Line #44 TearJerker/Noragami


1	!Per wiki policy, Administrivia/SpoilersOff applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.
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3	* Chapter 1: Just how much Mutsumi is hated in her class. We were never given any reason for their hatred, they just hate her. With some of them even wanting her to kill herself. It is not helped that they bullied her to release stress from exams.
4	** The reason of hatred is implied to be that she refers to herself in third person, which makes this even more of a tearjerker because it's such a dumb reason to hate someone. The resolution's also a bit sad if you see it as a case of victim blaming, wherein Mutsumi's the one at fault who needs to change.
5	*** This may be due to something being LostInTranslation; in Japanese, her method of referring to herself is considered a way of putting on airs. It would be kind of like constantly calling herself 'Lady Mutsumi' instead of 'I' or 'Me'. The rest of the class seems to think she's being getting special treatment she hasn't earned, as they also resent the fact that she's allowed to wear a nonstandard school uniform, and that teachers constantly excuse her absences from class. It's never made exactly clear why this is. It's still no reason to pick on her, especially if it relates to some kind of health issue.
6	* Chapter 11: Yukine's ablution. All of it. We finally learn why he was being such a jackass. He died at a young age, and was jealous of the people still alive. Feeling they have family, a past, friends and a future, when he had nothing.
7	* Chapter 14: Just Suzuha. He admits that due to the large amount of Shiki that Bishamon has, he's not really called anymore. He still nurses a dying tree back to life in memory of a living girl, that he loved but she has long since forgotten him. It is really hammered home when Kuguha just tells Suzuha, he is completely alone. No human will remember him, and even his goddess has forgotten him. It was so effective that Suzuha crossed the DespairEventHorizon and let ayakashi kill him.
8	** Just how wrong he was. Not only was Yukine waiting for him, but Bishamon realized exactly who was gone very quickly and remembers details about him like how she found him and how he was mentored by Kuguha along with Aiha... how all shinki grieve about him and it's clear that in truth, there were a lot of people who cared and never forgot about him, even if none of them were mortal.
9	* Chapter 19: As Yato slays the massive ayakashi formed from Bishamon's corrupted shinki, they cry for their master in their last moments, and Bishamon tearfully begs Yato not to kill them.
10	* Chapter 23: The flashback showing Kazuma's life in Bishamon's first clan of shinki. When Bishamon falls ill, the shinki begin throwing accusations at each other. As a result Touma, Kazuma's mentor and the shinki he was closest to, is falsely accused of being the culprit after standing up to the then-Lead shinki (who was indirectly implied to be the culprit herself). The other shinki then threw her into a pit of gloom as Kazuma watched, powerless to save her.
11	* Chapter 42: Hiyori is baffled that despite being a lovey-dovey god-and-shinki pair that acts like a married couple, and considering Daikoku's love of children, Kofuku and Daikoku don't try to have children (by means of adopting the spirit of a deceased child). However, Kofuku reveals that they ''did'' try to raise a child once, and the three of them lived as a family for 100 years. But the fact that little Daigo was a spirit of a child who died at an age where he didn't fully comprehend he was dead, yet was perceptive enough to eventually ask a lot of questions, began to take a toll on them. Soon Daikoku ended up stinging his master so much because he lied to Daigo by omission, unable to bring himself to break it to his son that he can't grow up because he's dead. Because of how bad it got, Kofuku had no choice but to release Daigo. They erected a headstone in their backyard in his memory.
12	** The ending of the chapter actually manages to top the previous tearjerker: When the stinging gets bad enough, to the point of threatening Kofuku's life, Daigo goes to Yato and begs him to kill him (remember that he can't take his own life without hurting his master). Yato makes a show of exorcising the impurity out of Daigo without killing him and thus saving Kofuku. The real wham line comes last when Yato admits he actually didn't do anything: Kofuku and Daigo simply endured and suffered through their grief together, making it a unique case of Shinki who overcomes corruption on his own.
13	* Chapter 43: What starts off as another filler episode turns tragic when it is revealed that the old woman's deceased mother, whom she sought to return her bracelet to, is none other than Mayu. The old woman suffers the curse of an ayakashi because of her SurvivorsGuilt, constantly dreaming about her mother's death during [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII the war]]. When the affair is sorted out, and the old woman is able to return the bracelet to an unwitting Mayu, Hiyori quickly learns that she cannot reveal the truth to Mayu, and by extension Yukine because it delves into a god's most guarded secret: they inherited the lost memories of their shinki's past, and to reveal that knowledge is incredibly taboo.
14	** This, unfortunately, gets even ''worse'' when you remember that unlike in other stories where the happy, or at least bittersweet ending comes when the old characters pass away and are able to reunite with their dead loved ones in the afterlife, when the old woman finally dies of old age, she and Mayu (along with her father/Mayu's presumably long-dead husband) will ''not'' be reunited together in the afterlife, because Mayu would still be alive as Tenjin's shinki with no memory of her family at all. So unless Mayu were to someday be killed or released by Tenjin or just somehow go to the Far Shore (which is saddening enough already), her poor daughter and husband will ''still'' be left longing and waiting to be with her for eternity; unable to find peace in death as they should.
15	*** This actually applies to ''every shinki'' in this story. It's impossible that all shinkis had terrible lives before they died; many of them probably had wonderful lives and loving families and just happened to be unfortunate enough to die young, which would provide a good reason for them to want to continue living. Just imagine how many loved ones of shinkis are out there, having died and are now waiting for them forever in the land of the dead. How many parents, siblings, spouses, relatives, and friends have had loved ones die from diseases and accidents and other things beyond anyone's control, spent the rest of their lives missing them, and then passed on feeling happy that they'll finally be together again... only to find that their son, daughter, brother, sister, wife, husband, is ''still'' not there with them and can't be found no matter how hard they look, because they're still in the land of the living as memory-less shinkis for who knows how many years with no intentions to die any time soon.
16	* Poor Sakura's fate.
17	* Yato's past, especially his childhood, is this and NightmareFuel combined. What's actually worse is the impact that his so-called 'father's' verbal and emotional abuse has left on him. He [[StepfordSmiler may hide all the pain and insecurities beneath a cheerful and goofy demeanor]], but that doesn't change the fact that he is a horribly abused and lonely boy who just craves for affection. What makes it all the more tragic is that this type of verbal abuse is something that happens in [[TruthInTelevision real life, too]].
18	* Chapter 50, dear lord, Chapter 50.
19	** After Hiyori confronts him in chapter 45, "Father" systematically destroys her father's career by using the ayakashi to posses multiple patients at his hospital and driving them into a homicidal rage. One of those patients then bludgeons Hiyori's Mother, and Hiyori herself gets critically injured in the chaos.
20	** Hiyori desperately pleading that she wants to be with Yato while he grapples with the choice on what to do, only to force a CooldownHug and tell her that she can't leave the Near Shore yet while she sobs in his arms only adds to the moment.
21	** While failing to psychologically crush Hiyori, Yato's dad did succeed in putting her parents into a situation where lawsuits would be brought against them, causing a lot of stress.
22	* In Episode 5, the dead little girl who gets possessed by an ayakashi. We get a brief little HopeSpot when we think Yukine stopped her from being possessed, right up until she suddenly tells him that he smells nice. Yato has to kill her because she's fully possessed and Yukine ends up being very traumatized by it. Right before the possessed girl gets killed, Yukine has a vision of her in normal form running up behind him.
23	* Hiyori and her brother find out from Yato that the black shadow that their grandmother sees is a Shinigami, meaning that she is approaching the end of her life. Yato tells them there's nothing they can do but make her comfortable, which prompts the Iki family to [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments move in with their grandmother]].
24	* Tsuguha's death. After the battle that happens at the Iki Hospital, Tsuguha is corrupted by Yato's Father with Nora and her memories start coming back. Bishamon desperately tries to take her mind off of it, but it doesn't work. Tsuguha breaks "The God's Greatest Secret" by remembering her real name, turning her into an ayakashi. Bishamon is distraught but refuses to kill her, prompting Kazuma to perform a MercyKill to save Bishamon's life after Tsuguha gets a hold on her.
25	* Ebisu's death in chapter 35, sobbing while in the arms of Bishamon. In the anime, it is Yato that held Ebisu.
26	--> "No... I don't want to die!"
27	** Then there was Yato's reaction to seeing the newly-reincarnated Ebisu as a child. Later on, the child Ebisu]] asks Yato if he must have been a horrible person for making heaven want to kill him in his previous life. Yato then breaks down, says no, he was a good person and asks Ebisu to forgive him for indirectly causing his death.
28	** Ebisu's main shinki, Iwami, quietly begs the child Ebisu to promise to never sacrifice themselves like that again.
29	* Chapters 70 and 71. Yato has spent almost the entire current arc trying to get an audience with Amaterasu in order to explain the situation with the Sorcerer. When he finally gets it, she immediately declares Yato guilty and locks Yukine into a dark prison. Tenjin decides to step up and try to help Yato By calling a covenant to get the verdict overturned. He loses his beloved Tsuyu in the first round.
30	* It is heavily implied that Yukine was left in the custody of his abusive father after his parents separated, his sibling, possibly his twin sister going with his mother. Said abuse escalated to the point where his father believed he'd finally killed him and proceeds to bury him '''ALIVE'''! That is where Yukine's deep-seated fear of darkness comes from. This is so heartbreaking that Yato himself starts crying after naming him.
31	* Poor Hiyori finally has her LoveEpiphany in chapter 78, and only because Kazuma stomps on her feelings for Yato and tells her to never go near him again. Surely he isn't at the right mind at that time, but it's still a jerkish move for him.
32	* Chapter 79: Oh boy
33	** Yato revealing he bestows all his Shinkis with the Ne name out of memory of Sakura (Tamano''ne'') as a warning. Also a heartwarming moment, since even after her corruption and eventual destruction, he still remembers her.
34	** The reveal that Kazuma, like Yukine, was killed by a family member. While Yukine was [[OffingTheOffspring killed by his father (probably due to his bitterness of his wife and daughter leaving him)]], Kazuma was killed by [[CainAndAbel his older brother]] [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter for being the heir of their family business.]]
35	** Yato saying sadly he does have someone he loves as he holds a small handmade Capyper which is revealed that Hiyori made for him.
36	* Chapter 80-84, also known as the time when ''[[DarkestHour everything has gone to shit]]''.
37	** Hiyori has been injured after a scuffle with Father that damaged her spirit cord, leaving her powerless to stop Yato and Yukine from going down their respective paths of self-destruction, with Hiyori's brother twisting the knife by offhandedly saying he does not approve of her and Yato dating.
38	** Yato has gone off on his own with another shinki (Kazuma, of all people), finally having resolved to kill Father despite that it may destroy him too, only hoping that it ultimately doesn't. Problem is, he knows Yukine and Hiyori would never let him go through with it, so he doesn't tell them.
39	** Yukine, having been driven to brief madness after his claustrophobia episode and being prodded by Nora, has started actively trying to remember his past - which is [[TragicMonster how shinki degenerate into ayakashi]], and is begrudging Yato for not telling him the truth while ignorant of this fact.
40	** It all culminates in the fateful moment when Yato goes for the kill-shot on Father, only for Yukine to stop him and then ''go off'' on Yato for his deception, starting his transformation and leaving Yato [[BondCreatures crippled from Yukine's immense pain at being abandoned]], letting Father get away. Worsening matters is that Yukine sees himself as an asshole and a freak now, and runs away from Yato... and right into Father's hands. Predictably, Father names Yukine, turning him into a nora.
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42	* Chapter 87.2 confirms the implications that Yukine was abused by his alcoholic father when he was alive. It's implied that the neighbours ''knew'' about the abuse, but did nothing to help the poor kid.
43	* Chapter 89 is when we all realize that things aren't going to get better any time soon. Yukine has been named by Father and unexpectedly retains his human form as a vessel, but with extra powers. He mercilessly attacks Yato, but Yato refuses to fight back, even though Kazuma keeps urging him to. Yato tearfully apologizes to Yukine, telling him that he doesn't belong with Father and begging him to come home. Yukine replies that he does want to go home... and then asks Yato where his sister ran off to. Yato is heartbroken when he realizes that Yukine doesn't think of him as his home anymore. Furthermore, because Yato refuses to tell Yukine where his sister is, Yukine thinks that Yato is no different from his father. At the same time, Yato won't lay a hand on Yukine because that would make him no different than Father. It all ends with Yukine seriously injuring Yato (and Kazuma) and leaving him unconscious under a tree (for extra tears, it's probably the tree under which Yato burried Yukine's body).
44	* Chapter 94. Yukine has forgotten about both Yato and the Father, and is instead running rampant, searching for his own father.
45	* Chapter 98: Father's backstory is quite tragic, and it really explains (but doesn't excuse) his attitude towards the gods.

Context TearJerker / Noragami