Aa! Megami-sama! Movie

Three years have passed since Keiichi met Belldandy. He is still going to university, still a member of the motor club and still living with Belldandy’s sisters. When a fairy releases a mysterious man from Belldandy’s past from his moon-prison, trouble is incoming.

Unfortunately for this movie, the trouble is heading straight for its plot. The movie attempts a weird merger of rebellion against god, an 80’s hacker film, and a love triangle. Boy, does that not work out for me. The motivation of bad guy Celestin is never made clear, even though he spends a good bit of time talking about it. He wants to ... end suffering by removing free will? Or does he want to enable everyone to have free will by removing the oversight of the gods? Or does he want to make everyone have the same level of happiness? The whole climax of the movie rests on his ability to explain his motives to Belldandy. She (obviously) sides with Keiichi, but it would have been nice if the viewers could see a case for the other side at least.

We also do see very little of our main characters together. Belldandy spends most of the time in an amnesia-induced state. And when she is half-way back to her old self, Keiichi is either knocked out or mind-controlled. Due to the more serious tone of the movie, Urd and Skuld have to lay off their comedic routines, too. Oh, and what is up with Skuld not wanting to Keiichi to see Belldandy naked? You’d hope that they got past hand-holding after spending 3 years living together.

The animation, on the other hand, is top. While the “heaven is a futuristic computer office” idea did not fit well, it at least looked good. And the ending is on the positive side of trippy.

Overall, however, the good animation does not save the film from its plot. Someone who rebels against the gods’ order needs to be better at explaining his case to be interesting. I would have much rather seen a story that focuses on earth and leaves the heaven mysterious. The movie is not terrible, but a clear step down from the OVA.