Oh My Goddess!
Aa! Megami-sama is an ongoing Japanese manga series, written by Kosuke Fujishima, published in monthly installments in the magazine Afternoon. The manga has also been turned into a variety of anime series and spin-offs, which I've written a brief guide to sorting out in case you're confused.
This website, however, is focused exclusively on the Oh My Goddess! manga, unless otherwise noted. However, there are special *seperate* sub-pages where I cover Mara's appearances in the Mini-Goddess anime and in the 2005-2006 TV anime as well.
Links to the websites of publishing, distributing, and translating companies responsible for Oh My Goddess! in all its incarnations can be found here.
The Story
Keiichi Morisato, short of stature and a self-confessed loser with women, was just an average college student at the Nekomi Institute of Technology, until a misdialed phone call changed his life forever. When Keiichi accidentally dialed the divine Goddess Technical Help Line, he suddenly found himself face-to-face with a beautiful goddess who emerged from a mirror in his dorm room. The goddess introduced herself as Belldandy, and offered to grant Keiichi one wish. Keiichi thought that the whole thing was a joke, a prank set up by his sadistic roommates. So in jest, he made his wish. "I want a girl like you to be with me forever!" But then Belldandy connected to Yggdrasil, the computer system that underlies Heaven, and approved Keiichi's wish. Belldandy was suddenly less than thrilled to realize that she was now bound by contract to stay by Keiichi's side forever - and Keiichi couldn't believe that "I was just kidding!" didn't seem to be working on her.
So then Belldandy was stuck, bound by contract to stay with Keiichi in Earth, and there seemed to be nothing that the two of them could do about it. The trouble started right away when Keiichi's roommates kicked him out of their dorm when they caught him with a girl; soon Keiichi and Belldandy were wandering the town of Nekomi late at night, searching for a place to stay. With Belldandy around, however, good luck seemed to come in spades. The two eventually did find a new place to live, a temple left to them by a very, very confused Buddhist monk. All of a sudden, things started to look good for Keiichi. He had a home of his own, and just happened to be living together with a real genuine goddess. Unfortunately, with Belldandy around, bad luck seemed to come in spades. Just when Keiichi and Belldandy begin to fall for each other (predictably), Belldandy's troublesome goddess sisters showed up to poke their noses in her business...
Oh My Goddess! remains popular among fans in both Japan and North America due to its gorgeous artwork, interesting characters, complex and fascinating storyline, and Fujishima's great sense of humor. While the story overall is somewhat light and fluffy, there are dramatic moments, and the whole thing is centered around a very sweet romance between Keiichi and Belldandy.
The Characters
Keiichi Morisato is the unassuming male lead in the story. He is a shy, introverted college student who loves motor sports. Quite a few of the stories in the manga revolve around his misadventures as a member of the Nekomi Tech Motor Club. As the manga progresses, Keiichi becomes more outgoing and confident. He eventually is promoted to the chief of the Motor Club, then graduates college, and gets a job working for a custom motorcycle shop owned by one of his friends. No matter how much Keiichi loves Belldandy, he is still terminally shy when it comes to the non-existent sexual aspect of their relationship.
Belldandy is the Norn of the Present. She used to work for the Goddess Helpline, but ever since Keiichi made his wish, she has been living happily with him on Earth. She starts out as a naive and slightly compulsive character, but eventually evolves into a wise, gentle, kind woman. She grows to love Keiichi very deeply, and even after their contract is cancelled, she uses her substantial powers to ensure that they will continue to stay together. Belldandy is equally as interested in stereotypical feminine pursuits like cooking and cleaning as she is in racing and motor sports, a hobby that she comes to share with Keiichi.
Urd is the Norn of the Past, and Belldandy's older half-sister. Urd and Belldandy share the same father, but Urd's mother just happens to be Hild, the almighty leader of Hell, which means that Urd is half-demon. In the beginning of the manga, she is the system administrator of Yggdrasil. Predictably, however, she ends up being banished to Earth as punishment for her troublesome habit of lying (a practice unfit for a goddess). Urd takes it upon herself to act as a cupid for Keiichi and Belldandy, often with disastrous results.
Skuld is the Norn of the Future, and Belldandy's younger sister. She first shows up on Earth to request her sisters' help debugging the Yggdrasil system, then ends up staying as part of her license training program. Skuld has few powers, but she is somewhat of a genius when it comes to building bizarre machines and gadgets. Keiichi aptly describes her as having a "mech fetish." Skuld spends most of her time tinkering with her own inventions, or stewing over how upset she is that Keiichi seems to have stolen all of her sister Belldandy's attention.
Peorth is an (unrelated) goddess who works for a helpline agency that rivals Belldandy's agency. Keiichi summons her when he manages to accidentally dial up a hotline to Heaven, again. She is a goddess of equal rank to Belldandy, and although she initially sets herself up as Belldandy's rival, the two eventually reach a reconciliation. Peorth reappears several times as the manga progresses, gradually becoming an normal addition to the Morisato household, as she seems to permanently be on "vacation" from her duties in Heaven.
Rind is the latest goddess to show up in the manga. She is one of the Valkyries, an elite class of warriors who protect other goddesses. She shows up at the Morisato household one day because she is hunting the Angel Eater, a monster that devours the symbiotic angels that live within goddesses. She is aggressive in combat, yet stoic and reserved the rest of the time; she provides a grim, serious contrast to the rest of the cast. And to say anything more about Rind would be to give away one of the best story arcs in the manga so far. ^^
In addition to goddesses, there are plenty of other characters as well, especially humans. Keiichi's younger sister Megumi plays an important role in the manga, as do his parents, Keima and Takano. There are also other members of the Nekomi Tech Motor Club, and Keiichi's other classmates at Nekomi Tech, including one Sayoko Mishima. Finally, of course, there are the counterparts to the goddesses - the demons. Mara is the central demon character in the series, and the focus of this shrine. Other demon characters include Velsper, about whom only spoilers could be said, and Hild, Urd's devious demon mother.