Review for Ah! My Goddess: Series 2 - Flights of Fancy Part 3 (2 Discs)

Introduction

It's the middle of summer, the August Bank Holiday is impending, the beaches beckon with their sand and sea combination of relaxation, there ought to be a music festival somewhere offering more outdoor entertainment treats, and if all else fails, we can always slaughter and incinerate a bovine (have a barbecue). But typically, this is when the heavens open, the wind starts to blow, and the Met Office issues countless flood warnings. Summer! Pah! It's a good thing we have a feel good anime like Ah! My Goddess to provide a warm glow where the weather fails. Unfortunately, this third offering of Ah! My Goddess is the final one, but I'm not trying to think too much about that.

Ah! My Goddess takes its cue from the sitcoms of the sixties, shows like Bewitched and I Dream Of Jeannie, where an average Joe would meet the girl of his dreams, only there would be more to her than meets the eye, causing his life to change in unexpected ways. Here Keiichi Morisato is the average Joe, but Belldandy trumps the witch and genie by actually being a goddess, a celestial being who comes to Earth to grant one wish. Life isn't all celestial perfection for Keiichi though, and the mayhem increases when Belldandy's elder sister Urd, and younger sister Skuld also move in. You'd think that with the Lord of Terror defeated at the end of the first series, life would get back to an idyllic bliss for Keiichi and Belldandy, as they inch inexorably forward on the path of true love, but life is never that easy, especially in a romantic anime comedy.

The previous volume saw Marller's evil plan for Urd almost succeed in separating her demon half from her goddess half. It was only the quick thinking of Skuld and her technological wizardry that managed to reunite Urd's divided selves. But while her body was reunited, her split personalities weren't…


The final eight episodes of Ah! My Goddess - Flights of Fancy are released on two discs from Manga Entertainment.

Disc 1

17. Ah! The Chair of Demonkind Descends!
Urd is still suffering from multiple personalities, with her demon half warring with her goddess half over what to watch on television. This provides no little amusement, but there is a serious side to the problem. Urd's goddess nature is slowly overwhelming her demon side, and that half of her is losing her memory. When that happens, the Urd that everyone knows and loves will vanish, and the goddess that remains will be a new, different personality. It's something that the Almighty won't have a problem with, but Belldandy and Skuld don't want to lose their sister. They will have to turn to the other direction for help. They'll have to turn to that which typifies all that is unholy, evil, and dark in this world. They'll have to turn to Hild, the Ruler of Demonkind. In other words Urd will have to phone her mother…

18. Ah! Do Demons Have Any Dignity?!
Marller is a regular guest at Belldandy and Keiichi's, she's settled down and found a nice job at the convenience store, and she's practically a shoe-in for manager. It's a rude awakening when she realises that she has been neglecting her demonic duties of bringing chaos and mayhem to the world. It's Hild who delivers that awakening too, as she's left a fraction of herself behind in the real world to motivate Marller and disrupt Keiichi and Belldandy's idyll. Soon Marller is back at work, introducing the Keiichi household to an Aladdin's lamp cum Goddess vacuum. And yes, Keiichi really is that wishy-washy.


19. Ah! The Love Of A Goddess Saves a Ninja!
Marller's next plan involves taking the most lethal, dangerous beings that mankind has created, and unleashing them on the unwitting goddesses. She's created three mini-ninja to bedevil Belldandy, and soon Kodoma, Nozomi and Hikari are using their considerable skills to infiltrate the Tariki Hongan temple. They haven't figured on the power of a goddess though, and one by one, they are turned from their mission. But where Belldandy is all-powerful, Keiichi is vulnerable, and when they turn their attention to him, Belldandy overreacts.

20. Ah! It Doesn't Matter Where, So Long as We're Together
Belldandy has had her Goddess Licence suspended… for a week. It is her first offence after all, but living as a human has its own challenges. Those challenges multiply when suddenly everyone is using the temple as a temporary storage area. Keiichi's sempai Tamiya and Otaki have the contents of their dorm to store while it's being remodelled, Megumi has a load of appliances, Sayoko has her wardrobe… They need room and fast, and Belldandy can't use her powers. Fortunately Skuld has her patented room doubler. But when Keiichi can't figure out the controls, he and Belldandy wind up trapped in the middle of infinite space. Alone together for a week, no way out, no interruptions…


Disc 2

21. Ah! Would It Be Okay If I Were a Demon?!
It's just a formality, but Belldandy has to take a few days to get her Goddess Licence back. Unfortunately, she's too eager and fails to look at the small print. She's got a Demon Licence instead, and now trying to do good magic results in messy explosions. On top of that, Keiichi's bad luck returns full force. It will take months to get the bureaucratic mess untangled, and Heaven's security won't even allow Belldandy access anymore. Urd and Skuld will have to sort it out, and in the meantime Keiichi will have to keep Belldandy from doing any sort of magic whatsoever. Of course Marller is behind all this, and she's soon tempting Belldandy to do ill, for if Belldandy the demon commits evil acts, the evil vibes will make Keiichi happy.

22. Ah! The Goddess's Confession!
It gets worse… Now Keiichi is in love with Hild, ruler of Demonkind. Worse, he's always been in love with her, and Keiichi has no memory of ever being in love with Belldandy. It isn't a spell, he hasn't been charmed, there's no magic potion at work, Keiichi, genuinely, honestly has always only had eyes for Hild. History has been tampered with. Getting back to the past is one thing, but getting young Keiichi to fall in love with Belldandy all over again may be impossible.


23. Ah! Everyone Has a Destiny!
The first of the season's bonus episodes sees Keiichi taking a trip down memory lane, when Belldandy discovers his grandfather Hotarunosuke's journal, with an enigmatic photograph, and a map to a hidden treasure. The whole gang gets together to go on the 'camping' trip, and a maid named Chieko Honda meets them, whose duties are to take care of their every need. But when she sees Keiichi, she instantly recognises him, and insists that he keeps his promise to her. But as Keiichi insists to Belldandy, he's never seen her before.

24. Ah! The Song of Love That Shakes the Heart!
Peorth is back, and this time her mission is to finally get Keiichi to confess his love to Belldandy. Given that he is the wishiest-washiest man on the planet, a man who makes Hugh Grant look like the epitome of assertive and forthright clarity, this may just be her toughest assignment ever. It's not made any easier when Urd gets in on the act with a magic potion of her own devising.

Picture

The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer on this disc is clear and problem free to my eye. It may be an NTSC- PAL conversion, but it is an exceptionally good one, free of ghosting and judder, and with smooth animation. In my opinion, it is a mite softer than the region 1 discs, but certainly nothing to fret about. This is still as good as television anime usually gets in this country. As for the animation, especially compared to the OVA, it's a case of swings and roundabouts. The character design and world detail is simplified in comparison to the original episodes, but the animation is much more fluid, with CGI blended in seamlessly as is the case with most modern anime. The world is also more expansive, with a lot more of the background detail filled in.

Sound

It's just your basic DD 2.0 English and Japanese for Ah My Goddess, with optional English subtitles and signs. I feel that the English dub sounds a little goofy in comparison to the original language track, but I guess that's a matter of personal preference. If like me, you prefer the original language tracks, it's worth noting that the original cast reunite after 12 years for this series, providing a nice degree of familiarity to fans of the OVA. ADV also pulled off something of a coup in terms of continuity, by retaining the same English dub cast from the first season. There are some more Japanese Celtic theme tunes to enjoy, and if the opener of Season 2 doesn't get you liking the sound of bagpipes, nothing ever will.

Extras

This is the last time that I'll point out the incongruity of the hack and slash, swords and blood Manga logo, and the sweetness and fluffiness of the Ah! My Goddess franchise. There's no sign of Funimation's presence on these discs, but there is an ADV logo at the start, and ADV are credited on the discs as well.

Also different from the Funimation re-releases are the animated menus, and the distribution of the extras.

Disc 1 gets the textless credits

The commentary on episode 18 from Alyssa Brodsky (Marller) and Kevin Collins (Senbei) is a little more pertinent than the usual anime commentaries. They do talk about the show, their characters and compare CVs, but it's still more of a friendly chat that we are eavesdropping on, rather than a useful commentary.


Disc 2 also gets the textless credits.

The commentary on this disc accompanies episode 23. It's a more useful track from ADR Director Marc Diaraison, and Voice Producer Michael Sinterniklaas, which goes more into the history of the AMG franchise in the US and the casting process. It's quite fun to listen to as well.

Conclusion

Ah! My Goddess: Flights Of Fancy concludes with six episodes that represent the best and the worst of the season, and just like the first season, it then adds a couple of bonus episodes to make parting with the show a little easier. Unlike the first season though, this season's run is just 24 episodes long, not 26, and watching it for the second time, I can't help but feel as if the ending is a little rushed. The build up and conclusion to the first series, with Urd's trip to the dark side threatening existence took a comparatively leisurely four episodes. Here, while the seeds of the conclusion are sowed just as early, the actual episodes of import, the ones that test Belldandy and Keiichi's relationship to the limit are just the final two, more personal and of comparatively small scale, with first Belldandy becoming a demon, and then Hild changing history so that Keiichi met her first instead of Belldandy.


Hild is introduced pretty early on in the proceedings though, as we're still dealing with Urd's split personality disorder following Marller's plan. It's an issue that is beyond the goddesses' abilities to remedy, and they have to appeal to a higher, or in this case lower power. Hild is the ruler of demonkind, and Urd's mother, but she doesn't let her filial responsibilities get in the way of her calling, as a demon to wreak havoc on the world. She's Marller's superior, and is apt to put the lesser demon into a state of fraught nervousness just by her very presence. But when it comes to evil, Hild is really just as much a prankster as Marller, if a lot more powerful. And rather than knock down mountains and raise tsunami, she's more likely to place a few demonic whoopee cushions on Belldandy and Keiichi's romantic loveseat. We have a couple more episodes of such pranks here, after Urd's MPD is corrected, with first a fairly innocuous, and on occasion quite hilarious evil lamp episode, but the Ninja episode that follows is the low point of the series, utterly forgettable, and the plot is lifted wholesale from a Mini Goddess episode. Its only redeeming feature is that it sets up the final arc by making Belldandy lose her licence. It's only for a week, but living as a human is more difficult than they expect when one of Skuld's inventions throws them into the middle of infinity.


The concluding two episodes end the series on the right note, putting adversity in the path of true love, and giving cause for the protagonists to reaffirm that love for each other, and in the case of Ah! My Goddess, having them inch infinitesimally closer together. This is a franchise that exists on the promise of a happy ending, without ever delivering that ending. The X Files managed it for nine years so it isn't exactly a new idea in entertainment. First is the innovative idea of making Belldandy a demon instead of a goddess, and finding out that now only by committing evil acts can she make Keiichi happy. Of course Belldandy's idea of evil is pretty small scale, and the episode is played for laughs, but it does remind her that Keiichi loves her, not the goddess, and he has an inner strength that belies his dithering nature. Of course that is undone when Hild changes history, and the only way to fix things is for Belldandy to get Keiichi to fall in love with her again. It's 'cake and eat it' time for the viewer, as it's the falling in love part of the Ah! My Goddess story that is the strongest. Having to revisit that part of their relationship again only engenders warm feelings in the viewer. If I do have a nitpick, it's that this final story really should have been a two-part episode.


The bonus episodes are quite enjoyable too. The first is a gentle bit of romance, with Keiichi having to keep a promise that his grandfather made years ago to a sick young girl. The girl's spirit has been waiting patiently ever since. It's hardly the most original of ideas, I saw something similar in a Love Hina episode, but this is carried off well, and is a chance to say goodbye to the members of the Nekomi Auto Club. The second bonus episode concentrates on getting Keiichi to confess his feelings to Belldandy, something that the eternal ditherer has been unable to do. As it is, this episode does descend into parody, as it's all too aware that the dithering is what keeps Ah! My Goddess going. Oddly enough, it's all the more hilarious as a result.


As much as I enjoyed this second season, I feel it's not a patch on the first for a couple of reasons. The first is unavoidable, as the strongest part of a romantic comedy is the 'falling in love' bit, and that was accomplished in the first season as Keiichi and Belldandy got together. You can't cover the same ground again, at least not without time travel, so for the duration of the second season, Keiichi and Belldandy are an established, albeit chaste couple, edging microscopically closer each episode, and having their love tested by adversity on a constant basis. The second problem with this season, and one that could have been avoided is the lack of a strong thread running through the episodes. The first had the aforementioned courtship, as well as the Lord Of Terror conclusion, and those 26 episodes stood together as a cohesive whole. This second season is far more fragmentary and episodic, there's no real theme running through the episodes, and it's really just a collection of loosely strung together single or double episode stories, even with the introduction of a few new characters that recur. On the bright side, these episodic stories are for the most part very enjoyable.


Season 2 has a strong start, and while its middle section is a little aimless, but entertaining nonetheless, it finishes very well, reaffirming Keiichi and Belldandy's relationship, before actually poking a little fun at Keiichi's hesitant nature and inability to commit. I enjoyed it almost as much as the first season, and didn't begrudge its episodic nature too much, especially as the majority of the stories were just as captivating. It's been a while in getting here, but the second season of Ah! My Goddess finally makes it to the UK. If you are a fan of all things sweet, light and fluffy, and let's face it everyone can use a little sweet, light and fluffy from time to time, then Ah! My Goddess is the perfect confection, delicate, sugary, and heart-warming, without ever being saccharine and overbearing. For owners of the first season, this is a no-brainer, but if you haven't experienced Ah! My Goddess as yet, you may as well get that first season and Flights of Fancy all in one go. You won't regret it.