First published in 1988, Oh My Goddess is a love/comedy manga from Kosuke Fujishima, who was also responsible for You're Under Arrest. It has been going strong and in Japan, 22 volumes have already been published. The Oh My Goddess franchise has also spawned off, a five part OAV, original music CDs, computer games, stationary, stickers, figures and other such collectables . Recently, the movie has also been released in Japan.

Summary : Oh my Goddess follows the story of university student Keiichi Morisato, who accidentally misdials the Goddess helpline number when trying to reach his colleague, Tamiya . Enter (through a mirror) , Belldandy, the beautiful goddess who grants Keiichi one wish. Astonished by this turn of good luck he thinks that this must be some sort of joke set up by his colleagues, and so, wishes for Belldandy to be with him always. The wish does indeed come true, and unfortunately Keiichi's colleagues arrives to the all male dormitory and finds him in what seems to be a ....well ...compromising situation. Promptly they both get thrown out, and so, Keiichi, with Belldandy, heads forth to start a new life at a new home.


So what's it like? : Oh My Goddess is awesome...okay....end of review....go out and buy it. Still here? Right...... The stories revolve (mostly) around Belldandy and Keiichi, who are supported by a cast of other characters, and what a fine bunch they are. There's the Nekomi Tech group and the two other goddesses, Urd and Skuld as well as others such as Mara and Sayoko, so there's no lack of diversity in the stories which range from simple holiday trips to racing competitions to saving the universe from some evil demon! Kosuke Fujishima has managed to make each character distinctive and unique, each with qualities which adds to the manga as a whole - for instance there's Urd, the 'badass' with a big heart, and Aoshima who's hopelessly enraptured by Belldandy.

I must also comment on the humour.....it is some of best I've read for ages. Either from the incredibly naive Belldandy or Urd's quick fire remarks - it manages to be funny without trying to hard. There is just the right amount of comedy and sweetness to make this a much more balanced and compelling read.

The art is initially pretty good but later is up there with the very best of them, through the volumes you can see how Fujishima's art develops as characters become more sharp and defined. In the first volume you will also notice that the art in issue one is totally different from issue two (Belldandy is almost unrecognisable if not for her signature costume), this is because in reality, 12 issues are missing between them. - So it's not really issue two, but Dark Horse still listed it as that in the front cover .

- Ross Liversidge

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