We meet the Goddess of (Mis)Fortune, who probably isn’t Yato’s girlfriend.
What They Say:
Yato introduces Yukine and Hiyori to one of the Seven Gods of Fortune… Except this god is nothing like what they imagined!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Yato reveals a bunch of random good luck charms and such that he bought from scam artists in town. Hiyori points out that Yato has to be responsible for his Yukine’s sake now (highlighting Yato as a father figure for Yukine). He agrees, and brings them to meet Kofuku Ebisu, who he introduces as his girlfriend. She’s a pink-haired, happy-go-lucky girl who turns out to be the Goddess of Fortune. Yato asks her for some money, and she hands him several 10,000 yen notes; Hiyori and Yukine look completely disgusted.
Kofuku’s big, scary Regalia, Daikoku, steps in to tell Yato off. He calls her “my lady,” but insists that he sees Kofuku as a Goddess rather than a romantic partner, even though he seems offended by Yato cozying up to her. Sooner or later, Kofuku jumps on Hiyori and starts groping her. “Sorry. My lady’s a bit crazy.” If she acts this way toward everyone, I kind of doubt she and Yato were ever dating.
Here’s where it gets ridiculous. Yato receives a business call, teleports off, and accidentally lands on top of the caller, knocking him off the roof of a tall building. Then Yato, Hiyori and Yukine fall after him. Amazingly, the guy (who we later learn is named Yusuke) apologizes for his rudeness in not introducing himself, and they exchange business cards. Yato asks Yusuke why he was about to commit suicide, and Yusuke starts to explain himself, all of them still falling through the air. There are a lot of fourth-wall-breaking jokes, and Hiyori is incredulous throughout.
Yusuke explains that he had found a girl on the street who lived under an oppressive family that wouldn’t let her go out anywhere. He took pity on her, offered to take her out for food, and they started dating. All their dates involved mysteriously bad luck, and with Yusuke spending so much money, he soon became bankrupt. He was going to propose to her before losing all his money, but was now about to kill himself out of shame.
Yato senses something suspicious about this and asks to see a picture of the girl. Sure enough, it’s Kofuku. He explains that Kofuku is actually the “God of Poverty” and brings bad luck everywhere she goes; that’s why Daikoku told her not to go out anymore. Yato uses Sekki (Yukine in katana form) to ‘sever Yusuke’s ties’ with Kofuku, making him forget all about her so that he can keep on living.
The three confront Kofuku about this, and she casually responds, “Are you serious? That was all my fault? I did have a little fun with Yusuke, though!” Fun fact: “kofuku” means “happiness,” which is a similar concept to “fortune.” But Kofuku herself is normally referred to as “Miss Fortune,” which reads as “misfortune,” indicating her true self. I really hope this was intentional on the part of the translators. (It also reminds me of South Park’s “Miss Information.”)
When they leave, Hiyori asks Kofuku if she was joking earlier when she said Yato was a scary god. She tells Hiyori that Yato murdered a Regalia a long time ago, and as the God of War, he also kills humans. Gods are made from people’s wishes, so as an obscure God, Yato needed to answer any wish he could get, no matter how dark or demented. There’s a flashback to Yato in samurai garb slicing through warriors on a bloody battlefield.
Hiyori asks why Yato brought them there; he says that this is where Hiyori and Yukine should go if anything ever happens to him. They’re visited by a shrine maiden called Nora, a previous Regalia of Yato’s who still seems to be attached to him, and Hiyori suddenly notices that she really likes Yato’s scent…
It seems that Noragami is finally going to really get started. It’s now introduced most of the apparent main characters, minus one or two key villains, and Yato’s darker side has been partially revealed. Hiyori’s role as a love interest is also becoming more explicit. Kofuku and Daikoku are cool, and they have good chemistry both with each other and with the rest of the cast. It’s still just as funny as before, and the characters are just as likable, so all the show really needs to do now is insert those people into tense, story-driven situations. Interestingly, this episode is both the least and most seriously Noragami has taken itself so far.
In Summary:
Yato brings Hiyori and Yukine to meet Kofuku Ebisu, the Goddess of Fortune. He’s essentially choosing Kofuku and her Regalia, Daikoku, as their legal guardians. Yato then gets a call, and the three follow a man named Yusuke down a long, suicidal fall, as he explains (in midair) how he fell in love and spent all his money on a certain girl. That girl turns out to be Kofuku, who is really the God of Poverty. The purpose of episode 4 was basically to introduce Kofuku, but the last few minutes are dark and ominous, in stark contrast with the rest of the episode’s silliness. Though, so far, silliness is what Noragami does best.
Grade: B
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
17” Lenovo G700 Laptop, 2.10 GHz Core i7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M, Windows 8; Insignia 1080p TV, PS3 with Crunchyroll App