Title:
Oh My Goddess! Book OnePublisher’s rating:
NoneGenre:
ComedyPublisher's Website:
Dark HorseAnime:
AnimEigoSound bite:
A perpetual loser accidentally gets a goddess as a companion. Hilarious complications ensue. A winner.My rating:
Fine for all ages.Kid Reviews:
More details:
Plot Summary:
"I Dream of Jeannie" goes to Japan. The fun starts when college student Keiichi Morisato dials a wrong number and orders up a goddess by mistake. Belldandy, the goddess, can grant him one wish, and he wishes to have a goddess like her with him always. His wish is granted, and immediately life gets complicated, as he is thrown out of his males-only dorm. They crash with a video-game-obsessed friend but leave abruptly when he tries to put the moves on Belldandy. Keiichi pitches a tent so they can camp out, but Belldandy falls into a deep sleep, and, worried, he brings her to a temple, where the priest takes them in. After a few days, the priest leaves for India to study true Buddhism, explaining in his note that Belldandy has "awakened me to my spiritual imperfection." He leaves the temple to Keiichi and Belldandy, so now they have a place to live. With her imperfect powers, sweet nature, and complete cluelessness about the real world, Belldandy wreaks havoc at Keiichi's college, distracting all the male students. The most popular girl in school resents her and tries to win Keiichi away, but supernatural forces intervene, with comical results. Belldandy and Keiichi conspire to help a fellow student get a date with the girl he likes.
Keiichi realizes he has romantic feelings for Belldandy and pulls out an old copy of "Going Steady for Dummies." Over dinner, he starts to talk about romance (in very vague terms), but Belldandy interprets his flushed face and racing heartbeat as symptoms of a cold and zaps him into bed to get better. As he sleeps, she kisses him on the cheek—but when he wakes, he doesn't remember it.
In the final section, Keiichi's little sister Megumi arrives to take her college exams. Keiichi is delighted when she flourishes a handful of money, because he's broke, but he's worried that she will spread rumors about him living with a woman. He also needs to keep Belldandy's goddess status a secret. Keiichi and Belldandy help Megumi study for the exams, so she'll pass them and leave, but when she does pass, Keiichi is dismayed to learn that she has been accepted at the same college he attends.
Character and morality:
Keiichi and Belldandy are both pretty wholesome types. Keiichi means well but is a bit bewildered by his sudden good fortune. Nonetheless, he accepts the responsibility of protecting the incredibly naive Belldandy while going along with her wishes most of the time.
Like Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket, Belldandy is all sweetness, and her kind nature often influences the people around her. Although the two share living quarters, the book makes clear that nothing sexual is going on, and Keiichi's clumsiness and cluelessness ensure that nothing will happen in that direction for quite a while.
Violence:
Not much violence. Keiichi's roommates throw him out a window. The priest hits Keiichi with a stick because he doesn't meditate well (a Zen practice).
Sexuality/body functions:
A few suggestions of sexual situations, but nothing explicit. Keiichi's friend Sada is an obsessive video game addict who cannot communicate with real people. Belldandy tries to break through to him, but it goes awry: He thinks Belldandy is a simulation and reaches for her breasts. Keiichi stops him. A few pages later he tries to embrace Belldandy, but she pushes him away. Keiichi comes to the rescue again, and he takes Belldandy away, but Sada is permanently changed—from a video game addict to a porn addict (nothing explicit is shown).
After they leave Sada's house, Keiichi gets nervous at the realization that they will have to share a single sleeping bag. They go to the temple instead, and Keiichi freaks out the next morning when he wakes up in the same bed as Belldandy. Their host apologizes, saying, "I just assumed the two of you were lovers." After that they sleep side by side under different covers.
Language:
"This sucks," some "damn"s, "schmuck," and "Bite me."
Substances:
Keiichi smokes cigarettes.
