Ask John: What’s John’s Opinion of the Ah! My Goddess TV Series?

Question:
How about Oh My Goddess! the TV series, John? As you know, it is the first time that it is brought onto TV screen since it started in ’88.

Answer:
NOTICE: Response may contain mild spoilers.

My opinion on the Ah! Megami-sama TV series is mixed. Only three episodes have aired so far, so it may be too early for me to be especially harsh on it. But since this is a direct question and I haven’t been discussing specific anime lately, I’ll provide my specific reactions to these three episodes.

Although it’s based on pre-existing material so therefore has a good pattern to work from, I’m still glad to see that the TV animation seems to look attractive and have reasonably good animation quality. I was a big fan of AIC Studios productions during the 1980s and early 1990s, but their recent productions like Battle Programmer Shirase and Burn Up W/X/Scramble have not been very original or interesting, and have not been animated particularly well. I think that the CG rendered town and highway in the opening animation are crude and don’t mesh well with the 2D animation, but I’m thankful that there’s not any distractingly bad CG in the body of the episodes themselves. As other fans have also noticed, Belldandy looks unusually young, but I don’t see that as a flaw in the show as much as I consider it a case of fans expecting the new animation to identically duplicate the previous animation’s character designs.

Although I’m satisfied with the visual appearance of the show, I’m not as satisfied with the way this new series is written. Compared to the original anime OAV series, the first episode of the TV series changes the way that Keichi contacts Belldandy. Instead of him calling the Goddess hotline by accident as he did in the original animation, the new TV series has fate manipulate Keichi into calling Belldandy, and Belldandy even anticipating Keichi’s call. The second episode’s explanation of the force that keeps Belldandy and Keichi together further establishes that this TV series seems to be preparing the power of predermination as the show’s primary antagonist. However, by making fate the controlling force in the show, the spontaneity of the original story is lost. The original anime was charming when Keichi accidentally contacted Belldandy. The TV series doesn’t feel as natural or spontaneous when Keichi is manipulated into contacting Belldandy and Belldandy knows beforehand that Keichi is going to call her.

One of the main themes of the original anime is the romance between Keichi and Belldandy, and Keichi’s anxiety over expressing his love to Belldandy. Unfortunately, the new TV series explains that Belldandy can read Keichi’s thoughts. I think this is a very unwise development because it eliminates the possibility for romantic tension. There’s no longer any need to Keichi to worry about how to tell Belldandy that he loves her because she can read his mind and learn his feelings about her before he ever speaks. If Belldandy doesn’t use this power often, to create dramatic tension in the show, the viewer will be left wonder why she arbitrarily doesn’t use her telepathic power more often. In effect, giving Belldandy the ability to read Keichi’s mind compromises the need for communication between the couple. It’s impossible for Keichi to have private, mental stress or anxiety over his relationship with Belldandy because Belldandy’s ability to read his mind logically eliminates the potential for private, personal worries. If the show chooses to selectively employ Belldandy’s divine power of perception it will need to be carefully explained to avoid feeling totally arbitrary, manipulative, and illogical.

I’m also a little bit disappointed that over its first three episodes the Ah! Megami-sama TV series doesn’t seem to have a distinctive atmosphere or feeling. The original OAV series had a very kind and gentle and warm feeling. The Ah! Megami-sama movie had a melancholy, regretful feeling. So far I haven’t perceived any tone or atmosphere from the new TV series. Its first three episodes have been very straightforward and rather superficial. After watching each of the first three episodes, I haven’t been left with any lingering feeling about them. The TV series has good characters to work with and it has admirable production values, but it doesn’t feel like it has an identity. The first three episodes are a bit lifeless; they just don’t create any lasting impression. So I’m hoping that will change as the series progresses.