Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy Volume 1 DVD Review

By sothis Published: May 11, 2007

PACKAGING AND MENU

9.5 / 10

AMG S2 V1 is, hands down, one of the best releases ADV has put out. The DVD artwork is flawless: the front cover has a gorgeous sweeping image of Belldandy and another angel in the background, making a composite image that is absolutely stunning. The title text has a silver sheen and a pretty feather to give it a unique look. The spine has the same attractive silver text – something which would definitely stand out on store shelves. The back cover is, like the front cover, flawless. A very simple outline frames several faded and regular screenshots, with skillfully placed blocks of text on either side. The colors are perfect, and in general this is a DVD I’d like to read.

The menu is equally as stunning, with a moving full-screen animation of Belldandy looking upwards, flower petals streaming by with the goddess headquarters in the background. Sub-menus are also gorgeous, with full and colorful imagery. Navigation is simple and everything is easy to read. The only negative thing I can say about the menu is that the extremely harsh and abrasive bagpipes in the beginning of the theme song don’t really make for a good listen, especially if the music is repeating. The bagpipes make up a good 75% of the track, and I find myself having to mute the TV if I leave the menu up for more than a minute. For future volumes, just having the song (sans bagpipes) would be a major plus.

FEATURES

6 / 10

AMG S2 V1 has a few special features, but nothing special. There’s a commentary track with the English voice actors, production artwork, and then the usual old clean opening and closing animations. The DVD also has no special insert with interviews and such – something ADV is usually good about including for some extra oomph.

VIDEO

9.5 / 10

AMG S2 V1 has what appears to be a very clean transfer, with no recognizable blocking or artifacting during the regular scenes. The intro did have a few problems, though. Colors are solid and bright.

AUDIO

7 / 10

Both the Japanese and English dialogue were clean and clear, with only some occasional distracting sibilance from a few characters. Dialogue effects were minimal yet effective in setting the atmosphere and location. Occasionally the English dialogue seemed a little low when thematic or background music was playing, not to the point of unintelligibility though. Background music was not overly used, so this issue was not present the majority of the time. Effects were well used, both specific and atmospheric; they were not distracting or overplayed, but subtly used, to the point and at a good level. Overall a good mix, minimal and to the point, clear and focused, nothing magical but effective.

AMG’s dub is both good and bad. I’m a big fan of Belldandy’s voice actress: though she sounds a little overenthusiastic when dealing with Keiichi, that fits Belldandy’s personality perfectly. Urd’s voice actress has some serious problems, though. She has American-cartoon-voice-actor syndrome: her tone rises and falls every other syllable, which (contrary to popular belief) does not happen in real life. For example, “but BellDANdy DOn’t you KNOW that we SHOULD be GOIng HERE toDAY?” In general the dub was hit or miss: really good, or really bad. Hopefully the bad category have a chance to do some more anime practice sessions before the next volumes roll out.

CONTENT

7 / 10

Having only seen the original Ah! My Goddess OVA, I was a bit concerned about jumping right into the second season of the TV series. Luckily, with my basic background knowledge, it was easy to do. There’s a short recap, but in summary, Keiichi called the Goddess helpline some time ago and asked for the voice on the other end of the line to be his forever. Of course, like any good goddess would do (?!), the beautiful Belldandy grants Keiichi’s wish and comes to live with him. Hijinks ensue, and ultimately the two end up where they are now: living together, and happy.

S2 seems to follow the same format: Keiichi drools over Belldandy, Belldandy is as complacent and obedient as ever, and Belldandy’s sisters make it a point to cause as much mischief as possible. Also thrown into the mix are characters such as a rich and powerful classmate who wants Keiichi all to herself. As you’d expect, the pacing is slow and the series remains rather slice of life; we watch Belldandy take a part-time job, Christmas shenanigans, and more.

Though pleasantly surprised at how engaging these episodes were, I have a problem (as always) with the typical Japanese mindset about these sorts of things. Belldandy is basically a “perfect woman”: complacent, is willing to give 5000% of herself for Keiichi if it just means making him happy, and is always smiling. While this tends to be a rather Japanese mindset (just look at any harem anime), it still bugs me when I see it. Many times I wanted to slap Belldandy and say “oh COME ON… is this really necessary?” Though admittedly, at least unlike other harem anime, Keiichi’s ultimate goal isn’t to get his hands on Belldandy’s breasts (on purpose or accidentally); he just wants to make her happy as well, which is refreshing.

The animation is GORGEOUS. Breathtaking backgrounds are intricately designed and filled with color. The character designs of the goddesses are, well, heavenly. I’ve heard S1 has some sort of an eye problem (huge buggy eyes for everyone) but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. The soundtrack is also sublime, with a unique bagpiped introduction and pleasing music throughout.

In general, these episodes were better than I thought they’d be, and ultimately would be a good watch for those who are either into the AMG franchise, or want a pretty piece of eye candy. Combine that with a smashing release by ADV (artwork, menu system, etc) and this would be a must buy for those who like AMG.