Oh My Goddess 39

Kosuke Fujishima – Dark Horse – 2011 – 42+ volumes

I’m a pretty big fan of the more involved story arcs in this series, especially when they’re about the inner workings of the Goddess’s world and their jobs. This volume is the middle of one such arc. There hasn’t be a story this involved for quite some time, and I’d forgotten just how good these can be.

We actually do learn more about the Goddess’s jobs in this book, which surprised me a little since it seems like there’s not too much else to reveal after 40 volumes. But we learn why it is that the Goddess and Demon wish systems have to be balanced, and why it’s bad that Hild’s subordinate overthrew Hell and is pushing everything out of whack. Also, why it’s a bad thing that Belldandy is constantly granting Keiichi’s wish instead of working for others.

We get to see Chrono again briefly, and also Ere and Ex, who I thought were only in the anime. We also get to see the gate to Heaven again, though she only has a couple lines. But more importantly, we get to see Peorth and Lind again, and both are in top form. Lind’s pretty funny, actually, something I didn’t remember about her. She actually fuels the fires of challenge when the characters misinterpret one of her flubbed spells as a prank on the Hell side. Plus, she gets to point out the obvious about Peorth, something nobody else has had the courage to do yet.

There’s plenty of cute stuff from Belldandy, between her and Keiichi and otherwise, we get to see Velsper again… actually, this volume is great just because it calls back just about every character who’s had an extended stay in the last 30+ volumes. Aoshima and Sora are here, Tamiya and Otaki, Mara… you know, I like them all. I can’t help it. Seeing them again makes me smile, and when it’s coupled with fairly serious action and the chance to see more of Heaven and Hell, I can’t help but get completely sucked in.

What’s worse, is that this volume doesn’t end the story arc, which is unusual for this series. We get at least one more volume of story, and it looks like it’s going to be fairly serious stuff. Even worse, the last page of this volume is agonizing. It’s a terrible cliffhanger, and it made me love Hild a little more because of it.

Yes. Oh My Goddess still has it.