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Title:
  Adventures of Mini-Goddess vol 4 - The Skuld Files

UK Distributor:  MVM (DVD Only)

BBFC Certificate:  PG

Suggested Retail Price (SRP):  £19.99

Episodes:  37-48 (of 48)

Audio Options:  English 2.0, Japanese 2.0

Subtitles:  English

Reviewer:  Rich (Webmaster)

 

2005 has now ended and a number of anime series follow suit.  Following the disruption caused by the devastating fire at the DVD manufacturer used by many of the UK’s anime companies a number of titles ended a lot later than planned, and Adventures of Mini-Goddess is one of them.

The cutesy spin-off from the romantic comedy Oh! My Goddess was a wonderfully cheerful alternative to many of the darker shows on MVM’s schedules last year, providing enough comedy and brightness for children to enjoy but also enough clever parodies and surrealism to appeal to adults too.  This volume is no exception, although it doesn’t quite hit the heights achieved by the last instalment.

Once again the focus shifts onto Gan the rat, the comedy stooge of the miniature goddesses Belldandy, Urd and Skuld, and his divine companions’ attempt to improve his love life and wellbeing.  Obviously most of these attempts are doomed to failure and ends up with Gan injured or inconvenienced in some unfortunate (but amusing) way!  As mentioned these kinds of slapstick shenanigans will really appeal to children, but adults will get more from the surrealism and parody – something there is a lot of once more.  The only problem is that some of the parodies are very Japanese.  Few in the UK will get the parodies of anime series like Galaxy Express 999 or Space Cruiser Yamato, whilst parodies of series available in the UK – such as Love Hina – are perhaps a bit too subtle for many to pick up on.  Veteran anime fans will spot most of these instantly, but unlike the previous volumes there are fewer film parodies and this does detract from it a bit.

As always the ten-minute episodes themselves can be a bit of a mixed bag, but most are very good and there are some classics here.  The highlight for me was the truly bizarre ‘Game of Life’ episode, where the characters took part in a version of the board game where all of the events came true, and the gleefully dark twist in the final episode of the series – you didn’t think Gan could survive all of those deadly experiences did you..?  A couple of episodes – such as the political drama one – are a bit weak, and it is a shame to see sorceress Marla reduced to a bit part character after the life she breathed into the series, but overall there is plenty of fun to be had on this disc.

Adventures of Mini-Goddess won’t win awards for deep intellectual story but it has been great, non-taxing fun from start to finish.  Kids will love it, and there is a surprising amount of reference-spotting enjoyment to be had for adults too.  There isn’t really anything else like this series available in the UK and if you hanker for sweet, light-hearted comedy then it is most definitely worth a look.

Extras

On the surface there appears to be a lot of extras, but to be honest they are pretty lightweight.  A short character profile and image gallery for youngest goddess Skuld sits next to the usual clean ending sequence and trailers.

Ratings

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