Noragami Episode 6: Mortal Enemies

Yato’s injuries from Yuki’s impure thoughts and actions grow worse, and to make matters worse, his mortal enemy, the goddess Bishamonten, locates him and goes in for the kill. The strain on Yato and Yuki’s relationship renders them less capable, and they look to be on the verge of defeat, but timely intervention from Kofuku and Nora manages to save the two.

So the name of the goddess is Bishamonten, and she’s a bit of a badass. Not only does she own multiple Regalia (just how many, exactly? She just seemed to pull them out one after another), but she’s a powerful war goddess bent on killing Yato like he did one of her Regalia in the past. This feud has apparently been going on for a very long time (and I wonder just how long), but given Bishamonten’s skills, you have to give Yato some credit for surviving this long. The fight scenes between the two gods were animated wonderfully; the movements were really fluid, and the action itself was dynamic and gave the fight a grander scale than the ones we’ve seen previously with Phantoms. This is also with Yuki not fighting at his best, either, so I imagine that when Yato and Yuki are in sync, they’ll put up a much fiercer fight.

I’m not sure when that’ll happen, though, as Yato and Yuki’s relationship is under quite a bit of strain at the moment. Yuki’s impure thoughts and actions injure Yato, rendering him less capable. Not only that, but Yuki’s fear of Phantoms, and fears of abandonment by Yato impede his abilities as a Regalia too. This puts them at a distinct disadvantage in combat, and also makes it a lot harder to watch them interacting. Yuki is behaving like a child, sulking and making smart-ass comments instead of engaging in open dialogue, while Yato expects Yuki to simply obey him without having yet given Yuki any reason to respect him. Not only that, but his manner isn’t exactly understanding. As frustrating as it is to watch, the portrayal of the relationship is probably quite realistic; it’s certainly how I’d expect an angry teen and a somewhat arrogant god to interact. So props for that, I guess. I just feel sorry for Hiyori who feels compelled to clean up this mess.

Another mess on the horizon is Nora, who appeared once again in this episode. She claims to be Yato’s Regalia, but I wonder if that’s simply her assertion rather than the truth. In any case, Yato doesn’t seem to be using her. What scares me about Nora is the fact that she is tracking Yato quite obsessively, and is able to act of her own volition against others. This doesn’t bode well for Yuki or Hiyori, and I expect that they’ll soon be in the firing line. Nora doesn’t strike me as a person who is “all there”, and anyone who gets in the way of her relationship with Yato is probably a major target. She’s bad news.

I’m quite sure that Nora is going to be a much more prominent figure in the coming episodes, especially as more of Yato’s past is revealed. The fight with Bishamonten is also likely to continue, and perhaps we’ll find out about why her Regalia Kazuma bowed before Yato. I wonder if Noragami is going to become more serious now; it will certainly make viewing a different experience, but I hope that we can still somehow manage to retain some of the light-heartedness and general warm fuzzies we’ve had so far.