''
Oh My Goddess!
, or ''Ah! My Goddess!'' in some releases, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōsuke Fujishima. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Afternoon'' from September 1988 to April 2014, ...
'', the manga by
Kōsuke Fujishima
is a Japanese manga artist.
He is known for his love of automobiles and motorcycles, and several of his series and their characters reflect this, such as in ''éX-Driver'' and ''Oh My Goddess!''.
Early life and career
Born in Chiba, Japan, ...
, has been adapted into five
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
versions between 1993 and 2007, including an
original video animation
, abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
(
OVA
, abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
), ''
The Adventures of Mini-Goddess
, or ''Ah! My Goddess!'' in some releases, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōsuke Fujishima. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Afternoon'' from September 1988 to April 2014, ...
'', ''
Ah! My Goddess
, or ''Ah! My Goddess!'' in some releases, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōsuke Fujishima. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Afternoon'' from September 1988 to April 2014, ...
'', and its sequels, ''
Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy'' and ''
Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings''.
In 1993,
Anime International Company
, often abbreviated as AIC is a Japanese animation studio founded on June 15, 1982 and located in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. On December 10, 2015, AIC RIGHTS Co., Ltd was established through a company split, in which AIC Rights received the transfer ...
produced a five-episode OVA series based on the manga series.
Its success inspired a spinoff TV series entitled ''The Adventures of Mini-Goddess''. Produced by
Oriental Light and Magic
, formerly Oriental Light and Magic, is a Japanese animation and film studio headquartered in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, founded on October 3, 1990.
Establishment
OLM was founded as Oriental Light & Magic, Inc. on October 3rd, 1990 by Toshiaki O ...
and initially aired on
WOWOW in 1998 and 1999, the plot revolved around the adventures of three miniaturized goddesses and their rat companion Gan-chan, all of whom live in a temple home.
In 2005,
Tokyo Broadcasting System
formerly is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network and radio network . It has a 28-affiliate television network called JNN (Japan News Network), as well as a 34-affili ...
(TBS) began broadcasting ''Ah! My Goddess'', a new series directed by Hiroaki Gōda and animated by Anime International Company.
It ran for 24 episodes between January 7 and July 8, 2005.
A sequel also animated by Anime International Company and directed by Gōda, ''Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy'', aired on TBS between April 6 and September 14, 2006.
A two-episode special entitled ''Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings'', animated by Anime International Company and directed by Gōda, was broadcast on TBS on December 9, 2007.
Each series was licensed to a different American publisher.
AnimEigo
AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. Founded in 1988 by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams III, the company was one of the first in North America dedicated to licensi ...
received the rights to publish the OVA in
Region 1 and released five VHS tapes and two DVDs.
''The Adventures of Mini-Goddess'' was licensed to
Geneon Entertainment
(abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan.
Th ...
(under their old name, Pioneer Entertainment) and was released to four DVDs.
''Ah! My Goddess'' was licensed by
Media Blasters
Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...
, who released all 26 episodes on 6 DVD compilations.
However, Media Blasters declined the sequel (''Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy''); it was instead licensed to
ADV Films
A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...
, who released six DVD compilations.
and then to
Funimation
Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...
, who later released a boxset in November 25, 2008. Thirteen pieces of
theme music
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
are used in the different series: four opening themes and nine ending themes. The Japanese production companies or the holders of the licenses in Region 1 released several
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
s and
drama CD
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...
s as well.
__TOC__
OVA series
First series
From late 1993 to early 1994, the
original video animation
, abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
series was produced by
Anime International Company
, often abbreviated as AIC is a Japanese animation studio founded on June 15, 1982 and located in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. On December 10, 2015, AIC RIGHTS Co., Ltd was established through a company split, in which AIC Rights received the transfer ...
, featuring the central characters of Kosuke Fujishima's
Oh My Goddess!
, or ''Ah! My Goddess!'' in some releases, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōsuke Fujishima. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Afternoon'' from September 1988 to April 2014, ...
series.
It is distributed by
Pony Canyon
, also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...
in Japan and by
AnimEigo
AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. Founded in 1988 by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams III, the company was one of the first in North America dedicated to licensi ...
in North America.
The English dub was produced by Coastal Carolina Studios. The storyline initially parallels the early parts of the original manga and is similar to early episodes of the later 2005 TV series; the first three episodes of the OVA cover the same story as episodes one through ten of the 2005 series. However, episodes four and five do not follow the manga or any other TV series.
The series was initially released straight to VHS between February 21, 1993 and May 17, 1994.
It was reissued twice in North America on VHS and LaserDisc format: once between June 29, 1994 and August 31, 1994
and again between May 29, 1996 and June 28, 1996.
It was also released to two DVDs on August 14, 2001 and October 9, 2001 respectively.
Both the opening theme, , and the ending theme, "Congratulations", are sung by the
Goddess Family Club
A goddess is a female deity. In many known cultures, goddesses are often linked with literal or metaphorical pregnancy or imagined feminine roles associated with how women and girls are perceived or expected to behave. This includes themes of s ...
.
Ah! My Goddess (2011)
#episode 1 bundled with manga vol. 42 special edition
#episode 2 bundled with manga vol. 43 special edition
#episode 3 released prior bundled with manga vol. 46
Three pieces of music themes was used. "Everlasting" by
FripSide
fripSide is a Japanese pop and trance duo originally formed by composer Satoshi Yaginuma (Sat) and singer Nao in February 2002.
History
In a 2008 interview, Satoshi said that he was a fan of TM Network and its member Tetsuya Komuro in his elem ...
used as the opening theme song. For episodes 1 and 2 "Friendship" (友情, ''Yuujou'') and episode 3 "THIS LOVE" sung by the Goddess Family Club are the closing theme song.
Television series
The Adventures of Mini-Goddess
''
The Adventures of Mini-Goddess
, or ''Ah! My Goddess!'' in some releases, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōsuke Fujishima. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Afternoon'' from September 1988 to April 2014, ...
'', or, when literally translated from its original Japanese title, ''Ah! My Goddess: Being Small is Convenient'', is a Japanese
animated
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
TV series and that had 48 episodes aired during its run from 1998 to 1999.
It was directed by Hiroko Kazui and Yasuhiro Matsumura and was produced by
Oriental Light and Magic
, formerly Oriental Light and Magic, is a Japanese animation and film studio headquartered in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan, founded on October 3, 1990.
Establishment
OLM was founded as Oriental Light & Magic, Inc. on October 3rd, 1990 by Toshiaki O ...
. It premiered as a part of the omnibus show
Anime Complex
''Anime Complex'' was a series of omnibus Japanese anime shows broadcast on WOWOW and Kids Station. It featured two unrelated series from various producers (notably Bandai Visual and Pony Canyon) of 15 minutes each per airing, and cycled as one ...
on
WOWOW.
In Region 1, it was licensed to and distributed by
Geneon Entertainment
(abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise headquartered in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. It is primarily involved in the production and distribution of anime within Japan.
Th ...
, formerly known as Pioneer Entertainment.
The series does not follow the manga closely; instead, it describes the adventures of the miniaturized three goddesses and their rat companion Gan-chan, who live in their temple home.
In Japan, the season was released by
Pony Canyon
, also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...
on both DVD and VHS. Six VHS tapes were released between December 18, 1998 and October 20, 1999.
Later, six DVDs were released between May 19, 1999 and October 20, 1999.
A boxed set was released to Japan on February 20, 2008.
For Region 1, the season was licensed to Geneon Entertainment, under the name Pioneer Entertainment.
They released the season to four DVD compilations, each containing 12 episodes, between February and August 2002.
Like Pony Canyon, Geneon Entertainment released a limited-edition boxed set of the DVDs on July 1, 2003.
''The Adventures of Mini-Goddess'' has two pieces of theme music, both of which are ending themes. by Yuki Ishii served as the ending theme for episodes 1–24,
and "XXX (Kiss Kiss Kiss)" by Splash! served as the ending theme for episodes 25–48.
Ah! My Goddess
The episodes of the Japanese
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series ''
Ah! My Goddess
, or ''Ah! My Goddess!'' in some releases, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōsuke Fujishima. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Afternoon'' from September 1988 to April 2014, ...
'' are directed by Hiroaki Gōda, animated by
Anime International Company
, often abbreviated as AIC is a Japanese animation studio founded on June 15, 1982 and located in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. On December 10, 2015, AIC RIGHTS Co., Ltd was established through a company split, in which AIC Rights received the transfer ...
, and produced by
Tokyo Broadcasting System
formerly is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network and radio network . It has a 28-affiliate television network called JNN (Japan News Network), as well as a 34-affili ...
(TBS) and
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
.
The series focuses on the beginning of the manga series, when
Keiichi summons
Belldandy
is a fictional character in the popular anime and manga series ''Oh My Goddess!''. She was created by Kōsuke Fujishima as one of three Goddesses who come to Earth to reside with Keiichi Morisato, and she serves as his love interest. She is de ...
and wishes for her to remain with him forever and uses material from the first 20 volumes of the series over 24 episodes.
The season began in Japan, on TBS, on January 7, 2005, and ended on July 8, 2005.
Bandai Visual
was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America.
Most of the anime and ...
released eight DVD compilations in Japan between April and November 2005, each containing three episodes.
The two OVAs, which had not been broadcast, were released on a special DVD on December 23, 2005.
The English adaptation is licensed by
Media Blasters
Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...
, who released all 26 episodes on 6 DVD compilations between September 2005 and July 2006, to Region 1.
Each episode uses two pieces of theme music, one opening theme and one of two closing themes. by
Yoko Ishida
is a Japanese singer. She is known for having performed theme songs for anime shows such as ''Prétear'', ''Ai Yori Aoshi'', the ''Ah! My Goddess'' TV series and the ''Strike Witches'' series, as well as for having sung for the Para Para Max CD ...
was used as the opening theme for every episode.
One through twelve and the finale, episode 24, ended with , also by Yoko Ishida;
episodes 13–23 and 25–26 closed with "Wing", by
Yoko Takahashi
is a Japanese singer, who is best known for her work throughout the 1990s, most particularly for her singles which were performed for and featured in anime, most notably the ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' franchise.
Career
Takahashi began her ...
;.
Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy
The episodes of the Japanese
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series ''
Ah! My Goddess: Everyone Has Wings'', officially named ''Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy'' in North America, are directed by Hiroaki Gōda, animated by Anime International Company, and produced by TBS and Kodansha.
Like its predecessor, the anime does not follow the manga chronologically.
The plot follows the adventures of
Keiichi and
Belldandy
is a fictional character in the popular anime and manga series ''Oh My Goddess!''. She was created by Kōsuke Fujishima as one of three Goddesses who come to Earth to reside with Keiichi Morisato, and she serves as his love interest. She is de ...
in the aftermath of the
Lord of Terror fiasco.
It premiered on TBS on April 6, 2006 and concluded on September 14, 2006, continuing the storyline from season one.
Season two concluded with episode 22, although the Japanese and North American DVD releases include episodes 23 and 24. It was released to DVD in Japan between July 2006 and February 2007 by
Bandai Visual
was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America.
Most of the anime and ...
.
Media Blasters
Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...
, who released the first season, declined to produce this season; it was licensed to
ADV Films
A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...
instead. ADV Films released the season on six DVD compilations, each containing four episodes, between May and March 2007.
The rights were then transferred to
Funimation
Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...
, who released a boxed set on November 25, 2007.
The episodes featured three pieces of theme music: one opening theme and two closing themes. by
Yoko Ishida
is a Japanese singer. She is known for having performed theme songs for anime shows such as ''Prétear'', ''Ai Yori Aoshi'', the ''Ah! My Goddess'' TV series and the ''Strike Witches'' series, as well as for having sung for the Para Para Max CD ...
served as the opening theme song. For episodes 1–11, , also by Yoko Ishida, served as the ending, and episodes 12–24 ended with by
Jyukai.
Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings
''Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings by Aya Yanagi'' is a two-episode special that commemorates the 20th anniversary of the original publication of ''
Oh My Goddess!
, or ''Ah! My Goddess!'' in some releases, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kōsuke Fujishima. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Monthly Afternoon'' from September 1988 to April 2014, ...
''.
It was directed by Hiroaki Gōda, animated by Anime International Company, and produced by TBS and Kodansha.
The episodes aired on December 8, 2007.
Bandai Visual
was a Japanese anime, film production, and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai and a subsidiary of Bandai Namco Holdings. They focused mainly in international distribution of anime properties in North America.
Most of the anime and ...
released the episodes to a single DVD in Japan on February 22, 2008.
The episodes, however, have yet to be licensed and released to Region 1.
Both the opening theme, , and the closing theme, , are played by
Jyukai.
Note
A. Episode 12.5 was not included in the English DVD releases and consequently has no official U.S. title. In addition, the episode is not officially numbered but was aired between episodes 12 and 13.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh My Goddess! episodes