Ask John: What Other Anime are Like A!MG?

Question:
I’ve been watching the Ah! Megami-sama anime lately & even though the show gets a little bit repetitive & it’s not really that exciting, to be honest, I just kept watching it because of Belldandy. She’s such a stable, mature, charming, loving, gorgeous character, which is the complete opposite to the teen high school girls out there with all of their tsundras & yanderes. What other shows, John, would you recommend to a big fan of Ah! My Goddess & why aren’t there more characters like Belldandy featured in anime nowadays?

Answer:
From the dawn of narrative, woman has frequently been depicted as either madonna or whore: either chaste, angelic, and maternal or and object of male lust. Anime tends to focus on the later characterization because most anime is targeted at teen and young adult men at the peak of their ardor. But occasionally anime get produced that reflect the tastes of their creators or seek to evoke a less hedonistic romantic atmosphere. Belldandy remains a perennially popular character because there’s no one else in manga and anime quite like her (although Mamotte Shugogetten’s Shaorin seems to be an attempted clone). However, there are a number of other romance anime with subdued, sweet female leads and stories that revolve around dignified courtship rather than fumbling teen dating.

The 2002 Ai Yori Aoshi TV anime may be stylistically and tonally the closest cousin to Ah! Megami-sama because it’s likewise a harem show with a devoted couple surrounded by invasive, slapstick supporting characters. Aoi Sakuraba may be the closest anime character in personality to Belldandy, although Aoi is a bit more conscious of her sexuality than Belldandy is.

Onegai Teacher’s Mizuho Kazami isn’t quite as dignified nor composed as Belldandy, but the original 2002 Onegai Teacher TV series is one that attempts to illustrate a burgeoning romance based on mutual understanding and compassion more than physical desire.

I’m not trying to simply identify romance anime involving adult women because doing so would include anime like Cleopatra and Natsu e no Tobira that have no character or tonal similarity to Ah! Megami-sama at all. But the 2005 TV series Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo may be of some interest because it’s partially a story about an estranged housewife being wooed by a younger man. Ureshiko Asaba is a charming character, but much of the anime revolves around her magical problems and rivalries rather than her romantic relationships.

The similarly titled Okusama wa Joshikosei TV series, also from 2005, may be a slight change of pace, but might also be satisfactory. This May-June story revolves around an adult man chastely married to a teenage girl. The schoolgirl, Asami Onohara, tries her best to be a diligent and devoted wife without letting her friends learn that she’s actually married. The show includes plenty of risque fantasies and suggestive situations but might still be interesting to an Ah! Megami-sama fan.

The 1986 Maison Ikkoku romantic comedy is beloved as one of anime’s greatest love stories. However, its slower pacing, redundancy, and ’80’s appearance may discourage viewers more familiar and comfortable with contemporary anime. Widowed housewife Kyoko Otonashi could be considered a predecessor to Belldandy, as much of Kyoko’s personality reappears later in Belldandy. The brand new current TV series Natsuyuki Rendezvous feels like a stylistic updating of Maison Ikkoku because it also revolves around a younger man trying to win the affection of a young widow. After only two episodes, so far, Natsuyuki Rendezvous is a breath of fresh air because it’s an adult romance, a story played out between grown adults who aren’t afraid to express their thoughts and passions and engage in open, honest conversation.

The stellar 2009 TV series Ristorante Paradiso is another adult-oriented romantic drama. Unlike Ah! Megami-sama and other aforementioned titles, Ristorante Paradiso revolves around a young adult woman working at a small Rome restaurant staffed by middle-aged gentlemen rather than a conventional “harem” scenario or an established coupling. The series follows Nicoletta as she falls in love and learns about love from the experiences, advice, and stories of the men around her who each have their own romantic relationships and recollections. Although the series doesn’t share any similarities with Belldandy, a fan of Ah! Megami-sama ought to appreciate this literate, charming, chaste romance series.