Anime Meta-Review
Oh my Goddess!
Index's
Home
Alphabetic
Quality
Genre
People
Recent
By Date
Title Info
- alias: Aah, Megamisama!
- alias: Ah my Goddess!
- seen: 1-5 of 5
- type: OAV
- grade: worthy
- genre: seinen
- people: Fujishima
- form: sub
- Other elements of this title:
- This title is a personal favourite.
- made: 1993
- Review created: Recently, but I didn't record the date.
- mod: none
One of the most popular popular series there is, and no suprise because it is really charming. The central plot concerns a wrong number and an impulsive wish giving Keiichi his own live in goddess, the delightful and much loved belldandy. Things become more complex as Keiichi finds both mundane and divine problems becoming part of his daily life, especially belldandy's two sisters, who are a lot of fun in their own right. The story ends with a very fitting, and touching, conclusion.
The best thing about this anime is that it captures both the look and the spirit of the manga series very well. And considering how well liked the manga series is that is high praise. There is something about the authors style that is very addictive. The stories are strongly character based, the characters are sensitively rendered and the world design is interesting and original. This anime, even given its limited running time, brings out the character of the cast very well. Admittedly the politically correct crowd love to lampoon the anime belldandy, and she is a bit `tougher' in the manga, but the criticism is not entirely fair. All of the characters, and the cast is quite large, are interesting (although manga readers will spot a lot of unintroduced familiar faces in the background) and the dialog and actions very well done. This is a rich, character driven and charming anime. Indeed let me repeat the word charming a couple of times more, because it really does sum up the production well. If this puts you off, well, your loss.
Another element well brought out by this older, but very skillful and stylish, production is the look of the manga. While the manga has dull linework the complexity and design of characters and objects is lovely, it should come as no suprise that OMG image web-sites are very common. The anime does this very well, with the character designs being complex, the backgrounds rich and the palette subtle and fitting. It doesn't hurt the popularity that the goddesses are rather attractive women, albeit in very different ways, and are lovingly animated. Indeed it has been joked that the animation of the goddesses hair (and clothing) exhausted the budget. Matching this is a wonderful selection of voice actors, some very clever use of background music, and some of the most catchy opening and closing music I know of. This is a delightful and fitting production which i have little doubt will continue to age well and bear many re-watchings. Strangely it also has very accurate renditions of vehicles (the manga author is obviously an auto-nut) including a drag-racing tournament which while strange in context is not unpleasant.
This series is known also known as `Ah! my Goddess', which is a more accurate translation of the Japanese title, although the Japanese title was meant to mimic the English `Oh! my God' and the change has the authors approval. Doubtless many more will continue to sacrifice themselves in the continuing warfare between supporters of the different titles.
Akemi's AnimeWorld has an excellent review, but I recommend you avoid reading the episode synopsis that precedes it. The summary is in the first line, "Oh My Goddess! has long been a fan favorite, and it deserves every bit". Of course someone with less tolerance for light romantic comedy, like the Anime Critic for example might give a much less positive review. The review from THEM wishes it were longer and more story centered (like the manga) but that should not be considered to detract from this experience.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:23 WST 2009