The Essentials
Name: Ah! My Goddess: The Movie, Gekijouban Aa! Megamisama!
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Science Fiction
Episodes: N/A
Released: TV: Decmeber 21, 2000
Based On: Oh! My Goddess manga by Kosuke Fujishima, Oh! My Goddess OVA by Hiroaki Gohda
Director: Hiroaki Gohda, Makoto Bessho
Produced By: Dentsu, AIC
US Distribution By: Pioneer/Geneon
Major Japanese Cast
Belldandy: Kikuko Inoue
Keiichi Morisato: Masami Kikuchi
Celestine: Hiroshi Yanaka
Morgan Le Fay: Ayako Kawasumi
Urd: Yumi Touma
Skuld: Aya Hisakawa
Peorth: Rei Sakuma
Megumi Morisato: Yuriko Fuchizaki
Major English Cast
Belldandy: Ruby Marlowe
Keiichi Morisato: Rafael Antonio Oliver
Celestine: David Lucas
Morgan Le Fay: Lia Sargent
Urd: Melissa Williamson
Skuld: Sherry Lynn
Peorth: Anne Sherman
Megumi Morisato: Stephanie Greene
Scores
Animation: 10/10 (x 4 = 40 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherency/Story Arc: N/A
English Dubs: 9/10 (x 1 = 9 pts)
Gut Score: 8/10 (x 5 = 40 pts)
Total: 157/180 (87.2%)
Review
Ah! My Goddess: The Movie is loosely based on the Oh! My Goddess OVA series in the sense that it is supposed to exist in that telling of the Ah! My Goddess franchises’ universe, but nothing specific that occurs in the OVA series has an effect on the movie.
Ah! My Goddess: The Movie is about a god - Celestin - who believes that all lifeforms that exist in the universe should be on equal footings with the gods and goddesses. In the past he defied the will of The Almighty in pursuit of his goal and, as a result, lost the ability to transform into his corporal form on his own and was imprisoned on the moon. Move ahead quite a bit into the future, 3 years after Belldandy arrived on earth. A fairy princess whose human form is named Morgan Le Fay arrives and unseals Celestin from his prison and who is able to lend her body to Celestin, allowing him to turn into his corporeal form.
With his ability to take on his “human” form back, Celestin goes to earth and meets up with Belldandy, who happened to be his apprentice in heaven. He infects Belldandy with a virus that wipes all of her memories of Keiichi and, through her connection to Yggdrasil, infects the heavenly computer.
While Keiichi, Urd, and Skuld try to find a way to bring Belldandy’s memory back on earth, Peorth and other Yggdrasil administrators attempt to stop the progress of the virus from getting even deeper into the system as the mystery of what is Celestin’s connection to Belldandy and what Celestin’s true goal is unraveled.
Probably the only real negative I can say about this movie is that one may not fully understand exactly what is occurring during the climax of the movie. I’ve seen the movie many times, and I’m still not sure I completely understand exactly what is going on, though I clearly get what, generally, Celestin is trying to accomplish.
I think the animation is of pretty high quality in this movie. The music is also very good and fits the mood of the movie. The dub is also pretty good I thought. I think most people who are even just a aware of the basic premise of the Ah! My Goddess franchise will be able to appreciate and enjoy this movie.
First Watched: March 2006
Do I Own: Yes
Do I Recommend: Yes
