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What is it about?
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This is a Seinen romance title from 1993-94, it follows the life of Keichi Morisato after his fateful encounter with Belldandy; a girl who came out of his mirror and who happens to be a Goddess!
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What do I like about Oh My Goddess?
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OMG has a quality matched by very few shows, Balancing the highwire act that is engaging narrative without conflict. It's a heartwarming series about a boy and a girl and their clunky earnest love for each other. The show is at its best when it eschews action and tension and instead focuses on the endearing relationship in this sweet romance.
Automobiles
It may be strange to see cars get brought up with a series like this one but the author: Fujishima, Kosuke, is a big auto enthusiast... and so am I. He is credited with creating two other series involving cars: Ex-Driver (Which I have seen), and You're Under Arrest (Which I've sampled an episode of) The presence of automobiles in this series is not an afterthought, it's very much ingrained into the soul of the work. Heavenly goddesses and gearheads is an odd plot mix but it blends into a natural pairing. I only regret that Belldandy is not as involved with the actual racing as she will be in later versions of this story.
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Why did I upgrade?
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The price was better than expected because the digipak trays were each damaged in one corner... The discs look new. Be aware this version can get very pricey as it is out of print and copies are scarce. I'm doing a comparison so you can better decide whether to upgrade or stick with the Standard discs.
I had been content with my standard edition DVD's but I read on Amazon that they had unremastered picture quality, which led me to the Collector's Edition. It took two years or so of watching to get the CE for a sum I was willing to part with. Meantime I watched this set twice because I like it.
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On to the DVD comparison
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Video quality is supreme?!? But was Oh My Goddess worth upgrading?
Here are my findings from the CE.
Collectors Edition:
Positives: The picture and movement is sharp,
Pausing the picture does not change the image quality, it's as if the picture stopped.
Line art is sharp, no rainbow-ing, no artifacts, no blur.
The image overall is more pleasing to the eye. The colors are more distinctive.
It looks as good as a typical dvd quality release should look
The Case is slimmer
Negatives: The sharpness brings attention to the choppy camera movement in the backgrounds.
Obvious Interlacing is still present in a few scenes.
The opening credits do not appear to have been remastered, the same OP problems are in both versions, rainbow-ing in distance shots of belldandy's hair, and some obvious interlacing at the very beginning.
The Price: I picked this up for $50 with cracked plastic tray damage to the case, but good luck buying it for less than $100.
Case: Well, even if it wasn't damaged, it should be noted that this case is begging to break every way you look at it. The material is easily bent and ripped. The digipak trays are not well supported by the paper material and are prone to cracking.
I like the presentation... Belldandy over blue, Urd over pink, and Skuld over green. The discs showcase all three Goddesses and separate the cool blue and green with pink which is closer to the hot side of the scale, but is kept subdued in keeping with the color scheme.
Standard Edition:
Negatives: The usual complaints were rainbow-ing, dot crawl, brightness. Hit pause and the VHS era quality of the image is immediately obvious.
What this translates into is moving footage with a mild form of astigmatism.
Image is brighter overall, but colors look washed out.
The show looks aged.
The case takes more shelf space
Positives: the choppy background movement is present, but the blurry picture mutes the effect making it more pleasing to the eye.
The price: I got this set for $25 in two purchases at the time, but $13 is possible on Ebay
The Case: Standard DVD cases, takes more shelf space, but you can throw the case around and it should be fine. There's no hidden cover art.
-The Paper insert with notes and lyric translations is a great extra.
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Quick image comparison
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A picture from the Collector's Edition: It appears less bright, image is sharp, the phone color stands out, The overall look is cleaner, but here it seems a bit subdued and drab.
From the Standard Edition-- note the bright wall, and the pale phone, as well as rainbow-ing by the mouth receiver, also present along the fingers and back shoulder. Edges look blurred... visual clarity degrades as the image scales up. I can make an argument about how the brightened look makes this look more appealing. In the end, the decision is a matter of personal preference, but savings speak volumes!?
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Should you upgrade?
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No: strictly on the matter of price I don't think the upgrade is worth the current asking price for the casual enthusiast. The Collector Edition looks better than the standard release, but the production still looks rough around the edges due to age and the older nature of the release.
With few exceptions You can buy the entire Ah My Goddess tv series 1 and 2 for less than the price of the OMG Collector Edition!
Standard Edition comes out to about 16 cents per minute assuming 25 dollars, and if you can get it for 13 as I purport... you're looking at 9 cents per minute.
If you think visual quality is paramount you're looking at a hefty purchase price of 100 dollars for 5 episodes of content priced at about 66 cents per minute, or a good bit of shopping around for a deal.
I managed to get it for 33 cents per minute, but I'll be buying some new trays to repair my case which is going to bring the cost up.
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Final opinion
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Overall I'd hesitate to recommend the Collector Edition at the high price point, but I do recommend the OVA. The contents on the Collector Edition discs is of a typical DVD quality, the case is substandard materials, but nicely presented, with this release it really come down to how much you're willing to pay for a better picture... I opted for the upgrade at a 25 dollar markup and I'm OK with the product, but it could easily be an 80-100 dollar markup over the cost of the standard edition and that is way too much of a jump for most.
If you get the opportunity to upgrade for a price that you're comfortable with I say go for it... but don't leave Oh My Goddess on your to watch list... it's a charming show and the standard edition is a great place to start your anime collection, and expand your growing anime library.
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