Noragami


Noragami is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Adachitoka. It began serialization in Kodansha's Monthly Shōnen Magazine in January 2011's issue. The series has been collected into twenty-one tankōbon volumes as of March 2020. An anime television series adaptation by Bones aired in Japan beginning from January 5, 2014 to March 23, 2014, with a total of 12 episodes. The second season, titled Noragami Aragoto, aired in Japan from October 2, 2015 to December 25, 2015, with a total of 13 episodes.

Plot

Hiyori Iki was a normal middle school student until she was involved in a bus accident while trying to protect a stranger. This incident causes her soul to frequently slip out of her body, and she becomes aware of the existence of two parallel worlds: the Near Shore, where regular humans and creatures reside, and the Far Shore, where demons and human souls linger. Through her soul, she meets the strange, nameless god without a shrine, Yato. Yato is determined to make a name for himself out there by accepting any wishes for 5 yen, including Hiyori's to fix her body. Along with Yato's Regalia — a weapon from a dead human’s soul, and named by the god in question — Yukine, the trio go through many adventures struggling with their friendship, identity, and pasts.

Media

Manga

Noragami started as a manga series, written and illustrated by Adachitoka and published by Kodansha. The series premiered in Monthly Shōnen Magazine January 2011 issue, released on December 6, 2010, and has been compiled into twenty-one tankōbon volumes between July 15, 2011 and October 25, 2019. The ninth volume was released simultaneously with a limited edition, bundled with a drama CD. Volumes 10 and 11 were released simultaneously with limited editions, each containing an anime episode on DVD. Extra chapters of the series have been published in the spin-off publication, Monthly Shōnen Magazine + since 2011. In November 15, 2013, the first seven chapters were compiled into one volume under the title Noragami Shūishū. Several other chapters were bundled as add-on content to volume 20, released on February 15, 2019.
Both the main series and spin-off series have been licensed in North America by Kodansha USA, under the title Noragami: Stray God and Noragami: Stray Stories respectively. The first volume of Noragami: Stray God was released on September 2, 2014, with twenty-one volumes released as of March 10, 2020. The English release of volume 22 will be released on November 24, 2020. The first volume of Noragami: Stray Stories was released in December 2015. Stray Stories 2, which comes with the special edition of volume 20, has not yet been released in English, and there are currently no announcements of a planned future release.

Anime

The Noragami television series adaptation is produced by Bones and directed by Kotaro Tamura with character designs by Toshihiro Kawamoto. Prior to the series' television premiere, its first episode was screened at 2013's Anime Festival Asia on November 10, 2013. The anime began airing in Japan on January 5, 2014, on Tokyo MX and later on MBS, BS11 and TVA, running for 12 episodes.
Besides the television series, two additional episodes were released on DVDs bundled with limited editions of the 10th and 11th manga volumes, published February 17 and July 17, 2014. Funimation licensed the anime for streaming in North America. Madman Entertainment licensed the anime for distribution in Australia and New Zealand.
The opening theme song is "Goya no Machiawase", performed by Hello Sleepwalkers. The ending theme song is "Heart Realize" with composition by Supercell and performed by Tia.
Season two, Noragami Aragoto, has 13 episodes, and began airing on October 2, 2015. The opening theme song is "Kyōran Hey Kids!!" by The Oral Cigarettes, and the ending theme song is "Nirvana" by Tia. The second season's finale aired on December 25, 2015.

Game

A mobile game titled Noragami ~Kami to Enishi~ was released by developer Sakura Soft for Android devices in October 2015. An iOS release became available on November 16, 2015.

Reception

Noragami was the 14th top selling manga series in Japan during the first half of 2014.