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?
My biggest problem with Episodes 4 and 5 is that they
should be Episodes 7 and 8 or 9 and 10.
We go from Skuld’s introduction and a fun racing episode to Bell and Kei
being unable to get close to each other which results in Bell being forcibly
recalled back to heaven and the emotional turmoil that comes with it.
Keiichi has been wondering if his “forever”
promise with Belldandy was an unrealistic dream.
But besides those jitters, there’s no lead up
to this two part conflict and it sucks away almost all of the joy and fun of
the first three episodes.
It makes me
wonder if Oh! My Goddess was meant to be longer than 5 episodes to set up this
final dilemma and have a few more adventures.
My second biggest problem is the tonal whiplash.
We’ve gone from Rom Com to Rom Dram in the
span of one episode and it is incredibly tough to sit through.
Kei and Bell act so defeated in this little
arc that they feel like hollow shells of the optimistic and fun loving pair
that made the heart of this show beat so strong.
But no, they just accept the inevitable
parting and try to deal with it as best they can, that’s depressing.
Also Goddess Recall Protocol involves erasing
all traces and memory of the Goddess being around…just to dig that painful
knife deeper into the viewers heart.
At
least Urd and a much improved Skuld are doing something to rectify the
situation.
And in the process they
provide some of the very minimal levity that makes this show so good.
Again, makes me wish this show was longer so
we could see more of Urd’s magical know how mixed with Skuld’s knack for
Goddess tech.
It doesn’t help things when the big final conflict
involves a mysterious and seemingly catastrophic glitch that causes those weird
Bunny Spider Things that look inspired by John Carpenter’s The Thing to start
popping up in the real world.
Urd and
Skuld seem to find a solution and when they enact it…well it’s a pretty magical
visual followed by an explosion.
Keiichi
enters a brief coma before being brought out of it by Bell…and suddenly Bell
and the girls are allowed to stay on Earth, no harm no foul.
So then, if you don’t mind my asking…WHAT WAS
THE POINT OF THIS WHOLE MESS IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!??? Even if this was a longer
OVA with no build up, none of this makes any sense.
Is the Goddess System fixed?
Why was Belldandy freaking out over that tree
that was apparently the root of this whole thing?
Why is her Dad suddenly alright with letting
her and the girls stay on Earth with Keiichi after three days of “nope pack
your bags, you’re coming home sweetie”?
Oh
and to top it all off, Kei and Bell met once before when they were kids.
They’re adorable little rugrats but again,
the “they met years ago when they were kids” angle should have been introduced
a while ago rather than saved for some big revelation in the last couple of
minutes.
Again, this should have been a longer series with a
better finale because these last two episodes are a depressing mess devoid of
joy and love until the final few minutes when the happy ending comes out of
nowhere with no reason other than, hey we didn’t mean all of that, love
conquers all right?
It’s like rewatching
the Series Finale of the original Sailor Moon Series.
The only reason I didn’t dock too much from
Sailor Stars was because everything leading to the finale was the best Sailor
Moon had to offer…then it sent all that progress down the drain with a somber
and mean spirited finale that didn’t leave me feeling good even though Usagi
and the girls won in the end.
Oh! My
Goddess has a similar issue but again, does this ruin the series overall score?
For those looking for some good nostalgia Anime that’s
beautiful to look at, has a solid love story and fun supporting characters, Oh!
My Goddess certainly has that…for the first three episodes.
Keiichi and Belldandy are a great couple but
they give up too easily in the back half.
Skuld is annoying in her first appearance but gets better when she’s
working alongside Urd in the finale.
And
Urd, she’s just so hot and perfect and is easily the best character in the show
for me.
The whole series is a unique
blend of Romance, Slice of Life and Fantasy without going overboard with the
far latter, for the most part.
The
biggest flaw of this OVA is it’s length and sudden decision to jump from fun
Rom Com to depressing bleak for no reason.
Said Finale conflict also resolves itself very fast and very uneventful
to the point where you question why it had to happen at all besides the sudden
need for melodrama.
Ugh, this is a tough
one.
I really like the front half of
this series but didn’t like the back half much at all.
Thus, I’m going to award Oh! My Goddess a 6/10.
The show needed a few more episodes to
balance tone and have some more fun but there are plenty of positives that make
this show a decent watch.
Just be
prepared for the whiplash after Episode 3.
I should also note that such a serious shift in tone made
the Oh! My Goddess Finale feel like a more somber movie of a lighthearted Anime
series, a la Tenchi Muyo in Love 2 to Tenchi Universe.
I bring this up because we’re not quite done
with Keiichi and his trio of Goddesses.
The question is, will their big theatrical debut redeem the franchise or
were Episodes 4 & 5 a set up for more trial heartache for us all?
Find out on Wednesday with a special
Valentines Day holiday review of
Ah! My Goddess: The Movie, right here
at the Gundam Anime Corner.
No comments:
Post a Comment