Married to a Magic Girlfriend

Recently I have viewed all the episodes of the OVA (Original Video Animation) and the TV anime Ah! My Goddess! I enjoyed them so much I sought out the manga and began reading it–and I am enjoying them too. Now, before explaining my title about being married to a magical girlfriend, I thought I’d take a few moments to talk about the show itself and the anime sub-genre, so if you already know all about it, and anime in general, and want to get on to my claim scan down to the next graphic, but if you are interested in my impressions of the show itself keep going.

The on-going adventures of a young college student who inadvertently makes a contract with a goddess, Belldandy, to watch and assist him in his life (or as he puts it “stay by my side forever”), and the complications he faces having to explain her to his friends and sister, are great fun. She is also a joy to follow since she is a profoundly good character who strives consistently to quite literally bless the world in which she finds herself. And for all the magical plot complications, I have found myself especially enjoying the developing love story between Belldandy and the young student, Keiichi Morisato, As is typical of this kind of narrative, the feelings take a while to develop. (Although they are co-existing, for example, in the same house, actually in a renovated Buddhist temple, it takes Keiichi most of the first season to even hold Belldandy’s hand, and this progress is made even more difficult when they are joined by her protective and equally magical younger sister Skuld. Furthermore. they must deal with the well meaning but often impractical and aggressive help from Urd, Belldandy’s older sister,

I know there is another anime sub-genre, “the harem” storyline (one guy with a bunch of beautiful girls). and it is not uncommon for this to be mixed with the “magical girlfriend” storyline, but in this case there is never any doubt in all the goings on that Keiiche only has eyes for Belldandy.

Of course no one believes him as he tries to explain that “nothing is going on." More than one writer has commented on the similarity of Ah My Goddess to the 60s sitcom I Dream of Jeanniee throughout which Major Tony Nelson is forced to explain periodically in his home the presence of a beautiful blond woman who calls him "Master” and with whom, after a long TV run, he finally marries (and honeymoons in her bottle). More about that later.

Another side note: I originally saw these manga books in our public library when the series was titled Oh, My Goddess!, and avoided them because the titled sounded to my English ears so much like taking God’s name in vain, an important issue to me. That turns out to apparently be a translation issue. However, I should also point out that the cosmology here is completely loopy if connected to Christianity.

The artist, Kōsuke Fujishima, claims that he drew his inspiration from the three Rhine goddesses of German myths yet many of his images are clearly drawn from traditional Christian typology. Belldandy and her sisters are periodically depicted with angel wings (and in many ways she behaves like an angel) but to clarify the uniqueness of this world’s vision, mature goddesses are themselves paired with beings who are winged angels and who reflect their hosts. Belldandy’s angel, for example, is named “Holy Bell.” Holy Bell is a separate entity living in a symbiotic relationship within Belldandy. Although she never speaks, she joins Belldandy in song when they are in prayer. This is entirely Fujishima’s creation.

On top of that, prayers, spells and so forth are also often described as programs which at times can be hacked or infested with viruses, and the structure of the whole universe is controlled by an enormous and complex computer system, named Yggdrasil. Magic and Science fiction combine–thus this world in spite of its familiar appearances is as alien to ours as Middle Earth or the planet Dune. As with all Fantasy and Science Fiction, the truth which makes a work of art worthy is found in its fundamental human qualities rather than external details:.Aslan’s selfless death for a loved traitor or Frodo’s willingness to walk into Mordor for the shire show the true nature of heroic love. The details of where there is a land in which animals talk or rings can have elemental power are only a means to present such truths..

From left to right: Urd, Skuld and Belldandy’

So what does this have to do with being married to a “magical girlfriend?" In my growing understanding of the anime world, I have found that there are a whole range of sub-genres. One, of which Ah My Goddess is a prime example, is the magical girlfriend.

The Wikipedia article found at the above link quotes Thomas LaMarre’s observation that, "Anime fans become familiar with a whole range of female figures that are either not really human (robots, aliens, deities, animals), or that possess extra-human powers of some kind or another (from cyborg enhancements to magical or psychic abilities), which take them beyond the merely human woman.”

Also, as several critics have noted, Americans have actually already seen a host of story lines like this in live action comedies especially in the 60s such as the aforementioned I Dream of Jeanniee, Bewitched, and the very short lived My Living Doll (I just learned that you can see episodes of this sitcom on Hulu + so those of you who wondered what Julie Newmar was doing before her famous role as Catwoman in the 1960s Batman television series should check it out).

What has not been brought up in what I have read, and which I know was a topic of conversation back in the 60s, is that part of the comedy in these story lines was built on the fact that the traditional gender roles of power are often flipped, or at least kicked off-kilter, since all magical girlfriends are far more powerful than their male love interests. And I wonder if the popularity of this sub-genre in Japan is built in part because Japan’s culture is going through gender transition as America began to do in the 60s. I am not suggesting a simplistic late wave that Japan is just catching up with the US. Japan is not America, and it is experiencing an ongoing and different cultural change. But it is interesting note that the “magic girlfriend” plot line is not the source of comedy in the US as it was in the 60s. We seem to see women as warriors now. (See my comments in an earlier post “The Dark Side of Empowerment”).

Part of the the joke in Bewitched was the rule made by Darrin that Samantha will not use magic in their house, in fact in their marriage. So there she is, a woman who could conjure up full cleaning crews with a twitch of her nose, dutifully scrubbing dishes and vacuuming floors. Needless to say she does not always obey and then has to go though huge lengths to hide her transgressions from her suspicion husband. In the same way in I Dream of Jeanniee, Major Nelson orders Jeannee to not interfere with his career. This means she must let him go through the grueling astronaut NASA survival program and eat bugs in the dessert when all she has to do is blink her eyes and a whole feast within dessert tent cam appear.. As an android Rhoda is both stronger and faster at calculations than Dr. McDonald, but fortunately for him in My Living Doll, she is also programed to be obedient, making her in McDonald’s words the “ideal woman,” the perfect beautiful domestic.

Belldandy is also intensely domestic. She loves cooking (and she is excellent at it according to the whole cast) and we hear her happily singing about doing laundry as she hangs sheets out in the wind. Yet this is a female who could level Tokyo with a wave of her hand and, in fact, wears rings and ear clasps as inhibitors to her magic which our world could not stand if she were go go about free. She’s also quite bright and attends classes, but she primarily does so to help Keiichi with his homework.

It is not surprising that in spite of this series’s popularity, it has a good number of critics who look at this as either creating unrealistic expectations in young men or an expression in older men of the dream of a return to the traditional male dominated gender roles. I would note, however, that there is one major difference in this story line from those American 60s sitcoms–Keiichi Morisato never demands nor orders Belldandy to do anything. He claims no patriarchal authority. The domestic choirs she does are manifestations of her desire to bless other rather than a response to outside expectations. In fact, Keiichi’s attitude is, from the beginning, a state of surprise (“You cooked me breakfast? Why?”) and awe at his fortune, that for some reason–which he can not explain–this beautiful, powerful being has committed herself to him. In fact, as the story progresses, there are several times when she is “freed” from the contract and could return to Heaven, yet she chooses to stay with him anyway. Slowly it dawns on him that Belldandy loves him..

Both Darrin and Major Nealson occasionally have moments when they realize that they have no real hold on the women who love them (There is, for example, one episode when Darrin figures out that Samantha is actually hundreds of years old, and he wonders what people will say some day when they see some old geezer with a beautiful blond by his side). But honestly for them the power of their love interests are more of an annoyance since it challenges their own assumptions about authority and strength and it complicates their lives.



Keiichi could think so. His life does become a lighting rod of all sorts of paranormal activities. Belldandy constantly apologizes to him for the trouble she adds to his existance, but for him these “troubles” are actually adventures, and they are all made worth while because she still stays with him.

And that is where I am: One day while my wife, Loretta, was speeding me to an appointment which I could not have kept in a timely manner without her help, the image of Belldandy streaking through the sky holding on to Keiichi’s hand to get him somewhere came to mind, and I thought “Grief! I’m married to a`Magic Girl friend!’"

Since the beginning of our walk together 25 years ago (actually more if you include the years of friendship an dating), Loretta and I have been aware that traditional gender roles were not stacking up in our lives in the way they seemed to in those of other couples. Being legally blind, I am only able to get about via walking, public transport, the kindness of friends, but especially now in my life through the willingness of my bride.

Many may think that is is “no biggie,” but consider back into most American courting traditions. Who picks up the date and how? Who opens car doors? Who chooses the direction and who is in power? And, to use a cliche, who accidentally turns the car to "look out point” and then runs out of gas? Sighted people have no clue of the ramifications in personal lives when car driving is not within one’s power.

But it does not stop there. In fact, there are a whole range of ways that Loretta–to illustrate this article’s claim–could be said to be more powerful than me.

Although my father had an expansive workshop when I was growing up, “handiness” does not seem to have been in my genes. Traditional shop class gave me little, and boys were not allowed to take Home Economics in the 60s, a class I could have used a lot more since I had to do my own cooking for a number of years as a poor bachelor. Loretta brought power-tools to the marriage! She fixes cars, ceiling fans, installs windows, repairs roofs and just last spring redid our downstairs bathroom (actually designated as my bathroom). On Father’s Day in our church a range of little gizmos and gadgets for home repair are laid out for children and spouses to pick up for “the man of the house." My children and I go by the table and think "My my won’t Loretta (Mom) think this is great!" And she does.

But that is not all she does. Loretta is a classically trained pianist and music educator who teaches at Kenyon. She’s led award winning choirs and played concerts. She’s directed musicals. She’s privately instructed keyboard, specifically piano but she has taught harpsichord–heck, she’s built a harpsichord. Presently, she is in her terminal degree at Boston University having already attained a Masters in Music Education. She is also an amazing cook who is always expanding her skills (unlike many, she actually used the wok we received for our wedding.) She is also the loving mother of our two children for whom she has been nursemaid, educator, guidance counselor and even barber. I am in awe of her.



I will concede that the extraordinary ability to take the raw materials of love-making and metamorphose them into living beings (In other words in the ability "to make a baby”) has given many men pause and forced them to see, for a moment, the magical quality in their wives. However, for too many this awe sadly passes too soon. For me, however, all of this has been but a furtherance of a grand adventure.

And that spirit of adventure is one of Loretta’s especially defining qualities that truly makes her magical. There has rarely been a challenge that Loretta has not been willing to try, camping, motorcycle and horse riding, performing, shooting weapons, graduate work, marriage, motherhood. and even coming with me in custom to the Ohio Renaissance Fair.

Now in some ways it is not fair to Loretta to compare her with the various “magic girlfriends” who have been portrayed in film and TV shows.. She is a human being; they are fiction. Is she a fantastic cook? Yes. Does she always feel like cooking? No. Does she fill our house with music? Yes. Does she always feel musical? No. I have certainly never heard her singing to the washing-machine or drier. She does not even always want to take me places I need to be and periodically reminds me that I should ask rather than assume she will hep me. And she is right.

Also I should note that I do bring something to our partnership, and Loretta would be the first to tell you that. Keichi, in fact, brings affirmation, care and optimism to his and Belldandy’s relationship, and Belldandy, who as a goddess can not lie, has told him so several times. But this is not about him or me: its about the marvel that is she.

Thanks to my recent viewing and reading of Ah My Goddess, I have been reminded though Keiichi’s awareness of his own blessings that into my life has come a profoundly gifted and loving woman, who for some reason in spite of the range of annoyances I bring to the relationship and the occasional weaknesses other women assume as strengths in their men, loves and supports me and like Belldandy has promised to stay with me, forever, at least until we are called home, which happens to be Heaven.