If there's some sort of "best episode" discussion, Space Dandy will probably show up more than Noragami. But as far as a "best show" discussion goes for the season, I think many people who watched all the Noragami and all of Space Dandy will agree that Noragami is a more consistent show, and has stronger characters and relationships. The action in Noragami is often also more meaningful because there's more weight behind it, as opposed to random stuff for the sake of animation.
I've enjoyed Space Dandy a lot since episode 4, but I find that I still don't really care about any of the characters. That's part of what the show requires though, since any given episode needs to be able to kill off any or all characters for the lulz if whoever is writing or directing it feels like doing that. It's a super creative episodic show, but as a comedy it isn't that funny, and the dramatic beats are hit or miss. It's very well produced, but most of the time it does feel like more of a technical show off.
Consistency only "really" means something when it refers to the "mean quality" (consistently good-great) of a show as opposed to the standard deviation of the episodes. For example, the production of Samurai Flamenco is also pretty consistent........consistently awful. The standard deviation of Dandy episodes is certainly higher than for Noragami episodes but the best Dandy episodes BLOW Noragami away and the mean quality of Dandy episodes, when you average out the meh and the excellent episodes, is still much higher than the mean quality of Noragami episodes.
As for characters and their relationships, I don't agree that Noragami has the advantage here. How the characters related and the character humor in Noragami is still full of anime tropes so its not going to win points there (something even Samurai Flamenco of all shows manages time to time). Over the course of the show they became better friends but I dont think the characters themselves really changed or improved that much. Nothing about the characters really struck me as strong or that their interplay was especially good. Yato was cool enough but he was pretty much the same dude he was in episode 1 as he was in episode 12. I quite like Hiyori for her spunk and proactive attitude but I never felt I learned much more about her as the show went on nor did I felt like I grew to like her more. My opinion of her stayed decently high but it never changed. Similarly, I thought Yukine was SHIT from day one and he only grew shittier as the show went. "HERP DERP I HAVE NO FRIENDS!" FUCK OFF kid youre a dumbshit and after the show HAMMERED IN that stupid point for like a zillion episodes, episode 9 wasn't nearly enough to redeem him he merely went from total shitface to just merely tolerable/ignorable/somewhat less shitty. Stay shitty, shitface. In fact the show would have been better if he never existed given how the first episode was set up I assumed Hiyori would become Yatos Regalia. The two of them were enough for the show, no need to shit it up with Yukine.
I also suppose I was supposed to feel something deep & emotional during the Rabo arc? I mean I dont think it was executed poorly at all but it was certainly by the numbers and predictable. Aside from reaffirming that Hiyori is kind of cool and some sweet fight scenes, I didnt really care about what happened :/
As for the Dandy crew, despite the fact that there is little continuity between episodes, I definitely feel they have become stronger as a crew and that they interact more naturally and play off each other better as the show has progressed. Just by watching them "live", interact and be themselves, as well as the deeper glimpses that have popped up (episodes 5, 10, etc.) I've grown to like them more and more. It also helps that Space Dandy, both the show and how the crew interacts, is actually funny more often than not whereas the humor in Noragami very rarely worked.
Dandy is a knuckle-head but his perversion has stayed within tolerable levels and his charisma, confidence and straight-forward attitude have won me over. I think someone said the character reminded them of a Jojo protagonist and honestly I think that's a fair analogy. No, he's no Joesph Joestar but I think he's a quality, likeable protagonist. Meow started as a lazy doofus and while he's still lazy and doofy, Meows character arc (episode 10 mostly but there were bits and pieces elsewhere) did more to endure me to that character than anything that happened in Noragami. I think there were real concerns that Dandy and Meow were too similar to play off each other well but I feel that has become less and less of an issue as the season has passed. QT seemed to start off in the nagging nanny/crew conscience role but has developed a stronger personality as the season has progressed - QT has had increasingly well-defined and distinct wants, opinions, preferences and beliefs. The character has grown into his/her own recently and based on online impressions, Episode 13 should only further prove that point. I feel the show overall has a very "show, not tell" approach and I very much appreciate that.
TLDR: Noragami is respectable but very by-the-numbers and nothing groundbreaking. Space Dandy is brimming with creativity (though it falls into the tried and true from time to time) and has characters I enjoy more seeing them interact and I feel have changed more (or Ive learned more about them) over the course of the show than Noragami. Also I dont hate any of the main cast in Space Dandy whereas Yukine in Noragami is forever shit tier.
