Adventures Of Mini-Goddess
Publisher
Geneon/MVM
Director
Hiroko KazuiHiroko Kazui, Yasuhiro Matsumura
Production
Oriental Light and Magic
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
48 episodes / 7 minutes
Year
1998
Adventures Of Mini-Goddess Volume 2: The Belldandy Files
By otaku_kei
25th May 05  Having found the first volume of this title quite a chore to wade through, it was with a great deal of reluctance that I sat down to watch the next instalment of these mini-goddess adventures, all 'for a lark'! But at only five minutes a piece (shorter if you chapter skip the opening & closing) then this release was a quick distraction from the more serious titles that MVM have deluged your local HMV shelves with. Once again Belldandy, Urd, Skuld and their rat friend Gan-Chan get caught up in a series of pint-sized adventures: some comedy, some exciting all of them in good humour. Much like the first volume we have several 2-part storylines on this disc. These obviously allow the creative team a greater depth to the stories, and I have to admit that the 2-parters on this disc are quite entertaining, and really have helped to turn my opinion around about this series. The stand out story on this release being the 'SOS In The Big Snowfield' a parody of all these adventure movies where the insignificant mountaineers try to conquer an indominatable mountain. Cue the cliche of relying on teamwork to overcome the odds. Of course Mini-Goddess does not conform to this particular cliche, much to the dismay of poor Gan-Chan. Not much has changed from the first disc, to this release, Belldandy is still rarely in a central role, Urd is the brash one, and Skuld continually tinkers with machines to help them out in their adventures, and Gan-Chan is the fall guy for all of the crazy ideas and accidents that these mini-goddesses get into. Even the types of adventures these four get into have changed little, either some pastiche of a well-trodden movie genre, or some slapstick comedy. Yet this show is refreshingly cheerful, almost certainly due to the 5 minute run time of each episode meaning everything has to be back to normal by the end of each show. This show has finally won me over with its pure saccharine fun but I am still left with the opinion that whilst most people could find elements of this show to enjoy, fans of the 'Ah! My Goddess' manga & anime will be able to appreciate this show so much more. So if you enjoyed the first release I'm sure you'll probably invest in this one as well, but I would have to say for anyone looking for some light-hearted fun they would not be going far wrong with this title.
R2 DVD Notes
Features: English Language 2.0; Japanese Language 2.0; English Subtitles; Character Notes; Gan-chan Art Gallery; MVM Trailers
Release information: OUT NOW
Notes: Picture and audio quality are just as good as we have come to expect from MVM releases of late. Having sampled both audio tracks I can say that I did not pick up on any issues and the subtitle timimg appears to be just fine. The extras on the other hand are quite weak even for a UK release and are little more than some screenshots taken from these episodes and then a brief character profile of what happens to these characters across this release.
-- otaku_kei 25th May 05
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