#noragami 80.2

[toushis]

Now that I think of it… How did I die?

[amoonlightlove]

Nora vs Liberation (aka About Liberation part 2)

In the first part of this post I talked about how Liberation cannot be seen as a necessarily evil power and how there's a way to escape it. I already written about Nana and the reason why I think she survived so this time I will put my attention to three particular shinkis who already had/probably will face Liberation.

Let's start with my favourite: Nora. She is a kid, younger than Yukine (only in appearance), she has the power to reveal a shinki's past and she personally knows how she died....she seems so indifferent but did she really fully accept her cruel destiny? I don't think so: she is different from other shinkis in Noragami, the others want the life of a living being, they want a family, a home, they have hobbies (see Aiha) and they have jobs (like Daikoku) but what about Nora? We always seen her being here and there like a nomad no, like a real ghost, she appears from nowhere and then disappears only god knows where (in reality even gods don't know where XD)...she does nothing and she doesn't have desires, I dare to say that she lives as a "spectator" of the world, of the life. As Yato said once:

...it’s very strange isn’t? And the other strange thing about her is the fact that she can basically turn into an Ayakashi:

Why does she is so different? Nana discovered how she died but as far as we know can’t do such a thing, she seems to have passed through Liberation in a more “quiet” way. Nana’s behaviour towards her situation is different she seems really peacefull but Nora, in contrast to how she wants to appear, seems more troubled. Without entering in so many details I’ll tell you what I really think happened to her: she was named the first time by Father and while transforming into the infamous monk staff she saw (for a simple joke of destiny) her past (and this could be coherent with the fact that Father said to Bishamon that he didn’t say to her how she died). Seeing her past she started to become an Ayakashi BUT MAYBE Father found a way to “save” her making her revert to her human form. At this point I think she found herself in such a weak mental state that in the end was easy for Father to shape he mind to his pleasure to make sure he could take advantage of her powers. The problem with her is that I think that even if Father’s brain-wash seemed to take effect, her past really traumatized her making her fall in a deep state of total apathy that made her act the way we saw in the manga till now. I think that the fact that she can turn into an Ayakashi is just the reflex of not completely accepting her death but anyway given that she seems to be in control of the transformation this could mean that she is arrived at a point where she can (painfully) coexist with all the pain that derives from her past. It's not about ACCEPTANCE (like in Nana's case) but regarding Nora, it's all about TOLERANCE and the difference is abyssal. Significative is the last interaction with Yukine:

....she finds pointless studying and probably she finds pointless acting like a living being. But even if she looks at Yukine like he told some kind of heresy she, for the first time probably really had fun staying in Kofuku’s house:

...for the first time she was like a real child....she liked to play with toys, is almost like that for a moment she forgot about everything but....

...her headband popped out and she suddently became sad. I really found this scene very touching and I’ll explain you why: till now, we always saw Nora wearing this white kimono with that triangular headband (and this is another difference with the others shinkis who wears more “common” clothes like Yukine who once even wore a school uniform because of his desire to be like his living peers). Now, this particular attire is really similar to the kyōkatabira, the white kimono with whose the dead are dressed before their funeral...

...here’s a little image-scheme...now I don’t want you to focus on the kimono but on the headband that is seen a lot of times in Japanese’s rapresentations of ghosts too: there’s not a specific word for this piece of fabric, the most grandiose term is tenkan, meaning heaven’s crown, the most basic term of all is sankaku no shiroi nuno ( triangle-shaped white cloth).  The meaning of the cloth is speculative, although there are two main theories. One says that the dead have ascended to a higher level, and thus the tenkan (heaven’s crown) is placed upon their heads to show their new status. Another says that the sharp point of the triangle wards off evil spirits or demons from entering the now-empty body from the head and resurrecting the corpse or preventing the spirit’s transition. Anyway this headband is always related to the death and I think that Nora wears this headband almost to keep in mind that she actually is dead and there’s no way to come back and this is why I found sad the whole scene in the bathroom: just when she started to live like a normal child, just when she started to appreciate the small things of life, that small piece of fabric popped out to remember her that everything she did was useless and everything it’s just a stupid play. Her expression is bitter and is almost like she resigned to reality. It warmed my heart when she changed clothes...it was like her childish-self were finally brought to life.

I think that Nora in this particular point of the story is very vulnerable and this is why that I think that right now and ONLY RIGHT NOW her feelings are genuine. But to come back to the point of the entire post...what was/is her relationship with her past life and with the Liberation? Well I think that she never (differently from Nana) really accepted her fate, she in some way has been constrained to accept it by the course of events (or by Father’s hand?) but she, like the other shinkis wasn’t ready to discover her past and this left a big scar in her mind. She is for this reason so different from Nana who accepted her past with determination and courage. If we compare them, we can say that Nana passed through Liberation in a more “pure” way than Nora and this made her reach a new level: if we think about it a shinki who knows his own past has no weaknesses and can’t be broken in no way but a shinki that hasn’t regrets and has left behind all the pain of the mortal life is just pure perfection, the only being who can serve a god righteously.

PS: For the information YES, I think Nana is the strongest shinki in circulation right now.

PPS: For the future I really don’t want to see Nora dying...I would see her being adopted by Kofuku and Daikoku (she already knows her past so Daikoku wouldn’t be troubled like he was with Daigo)...I think Nora would handle the company of the Binbougami (LOL!).

PPPS: Do you really read to the end? That’s crazy!....Just kidding, thank you so much for your patience...next time I’ll talk about Kazuma and Yukine...

[hellnhonor]

fight me : Yukine is going to handle his name revealing like a mf boss like Nana, because the memory of his own Trash Dad TM and will only make him stay sane out of spite to kick Fujisaki’s ass n protect all the lonely children

he cracc

he snapp

but he protecc

[angiecakes1990]

YUKINE REALLY GOING OFF AS TRASH DAD WELL SERVES HIM RIGHT

[dearshouyou]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YUKINE IS WONDERING HOW HE DIED

ADACHITOKA, YOU LEAVE MY BABY ALONE.

[nurinuu]

⚠️Noragami and Snk spoilers ⚠️

I got this in the same day:

...

In summary:

Ty for your attention.

[aoitsukies]

Noragami is month after month of anxiety. I swear to fucking god, it doesn’t let us breathe. I hope Yukine’s going to be okay. I hope Yato will come back and be with him already. Please let the both of them be safe.

[yatoski]

Yukine:

Father: so I escaped hell through a loophole. Yeah I'm not kidding that's insane. And I'm like, immortal now, they don't even know what I am. Seriously dude that's crazy