@yatosaurus / yatosaurus.tumblr.com
a/n: just a little something written for the @noragamibigbang. it’s been very, very hard to write lately, and every word feels like trying to dig up roots with a toothpick, but i made it happen. it helps that yukine is such an important character to me.
i wanted to write a little bit about watching neglect happen from the outside looking in, and the small ways people can help.
massive shoutout and thanks to my partner, @yatosaurus, for the inspiration!
This was my piece for the @noragamibigbang
This was done in conjuction with @royai PLEASE ALSO CHECK OUR THEIR FIC which this illustration is based off!!!
THIS WAS SO FUN AND THANK YOU FOR EVERYONE WHO ORGANISED AND PARTICIPATIED!!
Today is the first day you can pre-order a physical copy of Millennium: A Noragami Fanzine!! We’re including 3 brand new bundle options for these physical copies, so if you missed out on digital preorders, now’s your chance! This zine features over 100 gorgeous pages of fan content by our 40+ page artists, merch artists, and writers.
And that isn’t everything–we have stretch goals you’ll hear more about in an upcoming post! In the meantime, please buy your copy here, share this post, and spread the word to other Noragami fans.
As we’ve mentioned before, all proceeds of this zine, minus production costs, will be donated to Save The Children: an international nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children in low-income communities.
✧ PREORDERS ARE NOW OPEN FOR SPOTLIGHT: A TBHK FASHION ZINE ✧ With over 50 pages of original Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun fashion content!! You can find our store here! ✧ https://bit.ly/3oX8ojP ✧ Preorders are closing January 31st 2021!!
Since everyone is showing their great love and appreciation for Noragami on its 10 year anniversary .... I might as well do. Sorry if this is a long post... But I NEED to appreciate Noragami enough.
Firstly, before I begin anything I want to state that I LOVE analyzing. Whether it's literature novels, shows or movies... I love finding themes and symbolism. What's the point you may ask??
1) To understand the deeper messages, instead of mindlessly just watching/reading
2) Taking in the beauty and complexity of the work and appreciating the authors who made it.
And that's where Noragami hooked me. OK, I'll be honest... It started with Pinterest bombarding me with images of Yato and in my mind I was thinking "Ooo, he hott 😻". But after reading the manga, I realized how much of a masterpiece this manga really is. Not shallow like many anime/manga I read/watched. Which is so sad seeing how often underrated it is and how it seems to have just been forgotten after the second season ended. But this manga, the storytelling, the plot and the art... Nothing won over my heart like Noragami did. And it's LOADED with themes and symbolism for me to analyze. I'll probably make a post about the themes and symbolism in Noragami soon but not this post.
I also want to compliment the amazing portrayal of relationships in Noragami. The relationships you see in Noragami. Whether it's Yato and Yukine's complicated father/son relationship that had been filled with many hardships and misunderstandings since day one. Yato enduring so much for Yukine, hoping to give him a better life 😢😢
Or Yatori. Probably one of the healthiest and god-tier ships I've ever seen. Firstly, it wasn't love at first sight. You can actually see them grow together and gradually fall in love. They don't need to kiss for you to know they're a couple... And that's how you know, it's a well-written pairing. (Also let's not forget the tragic fact that having a mortal and immortal in love never goes smoothly).
Trash Dad and Yato's toxic relationship of well... Basically slavery. Or Kazuma and Yato's benefactor-bromance-of-the-ages relationship. There's so much I could go on about here with the different relationships in Noragami which Adachitoka are absolute masterminds at portraying.
The art is a huge thing for me. I consider myself an artist. Maybe not a great artist, but an artist. The covers are just GORGEOUS. And of course, after seeing the latest chapter, it was basically one big art flex for Adachitoka.
Last but DEFINITELY not least (I could go on ranting on and on about the beauty of Noragami but I don't have time), the characters themselves. The majority of the characters in Noragami are round characters. Meaning they aren't one-sided, they contain depth in their personalities, not shallow basically. Writing round characters is difficult for any writer. Like I for one, suck at it😀☝️
Yato is SO WELL-WRITTEN. This man has my heart and soul. He lives in my mind rent free, and I have a close emotional attachment to him. Yes for his gorgeousness and mystic eyes but also, I've never seen an anime charachter so close to real life as him. He feels so human, even though he isn't human. He doesn't have a 'dere' like most anime charachters do because let's be honest, charachters that have 'deres' are confined and defined by their 'dere'. There's no room for real growth in their personality because they can only be a tsundere, or a yandere etc etc.
Yato has so many sides to his personality, it honestly astounds me everytime I analyze him (lmfao, try searching up his MBTI personality type, you'll see people fighting about it in the comments- that's how complex he his). He is basically everything I ever wanted in a MC (and husbando❤️)
Not just him. But Yukine and Hiyori as well (I love how Hiyori is badass yet feminine. Breaking a common stereotype that a badass female character has to be masculine in nature and hella sexy to be considered 'badass')
They are two geniuses and I think we need to spread the message as to why more people should read Noragami. If we work together and turn this into a propaganda... I'm sure many more people will give in and start reading our painfully, heartbreakingly beautiful manga...
Happy 10th Anniversary peeps 😉✌️🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊
Honestly I %100 agree with your statements but I mostly love your commentary on Yato
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My second noragami big bang piece with writer @royai (GO READ IT NOW!!)
Thank you for adding this scene in :))
Again thanks for the organisers of this years big bang
This was for the noragami big bang 2020. I got to collab with writer @sondeneige It was so fun to do
Please give it a read!! And thank you for the organisers of this year's big bang!
Yukine avoids going back to his house after school as much as possible. But that isn’t a way to live. Yato sees this kid hanging out outside his work all of the time after school and maybe relates more than he would like to admit. But what is he going to do… invite this kid into his apartment? Well, he’s had worse ideas.
~~
I hope that you all enjoy this work! It is a collaboration with Dactyl (link to art to follow) and my beta Midori! Please go give them some love too. It is part of the Noragami Big Bang 2020 which was a joy to be a part of.
Hello and happy birthday Hiyori! We bang mods are super thrilled to reveal the final list of fic summaries.
Posting begins tomorrow, June 29, and lasts all through the month of July. Get excited for your fellow fans’ works, coming very soon! Thanks for a great event, everyone~
Noragami Big Bang 2020 Final Lineup
June 29 - she who grants the wishes of the gods by jaystrifes / @stray-godswith artist @flandraws and beta Sydney
Summary: On her 20th birthday, Hiyori makes a wish to be with Yato and Yukine forever, even knowing that remaining tethered to the world of gods and shinki will shorten her mortal life. But forever isn’t as impossible as it seems, and a special reward awaits she who grants the wishes of the gods.
June 30 - By Any Other Name by sleepydragon03 / @neverticklethissleepingdragon with artists @red-hare-canvas and @devotedlyconfused (Instagram)
Summary: Yato is the son of the most feared master of chi in the land. By a twist of fate he is chosen to be the Dragon Warrior, the fighter who is destined to defeat him, but the Masters of the Jade Palace have no idea who he is, and he must keep his secret or be killed by his captors, who are holding him hostage rather than lose track of their only hope to save all of China.
July 1 - Sun, Sand & Gods by @thedeliverygod with artists @mao-na and @feelingwitchy-art
Summary: Hiyori announces her wish for a “normal” summer break without a second thought over dinner. Yato, of course, is eager to make her wish come true. But with Yato around, it’s going to be anything but normal.
July 2 - A Song without Words by @starlikeknight with artist @xeccentric and beta @cryptidloch-ness
Summary: He couldn’t remember anything; not where he was or how he’d gotten there, not anything about the strange creatures that chased him or why people seemed to look through him. He couldn’t even remember the man, or rather the god, whose blue eyes glowed and settled on him with a heavy, complicated sadness. ’Yukine’, the god had called him, with a familiarity and a fondness that made him feel warm. But even so, he couldn’t remember.
July 3 - Crab Island by sleepydragon03 / @neverticklethissleepingdragon with artists @PokeCardzz (Instagram) and @danytheshygal
Summary: Yato is a freelance worker at the popular tourist attraction, Crab island, a coastal sand bar where floating restaurants and attractions dock and allow tourists to swim/wade through the water to each of them. He is in love with the young medical assistant who works the medical assistant boat and is planning to ask her out at the end of the season concert and party bash before he loses his shot and the tourist season ends.
July 6 - When You Hurt by Charis14 / @charislcarousel with artist @dreaming-asleep
Summary: Since becoming a blessed regalia, Yukine receives a horrific nightmare of his past. Waking up during the dark night in terror, Yukine doesn’t understand how this could happen to him as he struggles under the agonizing panic. Yato feels the pain from his own end and works to find a way he can comfort and protect his dear shinki. As he gets pushed away, they both end up hurting more. What’s worth more in a relationship? Is it perceived dignity, or the fact that sometimes, we all could use a little help?
July 7 - Shelter by @sondeneige with artist @yatosaurus and beta @midori-verte
Summary: Yukine avoids going back to his house after school as much as possible. But that isn’t a way to live. Yato sees this kid hanging out outside his work all of the time after school and maybe relates more than he would like to admit. But what is he going to do… invite this kid into his apartment? Well, he’s had worse ideas.
July 8 - Bathtime by sleepydragon03 / @neverticklethissleepingdragon with artists @cache-pau and @artfool
Summary: Hiyori helps the little reincarnated baby Yato take a bath, showing him all the affection she wishes he’d gotten during his first childhood and she’s forced to face some of her own regrets about how things got to be this way. Angst and fluff, (Major character death I guess? Kinda? Major Character Reincarnation???)
July 9 - Love the World Like I Should by @xenorosis with artist @swatato and beta @beautiful-fiscal-siren
Summary: Yato walks the streets of the now quiet village. He’s been staying in the Earth Kingdom for almost three months now, drifting from place to place. He stays away from Ba Sing Se and the other larger cities, choosing instead to stay near the coast. It wouldn’t be good for him if one of Father’s contacts recognized the Yaboku Assassin. It didn’t matter how remote the chances of that happening were. Yato wasn’t going to risk his freedom.
Or, Yato is the avatar, Hiyori is his spirit guide, Yukine is trying to get Yato to be a respectable avatar and they all have to figure out how to save the world.
July 10 - ghosting by rizahawkaye / @royai with artist @yatosaurus and betas @eat0crow and @kmchelle
Summary: Some boys were made of clay. They walked and they talked, because they were sculpted that way, but their insides were thick and impenetrable. Some boys were hollowed out; excavated, emptied. They were not sculpted, and if they talked there was no one to hear them.
July 13 - Call Out My Name by @unlockthelore with artists @sushi-tzu and @daisyanimatez (Twitter)
Summary: To give someone a name is to give them a place in your heart and your mind, a purpose in the world, and a place to call home. Yukine, Hiyori and Yato know one another’s names and say them in earnest. That way, they’ll never be apart and can always find their way back home.
July 14 - While You Were Dreaming. by blueandgold / @blue-and-gold-things with artists @asin-ka and @ayyydrie
Summary: When her grandmother’s health worsens, Iki Hiyori and her family move to rural Okutama to care for her. Meanwhile, a homeless Yato spends his days doing odd jobs and stashing money in a bottle he doesn’t know what he’s saving for. Everything changes when they fall asleep, only to wake up in each other’s bodies. (Kimi no Na Wa!AU)
July 15 - Equilibrium by Detective_Essie / @yatoholmes with artist @alexecinz and beta @beautiful-fiscal-siren
Summary: In the year Hinoto-Tori, at an overdue event celebrating the return of Tsukuyomi, Yato is anything but happy. Taking Hiyori’s advice, he attempts to seek the missing piece of his past from Amaterasu, Ruler of Takamagahara, and more recently, his older sister. Can he truly make all things even between them, or will they be wedged further apart from the bitterness of it all?
July 16 - Regardless of Distance by StraySkies / @herstrayskies with artists @miramai.exe (Instagram) and @crystalline.arts (Instagram) and beta @cryptidloch-ness
Summary: Gods are incapable of loving humans. Kazuma’s words stung her heart. She squeezed her eyelids tighter together.
It’s a different kind of love than what humans feel. Tenjin’s words were a slap of reality. She could feel her lip start to tremble.
But that boy loved people. Nora’s words brought her a small window of hope. Just like the light that seeped into the room from the window behind her.
July 17 - Flower trail by frogsarefriends / @hallucxnatingblog with artist @creiyonpop and betas @mcgonnagle and swide
Summary: Hiyori is mad at Yato and he attempts to apologize by offering her flowers. He fails to see the bigger picture though, and Hiyori has no choice but to finally reflect on her feelings.
July 20 - Highway to Heaven by TheFluffyOtaku / @oneofyatosfollowers with artist @portodaeth
Summary: After accepting a teaching job far from home, Hiyori moves to a dusty town called Heaven as the new science teacher. Just as she settles in, her brother explains the town’s most alluring aspect: the notorious blood feuds between the motorcycle clubs! One thing leads to another and Hiyori finds herself in a torrent of dangerous secrets between her troubled student, her co-worker, and a rider named Yato.
July 21 - Lunchtime lovers! by @fauvra with artist @corvicore and beta swide
Summary: When Hiyori’s food went missing from the company fridge, she didn’t think much of it. Then it happened again. And again. So, when she left a note asking politely for the thief to stop, she did not expect them to write back, nor did she expect to end up falling in love with said thief. Yatori office AU: a three part story told through notes, texts, and phone-calls (and a whole lot of yelling).
July 22 - Where Dwell the Brave at Heart by midoriverte / @midori-verte with artists @cynnderarts and @ayyydrie and beta @sondeneige
Summary: Harry Potter AU. When Yato, the son of a family of notorious dark wizards who have been in Slytherin for centuries, is sorted into Gryffindor, everyone thinks it’s a mistake. Including him. When Hiyori joins his house, everyone warns her to stay away from him, but she can’t help but think that they’re wrong about him…
July 23 - a battle cry was your first breath by celestial_nova / @celestial-nova with artists @feelingwitchy-art and @littlessushi and beta @kmchelle
Summary: “I want peace.” Those three words were the first thing she was aware of, cutting through a silence that, until then, hadn’t existed. // The origin of the war god Vaisravana, and how she became Bishamonten.
July 24 - Freedom of the Strays by sundance7936 / @isammy7936 with artists @miramai.exe (Instagram) and @flute-mob and betas @future-circuit and @imeoninthewoods
Summary: In Shore City, Hiyori Iki has two goals: graduate university and keep the citizens safe from corrupt councilman and corporations. With the help of smart-mouthed Yukine, she patrols the city by night under the guise of Butterfly to help those in need.-
For months the two have been tracking down Father, leader of the mysterious Clan of Masks who steal and blackmail those in power for their own gain. However, they aren’t the only ones on their tails. Yato, known by day as the Man Who Could Do Anything, prowls the rooftops as Stray Cat.
One day, Hiyori catches wind of a powerful item, the Mandate of Hell, a master key that can access every computer system in the city, that is on Father’s Wishlist. She isn’t the only one however and finds a familiar face burning a trail right to the heart of the Clan.
Despite protests, Hiyori chooses to work with the mysterious Stray to retrieve the weapon, but will the trio be able to push aside their differences and work together to bring Father down? Or will they all not come out unscathed?
July 27 - highways i call home, a collaboration between @yuwukine’s mods
Summary: Hiyori Iki is a bored college graduate tired of being labeled a reclusive bookworm. When her grandmother gives her a wad of cash and tells her to explore the world, she decides to set out on the road trip of a lifetime. She expected to meet more people, to make new friends. She did not expect the two homeless hitchhikers in her backseat. As Hiyori begins to unravel the secrets that the boys hold, she finally begins to question what she truly wants from life. And if she happens to fall in love along the way: well, that’s just an extra bonus.
July 28 - I’m All Snorked Out by sleepydragon03 / @neverticklethissleepingdragon with artist @holly-wee
Summary: Yato, Hiyori, and Yukine run a family dolphin tour that promises dolphins, shells, snorkling, and family fun!
July 29 - moonfire by amythista / @relv07 with artist @lumiccu and betas Nightshade and @puffkiine
Summary: Iki Hiyori discovers a guy passed out on her twelfth-story balcony one morning, and her life just gets stranger from there. Yatori.
July 30 - Noradora by LesPoly / @fridgeine with artist @artfool
Summary: Hiyori’s been having trouble with school, hitting a low point where she questions her place in the world. In response, the world decides to intertwine her fate with that of a dragon named Yato’s—opening a world of magic and fantastical beings that will forever change her once normal life. (Miss Kobayaski’s Dragon Maid AU)
July 31 - beheld by hiyoris_scarf / @winterscarf with artists @viinas and @rottenmatcha (Twitter)
Summary: The young gods must listen to the old. This was one of Bishamon’s earliest memories: words her guidepost repeated. At that time, it was easy to believe. She liked the other gods well enough; she even admired some of them. She let them teach her because she was a newcomer, and because only they could help her to learn the subtle laws of her own godhood. But despite their willingness, and despite her own guidepost’s efforts, Bishamon preferred to learn through experience. That was how she met the binbōgami.
Noragami SPOILERS best quality
Is it confirmed that Yukine's family name is Tajima now?
aka- Hot damn, I am rereading the entire Noragami manga to catch up and I am being hit yet again with Feels™
I absolutely love the relationship that grows between Yato and Ebisu (both pre- and post-reincarnation) because it fills a very important void that Yato has had throughout his entire life. A reasonable and caring father figure.
I mean, we ALL know Yato’s “Father” is a sack of trash that has literally caused every single aspect of Yato’s traumas and insecurities, but for the longest time, that is all Yato believed he had. He did what his Father told him because he wanted validation and praise. He needed and craved a reason for his existence. Even if that meant he had to go through with his Father’s depraved actions, he was willing to do so because he felt he had no other purpose. This is literally what he had been raised to do.
Even the presence of Hiyori and Yukine in his life didn’t completely stop him from following his Father’s orders.
Yes, he wanted nothing to do with him by that point, but he still basically gave in when he was essentially kidnapped, going along with things because that is how it always, always was.
So when was it when he actually decided to take a stand for himself and truly attempt to make himself a new person?
When he was sent by his Father to rescue (read: frame) Ebisu from the Underworld.
Look at Yato’s face here. He has never been told this in his entire existence.
He has only ever been told that his purpose is to kill. People will never love him because he is meant to destroy, to make people miserable. And here is this man who sees in him admirable traits and tells him he has the ability to become someone who can make others happy.
(Pssst, fun fact, the chapter that image was from is called “Like Father, Like Son”, and I am like 99% sure it is not referring to Yato and his “father”, but Yato and Ebisu) Of course, only knowing that Ebisu is in the Underworld, Yato still thinks he’s rather shady, and yeah, the tables are turned a few times to make it look like Ebisu really was The Bad Guy, but when it is revealed that Ebisu has been trying to control Ayakashi/Phantoms for YEARS just to he could reduce the amount of suffering in the world, Yato is completely blown away.
Ebisu is shown to be a direct contrast to Yato’s Father. He cares for the people that Father wants to be culled. He cares for his Regalia, which Father sees as mere tools to destroy. He is willing to put his life down in order for Yato to be spared from the Underworld when it looks like he cannot escape.
And Yato makes a decision. His own decision, not his Father’s decision.
He was willing to take the fall in order to get Ebisu out because he knew Ebisu was a good person who deserved to live. He told Ebisu so. He told Ebisu to live, to enjoy the life he has instead of apathetically waiting for reincarnation.
So when all goes to shit and the heavens come and execute Ebisu under false accusations anyway (by the way, this makes me more inclined to like the anime version of events because I find it a little more poignant that Yato sees Ebisu die despite his best efforts), Yato takes it the hardest out of everyone. Because in spite of everything, he lost his new father figure, and he feels it is his fault.
And when the Reincarnated Ebisu doubts his old self because of how he was executed, Yato LEAPS to his defense.
IMMEDIATELY after this meeting, Yato changes his whole life around. He disowns Hiiro/Nora. He officially cuts things off with his Father. He decides he wants to be a god of Fortune to bring happiness to people. He puts his trust and his fate in the hands of Yukine, deciding to let his Blessed Regalia guide him.
But even still, Ebisu’s fate weighs heavily on Yato’s mind, and he feels incredibly guilty over his inability to save him. He tells Little Ebisu about his Father’s involvement with the previous Ebisu’s death, and fully expects Little Ebisu to hate him for it. But…
As he’s told this, Yato finally relaxes, feeling like he has gotten his father’s approval after all, even if it comes from the mouth of a young child. And then the manga just gives us this shot right after and I just…
HHHHHHHH, EBISU WAS A GREAT DAD TO YATO, OKAY? OKAY.
/incredibly long rant
I wonder if they are colored differently to indicate that there are two souls in one body. The lighter eye belongs to the real Fujisaki while the darker one - to Father.
The thought that Fujisaki is still in there is terrifying. Is he dead? Like a trapped soul? Is he aware of what’s happening to him? If Father ever leaves him does he then die or will he just be fucked up afterwards. It seems Father’s always lived in a host until the body dies, so… is it just a shell or a shared space and Fujisaki has to watch his life go by, not living it.
This is what I wrote in my meta about Father. Keep in mind that it’s just a theory and can be easily disproved in this very chapter.
There’s one more thing that bothers me about Father – how he’s survived after his return from Yomi, specifically how he changes bodies. It’s hard to tell if he had a body in the scenes from Yato and Nora’s childhood, since Far shore beings can interact with the real-life objects (food, clothes) just fine. All we know is that he’s had the same appearance in Yomi, in Yato and Nora’s childhood, and even now; and also that he doesn’t just possess bodies, but their souls as well. His current “host” Fujisaki is a third year high-school senior, meaning he’s roughly two years older than Hiyori. If Father is reborn in a new body each time, then Yato hasn’t seen him for 17-18 years now. And that Yato has never seen Fujisaki before his father made himself known when he and Yukine were walking down the street is apparent not just from their exchange in Fujisaki’s house, but also from the very first scene Father was in. Yato saw how Fujisaki caught Hiyori, and if he knew that the guy was his father, he definitely would have warned her to stay away. Granted, Yato probably didn’t see the guy’s face, but it doesn’t change the fact that Yato first saw what Father now looks like in the year the events of the manga currently take place – after 2010.
<…> So I’m really curious what Father meant when he said that he “didn’t get to chose”. Does it mean he has to be reborn as a baby each time he dies? Or maybe two souls are just too much for one body to handle, thus he has to switch them quite often and at the most inconvenient times, so he just uses whoever is available? He had to change schools to spy after Yato and Hiyori because Kouto didn’t live in Tokyo, and he seems to somewhat care about his “sister” and “nieces”. But his being out of Yato’s life for a solid decade after each rebirth (before he at least has some freedom of movement, being a child and all) is too good to be true.
[during Hiyori’s latest fight with Father] Father showed himself for a split second, distracting Hiyori and letting the ayakashi bite her. Did he accidentally “slip out” because of his strong emotions, or did he do it deliberately to make Hiyori lose focus and be an easy target for his doggies? The second one is a very Father thing to do, and if he can separate himself from Fujisaki from time to time, it explains why Yato didn’t know he looks like a student now. However, he was Fujisaki when he came to collect Nora after the whole ordeal with Ebisu.
Hey, Noragami fans! New chapter got you feeling some kind of way? Thinking of channeling those emotions creatively? Then boy do we have a suggestion for you: sign up for the Noragami Big Bang!
Signups are open now (and will remain so until May 1), so take the chance to learn more by checking out this post! Hope to see you there~
Please sign up to this!! It seems so fun and thank you for organising :)
Noragami, chapter 87.2
The way to darkness
