Ah! My Goddess Vol. #1 Limited Edition

    September 22, 2000
Release Date: September 22, 2000



What They Say
DVD edition of the OVA series with an enormous cult following. Comes with a box. A new movie will be in theaters this autumn (2000) in Japan, and this pre-order only limited edition comes with an admission ticket for the movie! PLEASE NOTE that the ticket can only be used in THEATERS IN JAPAN during the movie's first run.

The Review!
After years of waiting, Ah! My Goddess (Aa Megami-sama) OAV series has finally come to DVD... in Japan. KSS Films should be applauded for their outstanding job in bringing one of the greatest anime series to DVD. This DVD contains episodes #1 and #2 of the OAV series. Ah! My Goddess is a series that should need no introduction, but for those that aren't familiar with it, AMG is essentially a wonderful, light-hearted romantic comedy anime series from the creator of "You're Under Arrest!" - Kosuke Fujishima. From the wonderful anime content, to the awesome Limited Edition DVD packaging, to the beautiful digitally remastered DVD transfer, Ah! My Goddess Vol. 1 DVD is yet another stunning import DVD that deserves a place in any anime fan's home.

The story is about Keichi Morisato, a college student at Nekomi Tech. One day while stuck "house-sitting" at the dorm, he decides to order food for delivery, and accidentally misdials a restaurant and calls the "Goddess Hotline" instead! They take it that Keichi has called upon one of them and instantly Belldandy, a real goddess, appears via a mirror in front of Keichi! He thinks it's a big joke (pulled off by his college seniors), and when he gets asked by Belldandy what his wish would be, he asks that she be with him forever. Thinking it was a joke, Keichi is stunned when Belldandy actually contacts God (to approve the wish) and tells Keichi that his wish has been officially granted! From there, the story takes off to sweet and interesting directions!

One pattern that many anime DVD's are going through in Japan is either: (1) The company takes it's recent LD Master and dumps it onto DVD - this is seen with Cowboy Bebop and Escaflowne DVD's - which results in some rainbowing (moire effect) and not-as-crisp-as-it-could-be picture quality; or (2) the company will digitally remaster the anime, which results in stunning, crisp DVD transfers like "Giant Robo GIGA Premium Collection DVD Box Set" and now, Ah! My Goddess OAV DVD's.

Folks, this is one of the most beautiful DVD transfers I've seen (next to Giant Robo GIGA and Love Hina DVD's). Besides the Opening Song - which has some very, very minor rainbowing (weird) - the rest of the entire episodes and endings are all perfect. Zero artifacting. Zero rainbowing. Flawless! I checked it out on my stand-alone Pioneer DV-606D DVD player via my S-Video Mitsubishi 36" TV set-up and it was gorgeous! It makes my heart happy that we've finally gained a perfect video transfer for such a great series. The colors are rich and the blacks held up flawlessly. And with art based on Kosuke Fujishima (who also did the art for Sakura Taisen and You're Under Arrest!), how could you go wrong? All the characters are beautifully drawn and wonderfully animated.

The audio is solid as well, with good Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. But the highlight of the audio is the audio content itself: Ah! My Goddess OAV series contains one of the best anime soundtracks ever created. It certainly isn't "epic" or "god-inspiring," but seriously, every single music track (background music) is fitting and well-written. There isn't one piece of music in AMG that doesn't have a beautiful melody to it. It's one of the most listened to CD's I have. And the Opening and End songs are wonderfully sung by the three main voice actresses for AMG - Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld, and are among some of the best Anime JPOP songs ever created - very happy and cute.

Which brings me to the voice actors: Ah! My Goddess OAV series features three of the most popular and skilled seiyuu in the industry today. Kikuko Inoue (Kasumi (Ranma ½)) plays Belldandy, Yumi Touma (Deedlit (Lodoss War OAV)) plays sister Urd, and Aya Hisakawa (Ichino "It-chan" (Battle Athletes TV), Kero-chan (Cardcaptor Sakura)) plays little sister Skuld. Their voices truly bring the three goddesses to life.

Lastly, the DVD extras are great as well: The Limited Edition DVD comes with a gorgeous DVD box with beautiful art from the anime series, and there's a Limited Edition Ah! My Goddess Trading Card that comes with it as well. The DVD also comes with a non-credit (clean) Ending sequence for both episode 1 and 2 as a bonus which is really nice. There's also bonus trailers and TV commercials for Ah! My Goddess: The Movie, Sakura Taisen, You're Under Arrest!, and EX-Driver.

Ah! My Goddess Limited Edition DVD Vol.1 is a fantastic DVD to own: from the gorgeous art quality, to the cute and romantic storyline, to the stunning DVD transfer, this is well worth the money. Here's to hoping that AnimEigo will digitally remaster their US release of the series next year, but after seeing and comparing their release of Bubblegum Crisis OAV DVD's with the beautiful Japanese, digitally remastered region 2 DVD's, there's little hope. But either way, Ah! My Goddess OAV series is the perfect series to get and cuddle up with loved ones, or just to enjoy the holidays with. Happy Holidays!

Features
Japanese Language 2.0 Stereo,Digitally Remastered Video and Audio,Limited Edition: DVD Box,Limited Edition: Ah! My Goddess Trading Card,Non-credit (clean) Ending OAV #1,
Non-credit (clean) Ending OAV #2,
Ah! My Goddess (Aa Megami-sama): The Movie Trailer,Sakura Taisen Commercial,You're Under Arrest (Taiho Shichauzo): The Movie Commercial,You're Under Arrest (Taiho Shichauzo) OAV / TV Commercial,EX-Driver OAV Commercial

Review Equipment
Pioneer DV-606D (Code Free) DVD Player, Mitsubishi CS-3503R 35" TV, Yamaha RX-V2095 DD / DTS Receiver, MIT S-Video cable, KEF C85 Front speakers, B&W Center, Infinity Rear speakers, and NHT Subwoofer.