Noragami is one of my favorite manga/anime series. Kodansha Comics has been releasing an omnibus edition (three volumes in one), so all the early volumes (from 1 to 15, so far, with 15 to 18 on the way) are once again available. The series is still ongoing, with Volume 26 to be released in English soon. I have read all of them, some two or three times, and am still eager for the next one.

Noragami means, literally, stray god. Yato is indeed a stray, a young homeless god who whose very existence is precarious. Gods fade away when no one believes in them, and Yato has no temple and only one human follower—his “father”— the sorcerer who created him and has controlled him for decades.

Yato dreams of a crowd of admiring worshippers, and decides to set out on his own. But he finds the world a dangerous place, full of corrupted souls, angry gods and spiritual blight. He can barely survive, getting one believer at at time through advertising to the desperate on social media, always hoping to get a new client before the previous one forgets about their encounter with the divine.

When a high school girl named Hiyori saves Yato from being run over by a bus (which wouldn’t have hurt him at all) he finally finds another person who can remember him. But Hiyori has her own problems—the bus hit her instead, and her soul is no longer properly attached to her body. Together, the pair find a “pure soul,” a boy who has recently died and not yet been corrupted. Yato names him Yukine, which enables him to turn into a sword that Yato can use as a weapon against his enemies.

But Yato is still not safe. The three are beset by the consequences of Yato’s past actions, along with their own personal failings. They must navigate Yukine’s anger, Hiyori’s desire to remain part of the spirit world, and Yato’s boundless but fragile ego. They are at once hilarious, annoying, and endearing. And it seems Yato is willing to risk nearly anything to keep his new found family together.