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[Adventures of the Mini-Goddess box art]
AKA: ああっ女神さまっ 小っちゃいって事は便利だねっ (Aa! Megamisama! Chicchaitte Koto wa Benri Da Ne), Oh My Goddess: Isn't It Co
Genre: Fantasy parody
Length: Television series, 48 episodes, 7 minutes each
Distributor: R1 DVD from Geneon out of print
Content Rating: Y7 (mild slapstick violence)
Related Series: Ah My Goddess: The Movie, Oh My Goddess
Also Recommended: Ah My Goddess the Movie, Oh My Goddess
Notes: Based on a four-panel parody manga by Fujishima Kousuke, a spinoff of his "Oh My Goddess" series.
Rating:

The Adventures of Mini-Goddess

Synopsis

This collection of shorts features Urd, Skuld, Belldandy, and Gan-chan, the Morisato household rat, in a series of comedic misadventures (usually the fault of Urd and Skuld).


Review

If you haven't seen Oh My Goddess, or really didn't care for it if you did watch it, don't bother watching this.

Similarly, if your idea of humor does not include the "gag panel" style of comedy manga, where your favorite character is placed in various slapstick situations, then don't bother watching this.

However, if you don't mind shutting your brain off for a little while and thinking, gee, what havoc could Urd and Skuld wreak on an unsuspecting rodent, then Adventures of the Mini-Goddess is for you.

Gag-panel style manga isn't meant to be intelligent; it's meant to poke fun at the series in question and certain aspects of Japanese pop culture. So when Gan is mutated by mold into the beast Gabira (there's even a fake Toho logo in the beginning of the short), watch for all the cliches of the monster films from the 50s right down to the last Gamera flick. Baseball movies, the Aliens series, and the history of flight and space exploration are also treated likewise. Yes, it's improbable. Yes, it's stupid. But it's worth a chuckle or two if you're in the right mood. (Or even rolling on the floor if it's *really* silly.) And it's actually a riot to see Urd acting like Belldandy for ten minutes. (Don't ask me how it happens, just watch the darn series.)

For a series of shorts, the animation is surprisingly good, almost up to the level of the original OAV series. Characterization and plot are totally unnecessary - if you're expecting that out of an SD feature, then you've already missed the point. (Super-deformed anime never makes sense in context to the original series. It's not supposed to.) And the music is appropriately silly, with a surprisingly beautiful end song (which I actually like better than a lot of the Goddess Family Club songs, much to my surprise).

Again, if you don't like to suspend your sense of disbelief for an obviously silly parody series, then pass this up. However, if you do have a sense of humor that can forgive obvious stupidity in the face of cuteness ... well, then SD Oh My Goddess is just fine.

And Belldandy is still a doormat. Well, two out of three ain't bad ...

Not classic, but this isn't supposed to be high art! A good warmup for the movie, but no substitute for a full-length TV series.Carlos/Giancarla Ross

Recommended Audience: Nothing really offensive. Just some slapstick violence (most of it visited upon the unfortunate Gan-chan). Children would find the action funny, and patient adults will enjoy the pop culture references. Of course, if slapstick isn't your cup of tea, then you shouldn't be watching this.



Version(s) Viewed: digital source
Review Status: Full (48/48)
The Adventures of Mini-Goddess © 1998 Fujishima Kousuke / Kodansha
 
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