no one will ever want to stay with him because they will all discover his true self one day and be disgusted. His father has so deeply ingrained this sense of wrongness in Yato that Yato’s ability to trust others and let them in is completely shot. Kofuku clearly doesn’t mind the idea of being friends with Yato, but it’s obvious from their changing dynamics later on that Yato never really relied on her for much other than pick-me-cash prior to the events of Noragami. He doesn’t share any truths about himself with anyone—even Hiyori and Yukine—for fear of their finding out about his past and coming to hate him.

Yato is often compared to other shounen MCs in the sense that he can be very goofy, but then he also has a dark past and can turn into a badass when needed. What’s different about Yato’s character is that 99% of the ridiculous things he does/says are a direct consequence of his troubled past. Meaning it’s not so funny to laugh at him anymore. It’s not only things like fanboying over Capypas or being super possessive of Hiyori and Yukine. From very early in the series, it’s stated through Tomone’s resignation that Yato has trouble keeping Shinki around. “He’s homeless, a nobody, creepy, silly, sweaty hands… yada yada yada”. Even if he acts as if it doesn’t really bother him, it does. It bothers him so much that people leaving him is actually a thought that interrupts his fantasies.

Are we really supposed to be laughing at this?

Despite being physically and emotionally abused for hundreds of years, Yato still gained enough strength to leave Father and Hiiro behind and start building his own path by doing random delivery jobs in exchange for 1 yen. Why? Because “I want people who believe in me, not money”. Laugh all you want, but Yato has done everything it takes to stop killing people and try to change and become something else. Something that won’t mean hating himself everytime he looks into a mirror. Do we really think that he was happy with his life during his idol phase? Sure, he’s always been a bit of a dork anyway, but Yato was alone and desperate (and Kazuma was a sweetheart for supporting him no matter what he did). Even if it’s used for comedic relief.
I still cringe everytime Mayu or Tomone speaks ill of him, even if she still cares about him. The problem obviously comes from the fact that Yato is so secretive about his past and so bad at expressing his feelings that people around him can’t really understand why he acts the way he does.

I’m not saying we should feel bad for laughing at Yato’s shenanigans. They are, after all, intended for comedic relief. However, I find it very interesting how Adachitoka introduced this character as a silly good-for-nothing simpleton, only to start revealing things about his past and having him become the most inspiring character in the entire series for how much he’s endured. It would have been so easy for him to say "screw everything, the world doesn’t care about me” and stay in the dark path, but instead of that he chose to fight and change to become a better person. An actual God of Fortune. As Yato said himself, “don’t judge a person by how they look”.

Hiyori, our female protagonist. Hiyori is caring girl with a strong sense of right and wrong. When Hiyori gets in an accident where her soul occasionally slips out of her body. Hiyori doesn't rely on Yato for everything and she takes matters into her own hands. She's extremely loyal to Yato and Yukine and she cares for them deepy. Even though she wishes to become human, she has no intentions for cutting her ties with Yato.

Hiyori is basically the glue for the main three, she is the reason why Yato even found Yukine in the first place. Without her, Yato wouldn't have a shrine. She stopped Yato from killing Bishamon. Believe or not, I saw People saying that Hiyori is an annoying Mary Sue and the manga would be better without her, but she actually plays a huge role in the story and it's a shame people just overlook that.

Yukine, Yato's Shinki and Hafuri. Yukine get's alot of hate, particularly from the anime fans, because of his character in the first few chapters/episodes.
But he was not like that for no reason, he found out he was dead, with no memory of his past, he's just a teenager, who is meant to be in school with his friends. But now he can't do that anymore and he is put in a big position, which is protecting his master, Yato. Yukine's character development is amazing after his cleansing and I am really proud of him.

Enjoyment:
This manga had me hooked from the first chapter, it's so addicting, when I first read it I couldn't put it down. Noragami is definitely a must-read for anyone who wants to read a really good story.

Overall:
I like to think of Noragami being a double sided coin. While it involves Gods and mythology, it also deals with some very human concepts. Abuse, death, depression–most of it is underlying. This manga is just amazing and the only issue I have with it is mainly just a nitpick, that chapters come out every month. But I'm glad it's that way, it gives more time to Adachitoka. I'd rather wait a month for an amazing chapter than get a really bad chapter every week. Overall this is just a must read for anyone who wants a great story with great characters