Oh My Goddess!

Publisher
Dark Horse
Writer
Kosuke Fujishima
Artist
Kosuke Fujishima
Country of origin
Japan
Length
18+ volumes
Year
1993

Oh My Goddess! Volume 4 (Love Potion No. 9)

By David Rasmussen
24th Feb 08

It’s been a long while since I’ve reviewed this series last, haven’t I?
Well lucky me! Thanks to a member of BookMooch this review out we’ve gotten a batch of new reviews to look at! Oh My Goddess!, Peach Fuzz, Neotopia, etc.

But this is the review of Oh My Goddess, so let’s get down to it and see what’s up.

First off remember the tag team of Aoshima and Sayoko? Well it looks like they’re about to team up to find out the truth behind Belldandy. Whether or not they can take the truth is another thing altogether (which they may not since Urd seems to be suspecting something’s up with them).

Next who drops their entire club’s budget on a go kart race NOT sponsored by either Nintendo or Mario? Could it be… the big dorky guy who runs the club that Keiichi is in? You bet it is! Let’s see if they can win this one even with a female go kart champ and her boyfriend (both from America… funny… Americans don’t look much different than the Japanese in this series as drawn by Fujishima-san) in the race.

After that it’s another race, this one requiring Keiichi and Belldandy to work together… only Belldandy used up a lot of her power to get to Keiichi (a little sabotage of the vechile will do that) and she’s unconscious! Now what!!

If you have not so fond memories of WWII (you were in it, your family was in it, you remember the last time you lost a multiplayer death match in a WWII game, something) then you won’t be too fond of this story, which centers of a rare WWII Japanese warplane (and of course Belldandy) being the only things that can resurrect the club’s base of operations after a certain somebody has it destroyed… sheesh, isn’t that, like, illegal? Damn evil characters!

As for the title’s “Love Potion No. 9”? That was created by Urd… guess how much trouble it’s going to get everyone into before this is all over! Guess!

All in all Oh My Goddess is still one of my favorites 5 out of 5 listers.
It’s been awhile since I last reviewed it, but now that I’m with BookMooch.com I hope to find more copies in the near future and have more reviews for you.
As for this review? It’ll get the same, and I’ll tell you why.
Solidly written, lovable well written characters, beautiful artwork, and one of the most endearing and fan favorite mangas out there, Oh My Goddess has been one of the Essentials of manga, if you’re into it you have to have this as part of your collection without a shadow of a doubt, series out there right now. With over 20 volumes and growing, the series continues to be one of Dark Horse’s must have reads (created and run by one of the best of the best, Kosuke Fujishima).

NOW WAKE UP DARK HORSE AND PROPERLY RELEASE “YOU’RE UNDER ARREST” IN MANGA FORM ALREADY!!
I don’t think I’ve bitched enough about how badly Dark Horse has mistreated this title (akin to ADVManga’s mistreatment of Aria for instance), and it would be a blessed thing if Dark Horse would either release the series in FULL or surrender the series to a different company (who will release the series in full)!

Right now the best bet for a second company to release the series is either Broccoli Books, Seven Seas or TOKYOPOP. If I were to judge a company by it’s reliability and steadfast commitment to it’s fan base to carry on where Dark Horse haphazardly left off (not even printing from the first volume of the series for it’s one dabbling into printing from the series) then it’s these three companies. However I would like to see Dark Horse finally dedicate to a full printing, show some backbone and some commitment we the fan base have been begging for when it comes to Fujishima’s other lesser printed in English series that they have all but ignored.

Oh My Goddess should be a rallying point for fans to point at the wisdom of publishing You’re Under Arrest in full! If Dark Horse’s accountants put all the records of money made by them just on Oh My Goddess sales that should more than justify the effort to fully print You’re Under Arrest in full from start to finish! I really don’t know how else to explain it other than that, I mean if we’re here for Oh My Goddess we’ll still be here for You’re Under Arrest (believe you me)!

Oh My Goddess Volume 4 (Love Potion Number 9) gets 5 vehicular mayhem citations out of 5. And yes, if you bring me You’re Under Arrest I promise you I will bring you a solid score to go with the title! That’s my promise to you! Bring it, and watch it earn the score I know it’s capable of earning! Trust me on this one, Dark Horse! Trust me!

-- David Rasmussen 24th Feb 08