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Oh! My Goddess (original name Aa! Megami-sama, sometimes called Ah! My
Goddess, 「ああっ女神さまっ」) is a manga and anime series by Kosuke Fujishima. The
manga began in 1988 as an unintentional spinoff from You're Under Arrest. It
proved to be popular, and a five episode OVA series began in 1991, produced
by AIC. A superdeformed TV series, Adventures of Mini-Goddess, began in
1998, produced as part of the omnibus show Anime Complex on WOWOW. A movie
was produced in 2001.
The story centers around Keiichi Morisato, a hapless college student who
loves cars. One day, Keiichi accidentally dials a "goddess hotline" — in the
OVAs, he was trying to order noodles; in the manga, he was delivering a
message — and the beautiful goddess Belldandy appears before him, offering
him one wish. Assuming this is a joke, Keiichi wishes that Belldandy (whom
he finds very attractive) would stay with him forever, and his wish is
immediately granted. This is complicated by the fact that Belldandy's two
sisters, Urd and Skuld, move in as well, and bring a whole lot of trouble
with them.
The series is well-loved by fans for several reasons: its artwork is
generally recognized as beautiful, and the storylines balance screwball
comedy with sweet romance that never gets saccharine.
Bits of Norse mythology are incorporated in the comic. The three
goddesses are based on the Norns (analogous to the Greek fates) Urd,
Verdandi/Verthandi, and Skuld, who represent the past, present and future
respectively. The goddesses access a computer system called Yggdrasil, which
in Norse mythology is the tree that holds up the world. The theme is to add
dramatic color and is not strictly held to.
The original Japanese title is "Aa, Megami-sama," the translation of
which led to a great deal of debate and flamewars amongst English-speaking
anime fans of the early 1990s. The US-anime import company Animeigo obtained
the OVA rights and entitled them "Oh! My Goddess." But many felt the title
should properly be "Ah! My Goddess." Ultimately Fujishima himself was
consulted. His first reaction was side with the "Ah" camp, but once the term
"Oh my God" was explained to him, he decided the "Oh" was more appropriate.
Pioneer ultimately had the last laugh though, as they chose to use "Ah" in
their North American release of the movie (possibly due to Animeigo holding
copyright to the "Oh My Goddess" title).
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