I am a hard core fan and connoisseur of animation. I've been this way all of my life as far back as I can remember. Groomed on Walt Disney, after seeing their 1974 animated version of ROBIN HOOD, I thought there no equal. Who could match the depth of this cartoon? After seeing Disney's PINOCCHIO, I completely surrendered to Disney and declared them the best ever. Warner Brothers, though, hilarious cartoon shorts served as a good change of pace from Disney's more conservative style, and Hanna-Barbera fascinated me with the likes of Scooby, Yogi, and Huckleberry Hound. Those cartoons I felt were the extent of animation. It could not get any better, more inventive, more well-produced than that. When I first saw Don Bluth's SECRET OF NIMH, I felt I had finally met the last worthy adversary to compete with my love for Disney, Warners, and HB...in 1997, I found out I had a whole lot to learn about animation. Even in the wake of the revival of animation in the mid ninties (Simpsons, Captain Planet, Rugrats, Doug, etc.) to late ninties (Cow and Chicken, South Park, etc.), the most original cartoons were not made in the United States. I found out in 1997 that they were made in Japan, and this is the series that convinced me of that fact. Aa! Megamisama(or Ah! My Goddess! or Oh! My Goddess!)is the best animated story I have seen in this decade. Never have I seen a story so fluid, and so effortlessly told. Unlike Disney, you cannot see any formula.
It is an original self-standing adventure that will draw you into a world that United States cartoon watchers are not familiar with seeing in a cartoon. Belldandy, Keichi, and the other characters electrify the screen with personality. These characters do not live as the cliched images we are so use to seeing in the USA. They are introduced and rounded out as new animated personas undigested by American pop culture--they show off their sexual urges for starters; when was the last time you saw that on an American cartoon? As for the story, I will only tell you this: its a story of a how a goddess forever changes the life of a lonely down on his luck college student after he calls to order take-out. Please check this one out. You will not regret it. :)
