Oh My Goddess 12

Kosuke Fujishima – Dark Horse – 2009 (2nd ed) – 40+ volumes
note: this new edition contains material from “The Fourth Goddess” (2001), unnumbered, but 12th in the original unflipped graphic novel lineup.

I reviewed this book for the Manga Minis column at Manga Recon, so you can check out my review over there.

Truthfully, I didn’t bother to check how many volumes Oh My Goddess was actually up to.  I assume it’s 40 at this point.

And yeah, I still like it, which is all I have to report outside of what I wrote in that review.  The only other thing that bears mentioning is that… wasn’t Peorth’s angel called “Le Rose Magnifique” in the original editions?  She’s called Gorgeous Rose here, and the internet seems to substantiate this, as does Oh My Goddess Colors, which usually mentions changes from edition to edition.  I prefer “Le Rose Magnifique” since I like Peorth’s French language tendencies, and I had a whole thing written up about it, but I can’t find any evidence that was what she was called and I don’t have my older editions here with me.  Maybe I just hallucinated that name.

Oh My Goddess Colors

I reviewed this for this week’s Manga Minis column at Manga Recon, you can check out my review over there. I talk about how it’s a good introduction to the series, which is very true.

I’m glad this finally came out.  I’m not sure why I bought it, I wasn’t originally planning to.  I think the delays that took two years to resolve built pressure that eventually made me feel obligated to purchase it.  I’m glad I did.  I like the idea that it collects four chapters spotlighting each of the four goddesses, but I was disappointed that Belldandy’s chapter was the very first chapter of Oh My Goddess (there are plenty of other good Belldandy chapters, though maybe they are all involved in major plotlines), and the Peorth chapter was from the volume I just read.  I like Peorth, but she was definitely a character that got better with age.  I’m not sure when this book came out in Japan, but perhaps it was before Peorth got a lot of story time.  That Urd chapter is probably one of my favorites in the series though, and the Skuld chapter is essentially just like it.

And… that introduction.  THAT INTRODUCTION.  It was short, but I was absolutely dying.  It compared the structure of the series to an old Fujiko Fujio series, talked about how Love Hina is a more interesting series, calls attention to plot holes, and uses the absolute most unflattering descriptions in the world to summarize the series (Great Moments in the Plot of OMG: Volume 8: Keiichi tells Belldandy “I love you,” except he accidentally sorta-says it to Skuld instead.  Volume 24: Keiichi looked as if he was going to kiss Belldandy on the cheek.  Volume 30: Keiichi successfully borrowed an umbrella from a love hotel.).  Plus, the opening page appropriately showed the change in Belldandy’s character design over the years.  It was awesome.

Oh My Goddess 11

Lucky!  I had been puzzling over volume 31 and why it was that Peorth was so insistent on getting Keiichi to tell Belldandy he loves her before she had to go back to Yggdrasil.  I forgot her introduction, which was in this volume.  Keiichi accidentally called her up on the Goddess Hot Line for a wish, and after seeing the sad, shy state Keiichi was in, Peorth decided her mission was to get Keiichi to admit his feelings since he didn’t have a true wish for her to grant.

And… yeah.  20 volumes later, THE MAIN CHARACTER HAS STILL NOT ADMITTED HIS FEELINGS FOR THE LOVE INTEREST.  In a way, I was pleased that Peorth’s mystery was solved.  On the other hand, it made me hate myself for liking this series so much.

And yeah, I still like it.  I like Peorth a lot, actually, even though her introduction here isn’t all that special.  I was kind of sad to re-read it after all this time, because it’s full of pretty generic laughs (Urd, Skuld, and Peorth have a contest to see who’s the most helpful Goddess, Peorth tries to grant Keiichi’s desires by taking baths with him and sleeping with him, that sort of thing).  She gets a better role later, when she’s sort of a sly friend.  I’m also pretty glad they kept her random French phrases for this edition, I know that was a point of contention, and I was worried it would be lost in favor of authenticity.

The end of the story about Urd splitting into good and evil sides is in this volume, too.  I like that story a lot, but it’s not quite as good as the Lord of Terror storyline from earlier.  It’s just not as epic.  Urd uses some powerful magic, but it’s just a battle with herself, nobody seriously tries to intervene and nobody else is really in any danger.

This was sort of a mediocre volume, but Peorth’s introduction makes it pretty notable.

Oh My Goddess 31

You know, in a series as long and episodic as Oh My Goddess, you’re going to get the volumes that suck.  There’s not a lot you can do about it.  It happens.  This is one such volume.

We get some carryover from last volume where, for whatever reason, Peorth is trying to get Keiichi to say “I love you” to Belldandy.  She is very desperate about it.  This desperation is not explained (or perhaps the explanation was not adequate and I missed it… perhaps she just wanted to see it before she left), but after awhile Urd sees what’s going on and she joins in the fun.  Belldandy sees Keiichi’s practice “I love you” to Peorth.  Hijinx ensue.

After this, Peorth is forced to go back to Heaven because… well, I guess she was just on vacation?  I was a little bummed about this since she’s a regular character now, but her plans are stopped and a new character is introduced: the gate, which takes the form of a little girl.  Now, normally the new characters are awesome.  Peorth, Hild, and Lind are all celestial characters introduced within the last… well, 15 or so volumes that are awesome.  The gate is… well not so much.

The gate is on strike because she needs to experience things in the human world, so Peorth can’t go back until she’s been satisfied.  Her stipulation?  She wants to experience love and/or a real kiss.  Right.  You can see where this goes.  She also apparently reads a lot of yuri manga (or I assume that’s what she’s holding, though on closer inspection, the one in the foreground looks kinda like two men, while there’s definitely a girl with pigtails on the one behind… maybe a mix of yaoi and yuri?  or maybe the one in front just has girls with short hair).  So Urd, Skuld, Peorth, and Belldandy are all part of this, and not just Keiichi.

No fun at all.  I like the contests, a little tension, and the sweetness of the characters.  Here, things were too direct in the “I love you” storyline, there was no contest, and the new gate character just wasn’t very fun.  I don’t know.  Maybe next time.

Oh My Goddess 10

One more really quick review before I go to bed.

I was wondering when I would run across the karaoke duel between Mara and Urd.  I love the beginning of this story a lot, but I can’t quite remember how it finishes.  I seem to remember it being good all the way through.  The karaoke battle is just such a silly thing, and it’s these friendly rivalries and challenges and the not-really-enemies stuff that make me like this series a lot, as lame as that sounds.  One thing though: The original adaptation had Urd’s special weakness pegged as polkas, which is much funnier than Enka.  I know Enka is being true to the original and all that… but I liked the other joke better.

The softball story at the beginning of the volume is pretty classic Oh My Goddess, too.  Having a dream and not giving up on it and using everything in your power to try and get it and all that.  It’s a nice story, and it’s hard to hate the laid-back feeling of baseball.

Also in this volume, the story about Keiichi and the little puppy the girls want to adopt is probably still one of my favorites.  I think the only thing that could make this series cuter is a puppy, and I also thought that all of Keiichi’s points about the pros and cons of pet ownership are valid.

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.

Oh My Goddess 30

I almost literally don’t know what to say about this series anymore.  The moral of the story this time is that not everyone is meant for great things and happiness can be found in simple things in life.  That would be the moral of the series, as well, and something that’s been  theme all along… but I think I’ll enjoy it here no matter how many times it comes up.

Of course we get the rest of Urd’s First Class exam.  She needs to make Keiichi happy by the end of the day.  I was a little put off at first since there’s some obvious fanservice (she tries to get into the bath with Keiichi and spends some time after that naked) as well as a return to annoying Urd who’s sole purpose in life is to try and get Bell and Keiichi together and fail spectacularly.  She figures things out in the end though, which is nice, and I always like seeing the softer side of her character.

We get to see her first attempt at becoming Goddess First Class.  She says they don’t let liars pass, and I like this aspect of her personality as well.  This part and its parallel were probably my favorite parts in the volume.

There was a silly story where everyone was trying to get Keiichi to say “I love you” to Belldandy at the end of the volume that I didn’t really like.  Peorth in particular was trying hard, and I suspect she may have a reason for it.  Probably not anything major, though.

Oh My Goddess 29

Well, I’ve fallen behind on Oh My Goddess, which is just sad.  It doesn’t come out that frequently.  I think volume 30 is out, but I haven’t gotten it in the mail yet, so I saved my pride a little.  I do, however, have volume 9 here and have not read it yet.

This was the end of the Hild/Belldandy broom race.  This went the way of most of the races in the series.  I mean, you could almost see everything before it happened.  Not that it’s a bad thing… I’m extremely comfortable with this series, so I even enjoy the extremely predictable at this point, but when you know that something will happen to put Belldandy behind, then something else would happen, then something would help, then something would hinder… yeah, but I still like it.  I still really like Hild, too, but I like adult Hild a little better now that it’s been mostly little Hild for awhile.

The next story is about Urd earning her First Class Goddess license and getting tested by Peorth and Belldandy.  This was sort of unexpected, because there is generally very little that defines the characters that changes throughout the course of the series, with the exception of Skuld coming into her powers.  Urd is sort of clumsy and uncontrolled with her magic, and that’s just who she is.  Not only is she getting more power as a Goddess First Class, she also seems to now have control.  The sky is falling, here, people.

There’s also a mini-story in there about Velsper naming his angel.  It’s a cute story, but sort of forgettable.  The most notable thing about it is Keiichi and Belldandy driving around with a car full of mini-Velspers.

The Urd-getting-her-license story cuts off in the middle at the end of the volume, so yes, I’m looking forward to that for next time.

Oh My Goddess 8

Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile. Sometimes you have to go to Michigan for several days and come back with festering spider bites all over your hand.

I liked this volume a lot, actually. It’s hard for me to tell whether or not I appreciate these stories because they’re good stories, or because they’re triggering nostalgia for me. Maybe a little of both, but they’re definitely the type of quiet stories that the series is good for.

In the first story, Keiichi et al have to exorcise a memory spirit of some kind from a dilapidated hotel that the Motorcycle Club is having a camp in. The setup is basically that the spirit wants him to fulfill a promise on behalf of his grandfather, who he looks just like. Mixed into the bargain is a super-rare motorcycle his grandfather left behind. It’s just sort of a nice story with not too much rocking the boat. I really liked it.

There’s a beach story that attempts to bring Belldandy and Keiichi closer together, with Urd and Skuld interfering. I’m not sorry to see this type of story go in later volumes in favor of Skuld and Urd antagonizing themselves and Peorth, but this one’s okay as far as it goes.

In the aftermath of that story, it appears that Skuld has some sort of crush on Keiichi. This one always struck me as weird, but I also liked it since it’s sorta rare that Skuld acts human, especially in these older stories. I also just like the end of this story, plus it’s one of the few stories with continuity, so hooray for that.

There are color pages and 4-panel comics too, which are still awesome. It’s a shame they don’t appear more frequently in the later volumes, but it does give me a reason to reread these older volumes.

Oh My Goddess 28

Unfortunately, we don’t get the start of an epic action story like I was hoping… and really, the first part of the volume was mostly concerned with the Nekomi Tech Motorcycle Club, which bummed me out.  The second storyline, which carries over into the next volume, was okay though.  Actually, it was a little more than okay.  I liked it even though it wasn’t the action story I wanted.  I really didn’t want to like it, but I just couldn’t help myself.  This series is just too sweet when it wants to be.

Hild and Belldandy decide to have a broom race to determine whether or not Hild will cure Velsper of… some sort of sickness (he’s spotted, but he gets much worse as the story progresses since Peorth, Skuld, and Urd try to help him out).  If Belldandy wins, Hild will help out, but if Hild wins, all the Goddesses have to go back to heaven.

It doesn’t sound like much, and… it’s not, but at this point I think it succeeds based solely on the fact that it’s volume 28 and we just know the characters really well at this point.