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| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,5, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 | |
| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Watch | 10 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 6 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:760#1552] | ||||||||||||||||||
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I heard enough about this series being one of the original classic romantic comedies so I figured I would give the 2005 first TV season a try thanks to a poll I ran on another site. To be perfectly honest, my thoughts of it are "meh" at most. The show's clearly playing with character archetypes I've seen enough times within romantic comedies like Keiichi the nice guy, Belldandy the sweet-natured love interest, Urd the busty troublemaker and Skuld the bratty younger sister. The biggest issue I had with the series was that I couldn't really find myself buying the whole relationship between Keiichi and Belldandy. Not much background is provided on either character and rather than focus on a slow build-up where the two adjust to their circumstances and come to realize they may feel something more for one another, the two immediately hook up and accept the circumstances that they are thrown into. Both of the two tend to be too nice (and sometimes dense) for their own good at enough points. I'd be pressed to say that Urd and Skuld get more fleshing out than what I seen out of the main couple considering Urd's conflicts with her origins and Skuld dealing with growing up are dealt with in some episodes. It can be a problem if I find that the two supporting characters seem more fleshed out and developed than the show's main couple. I also found the addition of Mueller to raise some confusion for me at first as I had thought Oh My Goddess had fantasy action/ adventure being mixed into its genres covered. Ultimately, said developments with Urd and Skuld plus some comedy moments revolving around the bad luck of those meddling with Keiichi and the goddesses are what kept me pressing on with the show. As mediocre as I found the characters of Oh My Goddess to be though, I have to admit that the visuals were impressive enough with the show. Scenery and character designs were clean, polished and had plenty of detail with CG animation used to great effect during moments of fluid movements or complex visual renderings. Otherwise, I felt Oh My Goddess was a cookie-cutter romantic comedy with fantasy tossed into the mix. While it has its moments with developments involving some prominent or supporting characters and comedy, I didn't really find myself growing attached to Keiichi and Belldandy as they lacked the build-up and fleshing out I seen of pairings from most other romance titles I've come across and I don't think I would have any interest in wanting to see anything else from the series for a while, if ever. Last updated Saturday, February 26 2011. Created Saturday, February 26 2011. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Buy |
 Xenoknight
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[series:760#2967] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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review coming after I rewatch the anime... Check out my award list to see some of the best anime titles in the world! Never forget Xenosaga. Last updated Friday, December 05 2008. Created Friday, December 05 2008. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Avoid | 8 | 8 | 9 | 1 |
 KBanger1
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[series:760#1694] | ||||||||||||||||||||
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I only watched this series because of the original OVA. Now, normally I’d cut into the plot of the story, but this is so bad I can’t even do that. Here’s more of a quick version: This unlucky loser college guy ends up with a goddess after a misdirected phone call. After that, his life is completely out of control. That’s the gist of it. After that, it’s a complete borefest. If you have seen the original Oh My Goddess OVA, then you already know what to expect. In this case, it’s the OVA extended version. It’s more drawn out and to me that’s doesn’t justify why it stinks. This series literally put me to sleep after the third episode. It was like watching the original with a lot more fillers. This is something that I personally would not recommend unless you didn’t see the original OVA. If you did see the OVA, then I really suggest you not waste any time on this. This series really doesn’t do the OVA any justice. I’d rather you watch the first two DVDs and judge for yourself because it’s really not worth the time. I will say the art and animation are a little more updated and much better than the original. I won't deny that, but if you're like me and that isn't enough to keep you amused, then it's nice looking but plot dragging/lacking.
Last updated Monday, September 22 2008. Created Monday, September 22 2008. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Watch | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
 Dreamer
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[series:760#2279] | ||||||||||||||||||
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I can't compare this to the manga since i've never read it, but aside from that, I think this was a great watch.... infact a buy really. The animation & art is really good & smooth. Belldandy is really cute. At first I found her "innocense" and naivety of everyday life as we know it, quite charming. Then after several episodes, at some points it got a little too much, almost bordering on idiocy. As for the other characters, the younger sister "Skuld" was somewhat of an annoying brat where as "Urd" was pretty hot and a better developing story arc. Overall, the series was enough to mark it initially a watch. However, as I progressed through the series, I couldn't help but fall in love with some of the characters... especially Belldandy and Urd. In the end, it ends up being a buy Last updated Saturday, June 14 2008. Created Thursday, June 05 2008. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rent |
 Forbin
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[series:760#1573] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
18 Episodes Watched (About time I see Skuld!) To me this is a complete retread of the OVA. It's visually beautiful and the characters are well drawn (Well I don't like Keichii's all that much and I love Urd's a little too much :) ). Why did I give this a rent? Because honestly there isn't much in the way of new material. It's the OVA drawn out in some spots (Like the second girl - Don't remember her name but she's Bell's nemesis, she's given a much better background) or put on light speed (Urd's introduction lasted all of 35 seconds instead of 15 minutes in the OVA - DAMN YOU AIC! ) Go and rent this, it's licensed now so Fansubs are slow and far between, but see the Movie and make your own comparison. Edit : 8 Months Later. I get to see Episodes 9 and 10. Still no Skuld in sight. Still I don't know if it is a buy, nice story but I really don't like the animation all that much. Edit : Finally Saw Skuld's episodes. As I didn't read the Manga I don't know who Mara is but Skuld's R1 VA is awful. I was reminded of cats screaming in pain when I heard her VA. Damn. Edit : OMG I HATE SKULD'S R1 VA. I can't stand it. The others are fine, but Skuld's sounds like a guy is trying to pretend to be a girl. Yuck. Last updated Monday, April 03 2006. Created Thursday, April 07 2005. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Alexander
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[series:760#416] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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only 2 esp. out right now. If you remember there was only 5esp, the last time. and that was enough to get every hyped up for "ah my goddess" (Aa! Megami-sama!). the story right now is somewhat the same with more background with the characters. With only 2 esp. done its pretty much equal to only 1/2 of the esp. for the last "Aa! Megami-sama!". I look forward to what's next and how they think of other ways to change the story. Last updated Wednesday, January 19 2005. Created Wednesday, January 19 2005. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rent | 10 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 |
 Devil Doll
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[series:760#752] | ||||||||||||||||||
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[Score: 82% = maximum "Rent+"; episode reviews. Other recommended Romantic Comedy anime: Love Hina, Ai Yori Aoshi, REC]
A shy, poor and unexperienced but gentle boy attending university, suddenly living together with a beautiful but "untouchable" girl who's in love with this boy (and at one occasion even sneaks into his bed at night); a contract linking these two together; another girl at university who'll never show her feelings to this boy although she happens to go out with him; an annoying brat preventing the couple from getting closer to each other; a female senpai of the girl who starts to respect the boy over time and turns into his guardian as well... Oh, you expected me to describe Aa! Megami-sama TV (Keiichi / Belldandy / Sayoko / Skuld / Urd)? Well, actually I was referring to Ai Yori Aoshi (Kaoru / Aoi / Tina / Mayu / Miyabi)! While the scenarios couldn't be more different, there are quite a few parallels between the two series. But let's now focus on the goddesses. This series provides two main storylines:
This TV series is retelling almost the complete Story from volumes 1-7 of the 30+ volumes manga series, mostly using two subsequent chapters for one episode; although some of these stories were slightly changed (and mostly to the better) they remained very close to the manga version. Unlike the OVA, this series provides a lot of background explanations (although they removed a number of the funny high-tech stuff from the manga), and giving Keiichi a background in episode 1 was a great idea. The narrator focussed on the important stories, linking them together to a mostly credible development; the order of the episodes is sometimes different from the manga, as to allow certain characters who originally appeared later (such as Banpei-kun) to now participate in certain scenarios. We get to see all important manga characters, some of which weren't given any background in the OVA; we learn a lot about Keiichi's motor club at Nekomi Tech, some episodes featuring Keiichi's little sister Megumi and the only female motor club member Sora, we see the Toshiyuki & Sayoko machination at university (which was missing so badly in the OVA), and there's a lot of Belldandy's sisters Urd (who was more of a loser in the manga) and Skuld. Half way through the series, the leads have turned from "contract partners" into a shy but loving couple; then the story focusses more on the epic battle. We get to see the bugs, Senbei, Lind, Sleipnir, Fenrir, the Midgard snake... you name it, it's in there. Even Urd's mother has one cameo appearance. Although some of the episodes in the middle of the series (mostly those with a lot of airing time for Skuld) were slightly weaker, and the recap-only "episode 12.5" is a complete waste of time IMHO, almost every episode of the second half was good, and the great "Lord of Terror" story arc (episodes 22-24) gives us a worthy finale for this season (which hopefully won't be the only one for this series - please! There's enough good material for at least one more season). The Characters - well... both leads Belldandy (who's less funny than in the manga as she's actually kind of a tech nerd there) and Keiichi have their downsides, acting plain stupid at times but then occasionally shine in certain other situations. It's hard to accept these extreme variations, but both characters grow over time, slowly but steadily. Sayoko isn't consistent over the series, sometimes she's close to Keiichi and sometimes she's an enemy... I have to downgrade Characters and Story accordingly. Little Skuld is annoying to no end if you ask me, but even she improves towards the end when she finally understands Keiichi better (and he saves her ass a number of times). The best character IMHO is onee-san Urd who provides funny elements as well as thoughtful contributions, and ultimately becomes the center of the most interesting arcs. Several side characters are also working quite well, including the antagonists (demon Marller and female university student Sayoko), Keiichi's younger sister Megumi, or my favourite character Hasegawa Sora (whose feature episode 17 is one highlight of this series, with Belldandy acting at her best). Even Hijiri, a little child introduced as new character for this series, contributes to the mood during her appearances. As for the weird motor club senpais... they're still funny while not being my cup of tea. The Art is great (I like the use of CG a lot), the Animation is top-class as well. Music is a mixed bag, such as a nice Celtic OP song "Open Your Mind" but a horrible country music ED song, both with mixed Japanese/English vocals... during the second half of the season the ED has been replaced by a swinging jazz tune... sigh. My favorite track is the suspense theme "Race" they're using in several exciting scenes, and during the last episodes the music contains monumental orchestral tracks in line with the growing suspense and drama elements of the High Magic storyline. So... being a fan of the manga, my expectations were high - this series had to be significantly better than the way too short OVA (which left so many questions unresolved) and the movie (which provided nothing about the character development). And despite certain weaker episodes they delivered me what I asked for: A true animated version of the manga, providing funny elements, drama and interesting characters, with at least a "good" rating in all categories - with one exception: "Baka Belldandy" cost this show the "Buy" rating overall. And with a clean handling of romance and battling (no ecchi, no gore) and a not too complex storyline this is a series for almost everyone - it's probably difficult not to like it. Last updated Saturday, February 19 2011. Created Wednesday, January 12 2005. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rent | 7 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 7 |
 AstroNerdBoy
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[series:760#436] | ||||||||||||||||||
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For a long time, I dreamed of seeing Ah! Megami-sama brought to life as a TV anime. We'd seen the OAV series as well as a movie and the mini-goddess adventures (based on the 4-koma strips). At last my long wait was over and a TV series came to life. At first, the TV series rocked my world from a story point-of-view. The writers took time to look at Keiichi's life before meeting Belldandy which made his wish have that much more meaning. When Bell and K1 are evicted, their stay at the temple with the houshi-sama (priest) provided the writers with the opportunity to introduce the audience to Holybell, Belldandy's angel. Then there was a slow, steady work on Belldandy and Keiichi getting to know each other. Unfortunately, certain things began to bother me. I didn't like how stupid Belldandy was being portrayed. There's a fine line between naivety and stupidity, and the writers went for the stupid. Further exacerbating the problem was Sayoko. In the manga, she was a good rival for Belldandy and in her quest to take down Belldandy, she suddenly seemed to become more attracted to K1. The anime seemed very uncertain on this as one moment she's honestly friendly and the next she's not. She could have been handled much better IMO. Also, Belldandy (and Urd's) casual use of magic in front of folks was an eye-roller. Despite being warned by K1, dopey Belldandy does her magic anyway 'cause...well, I'm not sure why other than the writers made her dumber than a stump. As such, Sayoko and Aoshima become able to control Urd. What the...?! Urd's arrival was good and I liked the modifications made to her character based on more current manga. Her actions are more consistent as a result and her attempts at working on K1 early on don't seem selfish, but rather motivated by love for Belldandy. I felt that was the right way to go.Skuld is Skuld and while annoying, I didn't really have a problem with her save for the lack of new outfits. She and the entire cast suffer greatly from this. This may seem to be a nitpicky thing, but those who've read the manga know that Fujishima-sensei has his girls wear some nice things. So seeing Belldandy wearing the same dress day after day was just irritating. The animators did made a few changes as time went on, but considering that a series like Cardcaptor Sakura had Sakura-chan wearing lots of stuff in the course of a single episode, how difficult would it have been for the staff to do something similar for AMS-TV? That leads me to another complaint -- the art/animation. The art for the most part isn't too bad (assuming you ignore the CGI in the OP with Bell and K1 on a bike) but I hate the soft-lens approach done in so many scenes. It is becoming a popular style in anime at present, but I found it annoying. Further, the animation at times was just awful. An episode with Urd asleep on a bench had her rocking back in forth in a style that looked like all they did was take a single drawing, and rock it. Just awful! Still, there were some nice things beyond those I've mentioned (and some bad). I like how Rind (Lind) was used at the end but I didn't like how Mara came off as well. Bottom line: I cannot recommend owning this in a market where there are so many superior titles out. Had there been a little more care given, I would have given this a "Buy" because of my bias for the series. As it is, I can only recommend this as a disappointing "Rent".Last updated Tuesday, August 02 2005. Created Saturday, January 08 2005. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
|---|---|
| Gateway to the Goddess | http://g2g.iverse.com/AMG/Front_Page/frontpage.htm |
| An EXCELLENT site regarding AMS manga and anime. | |
| Aa! Megami-sama TBS Site | http://www.tbs.co.jp/megamisama/ |
| An official Japanese AMS site. | |
