Ah! My Goddess Season Two

Every so often, there comes a series that really surprises me with how good it is. During recent anime club screenings, it was Yakitate Japan (a show involving, believe it or not, competitive bread making). During viewing on my own time, it's proved to be Ah! My Goddess: Sorezore no Tsubasa/Everyone Has Wings/Season Two, the sequel to the decent but rather flawed first season of the Ah! My Goddess TV show. According to what I've read, some people don't like the Second Season as much because it strays farther from the manga then the relatively faithful First Season, but as someone with limited (re: virtually non-existent) familiarity with the manga, I really enjoyed Sorezore no Tsubasa. Sure it had some weak spots near the end, but it's energetic and amusing, and the excellent production values that grace much of it's run (though unfortunately not all of it) don't hurt.

Since Sorezore no Tsubasa is a continuation of the first season, my plot synopsis is going to concentrate more on the early events in the First Season then those in the Second. After all, it's not like there's one overarching arc that takes the whole part of Season Two.

Belldandy emerges from Keiichi's mirror.

Keichi's reaction is about what you'd expect from someone who
suddenly saw a beautiful woman emerge from his mirror...

So, the plot of Ah! My Goddess is as follows (I know some of you may already know the plot, but bear with me, okay?): Keiichi Morisato is a dorm-dwelling student at the Nekomi Institute of Technology. He's a really, really nice guy, but he has really, really bad luck. Because his worthiness and his luck are out of balance, some higher power decides to give him a break, and when he tries to make a phone call he ends up connecting to the Goddess Assistance Agency, which dispatches a Goddess named Belldandy to grant him one wish (and one wish only). Of course, he suspects the appearance of a beautiful goddess in his room (she comes out of his mirror!) may be a joke being played on him by his Sempais (older students, for those of you who aren't familiar with the term) and, without fully thinking things through, wishes for a Goddess like her to be with him forever. Well, his wish is granted, the 'Ultimate Force' is put into effect enforcing it, and Keiichi is quickly kicked out of the males-only dorm he resides in. Thankfully Keiichi and Belldandy manage to find alternative accommodations and seem to get along quite well, though the development of the relationship that is kindled between them progresses rather slowly.

Belldandy's ultra-possessive little sister, Skuld.

At that point, the series could have turned rather stagnant had some wild cards not been introduced in a (somewhat) timely fashion. Foremost among these are Belldandy's sisters: her sexy elder half-sister Urd, who fancies herself a Goddess of Love and tries to meddle in Belldandy and Keiichi's relationship (generally by trying to get the shy Keiichi to approach Belldandy more aggressively) and her bratty younger sister Skuld, a genius inventor who is adamant that she's not going to let Keiichi steal her beloved 'onee-sama' (older sister) Belldandy from her. Naturally this puts her at odds with Urd, and it's rather amusing how they both threaten Keiichi in one particular Season One episode (damned if he does, damned if he doesn't).

Belldandy attempts to be bad...

...with somewhat lacklustre results.

Anyway, Season Two is just a continuation of Season One, but somehow it seems to work a fair bit better then its predecessor did. Notable moments in the new Season include Belldandy getting drunk on coke and granting wishes to everything in sight, Urd needing to seek the help of her mother Hild (the current ruler of Hell and the source of the demonic part of Urd’s half-divine, half-demonic heritage), and Belldandy –having been tricked into getting a Demon’s license- trying to protect Keiichi from harm by being bad (her idea of bad includes crossing the street against the light and reading a book at the bookstore without paying for it).

Urd, Belldandy's half-goddess, half-demon elder half sister and self styled
Goddess of Love. Am I the only one who's wondered how that outfit stays on?

One thing that hasn't changed from Season One however is the fact that Urd is still my favourite character. While in depth analysis can actually makes a good case that Belldandy is actually a reasonably complex character as well, you have to really think about it to see it in her case. Urd, by contrast, quite clearly has some depth to her, largely as a result of her half-divine, half-demonic parentage (puts a whole new perspective on the term 'dealing with your inner demon' doesn’t it?). On a more superficial level she's also more amusing then Belldandy due to the fact that she's easily bored and has a tendency towards being meddlesome. Her arrival in Season One gave the show a nice boost in energy.

Who knew Goddesses played bagpipes?

One other aspect of the series that deserves comment is the Opening Theme. Bagpipes and divinity are not generally associated with each other, but the OP for Season Two is a really beautiful piece of music, and its also got a nice set of images accompanying it. The only big issue I have with the new opening sequence is that it doesn’t feature enough Urd –we get a nice shot of her mother, Hild, but not much of Urd herself, which is kind of odd given that she’s one of the main characters.

Like mother, like daughter. Urd and her loving mother Hild. Don't let her
doting over her daughter fool you -Hild can be super scary when she wants to be.

Bottom line: Ah! My Goddess Season Two is not without its flaws, and if you’re familiar with the manga (and a stickler for literal adaptations) you might not be big on it. But if you’re like me and are not very familiar with the source material (or don't care very much if an adaptation takes some liberties), you might really like it. Too bad the First Season that proceeds it wasn’t a little better, huh?