Oh My Goddess!
"Oh My Goddess!" is a manga series that first appeared in 1988 and has become a significant work in the genre. It revolves around Keiichi Morisato, a college student whose life dramatically changes when he accidentally calls a goddess helpline, summoning Belldandy, who grants him a wish to have her stay with him forever. This premise sets off a series of comedic and romantic adventures, introducing a cast of characters including Belldandy's sisters, Urd and Skuld, and other celestial beings, both divine and demonic.
Originally serialized in Kodansha's magazine Afternoon, the series was translated into English by Dark Horse Comics starting in 1994. Notable for its publication history, it is recognized as the longest-running manga in the U.S., transitioning to a format that closely matches its original Japanese editions. The narrative combines elements of shonen (typically aimed at boys) and shojo (aimed at girls) manga, focusing on relationships and personal growth rather than purely romantic escapades.
The artwork has evolved over time, receiving mixed reviews early on but improving significantly as the story progressed. Themes of good versus evil are explored, although the lines are often blurred, contributing to the series' depth. Overall, "Oh My Goddess!" remains a beloved series that has influenced the hybrid genre trend in manga.
Oh My Goddess!
AUTHOR: Fujishima, Kosuke
ARTIST: Kosuke Fujishima (illustrator); L. Lois Buhalis (letterer); Chris Chalenor (letterer); Betty Dong (letterer); Pat Duke (letterer); Susie Lee (letterer); PC Orz (letterer); Tom Orzechowski (letterer); Tom2K (letterer)
PUBLISHER: Kodansha (Japanese); Dark Horse Comics (English)
FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION:Aa, megami sama, 1988- (English translation, 1994-2004)
FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1989- (English translation, 2002- )
Publication History
Oh My Goddess! was first serialized in the magazine Afternoon in 1988 and then in graphic novel form by Kodansha. The English translation of the series was initially published by Dark Horse Comics in 1994. This translation was flipped to allow for right-to-left reading; thus, the artwork had to be flipped also. This caused certain inconsistencies. The demand by North American manga readers for an authentic, uncut manga resulted in a change in the middle of the series. According to Dark Horse Comics, Oh My Goddess! is the longest-running manga in the United States.
Dark Horse Comics combined Volumes 19 and 20, announcing that all future volumes would be published “unflipped,” with the volume’s contents corresponding to its Japanese counterpart volume. Originally, Dark Horse combined two Japanese volumes into one English volume to ensure a full story arc, as seen in the publication of Volumes 19 and 20 in one book. Volume 21 showcases a format that more closely matches the original Japanese volumes. Beginning with Volume 21, the volumes have been printed in a smaller, more traditional and cheaper paperback size than their predecessors. Production time between volumes was also cut. Overall, fans praised Dark Horse Comics’ decision to mimic as closely as possible the Japanese volumes. The previous volumes were later rereleased with the new format.
Plot
Keiichi, a college student at Nekomi Institute of Technology (NIT), accidentally calls the Goddess Technical Helpline. When a real-life goddess, Belldandy, appears and offers to grant him one wish, he is certain that his roommates are playing a practical joke. He wishes that a pretty girl like her would remain with him forever. She grants his wish and becomes his girlfriend. Keiichi is both surprised and horrified when he finds out that his wish is not a joke. This proves problematic in many ways; first, he lives in a men’s dormitory and must find a new residence. Belldandy is unusual enough, but her sisters are even more so. Keiichi’s life is never the same again, as his ordinary life experiences are altered by heavenly and demonic beings.
Volumes
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 1 (1996). Keiichi dials the wrong number, which results in the appearance of the goddess Belldandy. His wish to have her stay with him is granted, and life as he knows it is turned upside down.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 2 (1996). Keiichi and Belldandy pose nude together in a life-drawing class in order to raise money for the NIT Motor Club.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 3 (1997). Urd, another goddess, attempts to push Belldandy and Keiichi, only to have her attempt blow up in her face. Keiichi faces competition when a new recruit from the Nekomi Motor Club sets his eyes on Belldandy.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 4 (1997). Urd creates a love potion to target Keiichi. A CD turns out to be a portal from the underworld used by wicked beings.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 5 (1998). Belldandy wants to give a special Valentine’s Day treat to Keiichi by making him traditional homemade chocolate. This volume introduces the third goddess, Skuld.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 6 (1999). Urd enters “Terrible Master” mode as she frees the Fenrir wolf, triggering the activation of the Ultimate Destruction Program. Belldandy and Skuld must stop Urd and the program before the known world is destroyed.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 7 (1999). Urd’s love potions cause further trouble. The motor club gets a female member, Sora Hasegawa.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 8 (2000). Keiichi and the goddesses join the NIT Motor Club on a vacation, during which the ghost of a young maid tries to hold Keiichi to a promise made by his grandfather.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 9 (2000). Urd and Skuld are called away to heaven for training. Belldandy has an unknown illness. Keiichi searches for a possible cure among Urd’s medicines only to be turned into a woman.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 10 (2001). The goddesses help the NIT Softball Club of Keiichi’s sister win a game against its campus rivals. Afterward, they try to relax on a hot-springs vacation only to have Mara return and challenge Urd to karaoke.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 11 (2001). Keiichi dials “p,” accidentally summoning Belldandy’s rival, Peorth, who insists she can provide Keiichi better service.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 12 (2001). Peorth studies dating customs through shojo manga and tries to drag Keiichi on a date.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 13 (2002). Skuld learns how to ride a bicycle and falls in love for the first time.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 14 (2002). As Keiichi approaches graduation, he tries working at a custom bike shop, discovering it is harder then he imagined.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 15 (2003). Mara and Sayoko continue to battle for the minds of the NIT students.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 16 (2003). Keiichi and Belldandy cannot stop holding hands, and the robot Banpei falls in love.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 17 (2003). The boy who arrived in the previous volume is a demon obsessed with Belldandy. Peorth helps reverse the slowdown of time caused by the demon boy.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 18 (2004). Skuld’s inventions go awry as her experiments with the time-space continuum leave Keiichi and Belldandy trapped in their resized living room. Afterward, Keiichi and Belldandy take a nighttime train ride to solve the mystery of the ghost haunting the mountain pass between NIT campuses.
• Oh My Goddess, Volumes 19-20 (2005). Dr. Moreau kidnaps Banpei’s girlfriend to aid his dreams of making machines that can walk like humans. Keiichi and Sora race to decide who will become the next president of the motor club.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 21 (2005). Peorth is trapped in the form of a girl. The only one who can help Peorth is Hild, chief of the demon realm.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 22 (2006). Hild and Urd struggle to restore Peorth’s true form.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 23 (2006). Urd’s mother leaves, as do Keiichi’s and Megumi’s parents.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 24 (2006). Keiichi’s mother beats the goddesses at mah-jongg. Takano-san suspects that the goddesses are no ordinary girls. Chihiro, Keiichi, and Belldandy take a road trip to the hot springs and encounter the fifth goddess.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 25 (2007). Hild unleashes the beast Tenshikui, the Eater of Angels. Tenshikui strips the angelic forms from Urd and Peorth’s bodies. Without their angelic forms, their bodies cannot survive long. The fifth goddess, Lind, appears ready to defend her sisters. She turns out to be a Valkyrie.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 26 (2007). The goddesses continue to face the wrath of Hild. Keiichi struggles to save Belldandy from the Demon Angels.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 27 (2007). Keiichi hosts the demonic angel that Hild had previously placed inside Belldandy. He seeks to place it within Velsper.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 28 (2008). Keiichi and the goddesses return to Nekomi Tech for the campus festival.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 29 (2008). A race ensues as Belldandy tries to get the secret to curing Velsper’s magical mange.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 30 (2008). Urd faces a challenge from Peorth in order to become a Goddess First Class.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 31 (2009). Peorth is summoned to Heaven only to discover that the girl at the gate is on strike.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 32 (2009). Chihiro leads Keiichi, Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld on a training retreat.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 33 (2009). The training retreat continues as Chihiro and Keiichi build two bikes.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 34 (2010). The group returns from the retreat to discover the store in chaos. Skuld has a reunion with her former boyfriend Sentaro.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 35 (2010). Keiichi finds an old photograph of a girl inside the vintage Camaro given to him by his senior students. He and Belldandy set out to learn more about the girl in the photo.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 36 (2010). A rival attempts to help Megumi’s bad memory and inadvertently erases Keiichi’s and the goddesses’ memories by mistake.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 37 (2011). A new goddess, Chromo, appears to give Belldandy a significant program, only to have things go horribly wrong.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 38 (2011). Chrono is met with demon opposition as she struggles to recover remnants of the program. Because of an uprising in Hell, Hild shows up at Keiichi’s birthday unannounced.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 39 (2011). The power between Heaven and Hell is out of balance because of Belldandy’s relationship with Keiichi. Peorth and Lind must rebalance the power and put Hild back on her throne.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 40 (2011). Keiichi joins the goddesses on a trip to Hell in order to overthrow the usurper and restore the throne to Hild.
• Oh My Goddess, Volume 41 (2012). Keiichi and the goddesses continue on their journey through Hell to free Hild and restore her to the throne.
Characters
• Belldandy, a protagonist, is a beautiful Goddess First Class. She is a Norn (fate) goddess whose relationship with Keiichi propels the plot.
• Keiichi Morisato, a protagonist, is the accidental boyfriend of Belldandy. He is mechanically inclined and socially awkward.
• Urd is a Norn goddess and half demon and is the second goddess to appear.
• Skuld is Belldandy’s younger sister and a Norn goddess. She is an adolescent girl and is the brains of the group. She aids Belldandy and Keiichi in the progression of their relationship.
• Peorth is a Goddess First Class. She is voluptuous and often scantily clad. She has a temper and is Belldandy’s rival.
• Lind, the protagonist, is a Valkyrie (warrior) goddess. She is strong and rushes to the aid of Belldandy and her sisters when necessary.
• Hild, an antagonist, is the demon who rules Hell and Urd’s mother. She is the ultimate opposition to Kami-Sama. She leaves a chibi (miniature) version of herself on Earth.
• Chromo is a clumsy, airheaded goddess. She has hopes of becoming a Valkyrie goddess.
• Kami-Sama, a.k.a. The Almighty One, a protagonist, is king of heaven. He is an unseen character to whom the goddesses must answer.
• Velsper, an antagonist, is a demon who is Belldandy’s doublet (twin soul) in a pact between Heaven and Hell. He tries to defy this agreement, for which he is turned into a cat.
• Hagall, an antagonist, is an ambitious demon who leads the revolt against Hild in Hell.
Artistic Style
The initial volumes of Oh My Goddess! have been criticized for their crude artwork; however, the artwork has improved as the series has progressed. Sequences of movement are often shown in two or more panels. The backgrounds displaying the setting are highly detailed. The characters are primarily displayed from the torso up to offer a clear view of the emotions expressed by their faces; however, some full-body panels are incorporated. Full-body panels are used frequently in action scenes.
Themes
Good versus evil is a prominent theme throughout the series, as the goddesses face off against both demons and the devil. However, who and what are good and evil is not black and white, as the goddesses sometimes fight one another.
Keiichi appears to have every man’s dream: a harem of beautiful women. However, he is not having sexual relations with all of them. He is rarely left alone with Belldandy because other goddesses are constantly arriving and leaving, most frequently Urd, Skuld, and Peorth. He is always surrounded by these beautiful goddesses.
Impact
Oh My Goddess! takes a typical shonen (boys’) story in Keiichi’s pursuit for beautiful girls and incorporates shojo (girls’) story elements by having the series focus on relationships. Keiichi values his relationship with Belldandy, and they form an inseparable bond that grows as the story unfolds. Belldandy’s bond with her sisters and fellow goddesses is also important.
At the time of the initial publication of Oh My Goddess! the combination of shonen and shojo genres was not typical. Author Sharalyn Orbaugh credits the 1990’s as the decade of the hybrid genre boom, and Oh My Goddess! was the leader of the trend. The ongoing series continues to be popular.
Films
Ah! My Goddess—The Movie. Directed by Hiroaki Goda. Anime International Company/ADV Films, 2000. This film adaptation stars the voices of Masami Kikuchi as Keiichi and Kikuko Inoue as Belldandy. The film and the novels have different timelines.
Television Series
Ah! My Goddess! Directed by Hiroaki Goda. Anime International Company/TBS (Japan), 2005. This film adaption stars the voices of Kikuchi (Drew Aaron in the English translation) as Keiichi and Inoue (Eileen Stevens) as Belldandy. The series remains true to the core of the text but creates an alternate-universe story line.
The Adventures of the Mini Goddesses. Directed by Hiroko Kazui and Yasuhiro Matsumura. FUNimation, 1998-2003. The series differs completely from the manga. In this series, Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld shrink themselves to the size of rats and have numerous adventures while Keiichi is in class.
Further Reading
Akamatsu, Ken. Love Hina (2002-2003).
Clamp. Chobits (2002-2003).
Okuda, Hitoshi. Tenchi Muyo (2003-2006).
Bibliography
Clements, Jonathan, and Helen McCarthy. The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917. Berkeley, Calif.: Stone Bridge Press, 2001.
Lyga, Allyson A. W., and Barry Lyga. Graphic Novels in Your Media Center: A Definitive Guide. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2004.
Orbaugh, Sharalyn. “Busty Battlin’ Babes: The Evolution of the Shojo in 1990’s Visual Culture.” In Gender and Power in the Japanese Visual Field, edited by Norman Bryson, Maribeth Graybill, and Joshua S. Mostow. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003.