A series with beautiful animations, would be something I would use to describe this series. It had its shine in some episodes but nearer to the end, everything became so rushed, many characters being added in before being properly developed and turns out to be a rather disastrous end for the short 12 episode series that had once been one of the more highly anticipated series this season.
I wouldn't exactly say that the series was horrible, it was just that they had too much content to try and squeeze into a 12 episode series which in the end felt so rushed that before you could actually make sense of what some of the characters are thinking or what their motives were, the series had already ended before you know it. It honestly had a good start, bringing both Yato and Hiyori in an accidental meeting which leads her to develop her half ayakashi form which serves as the plot starter for the whole series itself. The downside to that was Yato didn't actually begin to tackle her problem soon after that, making Hiyori a kind of an "extra" character rather than a female protagonist. One of the reasons for delaying Hiyori's development was perhaps due to them wanting to slot it for the final few episodes which they eventually did, but having tackle her problem only in the last 2 episodes?! And also introducing a whole new character at that time too?! Now that's just rushed. It could've worked out better if the series was stretched longer, like say a 24/25/26 episode series so that we can have more insights on like Bishamon, Kofuku or even Rabou, the flaw of the series really lies on their huge character pool but yet very little developments on each of them.
Lets take Kofuku for example. She sure was an impactful character from when she appeared as Yato's supposedly girlfriend back in episode 4. And as we said, there weren't much development of these side characters, but at least for Kofuku, she did showed her face here and there in the later few episodes and did play a large role in the purification of Yukine in episode 9. As a god of poverty, it was sure hilarious seeing how she did spread her omen on people around her, which was possibly why we do see Yato being so poor as he is right now. But boy did she get serious when she threatened Bishamon on details of Yato so with that, she's quite a significant side character in some sense but cmon, I do want to know her past with Yato :X
And next with we have Bishamon and her 8 shinki-s. As a war god, she is introduced as someone who is after Yato's life, who apparently had cut down one of her shinki in the past or that was what was being suggested. But suggested as it were, the exact details were never revealed and Bishamon slowly faded out into just someone who clears the Ayakashi in the town with not much of an important plot driver to the whole story itself. It feels more like a filler character to bring out the "past" of Yato being an "evil" god, but other than that, nothing much else was developed for her and was forgotten and tossed aside.
And of course, we have our 3 main protagonist. Let's talk about Yukine first. Sure enough I looked as him as a kid, deprived of what normal kid has, which in his case, was friends and families but to me, it was more like he was deprived of this thing called "living". He has passed away when he was a child before being spotted by Yato and made him into his shinki and never gave him up even after all the stings that he had caused Yato to suffer. For all shinki, apparently when they think about something bad or take actions that are considered to be bad by society such as stealing or what not, it stings the owner of the shinki, or a kind of "impurity" is spread over the owner's body like a virus or some sort. For Yukine, as a child, he sure did prioritise curiosity over his morals after seeing how he stole a skateboard because he could do it and not be seen and also a kind of "lust" over Hiyori when she invited him to sleep on the same bed with her. I didn't actually like Yukine's character from the start, seeing how obnoxious he was but I started to sympathise his situation after the school episode, where it was there that Yukine finally broke down, for the better I would say. It was the turning point for him, when he got all his feelings out and finally learn to accept himself after the purification was done. It was that moment, that Yukine realised how empty he was, as someone who was dead, without friends or families but what he had not seen, was Yukine and Yato who were always with him but he somehow missed these 2 "friends" in his world. I would say that the Yukine arc was one of the best in the whole series, even though the "realisation" part for him was a little cliché but the build up and conclusion was just nice for that arc.
What I feel was lacking for Yato as a main protagonist, was more character development for him. All we know is that in the past, he is a scary god of calamity, he performs odd jobs for 5 yen and with his shinki, he slays Ayakashis. Ok... so what special moves does he have? Nothing in particular, just basic katana-wielding skills and a repeated "final" attack scene that just keep getting repeated and repeated over and over again, with the same lines, same bgm, same animation. I mean come on, this isn't a Gundam Seed era... Leaving that aside, what I do want to know, is more on Yato's past. The series did show many flashbacks on his past (and repeated ones too...) but never did once talk about them. What exactly is he doing in the past? Why did he start slaying people and shinkis? Did he actually kill off one of Bishamon's shinki? What was his past with Kofuku like? What was his experience with Nora? Till the end of the series, none of these were answered. Yeah. Just tossing questions here and there but not answering any one of them even until the very end. I did admire however, his realisation of how important Hiyori was to him, with him grabbing Hiyori's hands when she turns to leave after she loses her memories of him was just bittersweet. It wasn't actually romance but she did mean a lot to him after all her help all these while, even when he collapsed during Yukine's incident. And all these leads up to our jersey 5 yen god who in the end, still has his past in mystery. Oh and I do admit that seeing a serious Yato in the last episode was pretty darn cool. Even Yukine could feel the difference :D
Hiyori on the other hand, felt the least as a main protagonist, at least in the first few episodes, until the end, where she became the plot driver after losing her memories of Yato and the rest. Sure it did interest me quite a bit after she developed her half-ayakashi form with her encounter with Yato, and in the 9th episode where it was suggested to Yato that he should cut her ties with her, I somehow already had the feeling that "hey, Yato's definitely not going to do that, and even if he did, she wouldn't allow it". Which was what exactly happened in the last episode. What I find to be disappointing was yet another "deus ex machina" that was run in the series that was somewhat similar to Kyoukai no Kanata. Hiyori basically had her memories destroyed, turning her into an empty vessel just like the pilots in Valvrave become when they lose all their runes, and I was thinking that that was it, Hiyori's gone but as a mc, she's not gonna die. Rather than dying, she awakes and regains all her memories just because she sub-consciously recognised Yato's smell which she has taken interest in. No explanations given, just a sniff and she returns to normal and breaks Nora's spell too. Wow? So much for a half-ayakashi who in the end, still retains that form (which was expected), and the trio continues their life without any specific closure.
That was kinda expected since the series is still ongoing in terms of its manga, but if the ending was going to be so rushed, I would love it if they could extend the last Hiyori arc to more episodes, because just 2 episodes on that is simply too short! Same goes for the existence of Rabou. We only know that he is a former ally of Yato and he just appears, couples up with Nora and aims to kill Yato? To me, that's how a typical shounen series works and I dislike them, a lot. The series had a very very predictable end too, which was easy enough for anyone to guess it. The moment you see Hiyori at the final battlefield and with Rabou wanting to see a "true" Yato. It is definitely going to be something to do with Hiyori to bring the "true" Yato out but in the end he will still retain his own sense due to Hiyori again. Which was EXACTLY what had happened in the last episode. In there, Hiyori feels like she was "placed" there as a stimulus for Yato to awaken, rather than an accidental leap by her to end up with Yato and Yukine when they duo left.
What I do find not series breaking even as how rushed it was, was the absence of romance factor in the series. Which is definitely, a 100% good thing. This series should never, never have romance mixed into it, considering already how many genres it has taken up and including that in will just ruin the show completely. Sure they did hint a little and almost broke the line when Hiyori reawakened with Yato beneath the rock, but boy am I glad that there wasn't actually a kiss or anything (it almost seemed to have one) and the trio still remain as best friends, rather than any two becoming a couple. It is still alright if there are hints here and there if there were romantic feelings but thank goodness none of that came true...
Overall, the series wasn't as bad as it turns out to be, the first few episodes were great, absolutely loved the Yukine arc and its closure, and was just disappointing in how the end had become. The final closure scene where Hiyori declines to have her ties cut was just nice, and of course, seeing how Yato is chirpy once again after receiving that 5 yen from Hiyori once again just makes it a happy ending. The series really had its potential to develop into a longer series (have not touched the manga yet so I'm not too sure how the plot had went) and being 12 episodes was really too short. I guess the only disappointments was how rushed the ending was, their lack of proper character developments and of course the irritable repeated usage of animation scenes. =.= Other than that, the plot is pretty decent, not so much to hope for a second season, but I definitely am looking forward to their OVAs. :)
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