If you wanted a perfect opportunity to have your ah my goddess in anime form fleshed out than this series is a perfect opportunity to get your feet wet in the ah my goddess universe.
Let's face it besides the manga the ah my goddess hasn't had much of an opportunity to be fleshed out in anime form. Any other interations my ah my goddess in anime form before the first season of this series has either been incredibly brief (OVA and the film) or has been chibified to cater to a younger audience.
The plot of this anime is pretty much the same basic story of ah my goddess. Keichi is a guy that has nothing but bad luck but regardless of his bad luck he always tries to have a positive attitude towards life in general. No matter how much life may knock him down from time to time he always finds a way to keep going no matter how hopeless things may be. He ends up being left in his dorm one night, and he accidentally calls the Goddess help line by mistake. As a result of this Belldandy appears before him and tells him that she can grant him any wish that he desires. Since he hasn't had much luck winning the affections of a girl that he is attracted to and since he is very skeptical of what belldnady is offering, he ends up wishing that the goddess would be with him forever. Much to his amazement the wish is granted and that is only the start of many shenanigans left to come.
What we get to see in this series is the many challenges that come with having a goddess as a girlfriend and how Keichi has to adjust to this strange and bewildering twist in his life while remaining true to his kind and caring nature. The overall plot of this anime is Belldandy's and Keichi's ever evolving relationship but due to the overall length of the anime it really does move at a snails pace without much progress being made with regards to how they feel about each other. You can't help but feel that more could be accomplished with the sheer amount of time they have with each other but it seems like that whenever an opportunity comes across for Keichi to finally work up the courage to confess his feelings to her, there is always an obstacle in the way (Aka Skuld). Belldandy is still the same warm, loving, compassionate character we've grown to appreciate/love and her ability to see the bright side of any situation gives you very little to no reason to ever dislike her as a character.
One thing that does work for this anime however is that it does examine multiple plots with how belldandy's sudden appearance affects multiple characters in the series. One of the plot points that are examined is how Belldandy's extended time on earth is affecting heaven. We have plot points that look at disrupting keichi's and belldnady's relationship, we even have a couple of antagonists in this series that focus on a concluding story arc close to the end of the series, and we even have a lot more time with Belldandy's sisters (Urd and Skuld) and they're history and some of the trials and tribulations they have to encounter. This is possibly the anime's greatest strength is how they treat Urd and Skuld. We get to see a huge amount of depth with regards to these characters and one thing I wanted to highlight is that even though for the most part these characters act as obstacles towards Keichi's and Belldandy's relationship and they mostly serve as the comic relief they truly shine in the final part of this anime where one of them is the main focal point of conflict throughout this entire anime. The last two episodes of this anime have some of the most endearing and heartfelt moments throughout this entire anime because it brings a sense of humanity to these two characters and it makes for some of the most adorable awwwwwwwwww moments of the first season of this series.
This anime does truly cater to the slice of life genre with some magical girl elements, but there are also some scenes of intense action throughout this anime and the humour is incredibly frequent which can add a much needed boost of adrenaline to this anime during its boring poorly paced segments in which there can be quite a few all depending on who you ask.
The characters are all drawn incredibly well but I found the music to be very lackluster and I wasn't particularly fond of the opening and ending songs.
In the first season of this series we have an excellent opportunity to see our favorite characters fleshed out but ultimately it takes a long time for the series to focus on a serious story arc minus the ever building relationship between Belldnady and Keichi. One of the strongest aspects of this series is the ah my goddess has a huge cast of minor characters and its actually refreshing to see many of the minor characters get their time in the sun in this series. It really gives them a nice amount of depth and shows that there are more characters that a person can relate to besides Keichi and the Goddesses.
Anyone with any experience with any kind of romantic based anime knows that ultimately true love conquers all and its nice to see the journey that Keichi and Belldnady share even though the pacing can be a bit of a problem from time to time.
If you truly want your ah my goddess fleshed out in anime form, than this series is an absolute must but just learn to be patient with it because it does take a long time for certain story elements to be fully addressed.
Favorite Character: Belldandy
Least Favorite Character: Skuld
8/10 (I recommend it.)
