Movie
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[edit] Overview
Well, I hate to reinvent the wheel, as I'm sure someone out there somewhere has already written an excellent spoiler-free synopsis for the Ah! My Goddess movie. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any it out on the web, so the following is my own brief, no-spoilers take on the movie:
Oh, and a quick warning... If you want to remain unspoiled, do not read past the next section. The remainder of this page is my usual in-depth analysis. If you haven't seen the movie and don't want it spoiled for you, then don't read it!
[edit] Synopsis
Ahem. The Synopsis. It's condensed, it's written from memory, and it's not exact--but it gets the point across.
The movie starts out, surprisingly enough, on the surface of the moon. An unidentified woman (not a goddess, as she lacks the facial markings, but some sort of faerie) enters a hidden vault and unseals a strange artifact. This artifact, a tiny mask, immediately shows itself to be intelligent by conversing with its rescuer. Neither the nature of the mask nor the identity of the woman is revealed at this point -- and I'm not going to reveal them here either. :)
At any rate, after some various goings-on with the Nekomi Tech Motor Club, the scene shifts to one of Tamiya and Ootaki's infamous club parties. Keiichi takes a moment to meet the new member, a quiet and oddly distant girl named Morgan. After that, he takes a seat between his sister and Sora Hasegawa to watch Belldandy sing karaoke. About a third of the way through the song, a drunken Sora bursts into tears and starts hitting on Keiichi. This doesn't go on too long, however, as all the bottles in the room suddenly shatter. Immediately afterward, Belldandy runs outside, and Keiichi follows her.
Now this is where things start to get odd. As Keiichi and Belldandy are standing outside, Belldandy glances over and sees a figure approaching. He looks somewhat like a bishounen version of Keiichi, with hexagonal god markings on his face. Belldandy rushes toward him, and he pulls her into an embrace. Soon afterwards, he kisses her (it is unclear at this point whether she's willing or just too surprised to resist), and she falls unconscious.
Belldandy doesn't come to until she is back at the temple--and when she does, it seems as if she doesn't remember ever having met Keiichi at all. To make matters worse, the Yggdrasil System has been stricken with a virus, and they are unable to send anyone to or from Heaven to treat her.
Any further detail at this point would be spoiling the movie -- and let's face it -- I'm terrible at writing synopses anyway. I'd much rather analyze.
[edit] Analysis
[edit] A Word on Continuity
People who are familiar with both the OAVs and the manga are probably aware that the two don't completely agree with one another. As such, one wonders which of these two storylines, if either, the movie belongs to.
The picture on the left is scanned from the final issue of Volume 15 (which will be released here in the States some time between May and July of this year). You might recognize the event depicted as having happened early on in the movie as well. Based on this small technicality, one can conclude that the movie is not strictly continuous with the manga storyline, and is thus a continuation of the OAV series.
The problem, of course, is the fact that there's a huge gap in the story between the end of the 5th OAV and the beginning of the movie. The characters have all grown and changed -- and they have done so in a way that has brought them to about the same point that they are in the current Japanese manga. Hence, if you watch the movie and the OAVs without having read the manga, you're missing out on a lot of important details. Perhaps some day, someone will explain to me why it's necessary to maintain two separate but confusingly similar storylines for every anime and manga in existence. Go figure.
[edit] Similarity to Tenchi the Movie1
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/Mini_TMiL.jpg http://img5.anidb.info/pics/anime/597.jpg
Notice the big white head and Tenchi's face. I don't know other characters' names but it looks like:
- Morgan Le Fay --> Achika
- Celestin --> Tenchi /Kain
- Keiichi --> Tenchi
- Urd --> Achika (in her Juraian armor)
- Belldandy --> Ayeka
- Skuld --> Ryoko
- moon --> moon(?)
Also, the expositions for both movies are similar.
"As the movie began, the A-1 class criminal Kain had escaped confinment in the subspace room of the Galaxy Police Headquarters, then succeeded in destroying G.P.H.Q.. However, before its destruction, headquarters sent out an emergency message, warning of Kain before cutting out.
Almost immediately, things started going wrong. Tenchi Masaki shows all indications of fading out of reality altogether, as well as the house and shrine becoming aged ruins. Washu, picking up subspace indications of what's going on, places a temporal shield around Tenchi. However, the shield is only temporary, so now Tenchi and the girls have to find out what Tenchi's mother Achika has to do with what's going on.
As a result, the gang (with the exception of Washu) goes 26 years in the past, where Achika and Nobuyuki are students. But soon, they discover someone else is watching Achika as well." - (quote from Wikipedia)
[edit] Questions Answered
If you keep up with the manga or the OAVs, there are probably a number of unanswered questions about the Oh My Goddess! universe that have occurred to you at one time or another. Some of these questions are answered in the movie, and I will attempt to address them here:
First off ... can a goddess bring a human with her through her medium?
The most obvious answer to this question is 'Who cares?' -- however, if you've ever gotten into an argument about what you can and can't get away with in an OMG fanfic, this topic has probably come up. The answer? Yes. Just before the Belldandy/Urd fight scene, Skuld carries Keiichi to the scene through her medium.
Secondly ... do gods and goddesses age? If so, how?
Well, we already know from the OAVs that immortals start out aging at the same rate as humans. Recall the childhood meeting between Keiichi and Belldandy. Obviously, they can't have both been children then and both adults currently if they hadn't been aging at the same rate. On the other hand, take a look at the picture of Celestine. In one case, Belldandy is about 5, and in the other, she is about 15. In approximately ten years, he hasn't aged a single day. Conclusion: Immortals continue growing until they reach about 25 or the age they choose, and then they cease to age or the rate of aging slows.
Well, I'm sure there are others, but it's getting late, so I'm going to stop here for the night. When I update this page again, I will note it in the news. Very good.
