Oh My Goddess 9

I’m not sure, but I think I read the original left-to-right version of this dozens of times.  The story with Troubadour is still one of my favorite Urd stories in the series.  Having the full-color double page spread to open it up in this edition is just icing on the cake (though that particular illustration was also used as the cover to the older edition… I like seeing it in the book, too).  Of course, thinking about it, a lot of the Urd-centric stories are very good, like the recent one about her becoming a Goddess First Class, or the one where she is transformed into a little kid and develops a bond with the young boy.  I like Urd a lot, and stories like this are probably why.

I want to compare this volume to the older edition.  I’m curious to see if the translation or adaptation has been changed, or how much it has been changed.  I’m pretty sure I picked up on several differences and tweaks throughout the volume, but I hesitate to comment on them since I’m just going from memory and it’s been a long time since I read the original.  I’ll edit this if I go back during the holiday break and compare the two.

There are some other real gems in here, too.  I always sort of dread reading the hill climb race story because the stories involving the club aren’t really my favorites, but the ending always wins me over, because not only is there a perfect Belldandy moment, but there is a good moment with Tamiya and Otaki as well, and good moments with them are few and far between.  I also don’t like the weird exorcism story at the end of the volume, but then again, it’s not often we get to see Belldandy jealous, and I like it for that.  I do like the story at the beginning, which is about Belldandy getting sick and Keiichi doing all he can to try and make her well, including blindly taking Urd’s medicine and calling every number he can think of to try and contact Yggdrasil to get help.  It’s really hard to read stories like this and not like them, especially with the extra nostalgia of having read them so long ago attached.

At the end, there’s an editor’s note that says you shouldn’t worry about Troubadour casting his bug spell on you because apparently bards can’t cast druid spells that high a level.  My roommate says this is proof that D&D is much more wide-spread than I think (which it probably is), but I’m pretty sure every reference to it I’ve ever read has been made in a series edited by the same person.  I like it.