Search - Ah! My Goddess - Always and Forever (Vol. 1) + Series Box on DVD

A wish come true

B. Ackley | Douglasville, GA | 09/08/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ah! My Goddess is a wildly popular series that started life out as a manga before making the jump to anime. A 5 episode OVA series was released in the early 90s as was a motion picture. Now US distributor Media Blasters releases stateside the 26 episode television series that aired last season in Japan.

The series stay very true to the long running manga. For the uninitiated, Ah! My Goddess tells the comedic story of young Morisato, a struggling college kid trying to survive his schoolwork and at times his roommates. One day while trying to order takeout food he dials the wrong number and gets the Goddess Helpline. Enter beautiful and sweet Goddess Belldandy. Belldandy grants his wish which is that she stays with him. This simple action sets up a series of comedic and sometimes touching events as the two characters budding romance takes off. Morisato moves into his own place which gradually gets crowded thanks to Belldandy's relatives coming to crash and sometimes live. This anime has harem show elements but stays away from fan service, prefering to focus on the romantic/comedic events of the character's lives.

The latest TV series is really a visual treat. The character designs are a bit more angular compared to the original OVA series but the animation is fluid and the colours are truly brilliant. Musically the opening and closing themes are catchy. For voice actor fans the entire original Japanese cast has been brought back to reprise their roles. For dub fans Media Blasters brings on board a great English crew who do a great job of capturing the character's spirits.

The collector's box includes volume one and a cell/ Ketai phone strap for fans as well as the attractive artbox itself.

Ah! my Goddess is a fun and entertaining series that shouldnt be missed by any anime fan. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!"

Ah! My Godess the TV series

eau | USA | 07/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the Ah! My Godess the TV series originally aired in Japan in 2005. This series pretty much follows the manga. What happens when a college student wishes a Goddess to live with him forever? You get to see the fateful meeting of Belldandy and Keiichi in the first episode, then follow their adventures with friends and enemies, and finally reach the climatic ending with the Terrible Master story arc in the manga.

The TV series was originally aired in Japan in a cropped, 4:3 format. The Media Blasters release is in the original 16:9 format, just like the Region 2 DVD.

The box set edition consists of volume 1 DVD in a collector's box, and a Belldandy cell phone strap imported from Japan."

Beautiful Opening Song "Open Your mind"

SWC | TX USA | 05/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I think that other reviewers already covered most of things for this DVD. One thing I want to add is that the opening song is very cool too. The songs of OVA version of "Oh My Goddess" (NOT Ah My Goddess, they are same series but different version) are based mainly on midi music. Those OVA songs are quite popular and also pretty but I was always thinking that they could be better, if the producer invest more for the music. They did that this time! Actually, the movie version of Ah My goddess is the starter where they employed whole scale orchestra rather than simple midi synthesizer. If you watched the parody version of Goddess series "The Adventures of Mini Goddess," you should have noticed the big jump up of the quality of musical background from the OVA version. Ok. Kind of confused of the different versions? The OVA version "Oh My Goddess" is the first series. It consists of two DVDs and the storyline is rather diverging from the original Manga book. But the theme and major tales are quite the same with sweety midi songs. "Adventures of Mini Goddess" series are composed of 4 DVDs and this is a parody of the original series emphasizing corny jokes and hyper cute caricatures of the 3 goddesses. The movie version of "Ah My goddess" is one DVD with a somewhat serious episode and the famous theme song "Wish." And, this TV series "Ah My Goddess" consist so far of 6 DVDs with most orthodox storyline comparing with the original manga books. The opening theme song that I mentioned above is "Open your mind" is really beautiful. This first volume contains 5 episodes. They are mainly setting the ground for all following episodes. One thing I want to mention is that the title "Always & Forever" is the English translated term of the magic words that keichi told to Beldandy, "Jutdo Sobani (literally forever & together)" These two words are the most important words throughout the whole series. Actually, these words are the definition of the relationship of keichi and Beldandy and also for the entire series. Last thing that I want to say is "don't hurry." People want to see urd and Sculd, the two sister goddesses of Beldandy, right away. But urd comes just in second volume and Sculd does not appear until the third volume. Until then, in this first volume, you should fully enjoy the innocent sweetness of Beldandy."

Third Time Around....

Matt | WI United States | 09/06/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"So here we go again. This long running (1988-present) manga series has been done in an animated format twice before.

The first being the fan-favorite OAV series. While only five parts of the story are told in this adaption, and many bits of the manga are skipped over, the focus is more on romance. A very good romance story indeed.

Then there was the 2001 full-length movie, which put even more emphasis on drama and romance, with hints of comedy. This movie had some of the most beautiful animation I've seen to date, and the story told here is very touching, and it is sure to get a few fans, male or female, a bit misty-eyed.

If one doesn't count "Adventures of the Mini-Goddess" series, which was just a collection of comedy skits, showing all the crazy things the three Goddesses (Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld namely) do while Keiichi is away, this TV series makes it the third-go-round for animated Ah My Goddess.

For the unknowing buyer, this story is actually a fairly simple one. The strengths of this series are in its strong romance plot between Belldandy and Keiichi, and all the comedic bits thrown in, especially once the other two Goddesses, Urd, the luscious one always trying to pull some little scheme to bring Bell and Kei closer, and Skuld, the smart, but slightly bratty one. There's many others who come to disrupt the lives of the young couple, but that's part of what makes this series enjoyable. Through it all, Keiichi and Belldandy undeniably have feelings for each other, which, when they 'are' alone, allows for the sweet touching moments to shine through in this series.

To me it seems the below reviewer has a bit of a biased disliking of dubs, so I'll give a more positive take, or rather, an outlook since this series doesn't street until the date above.

I've watched most of the anime I own in English. Knowing Media Blasters, they tend to do a decent job. The trouble is, Ah My Goddess ended up having two variations, since the OAV set was done by AnimEigo about 10 years ago, and the movie, by Geneon (then known as Pioneer) in 2002. Media Blasters went and assembled an entirely new cast, making for a third English dub. Some are fans of the movie recording, some of the OAV. I liked both of those equally, but it would be impossible for me to form an opinion on this new dub until I actually get to see this. From initial reviews I've been reading at other sites, the dub actually turned out well done, but again, I have to listen for myself.

Even 'if' the dub turns out to be a disaster to some ears, there is always the Japanese track for the purists. I don't think fans of English-dubbed anime who are ordering this title right now should be too worried. I've watched other Media Blasters titles in the past in English, and while mostly minor characters get some odd voices, the majority of the cast is a strong lineup, and do a good job.

Personally I'm looking forward to this release. It's been a long time coming, and there's still so much manga left for this series to cover. Here's hoping a 'Season 2' is forthcoming overseas."