Bell Dandy's Article

If you had to think of one character to represent the entire Oh My Goddess! series, who would it be?

Don't answer that. The question is rhetorical, and her picture is plastered up all over this page. Belldandy is the lifeblood of Oh My Goddess!--there's no doubt about that. It's her unique, innocent, caring personality that makes the series what it is. There are many other manga series about beautiful women who aren't of this earth coming to live with normal guys. Some, like Tenchi and Urusei Yatsura, you've likely heard of. Others, such as Boku no Marie and Mamotte Shugogetten! are a bit less well-known. While all of these series are certainly excellent in their own right, OMG manages to rise above the pack and stand on its own, with a feeling of originality that is somewhat lacking in all the others.

Of coz', this can't all be attributed to Belldandy's personal touch--but a lot of it can. The most refreshing thing about Oh My Goddess is that Belldandy (in her current incarnation), unlike her counterparts in other series, is neither abrasive, nor stupid, nor impulsive, nor annoying. In fact, one is hard-pressed to name any bad qualities at all. As a result, Belldandy and Keiichi's problems usually come from outside sources--left to their own devices, the two of them would likely lead a peaceful, contented life together.

Belldandy wasn't always like this, though. Back near the beginning of the manga, she was a lot more like a normal girl, in terms of the way she acted. Unlike the way she was portrayed in the first OAV, Bell was none too thrilled about having to live with Keiichi forever.

It's hard to imagine that, in her younger days, Bell used to get into a lot of fights with Urd. She was at times careless and impulsive, and often, poor Keiichi would get caught in the crossfire. In time, though, she grew and developed, and became more like the goddess we know today.

From an artistic standpoint, Bell wasn't always as beautiful as she is now. Back at the beginning of the manga, she had blue hair, and an oddly-shaped face that was, frankly, a bit homely. Her character design eventually caught up with the familiar one from the OAV, though, and finally surpassed it. The differences between the OAV and her current look in the American-released manga are subtle, but noticeable--she appears a bit more mature now, and perhaps a bit prettier as well.

One of the most captivating things about Belldandy's character is her mix of wisdom and apparent naiveté.

Back when I was very young--four or five or so--I used to wonder why people would want to be mean to each other. Honestly, to this day, I really don't understand it most of the time, but I've come to accept it and, as such, barely think about it anymore. In this sense, Belldandy is still like a young child. She never feels a need to deliberately hurt other people, and is not so cynical as to expect other people to be hurtful either. Her innocence along these lines even extends to the point where, at times, she ends up trusting the demoness Mara--who is invariably up to no good.

Belldandy is innocent in other ways as well. Most of the characters in the manga end up, at one point or another, with their minds in the gutter. Belldandy, on the other hand, seems almost completely immune to any sort of lustful thought, and often times, sexual connotations in certain situations just don't occur to her at all. As a special note, the image to the left of this paragraph isn't just a thumbnail ... it's a link to a condensed version of a scene where this occurs. Pretty funny stuff.

At other times, though, it seems like Bell is totally aware of what's going on, but it just alright with it. When Peorth arrives, for instance, Bell at first seems oblivious to the way the new goddess is coming onto Keiichi. Eventually, though, she takes Peorth aside and asks her to stop. In fact, in this same issue, Belldandy is seen to actually mull over sleeping with Keiichi.

As a story character, Belldandy is truly unique. Her divine beauty and wisdom and her complete lack of a dark side make her the heart and soul of one of the most popular manga series ever published. She's a breath of optimism in a world that's often cruel and unpleasant for the likes of Keiichi--proof that somewhere out there, there still exist such things as innocence and purity.