Ah! My Goddess [TV]
The story follows a college sophomore named Keiichi Morisato, who accidentally dials the Goddess Help Hotline, an agency that grants the wishes of humans. The goddess Belldandy appears before him, and says that she has been sent to fulfill a single wish. Keiichi, believing that he is somehow being pranked, wishes that the goddess stay with him forever. Unfortunately for him though, his “wish” is granted, and now has to live together with the beautiful goddess.
Kicked out of his male-only dormitory, Keiichi eventually ends up in an old Buddhist temple, where he and the goddess were allowed to lodge for an indefinite period of time. To make matters worse, Belldandy’s sisters move in the temple to live with them. Now having the ingredients for guaranteed disaster, Keiichi must survive the craziest part of his life yet!
About the Show
Ah! My Goddess (also called Oh my Goddess!), is an anime adaptation of the romance-comedy manga series under the same name, written and illustrated by Kousuke Fujishima. Three anime series has been created based on the manga, the first one being studio Oriental Light and Magic’s Adventure of Mini Goddess, that aired between April 6, 1998 and March 29, 1999 with a total of 48 episodes. The other two are produced by studio AIC; Ah! My Goddess and Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy, airing between January 6, 2005 and September 14, 2006, having 26 and 24 episodes, respectively.
Characters
Keiichi Morisato
Keiichi Morisato is a college student studying at the Nekomi Institute of Technology. Not only is he a skilled mechanic, but is an exceptional racecar driver as well. Due to his outstanding skills, he was eventually bestowed directorship of the club he was in, the NIT Motor club. His life became even more hectic, after accidentally binding the goddess Belldandy to live with him forever.
While he knows that he loves Belldandy, he has a difficult time in expressing his feelings, and his pure and innocent personality puts him in the middle of an unusual romantic relationship. Keiichi has met many supernatural beings since meeting Belldandy for the first time, including her two goddess sisters.
Belldandy
Belldandy is an immensely powerful goddess, ranked first-class unlimited. Her magical power is so great that she is required to wear a special earring on her left ear, an item that restricts the full brunt of her strength. Despite her powers, she is very kind to everyone, and tries her best to empathize with the people around her.
She ends up with Keiichi after being contractually bounded by his wish. Although she could cancel their contract anytime she wanted, she fell in love with Keiichi and decides to live with him. If confronted with an implication involving Keiichi one way or the other, Belldandy will feel jealous, which results in power leaks referred to as “jealousy storms”.
Urd
Urd is Belldandy’s older sister, sharing the same father, but having Hild – a demon lord – as mother, making her a hybrid of a goddess and a demon. She is ranked second-class, management category limited. Although being more powerful than her sisters, she refuses to become a first-class goddess.
Fancying herself as a Goddess of Love, Urd mischievously visits Earth to give Keiichi love potions and deceitful but well-meaning advice. As punishment for leaving her post in Heaven, she was temporarily banned to return by The Almighty. She is eventually allowed to return, but Urd decides to stay on Earth with Keiichi instead.
Skuld
Skuld is the younger sister of Belldandy and Urd, and is ranked as second-class management category limited, the same rank Urd holds. She is not as magically powerful as her sisters, but she compensates with her innate talent for invention, being able to build just about anything from scrap parts using her genius for engineering. She can also compute and equate complex engineering blueprints faster than anyone, and works as one of Yggdrasil’s system debuggers.
She visits Earth after the increasing number of computer bugs in Heaven resulting from Belldandy and Keiichi’s relationship. Although that was her official excuse, her real motive is to bring back Belldandy to Heaven, because she thinks that her older sister is being held against her will. After seeing that Keiichi and Belldandy’s relationship won’t end any time soon, Skuld decides to stay on Earth to act as Belldandy’s unofficial chaperon.
The Almighty
As Lord of Heaven, The Almighty is responsible for maintaining the fabrics of reality as we know it. All goddesses ultimately follow his orders. He appears to be blunt and straightforward, but polite and forgiving. His lack of understanding for how humans act and communicate is a result of not having been on Earth in a long time. His face in not revealed, and is usually seen shrouded by mist or has his back turned away.
Hild
Hild is the Lord of Hell, ultimate demon and naturally opposite of The Almighty. As ruler of all demon kind, she is unimaginably powerful, dwarfing even the combined powers of Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld. Despite having the ability to obliterate the goddesses, Hild respects the doublet system, and thus limits her power to prevent killing any of the goddesses. She greatly loves her daughter Urd, although her daughter does not return this love. Hild despises Belldandy immensely, as her kind nature especially towards humans remind her of Belldandy’s father, and the relationship they once had.
Quick Review
Ah! My Goddess is an excellent blend of romance and comedy, capable of leaving you with tears in your eyes both from an emotional love story and hilarious comedic scenes. The animation is well-made, and the overall appearance of the anime might give out a feminine vibe. Background music is not noteworthy, but does its job well nonetheless. The story progresses in a stable pace, and might feel sluggish or rushed at times. The main attraction for this series is in its characters, who are unique and interesting. You will surely love the various types of characters in this series, may they be good or evil. Overall, if you like watching romance series sprinkled with good comedy, then this is definitely worth a watch.
