The Best Anime Like Noragami
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When high school student Nanami Momozono ends up homeless due to her deadbeat dad's poor financial decisions, she ends up taking refuge in a dilapidated shrine - but she quickly finds that what she's been offered is more than just a home - she's supposed to act as the goddess who protects that shrine. She reluctantly takes the job, and then finds herself growing closer and closer to the shrine's fox familiar, Tomoe. Nanami's journey to understand the spiritual world has a lot in common with Hiyori's as she learns about Yato and the other gods, and becomes involved with their doings herself.
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Bungou Stray Dogs
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Bungou Stray Dogs is a fantasy action anime that focuses on a detective agency in which each member has a supernatural ability that's connected in some way to the literary figure that they're named for. The protagonist, Atsushi, joins the organization after being kicked out of an orphanage.
Noragami also features a character who doesn't have a home - Yato often sleeps in the park while he tries to make enough money to buy himself a shrine. Besides that thematic similarity the two series are action-packed fantasy thrill rides with plenty of allusions to well-known outside sources - in Bungou Stray Dogs' case, it's literature, while in Noragami's case, it's Japanese mythology. Both series will educate you about Japanese culture while keeping you invested in the story.
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The Devil Is A Part-Timer
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If you enjoyed watching the god of calamity scrub toilets for spare change, you might also enjoy watching the devil toil away at the anime version of McDonalds. Both shows put formerly formidable villains in silly situations that make them feel relatable and human. Besides humor, both shows feature the complexities of magical politics, and a little bit of romance on the side.
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Both Inuyasha and Noragami tell the story of a human girl who is embroiled in the goings-on of a variety of demons and supernatural creatures. Much of the story revolves around her coming to understand and identify with the magical world. The two male protagonists also share some important traits - both are social outcasts with dark pasts who crave acceptance and love above all else. Inuyasha is a much longer show than Noragami, and its romantic elements are more pronounced, but both series have a fantastical feel and boast similar themes.
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Soul Eater and Noragami feature markedly different moods and storylines, but they do share one extremely important thing - human beings who transform into weapons and partner with other humans. In Soul Eater, students with special transforming abilities train to become Death Scythes, a rank they can only achieve after eating the souls of 99 evil beings and one witch. In Noragami, gods form partnerships with the souls of the dead, and transforms their souls into "Shinki" which means that they can transform into weapons at will.
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When Fuyumi Yanagi is sucked through a portal to the demon world, Staz Charlie Blood, a vampire who happens to be obsessed with Japanese culture - is ecstatic. Just as the two are starting to hit it off, Fuyumi is unexpectedly killed and turned into a ghost. Now, it's up to Charlie to help her get her body back. This conflict is quite similar to Hiyori's issue - when attempting to rescue Yato from being hit by a car, her spirit ends up separating from her body - and it's up to Yato to help her return to normal.
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Both Beyond the Boundary and Noragami combine the slice-of-life genre with the supernatural one, effectively balancing problems with friends, romance, school with demonic battles, and magical politics. Both feature silly, awkward protagonists who you fall in love with because they make you laugh, but as the series' progress, their painful backstories are revealed, and you find yourself loving them for completely different reasons. Also, because both shows are produced at top tier anime studios, the animation and art is spot on.
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If what you liked best about Noragami was the presence of deeply flawed but well-meaning mentors, Mob Psycho 100 is a great next choice. Yato may be a disorganized, low-ranking god with no followers who is cagey about his past, but he genuinely cares about Hiyori and Yukine and will do whatever it takes to protect them. Likewise, Reigen Arataka may be a con artist who is lying to Mob about having psychic powers and fleecing people by claiming to be able to practice exorcisms, but he's also a great mentor with a strong moral code - just not a typical one.
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The Ayakashi of Noragami and the Gastrea of Black Bullet are both supernatural beings that are capable of infecting other lifeforms and transforming them into similar beings. Both series feature protagonists who are concerned with defeating them.
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Rurouni Kenshin is a classic series that needs no introduction, and if you haven't seen it already, you probably should - especially if you like Noragami. That's because the two series share an important thematic element. Both feature a cheerful and silly protagonist who is attempting to leave behind a dark past in which he committed terrible crimes. In Kenshin's case, he was a powerful mercenary who killed in service of political goals, who ultimately decides that he wants to live a peaceful life. Meanwhile, Yato was once a god of calamity, but now he wants to be a god who the people can love.
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Sakura Mamiya is a spiritually attuned young girl who finds herself connecting with a strange person named Rokudou Rinne who introduces her to the world of spirits - this is pretty much exactly the same thing that happens to Hiyori when she meets Yato. Like Yato, Rinne solves other people's problems in exchange for spare change and lives out his days in poverty. Rin-ne is a little more light-hearted than Noragami, so if you preferred the latter before it got all serious, Rin-ne might be an ideal next choice.
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If you liked the supernatural elements of Noragami but felt like it could do with a little more surreal imagery and fan service, you should check out Bakemonogatari. This show follows a vampire named Koyomi Araragi as he struggles to solve various supernatural problems faced by young women he encounters. These supernatural issues are often complex ones that are based on human emotion, and can only be solved with a combination of human ingenuity and supernatural know-how - just like in Noragami.
