Recap

Yato continues to have problems with Yukine. When Yukine realizes the true despair of his new life, he lashes out against the world, putting Yato on the brink of mortal peril. After Hiyori takes him to Kofune, the race is on to find three Regalia to perform a dangerous ritual that will hopefully save them both.

Episode 8

Man, things get super dark here, huh? I think we can confirm that Yato should never become a Guidance Counselor. The place would become Battle Royale in a week. At least it wasn’t all gloom and doom this episode. Hiyori’s additions to Noragami‘s fantastic slapstick humor continued this week. I imagine this whole crush on Yato will never go anywhere, but it’s at least very amusing to see her act like such a spaz now that she realizes shes interested in him. Kofuku also brought a bit of well-needed humor to stave off what would otherwise been a boring infodump with Bishamon. I do like the implication that she does know what she’s doing, and that she only acts goofy because she likes to.

This was a good buildup episode as we get a good look at the inner workings of Yukine. In the beginning I thought Yukine’s problem was that he didn’t feel any responsibility now that he was given a new form. Now I understand his real issues. He is lonely, and in his lonesome he has come to covet everything around him. He wants the skateboard, he wants the money, but more than anything he wants to be able to act like a normal human being again. He wants to have friends and go to school, but he is dead, and thus that avenue has been denied to him forever.

The end of the episode was a little slower than I’d like. The visuals were absolutely gorgeous, but having the Phantoms alternate tone every half second got a little annoying after they did it the first minute. I love the absolutely twisted logic Yato gave Manabu two box cutters to make it a fair fight. Definitely the most graphic depiction of someone wetting their pants in fear that I’ve ever seen. This episode did a great job of paralleling the crisis both Manabu and Yukine face: If no one cares, do you lash out at the world in spite of it, or work until you find something to care about?

Episode 9

Thus we start the second half of this arc with Yato on death’s door. We waste no time on the hunt for Regalia to perform the Ablution. While obviously Mayu has little love lost from leaving Yato, it’s nice to see she’s not so heartless as to ignore him in his time of need. He is still the reason she was able to live a second life as a Regalia, and she seems to at least appreciate that fact. With everyone else obviously not giving two shits about some no-name god, It’s up to Hiyori to call on Yato’s favor with Kazuma.

I love the logic that goes into some of the spells in this universe. One might question initially why three Regalia must be brought together to perform the ritual, but once it starts it becomes incredibly obvious. Just as a shape requires three sides, the prison required to keep the Regalia locked in place needs three sides to hold him. This show already had a good track record at unnerving body horror after the incident with the child ghost, but Yukine’s transformation takes the cake. Nothing more unnerving than eyeballs where eyeballs do not belong. In the end, Yukine forgot that he was never truly alone. His state only came from him feeling sorry for himself. While his situation isn’t ideal, with Hiyori and Yato he doesn’t have to suffer alone.

I really appreciated that the show took time to point out how much Hiyori had been of use to the duo since this whole crisis started. I had lamented that in a fight, Hiyori really wasn’t able to contribute to anything, but this shows that her power is in bringing out the best in the both of them. With this crisis out of the way, I can only imagine Bishamon will be coming back to settle the score. My only worry is that such a small external fight is going to pale to this fantastic inner fight that was already won.