Noragami Analysis: Ebisu Vs Takemikazuchi

Noragami Analysis: Ebisu vs Takemikazuchi

Hello, it’s been a while since I’ve written Noragami essays, and I’m back with another one that absolutely nobody has asked for: Ebisu and Takemikazuchi. This one will be a bit less organised and less detailed than my usual, but I thought it would be fun to pick apart some of their similarities and differences. It’s interesting to see how their relationship has changed from Take being outright antagonistic towards adult Ebisu, to the funnier, humorous interactions that we’ve been seeing more of in the recent chapters. 

This scene below is the first time the main cast gets to meet Take, which is when he meets the new Ebisu at Kamuhakari. 

With some hindsight now that we know Take’s backstory, we can see some parallels from their first exchange alone. Take mocks Ebisu for what his previous incarnation supposedly did. Where else have we seen this happen?

Take quite similar to a schoolyard bully who has their own problems at home, taking it out on others. Adding onto that, there’s the issue of their reincarnation that speaks to Heaven’s corruption.

Ebisu’s constant reincarnations aren’t much of a secret to Takamagahara, but reincarnation, much like death, it’s treated as a taboo topic. This taboo has been seen in Bishamon’s household early on in the manga, and followed up on with Take’s backstory arc. 

These make Heaven’s hypocrisy all the more glaring. Takemikazuchi’s household is literally built on cover-ups of the grisly circumstances of his reincarnation, but it’s Ebisu’s reincarnating that ends up in the spotlight.

Politics

Both Ebisu and Take are different archetypes of gods in Heaven. Both are very prominent gods, but Take represents the ‘proper’, orthodox way Heaven does things. Before Amaterasu made her grand appearance, he was virtually representative of Heaven itself. The scene pans to him whenever the heavens act.

In his very first appearance, we aren’t even shown Take’s face, which he hides behind an anonymous screen at the Kamuhakari and the white covering during Ebisu’s subjugation. His first appearance without a covering on is asking Yato if he swore loyalty to the Heavens, making it appear as though he’s the main representative of Amaterasu herself (albeit asking through Kiun, which adds extra Shady Points). 

The main villains of Noragami initially have “heralds” who act on their behalf before the real villain appears. For example, we knew about Father early on in the series, but he’s not the one we see: it’s Nora/Mizuchi/Hiiro who does the work and manipulation for him before we even know what he looks like. The corrupt system of the Heavens is Noragami’s other antagonist, and Takemikazuchi is that ‘herald’ to Heaven’s corruption, just like Nora. Take shares this kind of arc with Ebisu as well, who was initially set up to appear as the story’s villain. It’s interesting how once we’ve gotten to know these characters on their own, they’ve been gradually distanced from the “Heaven Bad” group of gods. 

In terms of politics, Ebisu is notorious for being unconventional. He keeps strays, tames ayakashi and takes down spells from a nation the Heavens tried to wipe out, despite the taboos associated with them. In one of the bonus chapters he doesn’t blink an eye at the absurdity of a human girl finding her way to Takamagahara. 

Even at the Divine Council meeting, Ebisu’s stances can be described as liberal compared to the other gods.

And who shuts him down for it? None other than good old Take. Take makes a big deal about being in Heaven’s good graces, looks down on “false gods” and in general acts with the pompousness of being one of the most powerful gods in Japan. Even up till the recent chapters, Take seems to align himself with the Heavens… up until he’s faced with the prospect that Heaven now considers him a threat.

Now that Take’s been cut away from Heaven, he’s been upgraded from a reluctant tagalong to a slightly more enthusiastic part of the group. It’s been a rocky transition, sure, but we’ll have to see where it leads.

Guideposts and Upbringing

As I’ve brought up in my Ebisu-Iwami post, Noragami has a very unique kind of relationship dynamic, which is shinki raising their newly reincarnated gods, which we’ve seen in Ebisu and Takemikazuchi (and Arahabaki too, but there’s not enough material at the moment to include him at the moment).

And as with many things, balance is key. Being too “active” in making important decisions for a god veers into “appropriating” them (think helicopter parenting), and being too “passive” makes them feel neglected. 

I’ve made a separate post here on how inactive Iwami sometimes is with Ebisu to the point that both of them suffer from its effects, and @echodrops has written a fantastic essay on Take’s overbearing shinki as well. The details are much longer than I can discuss here, but those are stuff you can read if you’re interested in this shinki-god dynamic.

Respect for self and shinki

Both of Ebi and Take have a similar recklessness when it comes to their personal safety, albeit for different reasons. Take throws himself into danger and actively provokes others into becoming his enemies so he can attain a hafuri, solid proof of his shinki’s loyalty and ability. 

Ebisu, while not as callous as Take, has tried some less-than-thoughtful ways of gauging his shinki’s loyalty. Both of them are insecure about how much their shinki really care for them and seek assurance for it. This of course does cause a rift between their current guideposts and themselves, but over the course of Noragami’s progress, both Kiun and Kunimi have gotten the chance to be closer to their masters and affirm their bond, and now we see more personal concern going on between the gods and their shinki.

I thought it would be nice to end it here with a bookend to that first scene. 

I’m happy to see them each developing as characters and building a much friendlier dynamic with each other. Here’s to more hilarious Ebi-Take interactions in the future. 

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If you liked this, you can check out other essays I’ve written for Noragami:

That one set of artworks by Adachitoka (a set of three artworks featuring Noragami characters with different kinds of plants: some stuff about the meanings of said plants)

Noragami Theme Analysis: Ebisu and Crying

Noragami Analysis: Ebisu and Iwami

Noragami Chapter 73/Theme Analysis: Ebisu and Kunimi, Part 1

Noragami Chapter 73/Theme Analysis: Ebisu and Kunimi, Part 2

I cant wait to see what yukine does next chapter

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