So now that I’ve watched the finale of season 2, I’m having mixed feelings about the ending since I have read the manga.
Overall I’m rather disappointed with how it ended.
A bit of a text block ahead, my apologies. I focus on just a few things as this isn’t an analysis.
Although I think Ebisu’s death was handled… alright for the anime, it’s still disappointing. The manga did an excellent job to convey the raw emotion and the seriousness and the intensity of the events unfolding once Heaven showed up. Everyone at that moment seeing Heaven showing up was literally like “well we are freaking screwed”. This was life or death this was if we make a mistake, one slip, and Ebisu is dead, Bishamon is in trouble because you DO NOT mess with Heaven once it comes after you. Sure Bishamon kicked their butts in both versions, but the manga clearly conveys that Ebisu is in DEEP TROUBLE EITHER WAY.
In the anime… there’s this feeling of naw everything will be fine. It’s so lackluster. Bishamon/Yato will kick their butts! There’s not that much raw emotion other than “they’re firing the Heaven canon! We’re probably gonna die! But y’know we got two really powerful war gods so…” (and the Heaven canon??? What was that even???)
Now about Ebisu’s death. I’m not going to go in depth about the fact that it was completely changed and lost it’s emotional touch in the anime. Yes it was emotional, but the way the anime handled how Ebisu’s death affected Bishamon, and Yato in particular, was really disappointing.
Bishamon was shown to be pretty close to Ebisu from what I remember in the manga, and this was more so shown when she was the one with Ebisu when he was dying.
In the next page she is shown to be crying. Crying. Not to downplay Yato and Ebisu’s relationship but this scene brought out both Bishamon’s character and showed another relationship between two characters as well. Not to mention that it showed just how serious Ebisu’s situation was.
Now Yato. Yato was completely rekt by the fact that Ebisu died despite how much he went through and struggled to save him. Yato did everything in his power to save this man, and came close to never returning. He was completely and utterly devastated when he found out Ebisu died (he never saw Ebisu after he got sucked out of the underworld in that phantom storm).
Look at him. Look at how distressed and horrified he is to not see the grown Ebisu he saved greet him when he recovers from being in the underworld, but a child Ebisu. A new Ebisu.
The anime felt that, yes Yato is upset but it didn’t convey just how much this would have affected Yato. For once in his life he did something of his own free will, he saved someone of his own decision not because of his trash Father’s orders. He thought that he had succeeded in doing something good for once when Ebisu successfully escaped the underworld alive. And yet, it didn’t matter because Ebisu was killed. (also they completely took out the interaction between him and Bisha and Kazuma AND THE REUNION BETWEEN HIYORI AND YUKINE at Bisha’s house omg whyyyy those were great!)
This was meant to be an incredibly powerful, emotional, arc, and although the anime did alright to re-create it, it felt that it fell short in the end.
I’d also like to talk about the difference between how small Ebisu and Yato interact in the anime and manga. The anime honestly felt… rushed, but you can see that Yato still cares about Ebisu. I particularly enjoyed the restaurant seen (and formal wear Yato mMMmmHHMmm) but honestly? The interaction and the relationship was lacking.
When Ebisu and Yato were reunited in the manga, the scenes were both emotional and touching. This page is one of my favorites.
See how Yato and Ebisu’s conversation goes? They’re alone, in private. This is something between them. Now see Yato’s not talking down to Ebisu but he’s gotten down to eye level with him? Usually, this sort of gesture is to talk to someone (usually a child) at an equal level. See how respectful Ebisu is? This scene is almost like a father-son talk. And it also gives us the start of their relationship later on in the manga where Yato seems to become some sort of… older brother(?)/friend/guardian figure to Ebisu.
And now let me talk about Hiiro/Nora. Wow am I glad that Yato finally released her. BUT AGAIN the anime seems to have taken away the emotional sentiment of this scene. Yato, by releasing Hiiro, is severing a part of his past that he doesn’t want to be part of anymore. It’s HIS moment with Hiiro. HE is cutting ties with her. This moment is between Yato and Hiiro.
Yukine… was out of place at that moment in the anime. Hiyori wasn’t suppose to appear and acknowledge that Yato finally cut his ties. Again, this was Yato’s moment to cut his ties with Hiiro so he could finally go back to Hiyori, to Yukine, with the mindset of a fresh start.
But did Hiiro REALLY just fall???!?! UMMM??????? Why would she??? Just fall??? Into the water??? And just look shocked??? That isn’t in her character because she is a scary little girl.
There. That right there. Look at Hiiro. This gives us a glimpse into her as a character. She isn’t just a flat “oooh I like being evil” girl. That face means business; she is not pleased, and she will get back at Yato for doing this, and it was disappointing that she just took the fact that Yato just released her and just didn’t do anything. She is dangerous LET ME TELL YOU.
Last but not least, a tad spoiler within the same ark.
I really really wished that the animation team had included this character, because personally the appearance of this character could potentially signify more seasons of Noragami to come, because she gives some insight on what role Heaven plays later on in the story. Also, she has yet to be seen again in the manga as of late, but there have been speculations about her being linked to the events currently going on in the manga.
This lovely lady. I would have really liked to see her appear in the anime, because she was the turning point to get Yato out of the underworld, NOT Ebisu. But we’ll have to see where Noragami goes in the anime to see if she appears.
Well, here are my thoughts for the final episode. Noragami still did pretty well for the most part, and I really enjoyed the Bishamon arc because as far as I remember it followed the manga wonderfully. I hope Noragami will bring more seasons for us to enjoy!
Cadet-For-Your-SpaceRescue 