Ah! My Goddess nuclear meltdown

[Doppleganger]

Ah! My Goddess (or Oh! My Goddess) is basically the Catholic Church of manga. It,

-is one of the largest (volumes), oldest, continuing manga series.
-is one of the most influential manga and pioneered archetypes of its genre.
-has one of the largest, dedicated fanbases of all manga.

AMG came out in 1988, and was the first manga to feature what most of what we younger people would recognize as the tropes/ideas that are staple in Japanese romantic comedy stories. Keiichi Morisato, the main character, is an un-assuming "nice guy" character...and to fit the Biblical analogy, he's basically the Adam to all un-assuming "nice guy" characters ever. He's not a "beta male", which is a bit of a new development, but the basic idea of a timid young man who would otherwise be un-recognized by women despite desirable qualities started with him. Urashima Keitaro and Shirogane Takeru see Keiichi as their ancestor.

Likewise, Belldandy was the FIRST 'magical girlfriend' (disregard myth/legend), and the romance the two shared was often hearalded as an ideal example of pure, innocent love. It's important to note that Belldandy and Keiichi never so much as KISSED in the manga (passionate/deep on lips), let alone had a moment for pillow conversation. Part of this was the era the manga came out of, but over the years it's superseded the context and evolved into a feature of the series.

On that train of thought, the Catholic Church analogy goes both ways. AMG is also seen as a relic, and over the years it's failed to gain new fans because it's as plain a romance as possible, and somewhat inexplicable given the lack of contact between the two. This has been going on for twenty years...

..and THEN, came this month's chapter. All understanding and expectation of AMG has been wiped off the face of the Earth.

For in this chapter, Satan (who is a woman) personally comes to the main character Keiichi and confronts him about a dark secret dating back to Chapter 1. Apparently, God and the choir of heaven who sent Belldandy down to be Keiichi's woman didn't approve of a human marrying a goddess. They were concerned with producing "half-breeds", and so to go along with fulfilling the wish obligation, they neutered Keiichi. Not physically, but they put a curse on him that erased any lust he could feel toward Belldandy. He's been under the influence of the curse so long, he never had reason to suspect that his lack of sexual attraction toward her was due to an outside influence, and instead mis-interpreted it as him feeling "true love", one independent of basal human instinct.

Belldandy was completely aware of the curse, but never said anything about it because she enjoyed the attention Keiichi was giving her, as he someone with his personality would give any girlfriend, and was fond of the luxury without having to bang him. All the goddesses in the story were aware of it, but never commented on it because it didn't affect them directly. Several of the goddesses desired Keiichi for themselves without care toward the "no half-breed" mantra, and because Belldandy would never be a fully valid romance target for him so long as he's cursed, it was to their advantage to keep it a secret and steal him away.

So while the curse only applies toward Belldandy, and Keiichi felt lust toward other normal girls or goddesses, Belldandy obsessively blocked him from relationships with those women. She was incredibly possessive of Keiichi, her source of unrelenting affection, and grew envious whenever someone tried to seduce him outside of this mental manipulation.

Rather than a Takeru-Sumika style true love (which I dispute, as their relationship IMV seems superficial and was never given legitimate challenge before this event) Belldandy/Keiichi is more akin to a human-pet interaction, with Belldandy the pet and Keiichi the human. Humans have no desire to bang their pets, but they shower them with attention and affection, and often a lot of pampering. From Heaven's perspective, putting Belldandy and Keiichi together is nothing but a formality and it's a relationship they don't want to ever come to fruition.

For twenty years in our world, and three years in the story's time-line, this faux love affair has dominated the lives of everyone central to the story. AMG is a beacon of constancy in the world, important now no longer for its story/writing quality but for what it represents. This last chapter has detonated that representation. Rip van Winkle has woken up from a two-decade long dream into a horrible nightmare. It's the Catholic Church saying the Holy Trinity are three gods instead of three faces of the same one.

Can you feel the tremors?

[Talon87]

Holy cow I can feel the tremors. Just ... wow.

This development completely undermines the entire franchise. One of my best friends IRL is a huge Ah My Goddess fan. He absolutely loves Belldandy and Belldandy x Keiichi. This will ruin her for him. Oh wow. Oh wow. If people claim that the otaku rage over Kannagi was overstated by tabloid media in the West like Sankaku Complex, I can totally see this triggering the real equivalent.

On the one hand, I find the development exciting. I am in a position to do so because I do not have emotional investment in this franchise (precisely because I found it to be kinda dull). Less exciting is the idea that Keiichi has been castrated all this time and the prospect that he might finally be returned to his original state. Far more exciting is the idea that Belldandy has been this manipulative bitch more or less stringing Keiichi along because she loved the attention and the fact that she knew it'd never go any further than "just romantic best friends," zero sex or marital drama. It's interesting, to say the least. It definitely puts a new spin on the feelings both Urd and Skuld had displayed towards Keiichi over the years, not to mention human girls he's been interested in or other heavenly beings.

However, on the other hand, even I find this development to be in poor taste. First of all, it's a complete betrayal of everything the author'd set up. Second of all, there's no way the author possibly intended this to happen back when he set out to write the manga. As you've pointed out correctly, Doppel, AMG was a trailblazer. We would expect a trailblazer manga to have trailblazing developments. Instead, this feels like a development which was made entirely because they'd seen what other mangas had done to drum up popularity and public interest and they figured they'd try something similar here. The name of the game, pure and simple, was "shocker": and by golly, they wrote one. But the problem is, this shocker betrays the fans of the past 20+ years, the ones who stood by the series in spite of how boring it was to the rest of us, the fans who never found the series to be boring in the first place. It hugely betrays them and it only mildly rewards us, the target audience in whose direction this plot twist was aimed, because 99% of us are not going to pick up AMG now at the eleventh hour and start reading a backlog of 20+ years' worth of manga just to reach a plot twist which, quite frankly, we could find in any streetstand Mirai Nikki across Japan.

I'm really disappointed in the author for doing this. Surely he couldn't have wanted this. It's a real shame he didn't have the cajones to dig in his heels, stand his ground, and tell his publishers, "No: either you accept what I give you or you're free to terminate our contract and I'll look elsewhere for a publisher who will listen." It's a real shame he cowed in to whatever pressures they must have put upon him and that he allowed them to absolutely shit-shatter-dump-ruin-diarrhea-destroy his life's work in the blink of an eye. Completely up-ends the OAVs. Completely up-ends the movie. Completely up-ends both seasons of the TV series. Completely overturns everything people thought AMG was.

If he's lucky, and I mean supremely lucky, he will be given a second chance by the fans. The following will happen:

1. The fans make it known that this development is unacceptable.
2. The publishers have to listen in the face of disastrously poor sales for the next issue. This plot twist was meant to make sales better, not worse!
3. The publishers agree to let the author re-write an entirely new chapter n (where n is the number of the latest chapter in which this shit was revealed or else is the number of the chapter where the first hints about this insidious plot twist were dropped).
4. The author does indeed write a new chapter n.
5. The fans, loyal as ever, go out and buy it. Sales aren't quite what the publishers wanted but too fucking bad this is AMG and it's boring to the rest of us. ^^;

That's if he's supremely lucky. And I mean supremely. I'd say there's a 99.9% chance likelihood that instead what's going to happen is ...

1. The fans feel insulted and betrayed. They abandon AMG en masse.
2. The publishers balk. The plot twist was meant to boost sales, not tank them!
3. The publishers agree to let the author try whatever he wants to fix this nightmare.
4. But it's too late: no matter what the author tries, even if he writes some bullshit story about how this was all a nightmare Keiichi was in for the last two chapters or so placed upon him by (I forget her name; the recurring series antagonist), the fans don't come back. He dun goofed!
5. AMG comes to a pitiful, unsightly demise by the end of this calendar year.

Tragic. Fucking tragic is what this is. I can feel the rumbles, Doppel, and they're terrifying.

[Char]

I don't really know much about AMG at all but reading about this...is just...

omg :O

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Talon87

However, on the other hand, even I find this development to be in poor taste. First of all, it's a complete betrayal of everything the author'd set up. Second of all, there's no way the author possibly intended this to happen back when he set out to write the manga. As you've pointed out correctly, Doppel, AMG was a trailblazer. We would expect a trailblazer manga to have trailblazing developments. Instead, this feels like a development which was made entirely because they'd seen what other mangas had done to drum up popularity and public interest and they figured they'd try something similar here. The name of the game, pure and simple, was "shocker": and by golly, they wrote one. But the problem is, this shocker betrays the fans of the past 20+ years, the ones who stood by the series in spite of how boring it was to the rest of us, the fans who never found the series to be boring in the first place. It hugely betrays them and it only mildly rewards us, the target audience in whose direction this plot twist was aimed, because 99% of us are not going to pick up AMG now at the eleventh hour and start reading a backlog of 20+ years' worth of manga just to reach a plot twist which, quite frankly, we could find in any streetstand Mirai Nikki across Japan.

I share similar sentiments. It is definitely a new attitude as to where the series is going. AMG's fans are now mostly in their '40s, but the magazine it's serialized in is aimed for 16-20 year olds. These are kids who do not live in a vacuum and are aware of how far romantic comedy has come since AMG, and I'd imagine they lack the respect for the title others hold it in. The inevitable result is a slow death by dwindling sales, pretty much locking the author into this formula until the bitter end.

AMG's "iconic status" has likewise limited what direction the author Fujishima might have wanted to take it early. I could easily have seen this development happen in half the series length, like say Volume 21 which would have been in the early 2000's. Post-Evangelion, I could totally have seen it happening. But now of all times after the series has established itself beyond a reasonable doubt as to what its nature is...doesn't feel natural, and isn't foreshadowed enough for people to have suspected it early on.

I doubt it'll lead to Kannagi rage. Those were children throwing tantrums at their toy being played with by someone else. AMG's fans are adults, so I'd imagine they'll take it like adults, but they'll be crest-fallen.

[Doppleganger]

The plot thickens.

[Talon87]

Long-time fans are being so, so trolled right now.

[Kindrindra]

I'd heard of this series sometimes, but I've never read/watched it.


So THIS is how 2012 goes down. Interesting.

[Talon87]

I can't believe that in just a week or so it will have been two years since this thread was posted. How the time flies ...

Apparently AMG ended in April. Did not know that. :o

But I had come across Wikipedia's explanation about Chapter 285 before coming upon the ANN article. And as you can see from it, it would seem that the series is indeed finished. Judging from what is said there, it sounds like ...

Spoiler: show

Fujishima spent the last two years backpedaling from his controversial 2012 developments without renouncing ownership of them. That is to say, he stood by what he revealed about the nature of Belldandy's and Keiichi's relationship all this time but he ended up concluding the story in such a manner that, at the end of the rainbow, readers found the pot of gold which restored the status quo.

Judging from the comments on ANN's discussion thread, most long-time fans were saddened by the news that the manga would be wrapping up (totally understandable) and several claim that they didn't even see it coming. This begs the question: why end now? Some fans claim it's because Fujishima has gotten old and it's time for him to seriously consider retirement. Other fans claim it's got less to do with his age and more to do with the fact that he's been writing AMG manga for the past twenty-five years. Others still speculate as to whether or not he was forced into retirement. Certainly that theory is the most interesting for those of us who remember the 2012 fiasco but didn't stick around to witness its aftermath. I'm curious! Did most AMG fans find it in their hearts to forgive Fujishima and did they stick with AMG? Or did most fans ragequit back in 2012, resulting in even weaker sales for a manga which was probably already struggling to stay afloat (hence the desperate moneygrab plot twist)? How strong were AMG's sales in 2013 as compared with 2011?

[Doppleganger]

I think age had a lot to do with it. Lately there have been some high profile cases of writers using super long anthologies as steady income to not complete a title, and end up dying. The author of Guin Saga was such, she started the series in the '70s and wasn't even close to finishing when she died. No notes or anything, fans were left with an unfinished tale. Zero no Tsukaima's author died of cancer in his 40's and similarly was unable to finish his title.

Ending AMG IMV regardless of what the fans think is a courtesy to them. It gives them closure, whether they like it or not, something I can say fans of Guin or Zero wish they had.