A few years ago a friend introduced me to Noragami and it quickly became one of my favorite animes. I love it so much I’ve done a cosplay of Lady Bishamon! I fell in love with the neat dynamics of gods, phantoms, and mortals, but also amazing depth the show has. I wrote a whole article for Geekdom House about a plot thread from the second season.
Noragami means “Wandering God.” In Japanese Shintoism, there are many gods and spirits and this show circles around that religion, particularly on a god named Yato who’s almost completely unknown. He dreams of getting his own shrine and gaining flocks of worshippers. A human girl named Hyori got mixed up with this world of gods and phantoms when saves Yato’s life and has now caused her soul to slip in and out of her body.
This is one of those plots where I sound kind of crazy when I try to explain it, but it’s super good! Let me tell you about some writing points I learned from it!
Warning: Some spoilers. The biggest one is in five.
1.) Importance of Names – I can’t believe I totally forgot to talk about names in this show in my Significance of Names post! They’re so important here! One reason why I love Japanese names so much is how much significance they can have, because if you alter kanji characters just slightly you can completely change the meaning of a name.
In the show, when a regalia is created from a pure spirit they are named. When Yuki was found, Yato gave him the name Yuki with the ending “Ne” which is his clan name, so Yukine. Lady Bishamon’s clan name is “Ha” so when she names her vessels they have that ending which gives them a sense of belonging to a family: Kuguha, Kureha, etc.
If a regalia leaves the service of a god then they are renamed by the new god they serve. When Mayu was in Yato’s serve her name was Tomone, but when she became Lord Tenjin’s regalia he renamed her Mayu taking on the clan name “Yu.”
Then there are also noras (which if you look at the name definition of the show means “wanderer”). These are regalia which have more than one name, meaning they can be used by more than one god. Nora from the show is named by Yato as “Hiiro” but by Rabo as “Furuhime.” Noras are looked down about among the gods in the show because they’re basically prostituting themselves out to other gods and don’t belong anywhere.
In summary, the names give the regalia a sense of belonging instead of being wanderers.
2.) A Sound Associated with a Villain – Kuguha is a wolf in sheep’s clothing among Lady Bishamon’s regalia. He is a healer and wears bells (probably a reference to Tibetan Healing Bells), but he quickly makes the sound of bells sound very nefarious whenever he comes on the scene. Often the sound of bells will prelude his coming and send chills down your spine.
How this can be applied to writing: Have you had a character lose their memories in your story? What thinks would make them remember? What thinks are significant to characters that would signify someone remembering them like Yato’s crown?
5.) Changing Inwardly and Outwardly – Yukine goes through a big character arc in the first season as he struggles with the regrets of not being able to live his life. He lets his emotions take over and drive him to do some sinful things including stealing and destroying property which blights Yato. But he eventually repents for what he’s done and learns some ways that he can still do some of the things he wanted to do while living.
