Oh! My Brother!

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Oh! My Brother! is a classic Ah! My Goddess Self-Insert Fic by Christopher Angel, written between 1996 and 2004.

Skuld, on her first wish-granting mission, is dispatched to the Saskatchewan home of Chris Angel, a strapping Canadian fellow. After recovering from Skuld's unexpected arrival, Chris spends some time pleasantly discussing wishes with the young goddess; forgetting himself, he absently remarks, "I wish I had a little sister like you." Cue the special effects. The next thing Chris knows is he's just been promoted -- to the position of newly-minted God of Moments and elder brother to all three Norns -- and the Ultimate Force is already turning his life upside-down to ensure that he moves to Japan and into the Tarikihonganji temple. And just when he seems to be settling in happily to his new life, he goes on his own first wish-granting mission -- and things get even more complicated.

One of the more fondly-remembered 1990s-vintage Ah! My Goddess fics, Oh! My Brother! deftly navigates between SI-as-god (despite it being literally true) and SI-as-Butt Monkey. It is at turns sweet and angsty both, but without going to extremes that might turn off readers. It is also surprisingly short compared to other notable self-inserts of the period, barely more than 200 Kb in length.

Oh! My Brother! can be read at Angel's website, Yggdrasil.org, or at the rec.arts.anime.creative archives. A collection of side stories to O!MB!, collectively entitled God's Toy, can be found at Yggdrasil.org as well.

Oh! My Brother! received a sequel/conclusion in Drunkard's Walk V: Another Divine Mess You've Gotten Me Into, co-written by Angel and Robert M. Schroeck between 2004 and 2012, which can be found here. Tropes for this story are listed on our page for Drunkard's Walk.

Angel also had an ambitious (although ultimately uncompleted) Mega Crossover project called Turn The Page which drew upon Oh! My Brother while explicitly not part of its continuity.

Compare Oh My God? by Brett Handy, another mid-1990s Ah! My Goddess Self-Insert Fic.

Other fanfics that reference Oh! My Brother:

In addition to Drunkard's Walk V:

• The Bet -- Paradox submits an entry in the competition.

Tropes used in Oh! My Brother! include:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Chris regards Peorth as this.
• Apotheosis: The story kicks off with Author Avatar Christopher Angel becoming the God of Moments and older brother to the Norns when, while talking with Skuld after she offers him a wish, he absently wishes for a little sister just like her. All subsequent plot development comes as a direct consequence of his elevation to godhood and the assumption of the duties of his position.
• Author Avatar: Of the classic very obvious variety.
• Authority Equals Asskicking and Asskicking Equals Authority: Both averted for Chris, even after a year of training with the Norse war gods. He is perhaps the weakest and least skilled god with a fighting aspect in his portfolio (although he still outranks just about any mortal).

• Be Careful What You Wish For: Smacks Chris in the face twice:
  • First, his own careless wish to have a little sister just like Skuld results in his apotheosis and insertion in the Norns' family group.
  • Second, Ami's wish that she could have a shot at a guy like Chris. It essentially locks Ami, Chris and Rachel into a love triangle where the two women are allegedly competing for his affections.
• Betty and Veronica: Ami Tokomi and Rachel Iwasaki, respectively -- although they occasionally swap roles.
• Big Brother Instinct: Appears to have been present in Chris from the start -- it's probably responsible for the wish that got him ascended to begin with -- but it manifests with a vengeance once he accepts the Norns as his very real sisters.
• Big Brother Worship: Skuld seems to develop a case of this.
• The Big Guy: Chris is tall and sturdy even by the standards of Canada, let alone Japan. He is appointed the protector of the Norns, and to the extent that the residents of the house constitute a Five-Man Band, is a Class 2 Big Guy for them.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Strongly hinted of the true forms of the gods in Drunkard's Walk V, complete with Bizarre Alien Reproduction, which only makes sense because they're 12-dimensional... Relevant because Chris's ascension is somehow because of it.
• Blessed with Suck: Chris' timestop power -- because it ends whenever he touches a solid object (or so it appears), but more so because the flight he gains during it is also his divine transport medium. And unlike everyone else's media, it's not instantaneous, it only looks that way from the outside. Where his sisters basically move between Earth and Heaven through their media like stepping from one room to another, Chris actually has to fly for nearly an hour to make the transition.
• Buxom Is Better: Matching his author (of course), Paradox's general preference in women leans strongly toward those with generous charms. It's part of what attracted him to Ami and Rachel in the first place.

• Canada, Eh?: Averted in those few portions of the story that take place in Canada; the author is Canadian and naturally does not fall prey to the stereotypes found in United States media.
• Chainmail Bikini: Thrudr's usual garb.
• Cleopatra Nose: Chris. It's particularly large and unattractive (in his personal opinion) while he's still a mortal; it gets sculpted and turned into something more like a noble Roman nose after his ascension.
• Cute but Cacophonic: Shiva, as a night in a heavenly karaoke bar demonstrates.

• Drink Order: Chris consumes a minimum of two liters of Diet Coke every day. As far as alcohol is concerned, he drinks Guinness.

• Facial Markings: Chris gains a set as part of his ascension.
• Fainting: Chris suffers an Emotional Faint when his wish is granted.
• Fair Cop: Ami, who is a traffic warden in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
• First Person Perspective: Chris is the narrator for much of the story, with occasional touches of the First-Person Smartass. Interestingly, for a while (during Chris' coma during which he is actually taking part in the parallel story God's Toy,) Urd narrates.
• Flight: Paradox's travel medium, which he can only use during his timestops.
• Fluffy Cloud Heaven: Averted; this is just about the only form we never see Heaven take.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: The Physical Gods Chris interacts with on a daily basis turn out to be this when he completes his ascension at the end of Drunkard's Walk V.

• Gentle Giant: Chris, especially compared to his Japanese friends and acquaintances. (At least until his Full Manifestation has a reason to kick in, at which point "gentle" goes right out the door.)
• The Glomp: Belying its status as a very early anime fanfic, Angel's Author Avatar actually takes the time to discuss the trope when Ami glomps him in chapter 7, in the process defining it for the reader unfamiliar with the term.
• God: Appears on-screen more than once. Chris calls him "Boss" in preference to any other name or term, and he tends to manifest in this story as Odin. (O!MB! and Drunkard's Walk V were both written well before it was revealed he was Tyr.)
• God in Human Form: Average guy-on-the-street Christopher Angel undergoes an apotheosis that turns him into one of these.

• Hating on Monday: Saying that pre-apotheosis Chris had a dislike of Mondays would be putting it mildly. Much of the first kilobyte of the story is a rant about how and why he hates Mondays. Naturally, the story kicks off on a Monday.
• Heaven: The setting for a surprisingly large portion of the story. Chris notes that Heaven never looks the same way twice (and implies that "The Boss" controls its appearance). In his first visit, it looked like a classic "New Jerusalem" city of gold; in a later visit many months later, it looks like Cincinnati.
• Hero of Another Story: In an unusual case, Chris becomes this during his coma -- his mind/soul is off experiencing the events of God's Toy, and Urd becomes the narrator.
• Horny Vikings: Many, but not all, of the Norse gods do the stereotypical "horned helmet" thing.

• I Have Many Names: Chris gains a few upon his ascension, including "Paradox", "Moments"/"God of Moments", "The God of Never" and, much later, the Guardian.
• Improbable Weapon User: When armored up for battle, Chris gains a pair of unique weapons -- one is a shield that tapers into a blade at one end, and the other is a sword integrated into his armor.
• Instant Plastic Surgery: Chris discovers that his apotheosis has transformed him so thoroughly he can barely recognize himself in the mirror (literally) -- he loses a lot of extra weight and gains substantial muscle tone, and the lines of his face change. It's also suggested that while he started out tall, he got even taller. ("I'm the only one who can get away with calling Thor 'Shorty'.")

• Japanese Sibling Terminology: Urd and Skuld come to address Chris almost exclusively as "Niichan"; Belldandy tends to call him just as "Chris" but still uses Japanese terms from time to time.

• Knight Templar Big Brother: Chris develops a little of this attitude, more so in his Full Manifestation than in his daily life.

• Literal Genie: Skuld plays this role for Chris, accidentally, when he invokes the "blurted wish" version of the trope after spending time talking to her. He absently wishes he had a little sister like her and triggers the actual wish he has queued up. However, it's ultimately a subversion -- it's revealed much much later that he was set up by the heavenly forces in play (who were prepared to "creatively misinterpret" his wish if necessary), although not maliciously so.

• The Makeover: Chris' ascension dramatically improves his physical condition and appearance. While he still recognizes himself in the mirror, the change is still so profound as to cause him some cognitive dissonance, at least at first.
• Marty Stu: Averted. Although elevated from "mere mortal" to a literal god and the elder brother to the Norns, Chris/Paradox is by no means all-powerful -- he doesn't even need a limiter like they do. In fact, it's revealed in Drunkard's Walk V that he is at best a minor godling, equivalent to a kami of place... at least until certain conditions are met.
• Meaningful Name: "Christopher Angel", which literally means "Christ-carrying messenger of God". Because it directly invokes both "The Boss" and a cadre of celestial beings, gods from pantheons other than the Christian are uncomfortable at best with using it, and prefer to call him by nicknames or titles.
• Mirthless Laughter: One of Chris' first responses after waking up in the presence of three goddesses (after an Emotional Faint in the wake of his wish being granted) is a bout of hysterical laughter.

• Narrator: Primarily Chris, although later in the story both Urd and Belldandy take a turn (and Keiichi gets in a single sentence).
• Nerd Glasses: Until his apotheosis, Chris wore a classic pair.
• Norse Mythology: Follows the lead of the source material, in that Chris primarily socializes and interacts with gods from the Norse pantheon, although other pantheons are acknowledged to exist.

• Oh God, with the Verbing!:
  • Chris' response to a migraine is "Owww, stop with the pounding and the hurting of the head."
  • In chapter 11, he asks Mara "to make with the leaving".
• Oh My Gods: Chris takes some ribbing from his divine sisters for insisting on swearing by the names of other gods from multiple pantheons -- including a couple who are his own (adopted) brothers. It gets to a point, though, where people are telling him, "you really ought to stop doing that".
• Omniglot: Chris's ascension gave him native-speaker facility in all languages. For example, he's fluent in Japanese, which he has to use on a daily basis, but also has a tendency to unconsciously slip into Swedish or Old Norse when chatting with one or the other of his sisters.

• Porn Stash: The loss of certain embarrassing directories is one reason why he's not more upset that taking his computer from Canada to Japan via Skuld's travel medium wiped his hard drive.
• Power Limiter: Tellingly, Paradox does not need one, unlike his sisters.

• Rapid-Fire Typing: Urd demonstrates this skill while at an Yggdrasil terminal.
• Redheaded Hero: Chris. Thor, too, but he's the Hero of Another Saga.

• Sacred Hospitality: When Chris unexpectedly falls into a coma while in his home, Thor assumes it is the result of an attack and flies into a rage over the perceived violation of his hospitality and implied protection.
• Self-Insert Fic: One of the better ones to come out of 1990s anime fandom.
• Sibling Rivalry: Between Chris and his older brother Steve -- but it's more a throwaway bit of characterization early in the story than an actual plot element.
• Side Bet: As he's talking with Rachel the second time he meets her (at Urd's instigation), he spots Belldandy resignedly handing something to a grinning Urd, and interprets it as his sisters making bets on his love life.
• Split Personality: Chris believes his apotheosis has given him one, a "full manifestation" which is both more powerful and more ruthless than he, which relegates him to riding in the back seat when it takes over.
• Statuesque Stunner: Rachel, who is 5'10" (178 cm). As she's a college student, she probably also just barely qualifies as a Huge Schoolgirl as well.
• Super-Powered Violent/Murderous Side: How Chris regards his Full Manifestation.

• Time Skip:
  • In the middle of Chapter 3, Chris casually mentions that he has now spent a "few" months training with the Norse war-gods.
  • Another occurs between chapter 7 and 8, after which Chris notes that he's been in Japan for eight months now.
• Time Stands Still: One of Paradox's unique divine abilities as God of Moments, which is described as inserting breakpoints into Yggdrasil's code.
• Transformation Sequence: Chris has a very low-key one that activates with his Full Manifestation when his duty to protect the Norns kicks in: his dark hair lightens to tan, his skin pales to ivory, and his god marks rearrange and start glowing.
• Triang Relations: Thanks to the girls' wishes, Chris, Ami and Rachel are forced (the latter two not entirely unwillingly) into something that starts out as a Type 3 and eventually seems to grow into a borderline Type 7, where Chris is "A", Ami and Rachel are "B" and "C". Enforced by the Ultimate Force for as long as one of the girls does not get an exclusive lock on his affections.

• Unfortunate Names: "Christopher Angel", as far as the other gods are concerned, because of its theological implications. Those who don't use a nickname for him (like Thor) insist on calling him "Paradox" instead.

• You Just Told Me: Urd unintentionally admitting to eavesdropping on lip-reading Chris' first long talk with Rachel comes out this way.