Click here to watch the 2005 season of Ah! My Goddess on Hulu.
Click here to watch the 2006 season of Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy on Hulu.
(Scrolling to the bottom of the Hulu page gives you the option of clicking on them in the correct order.)

Belldandy the Goddess

Ah! My Goddess, or Aa Megami-sama as it is known in Japan, is the gold standard for romantic, sentimental, and sweet anime series. To learn about its history and background, read the Wikipedia entry.

The story has been represented in manga (comic book), OVA (original video animation), and anime form (both as a television series and movie) for more than 20 years, so the characters and their back stories are well developed.

The creator of the AMG universe draws indiscriminately from several mythologies and cultures to bring the viewer an all-new experience. Norse imagery is invoked in the form of the three sisters Belldandy (a transliteration of Verdandi), Urd, and Skuld. The lucky protagonist, Keichi Morisato, is one of the few characters of obvious Japanese descent, and he displays traditional cultural values such as thrift (he drives an old BMW motorcycle and re-uses discarded computers), respect for women (he takes forever to hold Belldandy’s hand), and bravery.

I discovered AMG through Netflix’s wonderful Suggestions feature. Hulu and YouTube also have episodes available.

Because AMG has been around so long, gone through so many iterations, and been imported by a variety of distributors, keeping the stories straight requires some research. This episode guide will provide some help.

1993 There were five episodes released as OVA in 1993. The short series went by the name Oh! My Goddess, which makes it hard to locate when databases do not know to link it to the later name. I’ve seen three shows from this series, but Netflix never has the disc with the rest of the episodes available. My favorite is called “Burning Hearts on the Road” and features Keichi’s very realistic attempt to build and race a drag bike. (I assume it was also the inspiration for the image seen above, which is hanging in my garage as a wall scroll.)

1998 An unusual offshoot of the AMG series came in the form of “The Adventures of Mini-Goddess” in 1998. For 48 episodes, Belldandy, her sisters, and a rat generally goofed off in a made-for-kids kind of way. I’ve watched a few of the shows and was not smitten with it.

2000 AMG: The Movie came out in 2000 and really modernized the style of the show. The film animation was much smoother than what we saw with the ’93 OVA.

2005 Ah! My Goddess came to television (in Japan, anyway) as a 26-part series. All titles start with “Ah!” and are a bit clumsy to say, such as “Ah! Can You Pass the Love Test with Those Low Scores?” and “Ah! The Queen and the Goddess’ Secret.” The animation of the ’05 series looks very much like that of the ’00 movie. In the series, the AMG story begins from scratch, with Belldandy meeting Keichi in his dorm room after he accidentally calls the Goddess Hotline. We get to watch their relationship develop over the course of a year. My favorite episode from this series is “Ah! Can the Auto Club Triumph?” about Keichi’s college car club and its campaign to win a rally. Actually, picking a favorite from this great show is difficult. Removing the subject of cars from the equation, I would say “Ah! Urd’s Little Romance” is just about the cutest and sweetest of the bunch. You can watch it below. (Be aware that the glitches are not my fault. All of the episodes on YouTube have this problem. Just skip ahead a couple of seconds, and everything works fine.)

2006 For 2006, the series was called Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy. The 24 episodes were a continuation of the previous series, and they do not disappoint. My favorite episodes are the four-part story arc involving the goddess Peorth, who is introduced in “Ah! I Shall Grant Your Wish!” Currently, it is possible to watch Season 2 of the 2005-2006 television series on Netflix Instant Watch, although it is necessary to order the discs to see Season 1 of that series.

2008 A two-episode special called Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings was broadcast on Japanese television in 2008 but has yet to be released in the United States. Fans of the series have posted rough recordings of Fighting Wings on YouTube, where they must be watched in 12-minute increments.

There is an interesting relationship between the 2000 movie and the 2005-’06 series. If you have never watched AMG but are interested, I recommend viewing the 2005 series, then the 2006 series, then the 2000 movie. The movie begins with Keichi and Belldandy having been together for three years, or roughly the period covered by the later series. My feeling is that the story flows very cleanly when watched in this order. In fact, I think there are some clues to this in the fact that Keichi’s motorcycle helmet and riding gear are identical in the final episode of the 2006 series to what he wears in the movie.

The theme music is another point worth mentioning. Yoko Ishida is the singer/songwriter who does a wonderful job combining bagpipes, piano, and a wistful voice to create the kind of tune that gets stuck in your head. Listen for yourself to this high-quality recording I found on YouTube.

If you watch AMG and get hooked like me, visit the Goddess Project to get your fix of all things Belldandy.