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Title: Final Exam
Series: Oh My Goddess! #3
Author: Kosuke Fujishima
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 152
Format: Paper edition
| Synopsis: |
Various chapter stories usually with comedic overtones. Belldandy is crowned Queen of Nekomi Tech. Belldandy and Kei go on a date only to have it ruined by Urd and Sayoko. Megumi invites the motor club over and Urd has them play a magical game of Life.Kei has to take exams but ends up with a brainless double that gets dressed up like a girl taking it for him. Finally, Sayoko’s cousin attends the Tech and tries to make moves on Belldandy with rather predictable results.
| My Thoughts: |
This was a very humorous volume. What stood out to me was the dinner date between Kei and Bell where both Sayoko AND Urd interfere. Sayoko to try to steal Kei from Bell. Ok, an aside here. I still don’t understand why Sayoko is SO determined to steal Kei. It makes for a great ongoing plot point but I really do have to turn my brain off to accept it. Urd interferes because she’s on a mission to get Kei and Bell together conjugally. And yes, conjugally is a real word, I looked it up to make sure! So, during this dinner date Sayoko is trying to be a third wheel and Urd sees it. Urd enchants a roasted turkey to life and it jumps off the serving cart and begins running at and attacking Sayoko. I just about died laughing.
Of course, things aren’t quite so funny when Sayoko’s sleazy cousin shows up and tries to force Belldandy to abandon Kei and be his girlfriend. It had real stalker/rape vibes and while it was shown as something bad, the fact that a character was acting like this at all was a reminder that I was reading something from almost 30 years ago. I don’t remember this type of thing being an ongoing issue in future volumes but I’ll definitely be more aware of it now.
On to the art!
This is a very simple and clean piece of art but at the same time it really expresses everything I like about Belldandy. It’s obvious she’s no ordinary girl, as evinced by her sitting on top of a power pole. At the same time her femininity is in no way compromised. The long flowing hair, the simple shoes, the dress with the sash and apron, the small smile. It all comes together to show a beautiful woman who is extraordinary but not a sexpot. I think that Fujishima did an excellent job of creating beauty without salaciousness. * thumbs up *
★★★★☆
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
Oh, the simple charms of early volumes of OMG! 🙂 Before it got too long and convoluted… It began in the 80ties, and went on for far too long for my taste. Then, there is this whole issue of yamato nadeshiko vs modern approach to gender roles… but again, it’s not the worst example of this problem. Overall, OMG! is a guilty pleasure for me, with early parts having enough freshness and innocence to win my affection.
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Yeah, I’m enjoying the chapter by chapter storylines so far.
I don’t have a problem with the yamato nadeshiko outlook so that’s not an issue.
The length is a bigger issue as far as I’m concerned. Eyeshield 21 was pushing things and this is another 11 volumes. One reason I’m not trying to read these quickly. I have a real bad feeling that the later books are going to be tough…
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It’s a problem common in successful TV-series – they make so much money that there is no incentive to just finish with dignity before it’s too late. I admit I liked early volumes of Bleach, and it happened there as well. I admire artists who know when to finish, ideally – who know where they’re going from the start.
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I thought of bleach AND One Piece…
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And thanks for the follow 🙂
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Gahahah I always looking forward to your review of this series 😀 I love this old classic manga look 🙂 Glad you enjoyed this chapter so far !
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Thanks. I am doing my best to savor the single chapter stories, because as Piotrek above mentioned, things start to get drawn out in later volumes…
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I love Oh My Goddess!😍 Fantastic Review! I just bought some of this series from a library sale not long ago and need to read them especially after your great review!😊
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Thanks Dani. Depending on what volumes you bought, they might be able to be read alone. I think the multiple volume storylines didn’t start until the 20’s?
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Hmmm… I will have to investigate!!!🔎💡
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I really like that art!
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Yeah, I like the linework and lack of movement. That’s one of the things I dislike about shonen manga, all those “whooshy” lines 😀
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I had to look that up and I get what you mean.
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Sorry, I forget that not everyone else has the same history as me in manga 🙂
Any action manga with lots of fighting will have a ton of those whoosh’y lines. It just makes the panels look super busy and so filled that it can be hard to tell what is going on.
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hehe no worries- I was interested to see and thanks very much for the explanation 🙂 I definitely get what you mean and prefer this more static style because, like you said, it’s easier to see what’s going on.
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How much of a dramatic change does the artwork go through in the later volumes? 😮 I seem to remember you mentioning that the purpose of showing the artwork was to show how it changes, but man… why would anyone want to change this beautiful artwork??? 😀
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Thinking on it, I suspect it is more clothing style than anything. Bell did change from the first book to the second, but that was more the author finding what worked for him. I do know that things get “busier” later on with multi-book story arcs.
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