Ask John: Is it Oh My Goddess! or Ah! My Goddess?

Question:
Is it Oh My Goddess! or Ah! My Goddess? I’ve seen both, but which one is the correct one or are they both correct?

Answer:
In a way, they’re both correct. “Ah!” is the Japanese title and “Oh” is the “official” American title. To quote AnimEigo’s translation notes, “Oh My Goddess!” is based on the manga series “Aaa! Megamisamaa.” “Megamisama” means “goddess,” (in this case, with an extended ending vowel to add emotional emphasis) and “Aaa” is an expression that usually translates to “Oh!” or “Ah!” When AnimEigo brought the OAV series to America, they mentioned the English language pun on “Oh my God!” to creator Kousuke Fujishima, who had never thought of it before. He agreed that it was funny and requested that AnimEigo change the title from “Ah!” to “Oh” for the North American release. Dark Horse Comics followed suit, likely because “Oh” was the name that American fans were already familiar with. Possibly in order to avoid confusion with the AnimEigo releases, Pioneer decided to use the original Japanese name for their release of the movie.