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Oh My Goddess Omnibus #1
Oh My Goddess! Omnibus Volume 1
College student Keiichi Morisato thought it was a prank when a strange, beautiful young woman appeared in his dorm room one night. But his unexpected visitor is literally a goddess from heaven, Belldandy, come to grant him any single wish of his choosing. When Keiichi wishes that Belldandy stay with him forever, it's the beginning of a complicated, cosmic saga of comedy and romance that makes for one of manga's greatest love stories!
552 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2015
13 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Kosuke Fujishima
588 books90 followersKōsuke Fujishima (藤島康介, born July 7, 1964) is a Japanese manga artist.
Born in Chiba, Japan, he first came to public attention as an editor of Puff magazine, his first job after completing high school. Fujishima originally intended to be a draftsman, but took the editorial role after failing to get a drafting apprenticeship. He later became assistant to manga artist Tatsuya Egawa in the production of the Making Be Free! manga, and in 1986 began his first original manga series You're Under Arrest. His second manga series Oh My Goddess!, also translated as Ah! My Goddess, is extremely popular and has made Fujishima a household name in Japan. In addition, he is also well known as the character designer for several games in the Tales RPG video game series and Sakura Wars.
He is known for his love of automobiles and motorcycles, and several of his series and their characters reflect this, such as in éX-Driver and Oh My Goddess!.
Born in Chiba, Japan, he first came to public attention as an editor of Puff magazine, his first job after completing high school. Fujishima originally intended to be a draftsman, but took the editorial role after failing to get a drafting apprenticeship. He later became assistant to manga artist Tatsuya Egawa in the production of the Making Be Free! manga, and in 1986 began his first original manga series You're Under Arrest. His second manga series Oh My Goddess!, also translated as Ah! My Goddess, is extremely popular and has made Fujishima a household name in Japan. In addition, he is also well known as the character designer for several games in the Tales RPG video game series and Sakura Wars.
He is known for his love of automobiles and motorcycles, and several of his series and their characters reflect this, such as in éX-Driver and Oh My Goddess!.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 29, 2015
I didn't know what to expect, other than this was a very popular series, and that as such, I might think it too ordinary. But I was surprised that I liked this title as much as I did. But this seinen title reminded me of Takahashi's Maison Ikkuko, which I very much enjoy. The episodic, sitcom-like structure of the storytelling is enjoyable, and not heavy at all. We'll discuss this book, along with the Batmaga volumes, on this month's manga episode of the podcast.
May 29, 2020
Wew lad, pretty glad I ended up enjoying this. I own fifteen volumes' worth of Oh My Goddess! without having read more than a couple chapters, so I'd look like a (bigger) jackass if this turned out to be shitty.
The story goes like this: I'd seen the manga in my local library for years, and just never touched it, I guess because the reference to a "goddess" in the title made it seem like a girls' manga at a time when I was mostly reading shounenshit (I was like eleven). The title remained somewhere in the back of my mind, presumably for me to eventually check it out. Well, semi-unrelated, I happen to collect anime figures, and a link of sorts was contrived when the company FREEing announced 1/4-scale bunny-girl figures of the three Norns from this manga. Not really intending to drop $600 total on figures for characters with which I'm unfamiliar (well, I know them through some understanding of Norse myth, but that's not exactly relevant for these manga versions...) I was at least provoked to check out the manga. I think I got this omnibus from ebay. When it arrived in the mail, I read the first two chapters, which I enjoyed well enough, but I didn't continue from there simply because I was about to do something else (eat dinner, I think) and my brief glimpse of the manga was more a minor distraction. Days passed without me reading the book, until I happened to go to a Books-a-Million where I ran into the second omnibus for $10 (or less, I don't remember), which I bought on impulse. Fast-forward several months, not reading either book, I went to a "2nd and Charles" store which had the fifth omnibus for $10 (exact, I do remember [it was like three days ago]) as well as the intermediary volumes 7-12 for about $4 apiece so I grabbed them all (I'm bothered that my collection goes: omnibus, omnibus, six smaller regular tankoubon, omnibus... but whatever). I was extremely tempted to grab the twenty or so other volumes, but luckily I ran out of space in my arms. So reading this first omnibus just now was basically an exercise in ensuring I enjoy the manga enough to just buy the other thirty+ total volumes....
The manga is a rather standard supernatural rom-com, with the "twist" of the subtleties (at least right now) of the science-fantasy Norse-inspired otherworld, and the late-'80s artstyle. I say "rather standard" because it could very well be true this manga was groundbreaking and only seems "standard" today because of the scope of its influence. "Seinfeld Is Unfunny," as the TVTrope thing goes. I don't know, though; the only late-'80s manga I really know are Ghost in the Shell and some Weekly Shounen Jump battle manga. Within the first couple pages of the first chapter, Keiichi meets Belldandy, and hijinx ensue. Keiichi is a college student living in a men-only dormitory, so the two are kicked out and spend the next couple of chapters looking for a home. They eventually end up in a temple whose head priest leaves for a pilgrimage after a humorous misunderstanding. The subject of their lodgings is essentially dropped henceforth, and we get back to establishing Keiichi's buddies from the dorm, as well as an extended cast of other fellow college students, Keiichi's younger sister, and Bell's older sister (and her younger sister next volume).
We see very brief glimpses of how shit looks in Heaven. Bell's boss is referred to as "The Almighty," which is vague enough to obscure some things, especially as Bell's real name is fucked up from her source myth, and she's never once referred to as a "Norn" or even as a "Fate." Sleipnir is mentioned by name, and we do indeed see an eight-legged horse, in case there was any question The Almighty was meant to be Odin. Bell and Urd both dress like Buddhist boddhisattvas (early in the manga, someone assumes Bell is East Indian), which could confuse things a bit, especially as Bell has grey or brown hair and Urd is tan with white hair, neither being the blonde one might expect of Germanic deities. In smallish panels, we see some weird spires decorated with abstract design, suggesting some ancient-yet-seemingly-advanced technology in Heaven, pleasantly complementing the whole "contacting Heaven via telephone" and "teleporting between mirrors" things. But then we also see the quantum physics exercises of Laplace and Maxwell's respective demons as... actual little demons. Not exactly Norse myth, there. Worldbuilding isn't firmly realized, but there's opportunity for the future, and anyway the exact details are maybe unnecessary for a comedy manga.
Author Kosuke Fujishima started this manga in 1988, and it shows in the designs, with all the baggy clothing and voluminous hair. I feel like certain eras reflect in their respective manga, so Oh My Goddess may not be wholly unique for its overall aesthetic, but it does stand out among most of my collection of New Millennium manga, so that's neat.
Obviously going to continue reading the manga because I own so much of it already, but I'm excited for the future, rather than lamenting the sunken cost of blindly buying so many volumes....
Some notes:
Belldandy's name is hilarious to me. She's the Norse Norn, Verðandi. The Japanese language can't really gel with the "v" and "th" sounds, so it's transliterated as something like "be-ru-da-n-di," which someone in America altered into the technically-accurate-to-the-katakana-but-inaccurate-to-the-intentional-name "Belldandy." And after the mistake was realized, Dark Horse kinda just rolled with it because it was too popular to undo/redo/whatever. So Urd and Skuld's names are true to Norse myth, and Verthandi looks like a dork for her weird-ass American name. But I guess it works better to shorten her name to "Bell" than to make it "Ver." If that was ever a concern....
The art starts off rather questionable, with some weird Clannad eyes on all the characters, Belldandy in particular. At some point, I noticed the faces started looking better, but I guess I mostly just grew used to the eyes as the manga progressed, because it's not like there's a concrete turning-point for the art's evolution. Having looked back through the volume, it seems improvements were made roughly around Urd's initial introduction. Otherwise, Fujishima hit his stride more strongly around the beginning of what counts for "Volume 3" among the chapters collected in this omnibus.
In my opinion, and excuse me for having somewhat shitty taste, the manga picks up a lot with Urd's introduction. The dynamic between Keiichi and Belldandy is expanded into hints of the "harem" genre. Of course, two girls does not make for a harem, so it's more a "love triangle," but this isn't accurate either as Urd's game is to seduce Keiichi to provoke Bell into wanting to get closer with him, or something. Not too far off from what would be Momo Deviluke's "harem plan" in To Love-Ru Darkness. Well, maybe that's a stretch, too, but my point is mostly that Urd's shenanigans make things a bit more interesting.
The mark on Belldandy's forehead changes size based on how much she exerts her magic. It's explicitly mentioned early on in the manga, but never really again later on. Maybe I'm not too observant, but I feel I basically took Belldandy's forehead-mark for granted as the manga passed. At some point in a late chapter, I realized Belldandy's mark was long while she was tampering with reality, and I noticed it shrank back to its small default state when she wore herself out. Flipping back through the book, it's apparent Fujishima actually takes the effort to expand her mark as Belldandy uses her power. Gotta give the man credit for giving a shit about a seemingly minor lore element!
It's a little surprising brand names like Honda and Mazda appear unmolested. Keiichi is part of a motor club at college and everyone has a boner for certain makes and models of vehicles. One expects lawsuit-friendly name-changes for big brands, but that's not the case here. But it'd be cooler if I knew more about cars and motorcycles, so I could actually understand the jargon....
The fusion forms of the magically-puppeteered roast chickens are absolutely hilarious.
Nothing to do with the manga itself, but I always smirk at the Evangelion advertisements in the back of Dark Horse books. VIZ has the license for the official NGE manga by character-designer Sadamoto. Dark Horse has the rights to most of the lesser-quality spinoffs. They really like to wank themselves off for their EVA stuff, as if Campus Apocalypse and Raising Project are truly worth their pride....
The story goes like this: I'd seen the manga in my local library for years, and just never touched it, I guess because the reference to a "goddess" in the title made it seem like a girls' manga at a time when I was mostly reading shounenshit (I was like eleven). The title remained somewhere in the back of my mind, presumably for me to eventually check it out. Well, semi-unrelated, I happen to collect anime figures, and a link of sorts was contrived when the company FREEing announced 1/4-scale bunny-girl figures of the three Norns from this manga. Not really intending to drop $600 total on figures for characters with which I'm unfamiliar (well, I know them through some understanding of Norse myth, but that's not exactly relevant for these manga versions...) I was at least provoked to check out the manga. I think I got this omnibus from ebay. When it arrived in the mail, I read the first two chapters, which I enjoyed well enough, but I didn't continue from there simply because I was about to do something else (eat dinner, I think) and my brief glimpse of the manga was more a minor distraction. Days passed without me reading the book, until I happened to go to a Books-a-Million where I ran into the second omnibus for $10 (or less, I don't remember), which I bought on impulse. Fast-forward several months, not reading either book, I went to a "2nd and Charles" store which had the fifth omnibus for $10 (exact, I do remember [it was like three days ago]) as well as the intermediary volumes 7-12 for about $4 apiece so I grabbed them all (I'm bothered that my collection goes: omnibus, omnibus, six smaller regular tankoubon, omnibus... but whatever). I was extremely tempted to grab the twenty or so other volumes, but luckily I ran out of space in my arms. So reading this first omnibus just now was basically an exercise in ensuring I enjoy the manga enough to just buy the other thirty+ total volumes....
The manga is a rather standard supernatural rom-com, with the "twist" of the subtleties (at least right now) of the science-fantasy Norse-inspired otherworld, and the late-'80s artstyle. I say "rather standard" because it could very well be true this manga was groundbreaking and only seems "standard" today because of the scope of its influence. "Seinfeld Is Unfunny," as the TVTrope thing goes. I don't know, though; the only late-'80s manga I really know are Ghost in the Shell and some Weekly Shounen Jump battle manga. Within the first couple pages of the first chapter, Keiichi meets Belldandy, and hijinx ensue. Keiichi is a college student living in a men-only dormitory, so the two are kicked out and spend the next couple of chapters looking for a home. They eventually end up in a temple whose head priest leaves for a pilgrimage after a humorous misunderstanding. The subject of their lodgings is essentially dropped henceforth, and we get back to establishing Keiichi's buddies from the dorm, as well as an extended cast of other fellow college students, Keiichi's younger sister, and Bell's older sister (and her younger sister next volume).
We see very brief glimpses of how shit looks in Heaven. Bell's boss is referred to as "The Almighty," which is vague enough to obscure some things, especially as Bell's real name is fucked up from her source myth, and she's never once referred to as a "Norn" or even as a "Fate." Sleipnir is mentioned by name, and we do indeed see an eight-legged horse, in case there was any question The Almighty was meant to be Odin. Bell and Urd both dress like Buddhist boddhisattvas (early in the manga, someone assumes Bell is East Indian), which could confuse things a bit, especially as Bell has grey or brown hair and Urd is tan with white hair, neither being the blonde one might expect of Germanic deities. In smallish panels, we see some weird spires decorated with abstract design, suggesting some ancient-yet-seemingly-advanced technology in Heaven, pleasantly complementing the whole "contacting Heaven via telephone" and "teleporting between mirrors" things. But then we also see the quantum physics exercises of Laplace and Maxwell's respective demons as... actual little demons. Not exactly Norse myth, there. Worldbuilding isn't firmly realized, but there's opportunity for the future, and anyway the exact details are maybe unnecessary for a comedy manga.
Author Kosuke Fujishima started this manga in 1988, and it shows in the designs, with all the baggy clothing and voluminous hair. I feel like certain eras reflect in their respective manga, so Oh My Goddess may not be wholly unique for its overall aesthetic, but it does stand out among most of my collection of New Millennium manga, so that's neat.
Obviously going to continue reading the manga because I own so much of it already, but I'm excited for the future, rather than lamenting the sunken cost of blindly buying so many volumes....
Some notes:
Belldandy's name is hilarious to me. She's the Norse Norn, Verðandi. The Japanese language can't really gel with the "v" and "th" sounds, so it's transliterated as something like "be-ru-da-n-di," which someone in America altered into the technically-accurate-to-the-katakana-but-inaccurate-to-the-intentional-name "Belldandy." And after the mistake was realized, Dark Horse kinda just rolled with it because it was too popular to undo/redo/whatever. So Urd and Skuld's names are true to Norse myth, and Verthandi looks like a dork for her weird-ass American name. But I guess it works better to shorten her name to "Bell" than to make it "Ver." If that was ever a concern....
The art starts off rather questionable, with some weird Clannad eyes on all the characters, Belldandy in particular. At some point, I noticed the faces started looking better, but I guess I mostly just grew used to the eyes as the manga progressed, because it's not like there's a concrete turning-point for the art's evolution. Having looked back through the volume, it seems improvements were made roughly around Urd's initial introduction. Otherwise, Fujishima hit his stride more strongly around the beginning of what counts for "Volume 3" among the chapters collected in this omnibus.
In my opinion, and excuse me for having somewhat shitty taste, the manga picks up a lot with Urd's introduction. The dynamic between Keiichi and Belldandy is expanded into hints of the "harem" genre. Of course, two girls does not make for a harem, so it's more a "love triangle," but this isn't accurate either as Urd's game is to seduce Keiichi to provoke Bell into wanting to get closer with him, or something. Not too far off from what would be Momo Deviluke's "harem plan" in To Love-Ru Darkness. Well, maybe that's a stretch, too, but my point is mostly that Urd's shenanigans make things a bit more interesting.
The mark on Belldandy's forehead changes size based on how much she exerts her magic. It's explicitly mentioned early on in the manga, but never really again later on. Maybe I'm not too observant, but I feel I basically took Belldandy's forehead-mark for granted as the manga passed. At some point in a late chapter, I realized Belldandy's mark was long while she was tampering with reality, and I noticed it shrank back to its small default state when she wore herself out. Flipping back through the book, it's apparent Fujishima actually takes the effort to expand her mark as Belldandy uses her power. Gotta give the man credit for giving a shit about a seemingly minor lore element!
It's a little surprising brand names like Honda and Mazda appear unmolested. Keiichi is part of a motor club at college and everyone has a boner for certain makes and models of vehicles. One expects lawsuit-friendly name-changes for big brands, but that's not the case here. But it'd be cooler if I knew more about cars and motorcycles, so I could actually understand the jargon....
The fusion forms of the magically-puppeteered roast chickens are absolutely hilarious.
Nothing to do with the manga itself, but I always smirk at the Evangelion advertisements in the back of Dark Horse books. VIZ has the license for the official NGE manga by character-designer Sadamoto. Dark Horse has the rights to most of the lesser-quality spinoffs. They really like to wank themselves off for their EVA stuff, as if Campus Apocalypse and Raising Project are truly worth their pride....
July 14, 2021
Of all the manga series that I recall reading throughout middle and high school, this is never one that I imagined I would find myself returning to as an adult. Back in middle school, my then-best friend and I would borrow any and every single volume of manga from the library we could get hands on. Didn't matter if volumes were missing from the series or if the content was inappropriate for our age (both of which occurred frequently with Oh My Goddess!) we just were starry-eyed baby manga fans who wanted to read everything we could find. As I got older, my memory of many events within this series sort of faded, but not entirely my recollection of the sort of content and nonsense that occurred in the story. Between that and the extremely loyal fanbase of guys who adored this series, I never planned on coming back to Oh My Goddess!
I'm not sure what changed, exactly, but at some point it occurred to me it couldn't hurt to give the series another try, especially since the first so many volumes are published in omnibus format by Dark Horse. (I don't think they continued with the entire series, to my understanding. I think they made all of six omnibus volumes and then quit. If anyone knows if they're continuing with the omnibus editions, please let me know, especially since these seem to be difficult to find as is.) I picked up the first two and finally got in the mood to read this first installment.
Revisiting this has been interesting, to say the least. One major thing I noticed was that the first 23 chapters are all in this first omnibus volume, and yet the majority of those chapters were all fairly short. It's left me quite confused about the ratio of how many standard volumes there are to one of these omnibus volumes. If anyone knows the answer to that as well, please please please share it with me! It'll make it way easier to then go about continuing the series after I've caught up with the omnibus volumes.
I'm not sure what changed, exactly, but at some point it occurred to me it couldn't hurt to give the series another try, especially since the first so many volumes are published in omnibus format by Dark Horse. (I don't think they continued with the entire series, to my understanding. I think they made all of six omnibus volumes and then quit. If anyone knows if they're continuing with the omnibus editions, please let me know, especially since these seem to be difficult to find as is.) I picked up the first two and finally got in the mood to read this first installment.
Revisiting this has been interesting, to say the least. One major thing I noticed was that the first 23 chapters are all in this first omnibus volume, and yet the majority of those chapters were all fairly short. It's left me quite confused about the ratio of how many standard volumes there are to one of these omnibus volumes. If anyone knows the answer to that as well, please please please share it with me! It'll make it way easier to then go about continuing the series after I've caught up with the omnibus volumes.
July 30, 2019
Парень ошибается номером, и ему на голову сваливается богиня, обещающая исполнить любое (одно) желание. Недолго думая, он своим желанием привязывает к себе богиню без возможности отката. С этого начинается длиннющая манга под названием Oh! My Goddess, первые три тома которой мне и довелось почитать.
Что хорошего:
+ Жанр и атмосфера. Комедия, слайс, немного романтики. Сюжет эпизодичный, без ангста и лишних драм. Мне очень импонирует такая расслабленная атмосфера, когда знаешь, что невзгоды временные, и в итоге все будет хорошо. Ну и постоянные козни со стороны второстепенных персонажей доставляют (особенно пижона в очках :D).
+ Если бы я знала, что тут такие прекрасные шмотки, то я бы пришла к этой манге гораздо раньше. Кажется, я еще не получала такого удовольствия от простого разглядывания одежды. И меня аболютно покорила Беллданди/ Верданди со своими лентами в волосах (не знаю почему, но это волшебно uwu).
+ Автор совершенно не умеет/не хочет рисовать ноги «вид спереди» (или «в фас»? как это правильно называется?) Серьезно. И лучше со временем не становится. Думаю, это его фишка :D
hisashiburi
Что хорошего:
+ Жанр и атмосфера. Комедия, слайс, немного романтики. Сюжет эпизодичный, без ангста и лишних драм. Мне очень импонирует такая расслабленная атмосфера, когда знаешь, что невзгоды временные, и в итоге все будет хорошо. Ну и постоянные козни со стороны второстепенных персонажей доставляют (особенно пижона в очках :D).
+ Если бы я знала, что тут такие прекрасные шмотки, то я бы пришла к этой манге гораздо раньше. Кажется, я еще не получала такого удовольствия от простого разглядывания одежды. И меня аболютно покорила Беллданди/ Верданди со своими лентами в волосах (не знаю почему, но это волшебно uwu).
+ Автор совершенно не умеет/не хочет рисовать ноги «вид спереди» (или «в фас»? как это правильно называется?) Серьезно. И лучше со временем не становится. Думаю, это его фишка :D
hisashiburi
July 24, 2024
This is great, and I love it, but Fujishima doesn't hit his ideal stride until the gang's all in. Urd especially starts off a bit out of sync with the story and other characters. Still, this is one of the comics that showed me how funny comic stories can be, and the humor here gets me laughing out loud regularly.
April 20, 2018
This was a cute, quick read. I can see why it’s the longest run manga translated to English! It is kind of funny seeing all those *great* late 80s styles and verbiage!
September 13, 2018
Interesting story but lewd at times.
June 16, 2024
Rtc eventually
September 21, 2025
This got off to a slow start, but by the end, I was enjoying it. Humor is its strong suit.
August 5, 2016
Over and through dozens of volumes of clever misadventures, Keiichi and Belldandy have weathered the years with a (mostly) wholesome humor that so few contemporary manga couples can duplicate. It has been said that the two twenty-somethings are perfect for one another because: a) Keiichi is the type of guy that most women would walk all over, and b) Belldandy is the type of woman that men would no doubt take advantage of at first thought. OH MY GODDESS! is a case of same-meets-same.
But sameness does not necessarily equate to boorish or simple. Certainly, this manga may not be as deliberately layered as most modern romances would merit, but the strength of OH MY GODDESS! rests in its reliance on the power of kindness and goodwill to overcome those with less savory intentions.
This manga is notably, if not notoriously sweet with its portrayal of hapless Kei-chan and his quest to form a bond with a heavenly being. Fortunately, there are enough real-world troubles to keep the story firmly in place: romantic rivals, a fear of expressing affection, and the tough task of balancing work-life duties so as to please the significant other.
The living situation with Belldandy isn't a challenge for Keiichi merely because she's a beautiful goddess whom also happens to be an awesome cook . . . rather, living with Belldandy is a challenge because, when faced with the possibility of falling in love with a woman so unimaginably amazing, Keiichi no doubt feels he's in over his head. Is he worthy? What does a woman, blessed with so much intelligence and peace of mind, desire in a mate?
This existential inquiry, of worthiness, is the eternal question of Fujishima's manga.
OH MY GODDESS! throws everything at Keiichi and Belldandy: temptation (in Bell-chan's less inhibited older sister, Urd), false expectation (in school rival Sayoko), and cynicism (Kei: "She's going to give up on me! She'll leave!"). And yet, the couple perseveres.
Like in Chapter 13 ("System Force Down"), when the college motorclub heads to the beach for a retreat. The demands of the club pull apart the two lovebirds, while elsewhere, Sayoko schemes to seduce Keiichi as the stress of being away from Belldandy dulls his senses.
This seems a simple enough predicament to overcome, but the range of emotions the characters must traverse, before they can at last re-commit to a faithful, long-term relationship, is impressive. Readers aren't always privy to Belldandy's emotional intuition, and so when she confesses, "So . . . you still want to be with me?" it's more than an expression of she and Keiichi's awkward pairing, it's an admission of inadequacy. Is she worthy? Keiichi works hard every single day, and nobody recognizes him for it.
Dark Horse Comics was good to start bundling this long-running comic. OH MY GODDESS! provides a phenomenal object lesson in the long-form evolution in genre manga storytelling, character design, and more. The level of consistency one finds in the manga's narrative dynamics, as previously (or concurrently) reflected in the OVA, animated film, and anime TV series versions of this property, is astonishing.
But sameness does not necessarily equate to boorish or simple. Certainly, this manga may not be as deliberately layered as most modern romances would merit, but the strength of OH MY GODDESS! rests in its reliance on the power of kindness and goodwill to overcome those with less savory intentions.
This manga is notably, if not notoriously sweet with its portrayal of hapless Kei-chan and his quest to form a bond with a heavenly being. Fortunately, there are enough real-world troubles to keep the story firmly in place: romantic rivals, a fear of expressing affection, and the tough task of balancing work-life duties so as to please the significant other.
The living situation with Belldandy isn't a challenge for Keiichi merely because she's a beautiful goddess whom also happens to be an awesome cook . . . rather, living with Belldandy is a challenge because, when faced with the possibility of falling in love with a woman so unimaginably amazing, Keiichi no doubt feels he's in over his head. Is he worthy? What does a woman, blessed with so much intelligence and peace of mind, desire in a mate?
This existential inquiry, of worthiness, is the eternal question of Fujishima's manga.
OH MY GODDESS! throws everything at Keiichi and Belldandy: temptation (in Bell-chan's less inhibited older sister, Urd), false expectation (in school rival Sayoko), and cynicism (Kei: "She's going to give up on me! She'll leave!"). And yet, the couple perseveres.
Like in Chapter 13 ("System Force Down"), when the college motorclub heads to the beach for a retreat. The demands of the club pull apart the two lovebirds, while elsewhere, Sayoko schemes to seduce Keiichi as the stress of being away from Belldandy dulls his senses.
This seems a simple enough predicament to overcome, but the range of emotions the characters must traverse, before they can at last re-commit to a faithful, long-term relationship, is impressive. Readers aren't always privy to Belldandy's emotional intuition, and so when she confesses, "So . . . you still want to be with me?" it's more than an expression of she and Keiichi's awkward pairing, it's an admission of inadequacy. Is she worthy? Keiichi works hard every single day, and nobody recognizes him for it.
Dark Horse Comics was good to start bundling this long-running comic. OH MY GODDESS! provides a phenomenal object lesson in the long-form evolution in genre manga storytelling, character design, and more. The level of consistency one finds in the manga's narrative dynamics, as previously (or concurrently) reflected in the OVA, animated film, and anime TV series versions of this property, is astonishing.
April 4, 2016
After being published in English for many years "Oh My Goddess!" is now being published in oversized (similar in size to the original flip versions in the early 2000s) edition with color pages splashed here and there through the book on nice glossy paper. I have seen both the flip and the original manga put out by Dark Horse and can assure this collection of several volumes of the series is not only superior in page quality but also price as you get a large print of this classic on nice paper stock in the original right to left style often seen in today's manga. I for one was excited to get this volume even though I have read earlier volumes in the past already due to the quality of the book.
Poor Keiichi was born under an unlucky star and life was as usual when he makes a phone call and accidentally calls the Goddess Helpline bringing the charismatic but often clueless Belldandy into his life as a wish made in jest sets his life on a whirlwind of change accented at times with moments of romance as the universe itself is insistent that the two of them belong together.
Before the end of the book you will meet many unique characters including not only Belldandy and Keiichi's sisters(both different characters of course)but also people after Belldandy and Keiichi(separately not both for the same person), and pretty much everyone in the motor club Keiichi goes to at college. If you are looking for a story with interesting characters you might seriously consider this one. :)
Being a larger book I am taking a favorite from the first and second half of the story. In the first half my favorite part would have to be when Keiichi wakes up next to Belldandy in a temple after the two fo them are exiled from his male only dorm. There is some misunderstanding from the monk that brought them in and Keiichi's reaction to waking up next to Belldandy is all to classic. In the second half of the omnibus I would have to say my favorite part would have to be when Keiichi starts working real hard to celebrate the first year that Belldandy has shared with him and the reaction from her at the end. Of course with so many interesting moments It was not easy to choose favorites so be sure to read this book to discover your own favorite moments and you too may start falling in love with Keiichi and.or Belldandy :).
Poor Keiichi was born under an unlucky star and life was as usual when he makes a phone call and accidentally calls the Goddess Helpline bringing the charismatic but often clueless Belldandy into his life as a wish made in jest sets his life on a whirlwind of change accented at times with moments of romance as the universe itself is insistent that the two of them belong together.
Before the end of the book you will meet many unique characters including not only Belldandy and Keiichi's sisters(both different characters of course)but also people after Belldandy and Keiichi(separately not both for the same person), and pretty much everyone in the motor club Keiichi goes to at college. If you are looking for a story with interesting characters you might seriously consider this one. :)
Being a larger book I am taking a favorite from the first and second half of the story. In the first half my favorite part would have to be when Keiichi wakes up next to Belldandy in a temple after the two fo them are exiled from his male only dorm. There is some misunderstanding from the monk that brought them in and Keiichi's reaction to waking up next to Belldandy is all to classic. In the second half of the omnibus I would have to say my favorite part would have to be when Keiichi starts working real hard to celebrate the first year that Belldandy has shared with him and the reaction from her at the end. Of course with so many interesting moments It was not easy to choose favorites so be sure to read this book to discover your own favorite moments and you too may start falling in love with Keiichi and.or Belldandy :).
June 23, 2016
This is one of the first mangas I ever read. I read it out of order because I checked them out from the library and I was a stupid bab. Any way its nice to see the stories in order now (not that they're that complicated).
July 23, 2016
Gorgeously drawn and thoroughly enjoyed and had many laugh out loud moments. It seems to wander a lot which is why only 3 stars but I have a feeling it will continue to improve in further volumes which I do plan on reading.
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