Before the Ah! My Goddess! TV series, there was the Ah! My Goddess! OAV (original animated video). The whole idea behind it is due to Kousuke Fujishima, and yes, I know it says “Oh My Goddess!” but I refuse to go with the “Oh.” Call me traditional – or whatever. The OAV consists of 5 episodes, the second volume here bringing you the final 2 episodes.

Episode 4: Evergreen Holy Night: Bad dreams Keiichi? Oh, don’t worry about those. Er, and why is the temple covered in snow – because the rest of the city isn’t. How odd. Poor Keiichi is the one that gets to find out why. Skuld figures out what’s causing all the weird occurrences and orders Belldandy and Keiichi to stay away from one another. To make things worse, Belldandy gets a call from God that is the furthest thing from good news. Whoa, and what on earth is wrong with that tree for make Belldandy react that way?

Episode 5: For the Love of Goddess: Whatever is wrong with that tree, Skuld and Urd decide it’s up to them to fix things. Keiichi, meanwhile, has something on his mind that he just can’t get rid of, and has made his own decision concerning Belldandy. But what is it that keeps trying to surface in his head? What the heck is with that tree? And what does Belldandy know that she’s not telling us? Will God’s law have to be upheld?

I still have to say that I love Keiichi in this bit of animation. By the end of everything, he’s gotten to kiss Belldandy more times than his TV counterpart. Lucky him. R-rated Keiichi, I still like that phrase I gave him. I’m so lame. A point goes to Skuld in this also because she is just so much less annoying than she is in the TV show. She’s a lot more helpful and useful instead, which makes me happy. I also have to mention that even though I’ve never read the manga, I thought the way things ended were quite interesting and I was happy that it was totally different from the TV series, unless that’s how they end things there too (I’ve heard that they’re working on the second season over in Japan). Whatever the case was, I give it a shiny star-sticker for uniqueness.

When it comes to the animation, though it is obvious this OAV was made a little while back, it’s still very good. Everyone is virtually the same, which makes me feel right at home. Sayoko is a little different though; she’s not as much of a vindictive wench by far in the OAV as compared to the TV series. I do hold a small issue with the opening though (no, not the part with Urd sailing through the air on a vacuum, that cracks me up). Not in skill, but in what they include. Characters I’m familiar with in the show – Marller, Banpei-kun (unless you count that goofy snow robot Skuld made), and the 3rd Class Earth Spirit (I love that guy so much and have no real reason to, haha), are shown, but, ah, they don’t ever show up anywhere else. *tear* I’m a bit baffled as to why they would even bother drawing them

The voice actors are once again different from both the movie and the TV series – at least the English ones anyway. They’ve changed them so many times (ok, three) that it gets a bit baffling as to who is what and who is better than so-and-so. But let’s just stick with this series – everything was good aside from Aoshima and Tamiya-senpai. They both sounded like they were trying too hard with whatever personality they were aiming for. Otherwise, everyone worked out well – I even stumbled across a petition wanting the old VAs back for the series. Not gonna happen I’m sure, but yes, they are worthy for the job again. Favorites? Keiichi for sure and everyone else ranks up pretty high as well. Good for them.

For the Japanese version the same VAs from the current TV series make their start. Looks like they got the band back together for later, haha. Because Keiichi had to be bolder this time, it was a lot of fun, and Skuld was less annoying. Cool beans.

And lastly, the music. Haha, it’s got that “I’m kinda old” sound to it – old for when this was made anyway, the early 1990s. A lot of that sythensized stuff, but it’s okay because it works well for this series – it’s cute. Goddess Family Club gives us both the opening, "My Heart, Your Heart" and the ending theme, "Congratulations.” I like both of them because they’re peppy and work very well with the series. When I first watched episode #4 and that tree showed up and Belldandy freaked out, I started thinking Keiichi used to be an evil demon and years ago Belldandy sealed his demon-self into the tree or something. Hey man, that’s what that crazy pipe-organ music made me think. Honestly, they made it sound like Satan was living in that tree or something. Of course, that wasn’t the case at all, but they did a really good job of throwing me off.

For parents with kids, this episode is a little more mature, but not by too terribly much. It’s more goofy than anything, no nudity, no swearing, no violence (well aside from Keiichi getting cracked upside the head at random moments), so it just depends on how mature you think your kid is. If you’re familiar with Tenchi Muyo (which used to play on Cartoon Network way back), yeah, it’s kinda like that.

All in all, I really liked this OAV and I’m actually sad that the TV series isn’t similar, mostly with respect to Keiichi and Skuld. That’s not going to deter me from finishing the series by a long shot, but I’m sad this was so short – it was a lot of fun and I highly recommend it. A final note, if you’re going to get this, you might as well just buy the whole thing at once – a lot easier and it’ll save you money too! Ja ne!

NT

Because it’s confusing to try and keep track of who is who, I’ve decided to supplement my Ah! My Goddess! reviews with the voice actors of that particular animation.
English VAs
Scott Simpson .... Morisato Keiichi
Juliet Cesario .... Belldandy
Lanelle Markgraf .... Urd
Pamela Weidner .... Skuld
Amanda Spivey .... Morisato Megumi
Belinda Bizic .... Mishima Sayoko
Scott Bailey .... Aoshima Toshiyuki
Marc Matney .... Tamiya-senpai
Sean P. O'Connell .... Ootaki-senpai

Ah! My Goddess OAV Volumes:
Oh My Goddess! DVD Vol. 1

Ah! My Goddess Series:
Volume 1: Always and Forever
Volume 2: Love Plus One
Volume 3: With or Without You
Volume 4: We’ve Got Tonight

The Movie:
Ah! My Goddess!: The Movie

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV