Oh My Goddess! is a story about love, family, and the kind of filthy-rotten luck every warm-blooded male wishes he had. This OVA sports memorable characters and a fun storyline, and is one of the more light-hearted anime out there. It's not without its serious moments, though they are few. While most of the pieces that make up this anime are just above average themselves, they all come together to form something special.

A bit about the title is first on the agenda. Oh My Goddess! is the brainchild of Kousuke Fujishima, a talented artist and writer. At the moment of conception, he gave his work the name Ah! Megami-sama (this is just a phonetic spelling, of course). A direct translation would suggest that the title in English should be "Ah! My Goddess", and it is the title Pioneer used for its localization of the Ah! Megami-sama movie. When AnimEigo went about localizing the OVA, they pointed out the possible word play "Oh My Goddess!" to Fujishima-san, and according to them he liked it. Because of this, both titles could be considered proper for an English adaptation.

The story focuses on two characters: Keiichi Morisato the college student, and Belldandy the goddess. The story begins at Keiichi's dormitory, where he has been tasked by upper-classmen to watch over the dorm and take phone calls. They were kind enough to not leave Keiichi any food, so he makes a phone call to order takeout. After several failed attempts at ordering food, he accidentally dials the wrong number and gets the "Goddess Hotline", where the woman on the other end says she'll meet him for a consulation. After freaking Keiichi out by appearing out of a mirror, she introduces herself as Belldandy, and says to him that she can grant one wish. Thinking it's all a big joke, Keiichi wishes she were his girlfriend. He soon finds out it's not a joke, and gets thrown out of his dorm for having a girl inside. Throughout the course of the story, we meet Keiichi's sister Megumi, and Belldandy's sisters Urd and Skuld. Though it's a short series, weighing in at only 5 episodes, most of the characters get a fair share of screen time. The strengths of the story are its entertainment value, its moral values, and the fact that it just makes you feel good. The elements of the story are cohesive, and the pacing is just right. What the story lacks is depth. It's not very thought provoking or profound, just fun.

The first meeting between a good-looking goddess and a confused Keiichi.	Wow, and it only took 2 episodes. This guy's good!

The music for this anime is well done, but somewhat lacking in variety. The lack of change does not cause a problem for the show, however, because the story is of a static nature too. The vocal songs for the series are highly enjoyable, and fit well with its premise. One thing worth mentioning is that all of the background music is good, and is entertaining with or without video accompaniment.

The animation quality is somewhat a matter of preference. Most motion is fairly fluid. Some of the motion is jerky, but it seems as if that was the intended approach. The only technical issue I noticed was something that appears many times in animation and is fairly common. That issue is a lack of smoothness when panning a static scene. Because of the low framerate of animation, scenes like this will always jerk a little. The character designs in this anime are absolutely wonderful. The level of detail that went into the designs really shows, not just in the faces and bodies, but the clothing as well.

The DVD release of this OVA comes in two volumes, with the first 3 episodes on the first, and the last 2 on the second. Available languages are the standard fare, English and Japanese in stereo. The packaging is rather well done, and contains some nifty artwork and episode synopses. The insert in the first disc contains production notes, song lyrics, and a short explanation of the mythology behind the goddesses. Extras on both volumes include an image gallery, a "dub your own" feature where you can watch the show without voice or subtitles, a "silent movie" mode with subtitles and without voice, and commentary with or without subtitles.

In summary, Oh My Goddess! is a fun anime suitable for all audiences, and the perfect anime for those who're looking for something light-hearted. I would personally recommend this anime to anyone on the merit of character designs alone, but as an added bonus, the other aspects of it are good too.

Distributor: AnimEigo
Creator: Kodansha
Released: 1993

Plot: B+
Character Design: A+
Animation Quality: A
Music: A
Overall: A