Review of Adventures Of Mini Goddess: Vol. 3

Introduction

When college student Keiichi called out for a takeaway and got the wrong number, he wound up calling the Goddess Belldandy, who granted him one wish. Down on his luck, he wished for a girlfriend just like the Goddess, but Belldandy took it too literally and moved in. Pretty soon the goddesses Urd and Skuld joined them, and Keiichi`s life took a strange turn indeed. That was the premise for the manga and 1993 anime Ah My Goddess! which proved to be phenomenally successful and would go on to spawn a feature film as well.

1998 saw the spin-off series The Adventures of Mini Goddess released. This show was to answer the question, just what three goddesses would get up to when Keiichi was hard at work in college. Naturally, they`d shrink down to a few inches high and have adventures in Keiichi`s now massive home, as well as taking some time out to torment their friend Gan-chan, the rat. The third disc in The Adventures Of Mini Goddess arrives entitled, The Urd Files. I get the feeling that this is the beginning of a second series rather than the continuation of the first, as the title and end sequences change in these twelve episodes. In addition, the animation is a tad smoother, with Gan-chan looking a little sleeker. Finally, there is a new nemesis for the Goddesses, in the form of Marla, another miniaturised deity intent on causing pandemonium. This disc contains another twelve short episodes, with some two-parters among them.

25. Squeak Hard: Gan-chan`s Desperate Situation
26. Squeak Hard: Descent of the Devil
When Belldandy, Urd and Skuld go out for the day, they lock up the fridge and leave Gan-chan in charge. Of course this is when a gang of rat raiders attack. Gan-chan makes an unlikely John McClane in this Die Hard spoof, but behind all the mayhem is a mysterious veiled figure.

27. Pop! Goes the Urd
A little daytime TV enters the world of the Mini Goddesses as Urd hosts a question and answer session to respond to all the fan letters.

28. Rainy Day
As the rain falls, Urd wanders the city in a reflective mood.

29. Let`s Meet In Our Dreams
Skuld invents a device that allows the examination of sleepers` dreams. Mr Dream TV proves something of a hit when Urd and Skuld examine Gan-chan`s dreams, and decide to play a trick on him.

30. Female Detective Skuld`s First Case… Mystery Of Three Stolen Treasures: The Dangerous Trap Hidden in Steamy Smoke!
It`s a Sherlock Holmes homage as Skuld dons the deerstalker to hunt down a pesky thief. Marla as the prime suspect protests her innocence but is dismayed at the amateur detective`s lack of wits.

31. Goddess Love Theatre
Marla wreaks havoc on the goddesses once more in this sword and sorcery homage, titled Goddess Blade.

32. Quick Fix Division of Tariki Hongan Temple
Urd and Skuld set up a company to aid people in need, with the aid of Gan-chan of course. However customers are rare, and when one does arrive, it causes no end of problems.

33. Fishing Journal
Gan-chan waxes lyrical about the noble art of angling. Urd gets bored. It`s time for a friendly competition.

34. Give Me Some Servants.
Marla`s back, planning more fiendish traps for the goddesses. But the best laid plans of rats and goddesses often go awry.

35. Rules of the Ninja: Volume I
36. Rules of the Ninja: Volume II
Marla brings to life some videogame Ninjas to aid in her Fiendish Plans © 1998. The ninjas set about reconnoitring, but Skuld`s patrol robot causes a few problems. However the goddesses are getting complacent in the face of the skill of the ninjas.

Video

The picture is presented in a 4:3 ratio, and the transfer is perfectly fine. I didn`t notice any artefacts or flaws in the image and the picture remains sharp and colourful throughout. The animation is simplistic and stylised, with the mini goddesses looking particularly doll like. I did feel that the animation was a little smoother in this batch of episodes; certainly the Gan-chan character had been redesigned.

Audio

You get a choice of Japanese and English DD 2.0 tracks, and both are adequately presented on this disc. As a matter of preference I chose as always the original language track and the translated subtitles. But for reference I checked the English dub, and found it to be surprisingly good. The voices suit the characters well, and the translations are free of the usual circumlocutions that affect dubbed Japanese entertainment. The sweet theme tune that graced the first episodes has been replaced here by a catchy tune, which while inducing toe tapping isn`t as half as charming. The subtitles translate the Japanese dialogue, rather than reflect the English dub.

Features

There are some brief extras on this disc to accompany the episodes. There are two pages of text describing Urd`s character, with a gallery containing 13 images of the Goddess in various poses. There are trailers for Fruits Basket and Kiddy Grade as well as the disc credits. The language select screen was a tad confusing, with the selected language appearing dimmed and bracketed, as opposed to being highlighted.

Conclusion

Delightful! That`s how best I can describe The Adventures Of Mini Goddess. You don`t have to have seen the original Ah! My Goddess to appreciate these episodes, indeed I haven`t, and I get the feeling that the target audiences are completely different. Mini Goddess seems more suited to the younger demographic, although I found the adventures of the doll sized goddesses and their eternal foil Gan-chan to be charming, despite my age.

The episodes are short and sweet, with one of the goddesses finding a way to torment Gan-chan, usually the outspoken and aggressive Urd. The gentler Skuld can be relied upon to invent some device that will cause chaos, while the wiser Belldandy usually observes the chaos and only gets involved if the situation really requires. As a result, most of the episodes revolve around the volatile Urd and her perennial target Gan-chan. The stories take place in a giant world. When the main characters are shrunk down to the size of a rat, then the commonplace takes on imaginative possibilities. For these 12 episodes, the mayhem quotient seems to have been raised, and an adversary for the goddesses introduced in the form of Marla. I initially had reservations that this would lead to stories based on the usual good versus evil archetypes. I needn`t have worried, as Marla is more of a playful pantomime villain, someone who just wants to have her own brand of fun, and acts maliciously only because it is expected of her. It doesn`t take much for her to join in with the goddesses when necessary, as in the Sherlock Holmes parody.

I`m still amazed at the variety of stories that are explored, each episode seems different and distinct and there really is no set format for the show when it takes inspiration from anywhere. The episodes are all short and sweet, running at around seven minutes each including credits, but in that time, they manage to tell a decent story and pack in more than a few laughs. This time around, the stories were funnier if anything, with the madcap becoming commonplace. Yet even in the middle of all this chaos, there`s still room for the reflective Rainy Day. A simple piece of animation, there`s no dialogue, merely the tale of Urd`s walk through the city during a rain shower. Beautifully animated, and set to wistful string music, it`s a tender and sweet ode to friendship.

The Adventures Of Mini Goddess is imaginative, original and entertaining. It`s fun for all the family and a brilliant example of how good animation for children can be. It`s just a shame that broadcasters usually opt for the repetitive drudge of Pokemon and its ilk. Only twelve more episodes to go, roll on the Skuld Files.