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AH! MY GODDESS TV SERIES: ALWAYS AND FOREVER (VOL. 1) |
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Monday, 09 April 2007 |
 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | MEDIA BLASTERS | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 1.85: 1 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 2.0 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 125 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | 13UP | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 09/27/2005 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 04/10/2007 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | HOLLY ELLINGWOOD |
Although the popular romantic comedy manga series by Kousuke Fujishima has seen many incarnations in anime, including an earlier OVA mini-series and movie, season 1 of the TV series is the most faithful rendition of the wildly popular manga and captures its heart with seeming effortlessness.
The story is ageless: boy meets girl and all the romantic mishaps that ensue. The twist is that this is no ordinary girl, she’s a goddess. Luckless Keiichi is a nice guy at more than one disadvantage. He’s short, penniless, picked on and has no luck with getting dates. One day that all changes when a simple phone call is rerouted to the Heavens and a goddess answers his call – literally! Belldandy appears before him and tells him that due to his perseverance in the face of constant misfortune, he may be granted one wish. Thinking it is all a joke, he answers with what he wants the most and knows he can never have, for the beautiful and gentle Belldandy to stay by his side forever. A crack of thunder and the skies break, his wish has been granted. Before he can say “amen”, Keiichi is whisked up by the hands of Fate for a romantic adventure that will capture the viewers’ heart.
This is a love story, pure and not so simple. Keiichi and Belldandy have a lot to overcome to find their road to happiness. First there’s that bothersome “System Force” that intervenes whenever it seems something or someone will interfere in the wish of Keiichi and Belldandy being together. This includes Keiichi getting kicked out of his dorm, dealing with a suddenly covetous campus queen, and more.
The story captures the heart right away with Keiichi’s immediately sympathetic and likeable character. He helps out everyone and often gets thankless tasks added on to his already full plate in return. But he smiles and bears it. The sweet and stunning Belldandy is a wonderful match, having a similarly selfless disposition, a kind spirit and a gentle heart. The problem of course is his trying to hide the fact that she is a goddess, and Belldandy, having no clue about life on Earth, is a bit of a slow learner when it comes to performing magic in front of people. She has no ego, no concept of how extraordinary she truly is in looks or disposition, let alone her otherworldly abilities. This first volume follows their adventures very closely with the manga series, showing how they first meet, the troubles that ensue, and the love that starts to bloom between them. First though, they have to find a place to stay and once settled, Keiichi tries to plan out a date for him and Belldandy with humorous and heartwarming results.
The animation is breathtaking. The character designs are nearly flawless in their ability to capture the charm and beauty of the designs of Kousuke Fujishima’s original character art seen in the manga. The backgrounds show tremendous detail and the overall quality is closer to what would be expected in a theatrical release. The visuals are as enchanting as the story. The music shows a similar high quality. It holds an appealing score and has one of the most attractive opening theme songs, “Open Your Mind” (Chiisana Hane Hirogete) which is sung by pop idol Yoko Ishida. Although the English voice dubbing of the earlier OVA had met with some criticism, the current English cast does a tremendous job. Belldandy, who is voiced so well by Japanese actress Kikuko Inoue, is given the same wonderful tenderness and gentle beauty vocally by English voice actress Eileen Steven. Keiichi, the courageous and kind hearted fellow who is given that charming balance of vulnerability and immense heart is voiced excellently by Japanese voice talent Masami Kikuchi and given an endearing voice by English talent Drew Aaron. For fans of the various anime incarnations, it will please you to know that the Japanese voice actors for the main characters of Keiichi, Belldandy, Urd and Skuld, are the same from the OVA series, the movie and the TV series. They managed to keep the original main cast throughout.
EXTRAS:
Bonus features include clean opening animation, Japanese voice actor introductions which are brief video interviews with the cast, Japanese cast outtakes, and trailers of other titles from Media Blasters.
IN SUMMARY:
Ah My Goddess season 1 is romance, comedy and magic in one of the most divine anime series ever. |
