#the way I thought this was chapter 99. Mandela effect.

[kurisus]

Noragami 98-2 thoughts

We're so close to the 100th chapter, and there's tons of exciting developments! Spoilers under the cut.

The backgrounds went OFF. I say this a lot but starting with a two-page Yomi spread, and later the page of the vents opening? Chef's kiss. I hope Adachitoka's wrist is okay.

I still want to know what is up with the old man on the island describing the mask maker as blind and deaf. He seems to mean it in a literal sense ("he could neither see nor hear you"), but so far none of the flashbacks of Father we've seen have depicted him as such. Is this a myth getting twisted over time? Or is there another missing piece?

Father kept calling Izanami Kaya. I feel like there's a link here between these two things, but I'm not sure what. Was seeing her appearance as Izanami the first time he got to see her face? aaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Izanami was a lot nicer to him than she was to Yato. I suppose because he came there as a dead person and didn't immediately reveal his intent to steal from her and then escape, which is what he and Ebisu did.

Anyway, on the other end of the Worrying Spectrum is it seems like Amaterasu can only remove names in the order they're given, so Chiki has had all of her names revoked except the most important one. Father is free to keep wreaking havoc on shinki until Amaterasu or someone else (read: Yato) stops him.

Does this mean she can't revoke Yukine's name of Sekki, because the name Father gave is blocking it? On the one hand, thank god. On the other hand, this means the only way to remove "Yuuki" is for Father to revoke it willingly, which he won't do. We know names don't disappear when a god dies either (see: Kunimi chapter), so unless for some reason this also works differently, I think Yukine is stuck with that name for good.

As much as that fact kinda sucks, it was an inevitability. See, I don't think the status of "nora" necessarily gets lost with the spare name being removed. There's still the fact that this shinki chose to take on another name at all, and this will be true whether or not Yukine loses "Yuuki." It's also assumed gods won't name shinki without their consent (even though it does happen), so the fault of something like this happening falls entirely on the shinki's shoulders.

The reason Yukine and Nora aren't affected by GGS after being named by the koto no ha is, according to Father and Izanami, because they became ayakashi who no longer have true names. So gaining this knowledge doesn't break them like other shinki.

This is an answer I've been waiting on ever since Father named Yukine, but it still confuses me in Nora's case, since she never had a true name to begin with. Maybe it was because she was named with the koto no ha in the first place that she gained a humanlike form (rather than the infant/embryo she died as) and other gods were able to name her. I'm not sure.

Father's rant was pretty funny to me. "YOU caused these problems." Yeah, because they were trying to stop YOU? You, who is killing indiscriminately, damning every god and their shinki as guilty and exercising judgment as YOU see fit. Not to mention all the child abuse on your track record. Have a little self-awareness, my guy.

He really said "fuck the sun"

In other news, Yato's back! And he's also going to join the fight. Yato vs Father round...4? Yato vs Yukine round 3? He's already taken a lot of damage this arc. I hope he ends up okay.

Yato meeting Amaterasu without her other shinki necessarily present will be interesting. Will she side with him, only for them to forcibly cut her off (in a "stop talking" way or a "murder" way)? Will she return Yukine to him somehow and deal with Father herself? Will she and Yato team up to kill him while Take and Ebisu destroy the grave?

Essentially, all this (+ Hiyori, + Yuka, + the ongoing mystery of Yukine's father) is stacking up to happen around the 100th chapter. We might even get more Bishamon moments. I'm really excited and scared to see what will happen. As long as all my kids are okay <3 (not you, trash dad)