Ah! My Goddess Volume 1

Freshman Keiichi Morisato is not having a good day; he oversleeps, his bike won’t start, the other members of the Auto Club take advantage of his helpful nature, leaving him behind to clean up the dorm whilst they go out to party – and, to top it all, he’s broke. Even his dreams of having a girlfriend seem doomed to failure – after all, what girl would fall for a boy 5 foot 3″ tall? But, nice guy that he is, he takes pity on a sobbing little girl who has lost her purse on a shopping errand. The wheels of fate begin to turn, as a phone call mysteriously connects him to the Goddess Helpline and the beautiful goddess Belldandy suddenly materializes in his room to grant his wish. Overwhelmed, Keiichi stammers, ‘I wish for a goddess like you to stay by my side forever.’ Before he has time to react, the wheels of fate start to turn again and the romantic complications begin…

‘Ah! My Goddess’ has been delighting audiences ever since Kosuke Fujishima’s manga first appeared in 1988 and this new 26 episode TV series promises not to disappoint (there’s a second series to follow). From the delightful, Celtic-style opening song ‘Open Your Eyes’ (sung by Yoko Ishida) onwards, the story of unlikely couple student Keiichi and sweet-natured goddess Belldandy unfolds, drawing the viewer in.

The first five episodes explore Keiichi’s dilemma when he begins to realize the implications of his wish. Thrown out of the men-only dorm for having a woman in his room, he and Belldandy set out to find somewhere to stay – together. Because of the ‘System Force’ activated by the granting of Keiichi’s wish, Belldandy and Keiichi cannot now be separated, so she must attend lectures with him at the Technology Institute, which means enrolling as a student. And then there’s jealous Sayoko, the ‘queen’ of the campus who sees in the radiant Belldandy a potential rival for her own position and starts to plot. It’s not going to be easy for the couple, but it’s going to be fun seeing how they cope.

Belldandy’s good-hearted intentions inevitably lead to misunderstandings; when Keiichi tries to pluck up the courage to tell her that he loves her, she misreads his pounding heart and raised temperature as the start of an illness and, alarmed, takes prompt goddess-style medical action to try to lower his fever, ruining the romantic mood he’s tried to create.

Aficionados of the earlier versions know that it won’t be long in volumes to come before Belldandy’s sisters Skuld and Urd appear to add to the complications (the goddesses are based on the Norns of Scandinavian mythology who control the past, present and future of the world). And with original Japanese cast members, including actress Kikuko Inoue as Belldandy (charmingly insisting that she is eternally ‘seventeen’ on one of the DVD extras), there’s plenty to please the purist. However, the English dub is actually rather good, with Drew Aaron and Eileen Stevens in the principle roles.

In Summary

Attractively drawn and populated with sympathetic characters, this is a feel-good series that can’t fail to bring a warm smile to the face of the viewer. Recommended for comfort-viewing on a grey, miserable day!