Pharonic Fantasy Theatre: First Post

About a week ago I ran into a copy of the complete series of "Brain Powered" at the used bookstore. I had watched the first volume of the previous DVD release a few years prior, and actually wasn’t too thrilled with it. I picked up this set though as I was a) intrigued by the premise and thought that the show showed some potential despite the mediocrity of the first volume and b) a longtime fan of director Yoshiyuki Tomino’s other works so I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and see if he could improve the rest of the show. Well, I took it home and watched it over the next couple of days and found out that a) the show didn’t get better it actually got worse and b) I wasted my trade credit (luckily I didn’t waste any actual cash on this piece of crap). Well, I took it back to the store and traded it for a newly arrived copy of the original OVA series of "Oh My Goddess". I definitely traded up. OMG was a refreshing river that washed away the memory of the fetid filth that was "Brain Powered".
I want to take some time to vent on all that was frustrating and wrong with a show with great potential and botched execution, but I don’t want to make my first review a negative one, so let’s review "Oh My Goddess".

Oh My Goddess

OVA, 1993
Director: Hiroaki Gōda
5 Episodes (approx. 2.5 hours)

The Story:

Keiichi Morisato is a lonely college student who is taking calls for his overbearing upperclassmen in his dorm one afternoon when he gets hungry and tries to call for take-out. Instead he reaches the goddess Belldandy, who appears and offers to grant him any one wish he desires. Being single and male, he wishes “to have a girl like you stay with me always.” His wish is granted, unfortunately his dorm is male-only and both he and Belldandy are kicked out. They find refuge in and make a home out of an old abandoned temple (this is probably the biggest fantasy aspect of this series: rent free housing). Later on Belldandy’s sisters Urd and Skuld come to Earth and decide to freeload, essentially killing any chance of Keiichi and Belldandy making any little demigods.

Review For People Who Haven't Seen It:

This is an anime classic. It’s sweet without being too saccharine (a flaw with the TV series and later manga), it’s funny without being too over-the-top (a common flaw with comedy anime) and while it does have some good moments is not too fanservicey (which is a major flaw with a LOT of anime). The art and animation are good for the time. The music is also pretty good (the opening and ending songs were fluffy but catchy). Basically this anime is just one big happy pill, even though it does get dramatic in the last two episodes. The only thing I didn’t like was that the animators made Keiichi look like he’s twelve years old (he’s supposed to be 19 or 20 – I mean, I know that he’s supposed to be shrimpy but come on). Minor quibble, really. This show is highly recommended!

Analysis for People Who Have (aka Spoilers):

I had actually seen OMG prior to getting this DVD set. I liked it, and it helped to get me into the original manga (by Kosuke Fujishima) and the other anime based on the manga. Watching it for a second time helped me appreciate it more. Some fans complain that this OVA is too short but I think the length is perfect since it’s a self-contained story, different from the manga. I realized this while re-watching it. Little scenes and bits of dialogue suddenly take on a different meaning when viewing it again. I like the way that everything tied together into a cohesive story, something that no other version of this franchise (save the movie, which is also great) has.
I used to be ambivalent about the revelation that Kei and Bell met as children but now I know that it’s essential to the drama of the whole thing. Their meeting as children is what makes their relationship as adults possible, however it also causes pain and threatens to separate them. Belldandy’s careless promise to Keiichi as a child results in her having to erase his memories of her by sealing them in a tree (which apparently had a leak since Keiichi did display hints of remembering from time to time – maybe that blue ball of light Belldandy made in the very beginning was a spell to unlock a tiny fraction of his memories so that he would be influenced to pick the wish he did? Hmm. It would help explain her line about her “sin”). Even though they are able to meet later (which if you think about might have been set up by Belldandy - she's a rather manipulative woman, isn't she? Maybe she's not all cookies and cream....) this tree and its memories contained within very nearly force them apart. I like this conundrum. Even though everything ends up being alright in the end (come on, did you expect anything other than a happy ending?) it’s refreshing to see a more complicated view of love and its highs and lows in this version of OMG as opposed to the later incarnations of the anime, which are pretty simplistic and rather saccharine. This whole scenario also helps explain how and why Belldandy falls in love with Keiichi (The reasons that he falls for her aren’t an issue --- they’re very obvious to see and it’s easier for men to fall in love with women than for woman to fall in love with men). In the original manga it actually comes off as rather convenient that she falls in love with him; we never see the reasoning as to why she does. Oh sure, he’s a nice guy and all but just spending time with someone (especially in a contractual situation like the one portrayed) isn’t going to make you fall in love with someone. The later TV series tried to explain it by showing that Keiichi’s overwhelming kindness towards others and selflessness are what leads to him being eligible for receiving a wish in the first place, as well as attracting Belldandy’s love. But the manga never showed him in this light, just an average student who had no luck with women. The OVA at least offers the idea that Belldandy has loved him since meeting him as a kid, and that fact that he was even able to see her was special (“You must be a friend of Nature”). Interestingly enough Fujishima has said that this is how he originally wanted to end the manga but decided against it having now used it in the anime. It makes me wonder how he *is* going to end the manga, if it ends at all.
Another thing I liked about this OVA is that Keiichi is actually willing to *gasp* touch Belldandy and while a little nervous around her (which is understandable, I mean she is a freaking goddess) does not seem to have a complete phobia about physical contact or intimacy like he does in the later TV show.

The DVD:

Animeigo’s now out-of-print DVD collector’s set replaces the previous releases which reportedly had video transfer problems. I can’t say as I never saw them. Seeing OMG on DVD after seeing it on VHS though was an almost divine experience. Wow, is the video so much better. The Collector’s Edition also packs a bunch of extras which are fun to read and watch. I only have a couple of gripes. One is that the playback is locked out, meaning that you can’t skip to just any part of the DVD on your computer DVD player. You must essentially play your DVD like a VHS and fast-forward and rewind if you want to go to a certain part of the show in-between chapter stops. This made grabbing screenshots for this review time consuming to say the least. The other complaint I have is that Animeigo put this on 3 DVDs when they could have easily pared it down to two. I think they did this so they could charge more money. They did the same thing with the old VHS, putting out one episode per tape. Skinflints.
About the dub: I’ve never been a fan of Animeigo’s English dubs and Oh My Goddess is no different. It’s not hideously bad, but it’s not good either. It is definitely my least favorite OMG English dub (I actually kind of like the TV series dub, and the movie dub is alright). I stuck to the Japanese.

Screenshots: