Oh! My Goddess - Anime OVA

Released in the early 90s in as a five part OVA series, the Oh! My Goddess OVA is a classic title by now. The OVA market has been on the decline for a while now, but I've always thought of this title as one of the best examples of how good they used to be. It's not just how the story came together, or the good production value. It seemed like the OVA was lovingly created by people who loved the series, and I think that shows through. With the TV series now released, most overlook this 5 part series, but I still think it's done so well that it's worth watching on its own.

AnimEgo was the original distributor of the series in America, but has since allowed their license to lapse as of 2010. This puts the series in limbo here, and it isn't clear if it is picked up by someone else if the rights to the dub will be retained, or if it will have to be re-dubbed. For its time, the dub was... alright.

Vol 1: Moonlight & Cherry Blossoms
Boy meets goddess. Goddess grants wish. Boy gets goddess as girlfriend. Boy gets kicked out of dorm because girls (and goddesses) are not allowed.

Vol 2: Midsummer Night's Dream
A sexy video, a day at the beach, mysterious potions, and a plan gone awry.... must be URD!

Volume 3: Burning Hearts on the Road
Bugs, bombs, and it's hammer time with Skuld... too bad Keiichi in a bind with the auto club.

Vol 4: Evergreen Holy Night
Bugs are in, and Belldandy's out? Maybe Keiichi can get a present for her before she goes.

Vol 5: For the Love of a Goddess
Belldandy's going to go.... but not if Urd and Skuld can help it. Also included: a brief look into the past, and the best way to get rid of nightmarish trees.

Aa! Megami-sama: The Adventures of the Mini-Goddess in the Handy Petite Size

This series was broadcast on TV in Japan as Aa! Megami-sama Chachai'tte Koto wa Benri da ne (which translates to the title above). The series covers various adventures of the goddesses in their shrunk down form, along with Urd's old friend; a rat named Gan. Although cute in a way, and mildly amusing at times - I wasn't particularly taken by this incarnation of the series.

Ah! My Goddess: The Movie

Three years have passed since the goddess Belldandy had come to live with Keiichi. Things seemed quiet and content on Earth, but on the Moon a mysterious entity had been set free by a fairy spirit. The two devised a plan to change the universe, but first they need to reach Belldandy. Indeed the plot thickens once it's revealed that the entity set free from the moon was none other than Belldandy's former mentor in heaven. Which made it even more puzzling once he blocked all of her memories from on Earth (and of Keiichi). What could her former teacher possibly have in store for the Earth. And what will happen to Keiichi and Belldandy now that she can't even remember him?

With the series only growing in popularity, and such a huge gap in years between the original OVA series and this movie, the hype for this release was substantial. The anticipation was only fed by the many delays that plagued this movie. It was slated for release in 1999, but despite the fast turn around time in America, didn't make it here until 2002. All of this for a title that was pretty mediocre.

The story was decent, and fit well within movie constraints. It introduces two new characters, Morrigan and Celestin. Celestin is the type of obsessed with creating an "ideal" world character that never works out, and he just proves the point. His ally Morrigan is a fairy who feels betrayed by love and is an interesting character, but her role is too small to be significant. While the animation was good, for all the delays I can say I expected much more. The sequences were fluid, just not very inspired or creative.

This was originally produced by Pioneer who went through a restructuring and a name change to Genon. Genon has since ceased operations in America and this title was handed to Funimation. The dub quality was decent, but not good enough to convince me not to watch the subtitled version. At release this title cost $27 on DVD, a tough sell considering it's only fair at best.

TV Series

When I first created this part of my site, there was only the OVA. As of now the history of Oh My Goddess in anime format is long enough that I really need to break all this out into smaller pages. Notably the TV series has emerged. It follows the manga closely. Yeah that's all I'm going to say about it for now.

Oh, Ah! and who releases what

Media	Title	year	Released by
Manga	Oh!	1988	Dark Horse Comics
5 part OVA	Oh!	1993	AnimEigo
Movie	Ah!	1998	Pioneer
Mini Goddess	Ah!	2000	Pioneer
TV Season 1	Ah!	2005	Media Blasters
TV Season 2	Ah!	2006	Funimation