James Nicoll Reviews

Adachitoka’s Noragami Volume 8 collects issues 28 to 31 of the adventures of the stray god Yato. The manga was first published in 2013; the English translation was published in 2015. Included in the volume are 

• 28. ​“God of Calamity” (禍津神 ​“Magatsukami”)

• 29. ​“The Three Affairs of Three Realms” (三つの国の諸事情 Mittsu no Kuni no Sho Jijō) 

• 30. ​“The Sound of Thread Snapping” (糸の切れる音 ​“Ito no Kireru Oto”) 

• 31. ​“Like Parent, Like Child” (親なり、子なり Oya Nari, Konari”) 

Yato, newly minted god, vanishes. 

Yato has previously stepped out of schoogirl Hiyori’s life (not counting tweets and texts, which continued). This time is different. This time there is no stream of pestering messages. Hiyori soon learns that this is an old habit of Yato’s, but one new to her. Their acquaintance is fairly recent. Yato’s other friends let her know that he sometimes disappears for months on end.

Hiyori is distracted by Yato-less-ness by a high school romance that does not go in the direction she expects. Yato’s god friends are distracted by a more serious matter: figuring out which of them might be guilty of binding ayakashi (demons). Not that it is hard to figure out: many clues point to the god of fortune known as Ebisu. 

And what of Yato? Yato is being held by an entity whom Yato calls Father. Father asks only one little favour before he releases Yato. A mere bagatelle. Descend into the underworld and save the god of fortune known as Ebisu. 

~oOo~

You’d think that with all the police and detective series out there, there would have to be a god of detectives. Apparently not. But that’s OK, because the side-effects of dabbling in magic are quite noticeable. Ebisu was showing all the signs. Also, he has failed to show up to defend his good name. QED.

Readers find out later that Yato calls Father ​“Father: because Father is Yato’s father. He’s an abusive father, which goes a long way to explaining Yato’s quirks.

Will no one save him from his bad dad? Nope. Hiyori can’t; she’s only a human. The other gods just accept that Yato disappears from time to time; they never bother to ask why. They should ask. Poor communication kills has been a leitmotif in previous untoward events. Ah, well. No doubt this will all end with laughs all round and not, say, a brutal massacre. No? There is brutal massacre later in the volume. 

Too bad. 

Noragami, book 8 is available here (Amazon) and here (Chapters-Indigo).