Oh! My Goddess

Oh! My Goddess
Original title	あ あ っ 女神 さ ま っ
transcription	Aa Megami-sama
OVA series logo
genre	Fantasy , harem , comedy , drama
Manga
country	Japan
author	Kosuke Fujishima
publishing company	Kodansha
magazine	Afternoon
First publication	September 1988 - April 25, 2014
expenditure	48
Original video animation
Country of production	Japan
original language	Japanese
Year (s)	1993-1994
Studio	AIC
length	153 minutes
Episodes	5
Director	Hiroaki Gōda
music	Takeshi Yasuda
Anime television series
title	Mini goddesses
Original title	あ あ っ 女神 さ ま っ 小 っ ち ゃ い っ て 事 は 便利 だ ね っ
transcription	Aa Megami-sama: Chicchai tte Koto wa Benri da ne
Country of production	Japan
original language	Japanese
Year (s)	1997-1999
Studio	Oriental Light and Magic
length	7 minutes
Episodes	48
Director	Hiroko Kazui , Yasuhiro Matsumura
music	Yasunori Mitsuda
First broadcast	April 6, 1997 - March 29, 1999 on WOWOW
German-language first broadcast	January 7, 2003 on RTL II
Anime television series
Country of production	Japan
original language	Japanese
Year (s)	2005-2006
Studio	AIC
length	25 minutes
Episodes	50 in 2 seasons
Director	Hiroaki Gōda
music	Shiroh Hamaguchi
First broadcast	January 6, 2005 - September 14, 2006 on TBS
German-language first broadcast	June 5th - July 17th 2007 on Animax
synchronization
Animes
► Oh! My Goddess: The Movie (2000) ► Aa Megami-sama: Tatakau Tsubasa (2007) ► Ah Megami-sama: Itsumo Futari de (2011)

Oh! My Goddess ( Japanese あ あ っ 女神 さ ま っ , Aa Megami-sama ) is a manga series by the artist Kōsuke Fujishima , which was published in Japan from 1988 to 2014. It has been translated into several languages ​​and adapted in several animes , a light novel and video games. The plot revolves around the student Keiichi Morisato, who accidentally calls the goddess Belldandy to stay with him. As the relationship between the two develops, new characters keep emerging from Belldandy's and Keiichi's environment, who consciously or unintentionally cause conflicts that can usually be dealt with with good results. The manga can be classified into the genres of fantasy , harem , drama and romance.

action

The student Keiichi Morisato actually only wanted to order something to eat by phone, but then he accidentally ends up at the "Technical Goddess Emergency Service" and receives a visit from the goddess Belldandy, from whom he can make a request. He jokingly wishes that the beautiful Belldandy would stay with him forever. Now this wish is actually granted to him and the goddess stays with him, which, however, leads to his being thrown out of the dormitory. The two find an old temple, which thanks to Belldandy's divine abilities can be made habitable again, and move there.

Before Keiichi can really enjoy the unexpected relationship with a goddess, his sister appears, who wants to move in with him. And Belldandy's divine sisters Urd and Skuld as well as other gods, demons and mythical creatures soon make life difficult for both of them. There is also life at the university and in the motorcycle club, which Keiichi is made difficult by his rough, rowdy senpai , even if they often only mean it well with him. And Sayoko Mishima, a fellow student who used to woo Keiichi unsuccessfully, is now jealous of Belldandy and wants to separate the two.

Characters

main characters

Belldandy ( ベ ル ダ ン デ ィ ー , Berudandī )

As a first class goddess, Belldandy has some problems getting along with life as a human every now and then. However, Keiichi never tires of reassuring her that this is perfectly fine. She works with her sisters on the Yggdrasil computer for destiny .

Keiichi Morisato ( 森 里 螢一 , Morisato Kei'ichi )

is Belldandy's friend and victim of the hair-raising events. The engine fan is enrolled as a mechanical engineering student at the university. He loves Belldandy more than anything, but has had to endure a lot since living with the goddesses.

Urd ( ウ ル ド , Urudo )

is Belldandy's older half-sister. As a specialist in all kinds of magic potions and remedies, most of the time she tries rather unsuccessfully as Cupid. Urd's "wicked" character, who comes from her half demonic, half divine nature, leads again and again to the most absurd catastrophes, which Keiichi and Belldandy ultimately bring closer to each other.

Skuld ( ス ク ル ド , Skurudo )

is Belldandy's younger, technically gifted sister. When she is not busy designing highly complicated apparatuses, she occasionally hunts bugs, misdirected divine programs, with her hammer. Unlike Urd, she is against the relationship between Belldandy and Keiichi.

Supporting characters

Gods and demons

Peorth ( ペ イ オ ー ス , Peiōsu )

Peorth is a goddess who sees herself in competition with Belldandy since Keiichi accidentally called her too. However, her job may just be to verify Belldandy's love for Keiichi. Peorth is persistent and Belldandy has to protect Keiichi more than once.

Rinda ( リ ン ド , Rindo )

Rinda is a first class goddess. At first she came in an Oh! My Goddess -Arcade-Game before, but was then also taken over into the manga series.

Hild ( ヒ ル ド , Hirudo )

Hild is the mistress of hell and Urd's mother. She gets on everyone's nerves with trying to have some fun.

Marller ( マ ー ラ ー , Mārā )

Marller is a first-class demon and therefore an enemy of all goddesses. At least with Urd, she still gets along quite well, so that the two often have exhibition fights.

Mini ninja

The three female mini- ninja Hikari Senkuo , Kodama Genwaku and Nozomi Senrigan were originally sent by Mara to Keiichi and Belldandy with hostile intent. However, they did not do their job, but moved in there.

Senbei ( せ ん べ い )

Mara's Sidekick Senbei is a genie in a bottle who only feels good when others are feeling bad. Fortunately, he's neither particularly skilled nor smart.

Welsper ( ヴ ェ ル ス パ ー , Werusupā )

The demon Welsper was turned into a cat as punishment for his failure and lives with Belldandy and Keiichi.

People

Megumi Morisato ( 森 里 恵 , Morisato Megumi )

Megumi Morisato is Keiichi's younger sister and also a student. She is fearless and naughty.

Otaki Aoyama

One of Sempai of Keiichi and head of the student NIT Motor Club (NIT MCC). Otaki is well equipped to repair engines anytime, anywhere. His strange sense of humor is only understood by his drinking buddy Tamiya.

Tamiya

With his intrusive manner, Tamiya regularly frightens the new members of the motor club. Together with Otaki, he always has the craziest ideas how the club can present itself at competitions to recruit new members.

Sora Hasegawa ( 長谷川 空 , Hasegawa Sora )

The rather shy and reserved Sora Hasegawa is a student at the Nekomi Institute of Technology and is one of the few members of the Motor Club, which you don't see at first glance. She belongs to a younger generation of students, so Belldandy and Keiichi are her senpai.

Sayoko Mishima ( 三 嶋 沙 夜 子 , Mishima Sayoko )

Sayoko Mishima is Belldandy's self-proclaimed adversary. Sayoko's stated goal is to separate Belldandy and Keiichi and to drive Belldandy out, since she lost her position as "campus queen" by Belldandy.

Origin and content-related influences

The origins of Oh! My Goddess is part of a Yonkoma manga that is an offshoot of Fujishima's series You're Under Arrest! originated and in which the main characters pray to a goddess. This running gag was so popular that Fujishima developed a new series based on it. The basis of Oh! My Goddess was the idea of ​​divine activity as a profession. Fujishima then combined this with elements of Norse mythology , which is quite unknown in Japan , from which numerous figures and events are borrowed. These were mixed with elements of Japanese culture, so the three goddesses have a "third eye" on their foreheads that symbolizes their power. The roles and characteristics of the characters have also been adapted to the plot.

• Verdandi or Verthandi is one of the three Norns (Nordic sisters of fate) who assign fate and lifespan to all people. Verdandi embodies the present. The name Belldandy in the Manga was created by retransmitting the Japanese phonetic transcription ベ ル ダ ン デ ィ ー , Berudandī .
• Urd is demigoddess and the second of the three Norns. It stands for the past.
• Skuld stands for the future and is the third of the three sisters of fate.
• Rind was an earth goddess who was chosen by the god father Odin to beget the avenger of Baldr , Odin's favorite son, with him . By a trick, Odin achieved his goal and Váli was born.
• Like Peorth , the name Sigel comes from the runic script of the Nordic peoples. Sigel means sun or sail and symbolized the hope of seafarers. It is the sign of strength and stands for the enlightening and warming sun as well as for the dynamics of life .
• Welsper or Völuspá is the first poem of the Edda , the classic Nordic collection of songs, and describes the creation of the world and the Ragnarök , the end of the world, from the perspective of a seer .
• Yggdrasil is the world ash in Germanic mythology .

Conception

The manga thrives on the introduction of new characters. The focal points of the loosely connected stories are the people and their relationships to one another. The series has a fairly narrow focus on a few important characters, and the relationship between Belldandy and Keiichi is in the foreground. Hence, the plot is initially a romance to which comic or dramatic elements are added by the prevailing circumstances.

The main conflict is Belldandy's efforts to help Keiichi with her magical powers while Keiichi wants to achieve everything on his own; as well as Keiichi's concern that the innocent Belldandy will be corrupted by human influence. Susan J. Napier states that the concept of the series also means that the (male) viewer can identify with the protagonist and thus experience his or her wishes and fantasies.

Publications

Manga

Oh! My Goddess has been published in Japan since 1988 in individual chapters in the manga magazine Afternoon of the Kodansha publishing house. After 25 years, the series ended in issue 6/2014 of Afternoon , which appeared on April 25, 2014. The individual chapters were also published in 48 edited volumes from November 1988 to July 23, 2014. The volumes sold over 70,000 copies each.

Together with the 46th anthology, the first official anthology was published on August 23, 2013 ( 「お か わ り っ !! め が み さ ま っ !!『 あ あ っ 女神 さ ま っ 』公式 ア ン ソ ソ」 ジ ー 」 ), which was first published between 2009 and 2011 on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the series was published in Afternoon , with a cover image of Oh! Great and contributions from Chika Umino , Clamp , Kozue Amano u. a.

In Germany, the Manga series has been published by Egmont- Verlag since 1999, with 44 volumes on the market to date. Since there were several organizational changes at Egmont-Verlag between 1999 and 2003, Oh! My Goddess released under three different labels:

• Feest Comics (Egmont Ehapa Verlag) (Volume 1–10)
• Feest Manga (Vol. 11-14)
• Egmont Manga and Anime (EMA, from volume 15)

This led to a new allocation of ISBNs for new editions of earlier volumes under the new EMA label . In addition, the cover of the twelfth volume differs in the old and the new edition, but the content is the same.

The manga series also appears in France, Poland, Mexico, the United Kingdom , Italy, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan and the United States, among others .

Animes

Based on the manga series, several Oh! My Goddess anime produced. So far, several original video animations , the super-deformed television series Mini-Goddesses , a movie and another television series have been produced.

Original video animation

The first, five-part OVA was produced by AIC under the direction of Hiroaki Gōda. The music was composed by Takeshi Yasuda, the character design developed by Hidenori Matsubara and Hiroshi Kato was responsible for the artistic direction. The opening credits My Heart iidasenai, Your Heart tashikametai comes from The Goddess Family Club, the credits were backed with the title Congratulations by the same group. The episodes hit stores in Japan between February 1993 and May 1994.

It tells a slightly different story than the manga: Belldandy appears in Keiichi's room, fulfills his heart's desire, Urd joins them and tries his hand at being Cupid, Skuld seeks the help of her big sister in the bug hunt and therefore comes to earth. The other characters will also be introduced gradually. The second half of the OVA tells a backstory that doesn't appear in the manga.

In Germany, Anime Virtual released the OVA on DVD , and EMA also released the story as a five-volume anime comic . An English version appeared in North America and Australia, Kazé and Tonkam Vidéo published a French translation, and Locomotion broadcast the episodes on Latin American television. They have also been translated into Italian, Russian, Dutch, Tagalog and Chinese.

After this first OVA, the two-part special Aa Megami-sama: Tatakau Tsubasa was published in 2007. In 2011 the two-part Ah Megami-sama followed: Itsumo Futari de . Another OVA was published on August 23, 2013 as a supplement to the special edition of the 46th Manga volume.

Mini goddesses

The 48 short episodes comprehensive, fully in SD format television series held Mini-Goddesses ( ああっ女神さまっ小っちゃいって事は便利だねっ, ! Aa Megami-sama: Chicchaitte koto wa Benri ne da , dt "Oh (.! My) Goddess: It's good to be small ”) was produced by Oriental Light and Magic , directed by Hiroko Kazui and Yasuhiro Matsumura. The mechanical design comes from Yasuhiro Nishinaka. The various end credits were underlaid with the titles Call Me Iwa-chan and Denwa Shite Iwa-chan by Yuki Ishii and XXX (Kiss Kiss Kiss) interpreted by Splash! and Hisakawa Aya. The series aired from April 6, 1998 to March 29, 1999 on Japanese TV station WOWOW .

The plot is based on the Yonkoma manga strips, which often appear in the manga volumes between the individual chapters and in the German edition the heading Oh! Wear My Mini Goddess . The main characters are Mini-Urd, Mini-Skuld and Mr. Ratte ( 岩 ち ゃ ん , Gan-chan ). Mini-Belldandy only appears occasionally, Keiichi only appears as a silhouette in one scene at the beginning of the first episode. Other characters are mini mara and the mini ninja, who act as opponents, as well as other rats.

In Germany, the series was broadcast under the title Mini-Göttinnen on RTL II from January 7, 2003 , and was published in Germany, Austria and Switzerland by Anime Virtual in a box with three DVDs. Locomotion aired the series in Latin America, it was also released in the USA and France.

Motion picture

→ Main article : Oh! My Goddess: The Movie

Studio AIC produced an Oh! My Goddess movie ( 劇場版 「あ あ っ 女神 さ ま っ」 , Gekijōban Aa! Megami-sama ), which was released in Japanese theaters on October 21, 2000. Anime Virtual's theatrical film has been released on DVD in Germany, Austria and Switzerland , and EMA also released the story as a three-volume anime comic .

Television series

17 years after the beginning of the manga series, AIC produced a television series that, despite some changes, is largely based on the manga. Directed by Hiroaki Gōda and written by Kunihiko Kondo and Nahoko Hasegawa. Hidenori Matsubara was responsible for character design and Hiroshi Kato for artistic direction. In terms of content, the series is closer to the manga than the previous adaptations. The first series of Oh! My Goddess comprises 26 episodes and was broadcast from January 6th to July 7th 2005 on the Japanese broadcaster TBS . The 24 episode second season Oh! My Goddess: Sorezore no Tsubasa aired from April 6th to September 14th, 2006.

The first season is now available on DVD in Japan, France, Taiwan, the USA and Canada . It was televised in Korea, the Philippines and Spain. The entire first season was released in 2007 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on the anime label Anime Virtual on six DVDs. In the same year there was a new edition in a mega-box including the film, the OVAs and the spin-off Mini-Göttinnen . On October 26, 2009, the first season was then re-released as a complete edition without the film and the OVAs. The second TV season has appeared on DVD in Japan and the United States and was shown on Philippine television.

synchronization

The Berlin dubbing studio Elektrofilm was responsible for the German-language dubbed version .

role	Japanese speakers ( seiyū )	German speaker
Belldandy	Kikuko Inoue	Melanie Hinze
Kei'ichi Morisato	Masami Kikuchi	Robin Kahnmeyer
Urd	Yumi Touma	Diana Borgwardt
Skuld	Aya Hisakawa	Susanne Kaps
Marller	Urara Takano	Vera Teltz
Lind	Miki Itou	Giuliana Jakobeit
Megumi Morisatio	Yuriko Fuchizaki	Maria Koschny

music

The music was composed by Shiroh Hamaguchi. The two opening songs are Open Your Mind ~ Chiisana Hane Hirogete ~ ( Open Your Mind ~ 小 さ な 羽 根 ひ ろ げ て ~ ) and Shiawase no Iro ( 幸 せ の い ろ ) by Yoko Ishida. The following titles were used for the end credits:

• Negai ( 願 い ) by Yoko Ishida
• Wing by Yoko Takahashi (eps 13-23)
• Our Miracle by Youko Ishida
• Bokura no Kiseki ( 僕 ら の キ セ キ ) by Yoko Ishida
• Koibito Doshi ( 恋人 同 士 ) from Jukai

Light novel

Urd spokesperson Yumi Tōma wrote a light novel for Oh My Goddess! . This was illustrated by Fujishima and Hidenori Matsubara and published on July 20, 2006 by Kodansha in Japan. Dark Horse Comics also published the book in English.

Video games

For the NEC PC-9801 console, Banpresto released the Aa! Megami-sama! , based on the manga. An expanded version of the game was released in 1997 for the PC-FX. The following year quiz appeared : Ah! My Goddess for Sega's Dreamcast , in which the player in the role of the main character Keiichi answers quiz questions from the other characters in the series. A game developed by Marvelous Interactive for the PlayStation 2 was also released in February 2007.

Reception and analysis

The manga won the 2009 Kōdansha Manga Prize in the general category. It is the greatest international success of the cartoonist Kōsuke Fujishima.

The English translation of the manga and the first OVA became very popular in the US anime and comic fan scene. Fred Patten writes that the series lives from its "lovable characters" . Antonia Levi considers the integration of elements from Nordic mythology in the series to be extremely successful, precisely because they are heavily "Japaneseized" and thus an imaginative, playful result is created. In this way, the characters, which are rather dark in the original, are put into roles that are more suitable for a romantic comedy. Levi describes the main character Keiichi as the typical passive male protagonist, as a nerd , as is often found in fantasy anime. She compares with the protagonists of the American series In Love with a Witch , in which a similar situation prevails, but in which the man reacts to it aggressively and insists on his supremacy over the woman who is more powerful thanks to her magical abilities. In contrast, Keiichi makes no demands on Belldandy, is grateful for her skills and help, and cares for her. Antonia Levi describes the relationship between Keiichi and his older fellow students as a typical Japanese Senpai - Kōhai relationship, which is characterized by a certain subservience on the part of the younger. However, this is difficult to access and understand for western viewers. According to Susan J. Napier, the absence of parents and especially the mother, as in many series of the period, is a reference to Japanese society, in which there were more and more divorces and more mothers who were working and thereby not fulfilling their traditional roles. Therefore, presumably in response to emancipation, a very conservative image of women is drawn. Belldandy in particular corresponds to Keiichi's “dream come true” of a wife who practically only exists for his own good. This is supported by a narrative focus on the relationship between Belldandy and Keiichi. Despite the uncertainties in a relationship between man and deity and through magic, the stories, in the anime, always come down to a good or at least hopeful ending.

According to AnimaniA , the series is not just another edition of the concept based on Urusei Yatsura , Tenchi Muyo and Ranma ½ , but much more serious and dramatic. The series is therefore to be recommended, the Funime describes it as a "classic of romantic (anime) comedy par excellence" . Since it took ten years for the manga to come to Germany, its style seemed outdated at first. In terms of content, however, the series was convincing and was also successful here. The drawings have developed significantly since the beginning of the series, the lines have become clearer and more modern. The first OVA was just as successful, but with a strongly compressed plot. The 2005 television series placed more emphasis on the characterization of the main characters, dialogues and romantic scenes. Humor is integrated through super deformed and slapstick inserts. Animations and backgrounds were successful, and the music of the series and the German synchronization were praised. The dubbing was also rated positively in Funime, but the rest of the presentation of the OVA's first German DVD release was unsuccessful and was fraught with many errors. In the second release in the form of a box, however, many errors were corrected.

literature

• Susan J. Napier : Anime from Akira to Princess Mononoke: Experiencing Contemporary Japanese Animation . Palgrave 2001. (English)

Web links

• Official homepage of Kodansha for the manga series (Japanese)
• List of all Japanese manga volumes (Japanese)
• Official homepage of TBS for the television series (Japanese)
• Entry on the manga on Anime News Network with references to the adaptations

Individual evidence

1. ^ Trish Ledoux and Doug Ranney: The Complete Anime Guide , p. 61. Tiger Mountain Press, Issaquah (Washington), 1995
2. ↑ ^{a b} Antonia Levi: Samurai from Outer Space - Understanding Japanese Animation , p. 61 f. Carus Publishing, 1996.
3. ↑ Patrick Drazen: Anime Explosion! - The What? Why? & Wow! of Japanese Animation , p. 71. Stone Bridge Press, 2003.
4. ↑ ^{a b} Napier, 2001, pp. 149–152
5. ↑ ^{a b} Fred Patten: Watching Anime, Reading Manga - 25 Years of Essays and Reviews , p. 49. Stone Bridge Press, 2004.
6. ^ Napier, 2001, p. 140
7. ↑ 藤 島 康 介 「パ ラ ダ イ ス レ ジ デ ン ス」 次 号 ア フ タ で 連載 開始 . natalie.mu, April 25, 2014, accessed April 29, 2014 (Japanese). 
8. ↑ Japanese Comic Ranking, September 26-October 2nd. Anime News Network , October 5, 2011, accessed July 5, 2012 . 
9. ↑ Japanese Comic Ranking, April 23-29. Anime News Network , May 16, 2012, accessed July 5, 2012 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b} 「あ あ っ 女神 さ ま っ」 ア ン ソ ロ に CLAMP, 羽 海 野 チ カ ら . natalie.mu, accessed August 23, 2013 (Japanese). 
11. ↑ ^{a b c d} AnimaniA 11/2006, p. 26 ff.
12. ↑ 33rd Annual Kodansha Manga Awards Announced. Anime News Network , May 12, 2009, accessed July 5, 2012 . 
13. ↑ Fred Patten: Watching Anime, Reading Manga - 25 Years of Essays and Reviews , p. 138. Stone Bridge Press, 2004.
14. ^ Antonia Levi: Samurai from Outer Space - Understanding Japanese Animation , p. 130. Carus Publishing, 1996.
15. ↑ Antonia Levi: Samurai from Outer Space - Understanding Japanese Animation , p. 4 f. Carus Publishing, 1996.
16. ↑ ^{a b} Funime No. 31, p. 22
17. ↑ AnimaniA 4/99, p. 28 ff.
18. ↑ Funime No. 40, p. 34 f.