Ah! My Goddess: Difference between revisions

* [[The Alcoholic]]: Urd, partially because drinking booze restores expended energy for her.

* [[Alternate Continuity]]: The entirety of the manga seems to be set around the time it first debuted ([[The Eighties|late 1980s]]/[[The Nineties|early 1990s]], despite being well into 2010, as of this typing). The OVA and [[The Movie]] follow this, but seem to follow a slightly different storyline.

** ''Itsumo Futari de'' has gone all out on this trope. Both stories as of Sept 2011 are original to the anime, and have no basis at all in the manga. The second episode introduces both a school for young Goddesses (Seizu Girls' Academy), and two new characters: Eri and Saga, two ''teenage'' goddesses obsessed with being the best.

* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: Averted. Women (and [[Overnight Age-Up|girls temporarily turned into women]]) tend to respond better to [[Nice Guy]] Keiichi, compared to [[Rich Bitch|Rich Bastard]] borderline rapist Aoshima.

* {{spoiler|[[Big Damn Kiss]]}}: {{spoiler|Finally in chapter 278, complete with thousands of FLOWERS bursting from the floor}} [[Squee|Thank your Goddess of choice!]]

** {{spoiler|And they do it again in the very next chapter.}}

** After Chihiro's introduction, Tamiya, Otaki and Chihiro can be seen like this. Only that Chihiro's height is average, Tamiya and Otaki must have been blessed with growth hormones.

* [[Bland-Name Product]]: Played straight in the anime, mostly [[Inverted Trope|inverted]] in the manga.

* [[Characterization Marches On]]: Keiichi, from someone who would gladly kiss Belldandy given the chance early in the manga ("Mustn't... give up attempt... to score....") to someone who practically has a phobia of physical intimacy (especially in the TV series).

** When Urd first appears in the manga she tries to rape Keiichi ([[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)|which is]] [[Black Comedy Rape|played for comedy]]) in order to "advance" his knowledge of sex and his relationship with Belldandy. Fujishima softened her up quite a bit over the next few years and made her less of an "Evil Big Sister" and more of a [[Cool Big Sis|"Cool Big Sister"]] character. Also, his art style changed to make her less mean and jerky looking.

* {{spoiler|[[Childhood Marriage Promise]]}}: The final episode of the OVA revealed there was one between Keiichi and Belldandy.

** Fujishima ([[Word of God|the series' mangaka]]) and Hiroaki Goda ([[Word of God|the director of the OAV, movie, and TV series]]) claim this Trope applies for K1 and Bell in '''all''' incarnations!

** Hild goes even further, being able to strike stark terror in a target's heart simply by glaring at them. Skuld got reduced to a crying wreck this way.

* [[Cool Big Sis]]: Urd, in the OVA and TV series at least (it [[Character Development|took her a while to really get there]] in the manga), and Belldandy, to Skuld.

*** Bell actually states that she feels jealous of their ability to feel strongly for each other.

** Peorth eventually became a secondary [[Cool Big Sis]] in her later appearances after she stopped being a pseudo-antagonist... and while we're at it: Lind and Chihiro have shades of this trope as well.

* [[Divine Date]]: The main plot of the show.

* [[Do Not Taunt Cthulhu]]: Subverted; Hild lets Urd get insulting because she's her daughter.

** Skuld in the Nidhogg arc, Mokkurkalfi points out that her {{spoiler|Super Banpei}} only has two arms, while [[Ambiguous Gender|his/hers]] has three which Skuld follows with an "ewww"...

** The {{spoiler|energy draining machine}} makes Belldandy all blushy, gaspy and sweaty, besides it's intended effect.

** Lind [[Lady of War|of all people]] is hilariously clumsy when it comes to {{spoiler|getting restoration magic right.}}

* [[Double Standard Rape (Female on Male)]]: In Urd's debut chapter, she wanted to have sex with Keiichi with the supposed intent of spicing up Keii and Bell's love life. It didn't work, though, and her further attempts [[Shipper on Deck|to bring the two together]] were less devious.

* [[Drunk on Milk]]: Belldandy gets intoxicated by drinking soda.

* [[Dull Eyes of Unhappiness]]: Belldandy's eyes get this way a few times in the TV series, such as the episode where Hild uses time travel to steal Keiichi or the time Belldandy walks in on Keiichi [[Comic Role Play|practicing]] saying "I love you" with Peorth.

* [[Ice Queen]]: [[Sugar and Ice Personality|Lind]] is a mild case but she still uses icy magic.

* [[I Love You Because I Can't Control You]]: Two examples, Aoshima towards Belldandy, and later Sayoko towards Keiichi.

* [[Fundamentally Female Cast]]: Wile the human world Has a normal mix of gender, Heaven and Hell seem allmost completely populated by fabulous women, alltough there are male deities seen moving in the background from time to time. The villains in the Niflheim arc are an [[Amazon Brigade|amazon brigade.]]

* [[Indirect Kiss]]: Invoked by Keiichi in regards to a can of tea he shared with her while she was under the influence of one of Urd's love potions (which had been botched by Skuld).

* [[Love Epiphany]]: Two examples. Skuld begins to develop feelings for Keiichi in the last episode of Season 1. Sayoko also begins to realize her feelings for him as well in episode 2 of Season 2.

* [[Love Hotel]]: In a go-all-out attempt to finally get Belldandy and Keiichi in the same bed, Urd forces the couple to hide in one of these with the help of a rainstorm. {{spoiler|of course, Belldandy STILL doesn't get it and Keiichi just buys an umbrella instead.}} [[Shipper on Deck|Urd and Peorth]] pretty much abandon all hope at that point.

* [[Love Potion]]: In an early chapter Urd brews one with the intent of tricking Keiichi into taking it to speed along his relationship. She ends up accidentally swallowing it. (The whole chapter brings some [[Fridge Horror]] since the love potion was essentially a date-rape drug that might have made Keiichi try to force himself on Belldandy...)

* [[Magical Girlfriend]]: Belldandy definitely in the OVA, early manga, and most of the first season of the TV series. Elsewhere, it depends on your definition of "girlfriend".

** Skuld eventually becomes a puppy version of this trope to Sentaro. He doesn't seem to be aware of her true nature tough.

* [[Mid-Air Bobbing]]: Urd in particular likes to do this.

* [[Middle of Nowhere Street]]: Nekomi.

* [[Moment Killer]]: ''Just'' when you think Keiichi has the nerve to admit his deep love for Belldandy (or vice-versa)...

* [[Motorcycle on the Coast Road]]

* [[Oh Crap]]: Done by everyone (<s>save the Almighty One</s> <s>and Hild</s>) at least once.

** Hild gets a rapid series of these when [http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/1578/hildohcrap1.jpg Belldandy] [http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/7600/hildohcrap2.jpg asks] [http://www.mangareader.net/161-10647-22/ah-my-goddess/chapter-180.html a favor]. Her expression when she pops out from beneath the manhole cover is especially funny on the queen of demons.

* [[Omake]]: "The Adventures of the Mini-Goddesses", featuring everyone super deformed, abusing Gan-chan the rat. Spawned its own series of anime shorts.

* [[One-Winged Angel]]: {{spoiler|Lind's angels Cool Mint and Spearmint literally only have one wing each. Averted in that both don't exhibit the typical traits of the trope due to being actual angels}}.

* [[Only Sane Man]]: Keiichi and Urd often feel like this, sometimes mutually.

* [[Ontological Mystery]]: Volume 36 of the manga, following some mass amnesia.

* [[The Other Darrin]]: [[Kikuko Inoue]] was briefly replaced by [[Akemi Okamura]] as Belldandy during the first few episodes of ''Adventures of the Mini Goddesses'' while she was on maternity leave.

* [[Patrick Stewart Speech]]: Belldandy gives one to Celestine near the end of [[The Movie]].

* [[The Pratfall]]: Keiichi has a good one in the second episode.

** This happens a lot to poor K1.

* [[Psychotic Smirk]]: Demons tend to do this.

* [[Punch Clock Villain]]: Mara. It's heavily implied that if she wasn't contractually required to be an enemy, she and Urd would be [[Vitriolic Best Buds]]. Has even been prone to [[Enemy Mine]] on several occasions.

* [[Roof Hopping]]: Belldandy does so, but with telephone poles.

** She did the standard version [http://www.mangareader.net/ah-my-goddess/49/31 at least once in the manga], when she was afraid Keiichi might accidentally get dosed with one of Urd's love potions. (This was also the first chapter showing that Urd is [http://www.mangareader.net/ah-my-goddess/49/28 terrified of Bell getting '''really''' angry].)

* [[Same Content, Different Rating]]:

** The original (flipped) English version of the manga was rated "Ages 8 and up", whereas the newer right-to-left edition is rated "13+". There are only three considerable differences between the two: The format, the number of references to Japanese culture (the right-to-left version has more) and the crudeness of the wording... [[Unfortunate Implications|and, if anything, the original was more crude than the newer versions]].

{{quote|'''Takano:''' I got it! This place is an inn, and you're the resident manager. That one's Ichinose-san, there's Yotsuya-san...

'''Keiichi:''' What kind of story is that? }}

** Skuld is a ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' fan; the TV in the family room is shown tuned to a TNG episode during one episode of the manga, and she also owns a model of the ''Enterprise'' (shown in a splash panel in another episode in which she's throwing various junk around during a fit of anger).

** A shout out to ''[[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre]]''. Skuld (in the anime at least), has a chainsaw called "Texas Murder" that she wants to test out, much to Keiichi's horror. Thankfully, it breaks before it can be used. Skuld then starts crying "[[Played for Laughs|Noooo, my Texas Murder]]!"

** Works in the second season with Sayoko; she [[Green-Eyed Epiphany|realizes]] that the genuinely [[Nice Guy]] she [[Unrequited Love Switcheroo|rejected earlier is the one she really likes]] rather than her superficial and self-centered courters. [[Fridge Logic]] in the sense that (regardless of what Sayoko tells herself) she actually isn't envious of Belldandy because she upset her status as the campus queen; she's jealous of Bell because she got Keiichi.

* [[Skinship Grope]]: Done by Urd to Skuld at one point, with Keiichi hearing everything and misinterpreting it (apparently not by much). It's also done in a lighter form in the episode where Skuld temporarily becomes an adult: she brags about her body but is shot down by Urd affirming her status as the big sister.

* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: When Hild first shows up, some sort of creepy music plays, and most of the characters being frightened of her...in contrast to Hild acting excited like an overbearing mother-in-law to meet the main characters.

* [[Spell My Name with an "S"]]: Belldandy herself is one of the classic examples, owing to the Japanese publishers not being familiar with the myths. Properly, going by the mythology she's supposed to be ''Verthandi'' (or more correctly, ''Verþandi''). This is an understandable mistake, however; Japanese lacks both a "v" sound ''and'' a "th" sound, so the katakana of her name literally spelled out "Berudandi" as the closest equivalent. Even if someone ''was'' familiar with the myths but went into the series cold, they could miss it, since it isn't mentioned that she's a Norn until Urd comes along and makes it obvious.

** A few others did this, of course: Urd vs. Uld (correct name: Urð, or possibly Urdr), Skuld vs. Skurd (Correct name: Skuld), Lind vs Rind, etc. Most of these are obvious if you actually check the Norse myths they're based on: The Japanese names are the nearest equivalents to the Norse ones possible given Japanese lacks some of the sounds.

** "Mara" vs. "Marller" - While some fans (mainly purists) use "Marller", most English translators choose to use "Mara" instead. This is, by far, more appropriate: [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|"Mara" is not only the name of a spirit in Norse legend who brings nightmares]] (when she first appears in the manga and TV series, she does so in a nightmare of Keiichi's), it's also the name of the [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|demon who used his twelve daughters to tempt Buddha in his quest for enlightenment]].

* [[Spit Take]]: In the anime's third episode, the mother of a little girl whom Keiichi helped out in the first episode treats Keiichi and Belldandy to lunch at a fast-food joint as thanks — when the little girl starts asking too many questions... and Belldandy [[Can Not Tell a Lie|starts giving too many answers]].

** He does it again in the first episode of Season 2 when Belldandy compares Skuld and Urd with Keiichi and Megumi after the two goddesses get into yet another argument outside the temple.

* [[Supporting Harem]]: There's never any question that Keiichi and Belldandy are the only canon [[OTP]], but that doesn't stop Skuld, Urd, Peorth, and Mara from being [[Pretty Freeloaders]].

* [[The Sweat Drop]]

* [[Take a Third Option]]: Urd manages to convince the tiny female ninjas to do this by exploiting [[Loophole Abuse]] via [[Exact Words]] {{spoiler|(Be killed by those who pursue them or kill all those who pursue them) So when the entire clan gets defeated by Belldandy is to leave the clan (and Mara employ).}}

* [[Theme Naming]]: "[[wikipedia:Tamiya Corporation|Tamiya]]", "Otaki", and "[[wikipedia:Hasegawa Corporation|Hasegawa]]" are all manufacturers of plastic model cars, planes, etc.

Hild:'' ... "the greatest Daimaikaichou ever!" I'm sure that's what she's saying right now.'' }}

* [[Unexpected Genre Change]]: The Lord of Terror arc. Wasn't this supposed to be a cute and sweet [[Slice of Life]] romantic comedy? Sorry, we put that concept on the shelf for a while, it's time to save the world.

* [[Unknown Rival]]: Belldandy towards Peorth, the former never thinks of the latter as such, which only ticks Peorth off more.

** Possibly Belldandy towards Sayoko as well, since the goddess never seems to have any ill will towards her despite all her attempts to break her and Keiichi up.

** Belldandy mostly dresses in [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]-style housedresses early on in the manga, but becomes considerably more of a fashionista later on, particularly after she starts working at Whirlwind alongside Keiichi.

** This is actually explained in the manga (albeit as a small side note and not spoken by the characters). In a chapter where Banpei wants to go out while the others are gone, it looks for the goddesses' clothes but finds none, and eventually settles for Keiichi's. In a side note on the page, it is explained that the goddesses summon their clothes using magic.

** {{spoiler|When Urd wonders if Hild had trained Hagall and her posse specifically to overthrow her to create a loophole into demon law that would allow her to reset her term as queen of hell (and prevent her own death wile at it), Hild doesn't really admit it but is very proud of her minion's work anyway.}}

* [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]: Despite being a [[But Not Too Foreign|''Norse'' Goddess]], Belldandy embodies this trope to the fullest.

* [[You Cannot Grasp the True Form]] - The form of the goddesses and demons on Earth are not their real forms, and they can take on any form they want according to the demon in chapter 267. When she tries to reveal her true form to Keiichi, it shows up as an [[Eldritch Abomination]] type of being and he almost loses his mind.

{{quote|'''Mokkurkalfi''': You don't perceive our true appearance. Your existence and ours are different. My form, and what you think you are seeing, are not necessarily the same.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:AIC]]

[[Category:AnimEigo]]