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Title:
 Because I'm The Goddess

UK Distributor: Tokyopop

Author: Shamneko

Suggested Retail Price (SRP): £6.99

Number of Pages: 176 

ISBN: 9781598164886

Reviewed: 7th January 2007

Reviewer: Tom (Webmaster)
 

  Its the old old tale.  Beautiful young goddess falls to Earth to help humans.  Goddess is a ditzy girl naive to the ways of human society.  Goddess meets teenage boy.  Goddess falls for said boy and the lives to serve him.  Boy is embarrassed by situation but likes the affection shown for him.  Hilarity ensues (supposedly). 

So Because I'm A Goddess is pretty clichéd, but there must be something about it that sets it above the others?  Well....kind of.  The 'unique' feature is that the goddess of the title - Pandora - is normally a big buxom Jenna Jameson type with clothing that leaves very little to the imagination.  Pandora draws her awesome goddess power from her, erm, weapons of mass destruction so when her power depletes her body becomes that of a young teenage girl.  She can only turn back into her original adult form by kissing Aoi - the protagonist of the story.  Aoi is a very moody guy who often resorts to violence to solve his problems and badly needs a girlfriend to calm him down and help him over his social problems.  Because of this Aoi hates the attention which the adult Pandora draws and further to this hates anyone who actively seeks attention, i.e.. the opposite of him.  Aoi therefore prefers Pandora in her younger form as she attracts much less attention and loses her power to inadvertently destroy a city, until she kisses Aoi again that is. 

And it is Pandora's transformation into a younger girl that lets down this manga.  The thing Aoi prefers her in this form not just because she causes less hassle but also because he fancies her more in her younger under-16 form.  A later character in the story includes an underage lesbian which just makes the creepiness factor a little too high.  The lolicon stylings on many of the characters is a bit too disturbing, particularly when the recommended age for Because I'm The Goddess is 16+.

There is some entertainment to be had when Pandora and Aoi must retrieve the gifts - cute winged creatures which enter women and manipulate their emotions in order to have men serve them.  Pandora defeats the creatures by turning Aoi into a random object (different every time), thus using the object to rid the woman of the gift.  Pandora does this easily every time - we are talking half a page - so the confrontation is devoid of any action. 

In Japan this manga was no doubt aimed at the young teen market but over here it is difficult to know who is going to buy it due to the age restriction.  It is far too immature for anyone over the age of 15, the lack of action makes it unexciting and the lolicon overtones just make the romance to disturbing.  The repetitiveness of the story (defeat gift, defeat another, etc.) hardly makes for exciting reading either.  Some younger readers may find it enjoyable but they would be far better off reading Ah! My Goddess! or any other of the endless 'goddess becomes teenage boy's guardian' manga out there.   

Extras:

A short two-page manga message from the author which is more entertaining then the main manga and adverts for the Star Trek & Return To Labyrinth - a manga continuation of the 80's film Labyrinth

Ratings

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