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Oh My Goddess!
230px Cover of the first tankōbon volume
ああっ女神さまっ (Ā Megami-sama)
Genre	Romance Comedy, adventure, Fantasy action
Manga
Written by	Kōsuke Fujishima
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Afternoon
English magazine	Super Manga Blast!
Original run	September 1988 – ongoing
Volumes	44 (List of volumes)
Original video animation
Directed by	Hiroaki Gōda
Studio	AIC
Licensed by	AnimEigo (former) MVM Films Madman Entertainment
Released	February 2, 1993 – May 17, 1994
Runtime	153 minutes
Episodes	5
TV anime
Adventures of Mini-Goddess
Directed by	Hiroko Kazui Yasuhiro Matsumura
Studio	Oriental Light and Magic
Licensed by	Geneon Entertainment (former) MVM Films Madman Entertainment
Network	WOWOW
Original run	April 6, 1997 – March 29, 1999
Episodes	48 (List of episodes)
TV anime
Ah! My Goddess
Directed by	Hiroaki Gōda
Studio	AIC
Licensed by	Anime Works (Season 1), Funimation Entertainment (Season 2) MVM Films (Season 1), Manga Entertainment (Season 2)
Network	TBS
Original run	January 6, 2005 – September 14, 2006
Episodes	50 (List of episodes)
Novel
Oh My Goddess! First End
Written by	Yumi Tōma
Illustrated by	Kōsuke Fujishima Hidenori Matsubara
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Published	July 20, 2007
Original video animation
Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings
Studio	AIC, Aniplex
Released	December 12, 2007
Episodes	2 (List of episodes)
Original video animation
Ah! My Goddess: Itsumo Futari De
Studio	AIC, Aniplex
Released	2011
Episodes	2
Film
Ah! My Goddess: The Movie
Anime and Manga Portal

Oh! My Goddess! (ああっ女神さまっ, Ā Megami-sama^?), or Ah! My Goddess! in some releases, is a Japanese seinen manga series written and illustrated by Kōsuke Fujishima. It premiered in the November 1988^[1] issue of Afternoon where it is still being serialized. Every few months, the most recent chapters are published in tankōbon volumes by Kodansha (43 exist as of September 23, 2011).^[2] The series centers on the relationship between college sophomore Keiichi Morisato and the goddess Belldandy.

As the manga's popularity increased, a five-episode original video animation (OVA) was made based on it. With the OVA's success, the stage was set for two TV series and a film to follow.

Plot[link]

Story[link]

Keiichi Morisato is a good-natured, yet hapless and girlfriend-less college sophomore who is often imposed upon by his elder dorm-mates and brow-beaten into taking phone messages and doing other chores for them. One day, while alone in his dorm, he accidentally calls the Goddess Technical Help Line and a beautiful goddess named Belldandy materializes in his room. She tells him that her agency has received a system request from him, so she has been sent to grant him a single wish. Skeptical and thinking someone is playing a practical joke on him, he wishes that she stay with him forever. To his surprise, his wish is granted. Belldandy must stay with him, but as his dormitory is strictly male-only, they are both forced onto the street.

They set off on his motorcycle to find alternative shelter, eventually seeking cover in an old Buddhist temple. In the morning, they are greeted by the temple's sole inhabitant, a young monk, who welcomes them and gives them permission to stay until they can find permanent lodging. He immediately puts them to work maintaining the temple grounds, but when he sees Belldandy use her powers to save Keiichi from injury, he begins to fear that she may be a demon or sorceress. He is eventually convinced of Belldandy's intrinsic goodness when he witnesses her solicitous care of the temple premises and her perfect meditation ritual. When he decides to go on a pilgrimage to India, the priest gives the couple permission to remain in the temple so long as they continue to maintain it.

Setting[link]

The Oh My Goddess! universe is fashioned loosely around Norse mythology; various names and concepts are recycled for humor. Three worlds exist in the Universe of Oh My Goddess: Heaven, Hell, and Earth. Heaven is the realm of the Lord and goddesses, Hell is the realm of Daimakaicho and demons, and Earth is the realm of humans. Reality is controlled by an enormous and complex computer system, named Yggdrasil.

Each goddess is assigned Class, Category, and Restrictions. Class indicates power and skill in performing pure magic. First Class goddesses are held to a stricter standard regarding the prohibition to lie. There are also three categories: Administration, Commercial (Field), and Special Duty. Limited and Unlimited restrictions indicates boundaries on permitted actions. Goddesses may be penalized for dereliction of duty and may have their license suspended for a time. A goddess using her powers during suspension will have her license permanently revoked.^[3] Belldandy is a Goddess First Class, Second Category, Unlimited License. Urd is a Goddess Second Class, First Category, Limited License. Skuld is a Goddess Second Class, First Category, Limited License. Goddesses also wear power limiters, usually in the form of jewelry.

The goddesses' purpose is to bring happiness to everyone around them. Toward that end, Heaven has created the Goddess Technical Helpline (also called Goddess Relief Agency), designed to bring happiness to the people of Earth, especially those with great virtue but terrible misfortune. A competing institution named the Earth Assistance Center, also is staffed by goddesses.^[4] In most scenarios, a goddess appears before one that the system has deemed worthy and grants him or her one wish. The wish must be approved by the system, after which a contract is created between the human and the goddess and stored on the Yggdrasil system as a file. The wish contract file is protected by a passcode known to the Goddess.^[5] As demons work toward the opposite end, the total happiness on Earth must remain in balance.^[6] Heaven and Hell strictly abide by an agreement to work through contracts and never kill each other.

Demons have similar class and license restrictions, and are accompanied by familiars instead of angels. A seal exists between the demon world and Earth, named the Gate to the Netherworld. It was "created by the gods and can only be broken by an instrument of the gods."^{[citation needed]} As such, demons require a catalyst to manifest on Earth. The demons possess a system similar to Yggdrasil, named Nidhogg. Both demons and goddesses possess the power to seal beings away. The demons also operate in a fashion similar to goddesses by creating contracts with humans and offering them wishes, but often at a price.^[7]

A goddess does not have an angel automatically, but receives one in egg form. When her power matures, the egg hatches into an angel, becoming a lifetime companion.^[8] The angel always obeys the goddess, being a reflection of the goddess' inner self.^[8]

Other creatures that exist in the Earth plane are a multitude of spirits that are responsible for almost every aspect of life. These include the spirits of Money, Wind, Engine and such. More specific entities include Earth spirits, which are guardians over a specific area of land. Morgan le Fay, a villain from the movie, is probably a high ranking Earth spirit (or a being from another dimension, but that is less likely because her tragic love story with a human must have happened on Earth) who demonstrates great strength fighting Belldandy and Urd, even though her powers are less potent than the ones of goddesses of their level.

Production[link]

Before starting work on Oh My Goddess!, Kōsuke Fujishima created the manga You're Under Arrest!. Miyuki Kobayakawa, one of the principal characters of You're Under Arrest!, was featured as a goddess character in a four-panel gag strip in the manga.^[9] While the exact relationship between this initial goddess character and the Oh My Goddess! series is unclear, there are suggestions that Oh My Goddess! can be viewed as a spin-off series.^[10] Irrespective of the origin, the concept of a goddess "as a job" interested Fujishima,^[11] leading to the first appearance of the Oh My Goddess! series in the September 1988 issue of the magazine Afternoon.^[12]

Title controversy[link]

Translating the original Japanese title of ああっ女神さまっ (Aa! Megami-sama!) proved to be problematic. Fred Patten, in writing the preface to the collection "Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews", stated that fans were still debating whether "Ah! My Goddess" or "Oh My Goddess!" should be used at the time of writing, approximately 15 years after the first Oh My Goddess! manga was published.^[13] When the United States anime import company AnimEigo obtained the original video animation (OVA) rights, they titled the series Oh My Goddess!.^[14] This approach was also followed by Toren Smith and Dark Horse Comics when translating the manga. Released in concert with the OVA series in 1994,^[15] Smith has since stated that he saw the title as a play on "Oh my god!", and felt that there was no problem when translating it. Smith confirmed that his interpretation of the author's intent was correct by consulting with Fujishima.^[16] Nevertheless, Kodansha's bilingual release of the manga used Ah! My Goddess,^[17] as did Pioneer's North American release of the film,^[18] and Media Blasters's 2005 DVD release of the TV series.^[19]

Fujishima stated in Animerica that "Oh" was closer to his intent, but acknowledged that the title should be rendered so as to make sense within the country that it is published, and specifically stated that films may warrant different titles than other works.^[20] He did, however, state that he would prefer to see consistency between the titles of the manga and those of the animations.^[20]

Media[link]

Manga[link]

Oh My Goddess! premiered in the September 1988 issue of the monthly Japanese magazine Afternoon. The series is still ongoing and as of the August 2009 issue, 251 chapters of the series have been serialized in the magazine. The individual chapters are collected and published in tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. The first volume was released on September 23, 1989;^[21] as of July 23, 2009, 39 volumes have been released in Japan.^[22]

The series is licensed for an English-language release in North America by Dark Horse. The company initially published the first 112 chapters individually, with the first chapter released on August 1, 1994,^[23] and chapter 112 on September 1, 2004,^[24] until volume 19/20, after which they only published the collected volumes. They also serialized individual chapters in their defunct manga anthology, Super Manga Blast!.^[25][26] The first three volumes have had three different releases; they were initially published in a single abridged volume titled "1-555-GODDESS" on November 1, 1996,^[27] and were later re-released in unabridged volumes between June 5 and October 7, 2002.^[28][29] The first 129 chapters were redistributed between volumes 1 through 20 so that each volume better followed story arcs; after this reordering, the English release had 19 volumes. The fourth volume was released on October 15, 1997;^[30] volume 19, which Dark Horse numbered "19/20" and which ended on the same chapter as the Japanese volume 20, was released on January 19, 2005.^[31] After this release, they began republishing the first 20 volumes, this time following the Japanese chapter layout and using a new translation; they also continued publishing volumes from 21 on, these also followed the original Japanese chapter layout. The third re-release of volume 1 was on December 7, 2005,^[32] and the re-release has reached volume 12, which was released on June 24, 2009.^[33] Volume 21 was published by Dark Horse on July 6, 2005,^[34] and volume 33 was released on August 29, 2009.^[35]

Light novel[link]

The first novel of the series, Oh My Goddess! First End, was written by Urd's voice actress, Yumi Tōma, with the illustrations done by Fujishima and Hidenori Matsubara, the animation director for several of the series' animated adaptations. The story follows the manga, taking place three years after Belldandy and Keiichi first meet. The novel was first published in Japan on July 20, 2006 by Kodansha;^[36] it was then licensed in English by Dark Horse and released it in North America on December 12, 2007.^[37]

Original video animation[link]

In 1993, AIC - Anime International Company, KSS, Tokyo Broadcasting System and Kodansha teamed up to produce a five-episode original video animation (OVA) series based on the manga series. Directed by Hiroaki Gōda and distributed by Pony Canyon, the first episode was released on February 21, 1993, and the final was released on May 17, 1994.

The screenplay was written by Kunihiko Kondo and Nahoko Hasegawa, and the music was provided by Takeshi Yasuda. The character designers were Hidenori Matsubara, Hiroshi Kato, Osamu Tsuruyama.^[38]

The OVA was licensed for release in North America by AnimEigo, who released all five episodes in individual VHS volumes in both English-language and subtitled Japanese-language editions beginning on April 16, 1995.^[39] They later released all five episodes across two DVD volumes in 2001, then re-released the episodes in a single "Collector's Edition" set in 2006. AnimEigo's license expired at the end of February 2010.^[40]

[edit] The Adventures of Mini-Goddess

A 48 episode TV series called Adventures of Mini-Goddess (ああっ女神さまっ 小っちゃいって事は便利だねっ, Aa! Megami-sama! Chicchaitte Koto wa Benri da ne^?) and featuring shrunken versions of Urd, Belldandy, and Skuld in a comedic super deformed style was produced by Oriental Light and Magic and aired on WOWOW from April 6, 1998^[41][42] through March 29, 1999^[42][43] as a part of the omnibus show Anime Complex. It is distributed in Japan by Pony Canyon and in North America by Geneon Entertainment. This series departs the most from the original manga storyline, and has almost no continuity with the previous series. The series revolves around the three goddesses and their rat companion Gan-chan, following their adventures in their temple home. The goddesses remain constantly in miniaturized form, for apparent freedom of space and in order to properly interact with Gan-chan.

Film[link]

A film, titled Ah! My Goddess: The Movie (劇場版ああっ女神さまっ, Gekijōban Aa! Megami-sama^?), premiered in Japan in 2000. It saw the return of the main cast, along with several popular characters from the manga who had not appeared in any of the previous anime. It is distributed in Japan by Shochiku and in North America and United Kingdom by Geneon Entertainment in 2001. The plot does not seem to follow any of the existing canon, but uses plot devices from several different story arcs from the manga, mostly the Lord Of Terror arc.

Anime[link]

Oh My Goddess! saw another TV iteration under the name Ah! My Goddess in 2005. The episodes, which followed the manga closely,^[44] were directed by Hiroaki Gōda, animated by Anime International Company, and produced by Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS). The season began in Japan, on TBS, on January 6, 2005, and ended on July 7, 2005.^[45] Bandai Visual released the episodes in Japan between April and November 2005, as eight DVD compilations each containing three episodes.^[46][47] The two original video animations (OVAs), which had not been broadcast, were released on a special DVD on December 23, 2005.^[48] The series was licensed for a Region 1 release by Media Blasters.^[49] Six DVD compilations, containing all twenty-six episodes, were released between September 2005 and July 2006.^[50][51] Each DVD contained four episodes, excluding the first two, which contained five each. A premium complete season box set was released on November 7, 2006; the regular set followed on November 27, 2007.^[52][53] MVM Films distributed the series in the United Kingdom, with the individual volumes released between February and December 2007 in six similar DVD compilations.^[54][55] The box set followed in July 2008.^[56]

The success of the first season inspired a second season titled Ah! My Goddess: Everyone Has Wings, released as Ah! My Goddess: Flights of Fancy in North America. Also directed by Hiroaki Gōda, animated by AIC - Anime International Company, and produced by Tokyo Broadcasting System, the series covered the adventures of Keiichi and Belldandy in the aftermath of the Lord of Terror fiasco. It premiered on TBS on April 6, 2006 and concluded on September 14, 2006, picking up the story from where the series left off in season one.^[57] Season two concluded with episode 22, although the Japanese and North American DVD releases include episodes 23 and 24. It was released to DVD in Japan between July 2006 and February 2007 by Bandai Visual.^[58][59] Media Blasters, who released the first season, passed up on this season and it was licensed to ADV Films instead.^[60] ADV Films released the season on six DVD compilations, each containing four episodes, between May 2007 and March 2008.^[50][61] The rights were then transferred to Funimation Entertainment, who released a box set on November 25, 2008.^[62][63]

In 2007, Ah! My Goddess: Fighting Wings, a two-episode special to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the original publication of Oh My Goddess!, was released.^[64][65] It was directed by Hiroaki Gōda, animated by Anime International Company, and produced by Tokyo Broadcasting System. The episodes aired on December 8, 2007^[66] and Bandai Visual released the episodes on a single DVD in Japan on February 22, 2008.^[67] The episodes have not been licensed for a Region 1 release.

TBS announced in March 2010 that it was producing a brand new 7-minute OVA for release only with a repackaged and redesigned boxed set for Season 1. Currently, no plans exist for licensing that special OVA episode. The OVA is the first new anime production since "Fighting Wings" was produced for the 20th anniversary of the manga series.

On February 23, 2011, Kodansha released the first OAD for the anime series, bundled with volume 42 of the manga series.^[68] Volume 42 of the tankouban series would be released in two versions, in a standard version without the OAD and a limited edition release that would contain the OAD.

Kodansha recently announced that they were producing a second OAD for the anime series. Volume 43 of the tankouban series will include this new OAD for the anime series, and that it will be bundled with the manga release. Volume 43 is set to be released on September 23, 2011.^[69]

Soundtracks[link]

The seiyū, or "Japanese voice actor", of the series are also professional singers. Either in the form of Goddess Family Club or an original soundtrack, the series has led to over a dozen albums.

Video games[link]

An adventure game titled Aa! Megami-sama! for the NEC PC-9801 was released in 1993 by Banpresto. An enhanced port was later released in 1997 for the PC-FX which added voice and other improvements.

A Dreamcast quiz game titled Quiz: Ah! My Goddess was released in August 1998.

In February 2007 an Ah! My Goddess game developed by Marvelous Interactive was released in Japan for the PlayStation 2. The game was only released in Japan and was released in 2 editions, the limited edition (also known as the "Holy Box" edition) and the regular DVD edition. Currently there have not been any plans for the game to be licensed and translated into English.

Reception[link]

In 2009, Ah! My Goddess won Kodansha's award for Best General Manga, and the most recent volume, 41, was the tenth best-selling manga in Japan upon its release that week according to the Oricon Japanese Comic Rankings charts.

References[link]

External links[link]

Anime and manga portal

• Official TBS Oh My Goddess! anime website (Japanese)
• Oh My Goddess! (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Drama (rapper).

DJ Drama
DJ Drama In April 2008.
Background information
Birth name	Tyree Cinque Simmons
Also known as	Drama Boy, Gangsta Grillz, Mr. Thanksgiving, Barack O'Drama
Born	(1978-04-22) April 22, 1978 (age 34) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Genres	Hip hop, Southern rap, East Coast rap
Occupations	DJ, record producer
Years active	2001–present
Labels	Grand Hustle Records, E1 Music, Aphilliates Music Group, TM3
Associated acts	Akon, Willie the Kid, Lil Wayne, T.I., Young Jeezy, J. Cole, Big Sean, Meek Mill, Gucci Mane, Wiz Khalifa, Fabolous, Wale, Trey Songz, Ludacris, 50 Cent
Website	www.dramalikethedj.com

Tyree Cinque Simmons (born April 22, 1978)^[1] better known as DJ Drama is an American hip hop artist and the official DJ for Grand Hustle/Atlantic recording artist T.I. He is best known for producing mixtapes, including the successful "Gangsta Grillz" series and Dedication 2, which the New York Times called one of the "10 best recordings of 2006".^[2]

DJ Drama, Don Cannon, and DJ Sense founded Aphilliates Music Group in 2003. The Aphilliates Music Group inked a label deal with Asylum Records in 2006, signing rapper Willie the Kid. As of January 2011, The Aphilliates now operates as its own entity, due to DJ Drama recently cutting ties with La the Darkman and Embassy Entertainment.^[3]

Music career[link]

DJ Drama's debut album, Gangsta Grillz: The Album, was released in December 2007 on the Grand Hustle label. The album's first street single, "Takin Pictures", was released in 2007 and featured Young Jeezy, Tre'Von McCall,(Producer)Willie the Kid, Jim Jones, Rick Ross, Young Buck and T.I.,^[4] while the first single, "5000 Ones", featuring Nelly, T.I., Yung Joc, Willie the Kid, Young Jeezy and Twista, debuted on BET.^[5] The second single, "The Art of Storytellin' Part 4", was released in 2008 with the help of long time friend Tre'Von McCall (Who did most of his beats) and featured OutKast and Marsha Ambrosius. In 2009, DJ Drama released his second album entitled Gangsta Grillz: The Album (Vol. 2), the first single was "Day Dreaming", which featured Akon, Snoop Dogg and T.I. The second single was "Ridiculous", which featured Gucci Mane, Yo Gotti, Lonnie Mac and OJ da Juiceman. Both singles were released in 2009. DJ Drama releasd his third studio album, Third Power, on October 11th, 2011. The first single, "Oh My", featuring rappers Fabolous, Wiz Khalifa and Roscoe Dash was released on May 13th, the 2nd single, "Never See You Again", features female singer Talia Coles and rapper Wale.^[6] The Gangsta Grillz album reunites DJ Drama and Don Cannon who had gone their separate ways for a few years after a lot of fighting and arguing as business partners.^[7] Drama is married to video vixen Summer Walker.

Film career[link]

DJ Drama has appeared in T.I.'s ATL in 2006, and T-Pain's Freaknik: The Musical in 2010.

Discography[link]

• 2007: Gangsta Grillz: The Album
• 2009: Gangsta Grillz: The Album (Vol. 2)
• 2011: Third Power
• 2012: Quality Street Music^[8]

Awards[link]

• BET Hip Hop Awards
  • DJ of the Year (Nominated)

• Ozone Awards
  • 2008, Best Mixtape (Hood Generals) with BG (Won)
    • Note: The award was a tie with Chamillionaire's Mixtape Messiah 3^[9]

References[link]

Notes[link]

• Interview with DJ Drama's sister after the January 16th raid, Mixtapeshow.net, January 27, 2007
• April 2007 Interview, Allhiphop.com, April 2007
• Jeff Leeds, "Cracking down on mixtape CDs", New York Times, January 22, 2007
• Samantha M. Shapiro, "Hip-hop outlaw (industry version)", New York Times Magazine, February 18, 2007
• "Exclusive: DJ Drama Q&A", Rhapsody.com, January 11, 2008

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: DJ Drama

• Gangsta Grillz website
• The Aphilliates
• DJ Drama on Myspace
• DJ Drama at MTV
• DJ Drama at Allmusic

Wiz Khalifa
Wiz Khalifa in Brooklyn, New York in August 2009.
Background information
Birth name	Cameron Jibril Thomaz
Born	(1987-09-08) September 8, 1987 (age 24) Minot, North Dakota, United States
Genres	Hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, singer, songwriter, actor
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Rostrum, Taylor Gang, Warner Bros., Atlantic
Associated acts	Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, Curren$y, Big Sean, Chevy Woods, Mac Miller, Juicy J, Tinie Tempah, Yelawolf, Maroon 5, Big K.R.I.T.
Website	wizkhalifa.com

Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by the stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008.^[1] Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records.^[2] He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 2011.^[3]