Ah! My Goddess: The Movie

A dangerous prisoner is freed from a prison on the Moon.  He has a plan to change the world to his own ends but to do so, he needs one critical element: Belldandy.  Attacked by her mentor, Celestine, Belldandy loses her memory of Keiichi.  Stalked by powerful enemies and with the Goddess Network in chaos, Keiichi, Urd and Skuld must find a way to restore Belldandy’s memory and find out why she is so essential to Celestine’s plans before her cherished feelings for Keiichi fade away forever.

I’d like to start by say for the record that I do like Ah! My Goddess as a concept.  The idea of one hapless guy who becomes the luckiest man on the planet living with three bonefied Goddesses, one of which is his girlfriend, is a neat idea that lends itself to all kinds of wacky possibilities.  However, the back half of the original 5 episode Oh! My Goddess OVA ditched any humorous schenanigans in favor of a very somber and joyless love story with needlessly excessive stakes.  My fear going into the Ah! My Goddess movie was that the story would continue down that humourless, dour pathway and wow, it actually did more than that.  Suddenly out of nowhere we have a plot, villain, and action that feels like it was meant to be a Tenchi Muyo movie instead.  There’s a way I think Ah! My Goddess should operate as an Anime, and Ah! My Goddess: The Movie does not line up with that mindset.
 

T5W#496-Top 10 Katsucon Highlights (2015-2024)

Tomorrow, the next pilgrimage to National Harbor begins.  This is a pretty big year for me and Katsucon as it marks the 10^th Anniversary of my first one in 2015.  Like Otakon, this Convention has come to mean a lot to me, giving me a whole new area to explore when it comes to Anime fandom, cosplay, Dealers Room finds, etc.  To commemorate such an occasion, I’m digging back through 9 years and 8 conventions (we all missed out on 2021 cause of the Pandemic and I skipped 2022) to pick my special, double sized Top 10 Katsucon Highlights (2015-2024).  Will any from 2025 make it onto a future redux of this list?  Only time will tell.  Til then, let’s get to reflecting on some of the greatest hits and adventures at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center. 

 

Oh! My Goddess Part 2 Episodes 4-5

When Keiichi Morisato summoned his very own Goddess, Belldandy, he thought their romance would last forever.  But when a serious disruption in the Goddess Network damages their connection, Forever becomes Three Days Left.  As Kei and Bell come to terms with their inevitable departure, Urd and Skuld have to pull together to find the source of this chaos and find a way to keep Belldandy and Keiichi from being parted forever.

It can be hard to tell a story in a short length OVA.  It’s not impossible though.  Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket and Macross Plus both tell near perfect tales in 4-6 episodes.  However, they are paced well, don’t time jump significantly between episodes and maintain a consistent tone throughout.  While Oh! My Goddess started out strong with slice of life infused with fantasy, the final two episodes are the polar opposite, instead delivering an incredibly depressing and mostly heart wrenching final act that has had no build up and, in the end, is resolved as if the problem didn’t need to happen at all.  Does it ruin the series as a whole, short as it may be?
 

FIF#230-Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian

Alisa “Alya” Mikhailovna Kujou isnt just the top student in her class, she’s the most popular and beautiful student in her entire school.  She also has a penchant for speaking in fluent Russian when she seems irritated.  Unfortunately for Alya, the one person she directs most of these words to is Masachika Kuze…and he happens to understand Russian just fine.  Totally unaware of this, Alya taunts her would be suitor in secret while Kuze tries to navigate the minefield of beratement and adoration from the girl everyone wants a shot with.

 
Anime slice of life rom coms are a dime a dozen, almost as common as Isekai.  There’s little to have one stand out from the other.  Most have the same premise or are just a variation on what’s come before with nothing new added to the mix.  So along comes Alya Sometimes Hides Her Feelings in Russian and I wonder what exactly has made this one stand out amongst so many others in 2024?  The answer doesn’t lie in the show itself, most of the debut episode is standard fare.  What might help this stand out from its fellow slice of life rom coms is the main duo itself, and Alya’s gimmick.  You’d think the main joke of the series might get old quick by the end of the episode.  Surprisingly, it hasn’t.
 

T5W#495-Top 5 Raunchiest/Naughtiest Anime I’ve Seen

As much as we love Anime for bringing our greatest fantasies to life, not all fantasies involve action packed Ninja fights or flying on Dragons across mythical lands.  No, we also love Anime for it’s ability to push the envelope on what’s indecent, moral, and just plain crazy when it comes to certain explicit topics.  Sex, nudity, sensuality, skimpy outfits, there’s plenty of this in modern day Anime, barely relegated to the level of just in front of the Hentai section.  Seeing as how I just got finished looking at a particular entry on this list, let’s see who else made it to my Top 5 Raunchiest/Naughtiest Anime I’ve Seen

 

Oh! My Goddess Part 1 Episodes 1-3

Keiichi Morisato has just landed the ultimate dream girl.  Summoned by an accidental call, the Goddess Belldandy has come to aid the hapless repair man and ends up becoming joined to him for eternity.  This means nothing can split them apart no matter how hard anyone tries.  It might look like the beginning of a blossoming romance but when Belldandy’s sisters come searching for their missing sibling, heavenly havoc is bound to ensue.  But hey no one said dating a Goddess was going to be easy.

The tales of the battles over who is “Best Girl” are as old as time began.  Many, myself included, proclaim many of these beauties to be on a Goddess level of quality, i.e. Rin Tohsaka from Fate/Stay Night or Marin Kitagawa from My Dress Up Darling.  But what if the candidates for Best Girl were actual Goddesses themselves?  Feels like a long winded opening already, point is, today we’re kicking off our required Romantic themed Anime for the month of February today with the OVA classic Oh! My Goddess.  But seriously though, the battle for Best Girl in this show is gonna get pretty intense so buckle up.  Anyway, onto Part 1 of our 2 Part stay with this sort of forgotten 90’s gem.