Noragami Aragoto

Episode 12

I'll open this writeup with an apology - I've been mistaken about the episode count for a while. The season finale is next week, not this week. I'll try to be more careful about this in the future. But for now, I'll just be happy for the unexpected Christmas present of more Noragami.

Last week, we ended on Bishamon fighting Izanami in an attempt to rescue Yato. While she was holding her own at first, the battle quickly takes a turn for the worse. Izanami manages to pin down Bishamon and separate her from Kazuma. Now both she and Yato are in mortal danger. There is a way to get them out of the underworld - a ritual called Soul Call, wherein a human on the Near Shore calls out a god or spirit's true name. That'll instantly summon them out. Fortunately, there happens to be a human handy – Hiyori. She performs the ritual, instantly conjuring an unscathed Bishamon and company. Yato, however, does not respond. Our heroes immediately see the problem – Yato hasn't been using his real name.

So Yato is a pseudonym. Emotionally, it'd make sense for him to do that. He was likely named by Father, and the appellation probably carries memories of his difficult upbringing. Yato is deeply ashamed of his past and wants to establish a new identity. As everyone puzzles over Yato's name, the situation gets worse – a heavenly tribunal appears on the horizon to execute Ebisu as a traitor. They're unwilling to listen to his side of the story, and Bishamon is also in a load of trouble. They start attacking while Bishamon and Ebisu engage in defensive combat. Meanwhile, Hiyori is still occupied with the issue of Yato's name – she feels that she knows Yato deeply, even if she doesn't know his official name, and that this should be enough. But then she gets it – there's another way to read the kanji of Yato's name: Yaboku. She screams that into the void, and what do you know, Yato appears on top of her. Bingo.

But there's still another crisis to resolve, and that part gets pretty ridiculous. In a desperate attempt to stop Ebisu and Bishamon, the heavenly tribunal starts launching magical WMDs that leave massive craters in the ground. When they drop an especially big one, Yato saves everyone by chopping the bomb in half with Yukine. That works, I guess. In the end, one of their attacks seems to successfully hit Ebisu. Whether he survives is unclear, but the next episode preview shows a lot of distraught faces.

Like in the last arc, where many of Bishamon's shinki paid for their master's irresponsibility with their lives, it doesn't look like our heroes will emerge from this incident unscathed. It makes sense thematically for Ebisu to die, after just recently learning the value of his own individuality within the chain of reincarnation. He represents Yato's desire for the freedom to define himself, and Yatty can't be out of the emotional woods yet. It also establishes a motivation for future encounters with “Father” – it looks like he may have framed Ebisu to take credit for his crimes as “the sorcerer.” While Ebby was messing with nasty forces, his reasons were benevolent, and he only hurt himself. No storyline in Noragami has been without tragedy, but I bet we'll be encountering Ebisu New Game+ in the near future. Meanwhile, the community of gods has been lulled into a false sense of security about the dark spanner in their midst. What does “Father” want, and why is he a threat?

Overall, this was another solid episode of Noragami Aragoto. It would have been better if they'd foreshadowed the “Yato has another name” point earlier, but that's not much of a big deal. Ground has also been established for later conflicts – Yukine feels hurt because Yato kept secrets from him. Future story arcs will probably address Yukine's feelings of inadequacy and need for Yato's trust. All of this nonsense started with an episode where Yukine decided to protect Yato from Nora's manipulations, which he proceeded to fail at spectacularly. In order to help Yato, Yukine needs to learn how to coax honesty out of him. The learning process will be rough, but Yato needs someone who knows how to look out for him.

So is the implication that Nora is stuck in the underworld? Probably not, since Izanami is still lonely. Poor lady. She seems like an exaggerated version of Nora – a miserable, isolated person who needs companionship to distract her. She's blind to her companion's desires and needs, and her smothering eventually destroys them. All that matters to her is that she can be distracted from her pain by their presence. They're both toxic figures, but more pitiable than loathable.

There were also some neat visuals on display this week. Thunder god Takemikazuchi seems like he won the shinki lottery with a dragon made of lightning. I mean, it's no match for Kazuma, but at least it looks awesome. I hope that the next season (whenever it arrives) treats us to more figures from Japanese mythology. Noragami's world remains both fascinating and fertile ground for dramatic storytelling.

Grade: A

Noragami Aragoto is currently streaming on Funimation.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.