Oh My Goddess 1
Posted: May 28, 2005 Filed under: Oh My Goddess! 4 Comments »I started this series around volume 7 I think, and didn’t read the first six until after I’d read much later in the series. And let me tell you, holy shit, a lot of the characters are unrecognizable. It’s not even that the art’s bad, it’s just that the character designs have changed SO MUCH during the run of the series.
These first handful of stories are kind of lame and not as heartwarming squishy good as they are later in the series. The otaku one in particular comes to mind as particularly terrible. There’s a lot more going on plot-wise here though, like Belldandy explaining things about the Yggdrasil system that were always a mystery to me. Several things were dropped I think after awhile… the system force never works quite the same as it does in this volume, probably due to events explained in volume two. The shape on Belldandy’s forehead changes when she’s surprised in this volume, which doesn’t normally happen… ever again. And her hair color slowly changes, going back to dark whenever she has to revert to Goddess mode… something that also had me confused when I read “Miss Keiichi.” No sisters yet, though I think she did call up Urd at one point. Sayoko plays a big part in these earlier chapters too, but she later drops out of the picture completely. One feature I didn’t appreciate ’til I read through this time was that the motorclub members change as the years wear on, and they graduate and move away without much mention. “Guy with mask on the side of his head” is in this volume, but reappears when Chihiro comes in and Keiichi is looking for a job about ten or twelve volumes later.
Yeah, it’s okay, but it gets much better later. One thing I need to mention is that the translation is a little weird in places… at one point Tamiya or Otaki says something along the lines of “I haven’t had this much fun since the pigs ate my brother.” He may have been saying that in the original… but I don’t know.
I must say that reading this book for the second time has been a total pleasure for me. Sure, it’s old, sometimes naive, but enjoyable as hell. I’m also glad I know as much about otaku culture as to catch such editor jokes as “nor there is any guarantee your landlord will look like Kyoko Otonashi”. ^_^
Wow, I haven’t seen this review in years, it doesn’t really reflect my current opinion. ^_^; This is one of my favorite series, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read the early volumes. It was one of the first I picked up, too, and with not a lot of manga, I had to re-read this and Ranma 1/2 over and over again. Both are still good, though. I’m really surprised how well the stories have held up over the years, and how consistent they’ve stayed, too. I know the plot doesn’t really move forward from volume to volume, and it’s going to be more of the same super-sweet stories, but I love the characters too much to resist, and the stories really are almost always good.
The editor for the new editions really is great. He also does really hilarious and thorough end notes in the back of Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service. The notes are educational, geeky, and reference Evangelion way more than I would have thought possible in a horror manga.
I’m glad I returned here… thanks for your notes… ^_^ You know, I really don’t like Ranma.. I’ve read some 3 or 4 volumes but I have no intention to continue. It’s too repetitive and nothing special IMHO. And I really have to continue reading Kurosagi. I’ve still just read the first volume! And you’re right about the editor’s notes. It’s one of those things that make this manga so pleasurable… ^_^
I liked Ranma, and read it all the way to the end, but I’m not sure I would have liked it as much if it hadn’t been one of the first series I picked up. I agree with you about it being repetitive, but it always had quirky enough characters and gimmicks to keep me coming back.