Reviewed on May 29th, 2006

Visually

The series' elaborate character design makes for some particularly nice stills, a number of which are included in a "slide show" bonus track. It also makes for pretty compositions and impressively detailed overall animation. Pleasant to look at and pleasant to watch, Oh My Goddess! is a mellow, low-key series that earned its place in history as a fan favorite.

Audio

I have nothing to complain about the audio content of Oh My Goddess! other than the voicing\'s were great and enjoyable. A superb well-done for the voice actors who participated in voicing Oh My Goddess!

Storyline

College freshman Keiichi Morisato is a fairly typical male lead for a romantic-comedy anime series: sweet, self-sacrificing, a little timid, more than a little put-upon and generally bland. Generally, such meek boys end up subservient to a legion of domineering women (Á la Neon Genesis Evangelion, or any of the many branches of the Tenchi Muyo tree), but Keiichi is far luckier than most. While trying to order lunch, he misdials a restaurant's phone number, and the "Goddess Helpline" answers. A moment later, a beautiful girl in elaborate robes is standing in his dorm room, asking him what wish he would like granted. Thinking she's joking, and apparently feeling lonely, Keiichi says he'd like someone like her to be with him forever. One magical typhoon later, he's informed that the contract has been approved, and the goddess Belldandy is with him for life. Naturally, there are a few problems with the contract. Keiichi is quickly evicted from his men-only dorm, and he and Belldandy have to take up residence in an abandoned temple. Belldandy's older sister Urd wants Belldandy and Keiichi to have a more forceful, physical relationship, while their younger sister Skuld wants to break the wish-contract and bring Belldandy home. Both of them move in with Keiichi and their sister, and start using their powers to interfere in the couple's placid, gentle relationship.

DVD

This DVD repackaging of Animeigo's five-part Oh My Goddess! OVA series includes the first three of five episodes in a number of formats; the usual dub and sub versions (which are still available on video, one episode to a tape), plus a "silent movie" version with subtitles, sound effects and music, but no voice tracks, and a "dub your own" version that's the same thing without the subtitles. Finally, a commentary voiceover track reunites voice director Scott Houle with English-dub voice actors Juliet Cesario (Belldandy), Scott Simpson (Keiichi) and Pamela Weidner (Skuld), who mostly make jokes about whatever's on-screen and chat about their thoughts and reactions like any pack of otaku watching a familiar show.

Overall

Oh My Goddess! is a fun filled anime and it is quite worth the time to see it if you haven't already. The thing that makes it so good is the humor and the few plot twists the anime has.

by Aidan