It can be interesting to compare anime designed for different mediums. Shows designed for a television audience have a strict time limit that each episode must operate in, and the weekly deadlines sometime seem to lead to a lowering of quality in animation, color depth, and sound. An OVA oftentimes has much more freedom to fit its form to whatever best allows the director to find his or her creative goal, as there is no strict timeframe to meet, either for length of each episode or for when the episode has to be completed. Still, no matter the quality of the resulting animation and sound, the product is designed for viewing on televisions, oftentimes with less-than-optimal picture and sound capabilities.

The ultimate flexing of creative muscle tends to occur in anime designed to be seen in a theatre. A film shown in a theatre has some guarantee that the cinema house will ensure a high-quality presentation of the material, so there is extra incentive for the creative staff to do their best and put out the grandest possible product.

Such is the case for the Ah! My Goddess movie. While the original OVAs from the early '90s still hold up well almost a dozen years later, they pale in comparison to the stunning beauty of the movie, which takes full advantage of technical advancements in animation (and a larger budget) to deliver some breathtaking visuals. The musical score also sees a significant upgrade, as we see a move from a mostly-synthesized sound to a full orchestral score.

The musical composers, Nobuo Uematsu (the ending theme and karaoke scene song) and Shirou Hamaguchi (everything else), are backed by the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and the Warsaw Chorus for everything but the "pop" music pieces (Sora and Belldandy's songs, and the closing theme). The use of a full symphonic orchestra allows the score to find a depth that is often lacking with a smaller variety of instruments. Specifically, the heavy use of strings in a symphonic orchestra lends much of the music an ethereal quality that cannot be gained any other way. This ethereal and light feel fits the goddess characters very well, and Belldandy especially so. Let me be blunt with you; this is one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard, for anime or live action, film or television, Japanese or American. Not only does the music do a fantastic job of supporting the film, but this soundtrack performs the rare feat of working even better as a stand-alone album. All of the instrumental tracks flow together well, and the vocal tracks are spaced so as to provide some needed breaks in the overall flow of the music. The tracks on this album do not all appear in the order they appeared in the film. Sometimes I find this approach annoying, but it works very well here and helps the album stand better on its own than it otherwise would.

One interesting artistic choice is the use of Latin in the choral pieces. I will assume that the composer felt that the use of Latin, through its heavy association with the Catholic church, made sense as the music of heaven. Many of the songs even have Latin names.

Now onwards into the actual music. One of the difficulties in reviewing this album is that when listening to it, you can tell that there is a general "theme" that almost repeats in a number of the tracks. Such is the composers' skill, however, that there is no actual repetition, or at least none that I could identify. Many tracks have sections that are very close to sections in other tracks, but everything actually keeps some unique properties. Additionally, even though the tracks on the album don't directly map to their location in the film, you can still detect a general 'darkening' of the music as the album progresses, which does link to the progression of Belldandy's condition throughout the film.

Even though the album as a whole is put together so well, I still have some favorite tracks. The ninth track, Together We Can, has always given me goose bumps (it has a wonderful nylon-string guitar part), and it probably stands as my favorite track on the album. The New World Prelude does an excellent job of thematically tying up the album before the ending theme, as it touches once again on those elusive themes that you have heard throughout the album. It tracks the overall album well, as it starts out pretty happy, then gets melancholy, then ends in a triumphant brass and string crescendo. And those of you who can't get enough choral singing will definitely enjoy the 'bonus track,' Cantilena Angel. This track is sung entirely in Latin by the Warsaw Chorus, and provides a softer ending to the album than would be obtained by ending with the pop-styled ending theme. Because most of the album is symphonic, ending with a symphonic/choral number was a smart choice.

To sum up, everyone who is a fan of Ah! My Goddess needs to own this album. Everyone who enjoys excellent symphonic music needs to own this album. And everyone who likes good anime soundtracks needs to own this album, as it is simply one of the best out there, period.