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The Adventures of the Mini Goddess - The Gan-Chan Files (Vol. 1)

The Adventures of the Mini Goddess - The Gan-Chan Files (Vol. 1)

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $26.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Short Attention Span Theater for the Anime Fan...
Review: "The Adventures of Mini-Goddess" (sic) are not so much a continuation of the "Oh My Goddess!" storyline as a detour around them. Where the OAVs (direct-to-video releases) and the movie dealt with the romance between Keichi, the lonely college student, and his goddess girlfriend Belldandy, the OAVs revolve around Belldandy's sisters and their adventures with one of the household rats.

If this sounds a bit odd, it is. The stories are all quite cute - it's the main selling point in the advertisements - and light, but they also tend to lose their spontaneity quite quickly and devolve into various forms of mischief that can be wreaked on the rodent sidekick. While references to other classic anime and monster movies abound ("Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Godzilla" come to mind), it seems that the series loses it's focus on the line between entertainment and education for little kids (tutorials and morals do pop up a lot) and nostalgia for grown-up anime fans. The result makes it really hard to spot the target audience here. Given that each of the episodes also weighs in at around seven minutes, two of those minutes being taken up by the opening dialogue establishing the premise and the closing credits, it also makes it hard to get involved in any one story before careening off into another (even given the preponderance of 2- and 3-part stories).

Technically, the DVD is fine, although the extras are minimal. There's a quick description of who Belldandy is (hardly necessary given how little she shows up) and an image gallery for her, but that's it. Even the menus come up a little dry by comparison to a lot of Pioneer's other recent work.

On the whole, I find it hard to dislike this series as it works so hard at light, funny cuteness, but it makes it really hard to like it either. "Oh My Goddess!" fans may like it or not based on what drew them to the series, but if your predilection for anime is deep, epic plot I recommend giving this one a miss.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Short Attention Span Theater for the Anime Fan...
Review: "The Adventures of Mini-Goddess" (sic) are not so much a continuation of the "Oh My Goddess!" storyline as a detour around them. Where the OAVs (direct-to-video releases) and the movie dealt with the romance between Keichi, the lonely college student, and his goddess girlfriend Belldandy, the OAVs revolve around Belldandy's sisters and their adventures with one of the household rats.

If this sounds a bit odd, it is. The stories are all quite cute - it's the main selling point in the advertisements - and light, but they also tend to lose their spontaneity quite quickly and devolve into various forms of mischief that can be wreaked on the rodent sidekick. While references to other classic anime and monster movies abound ("Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Godzilla" come to mind), it seems that the series loses it's focus on the line between entertainment and education for little kids (tutorials and morals do pop up a lot) and nostalgia for grown-up anime fans. The result makes it really hard to spot the target audience here. Given that each of the episodes also weighs in at around seven minutes, two of those minutes being taken up by the opening dialogue establishing the premise and the closing credits, it also makes it hard to get involved in any one story before careening off into another (even given the preponderance of 2- and 3-part stories).

Technically, the DVD is fine, although the extras are minimal. There's a quick description of who Belldandy is (hardly necessary given how little she shows up) and an image gallery for her, but that's it. Even the menus come up a little dry by comparison to a lot of Pioneer's other recent work.

On the whole, I find it hard to dislike this series as it works so hard at light, funny cuteness, but it makes it really hard to like it either. "Oh My Goddess!" fans may like it or not based on what drew them to the series, but if your predilection for anime is deep, epic plot I recommend giving this one a miss.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Cute, but a little off
Review: I bought this on a whim, having seen the OAV version of OMG recently and wondering what this was.

And the editorial review is correct. This series is funny, but a bit shallow and lacks the depth of the OAV series. Despite the premise, miniaturized goddesses toying with a morose rat, only a few episodes a genuinely funny.

Most seem to teether between satirizing/ridiculing genres of both movies/books and only succeed partially in doing that.

The funniest ones I found was the 2-part episode about the 'Godzilla'-rat, which (with the longer running time) succeeds
in making fun of the whole 'monster' rampage thing.

I would suggest renting this, before you buy it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Laugh your .....and find a sickening adoration for vermin.
Review: I watched first the Ah! My Goddess ovas, then the movie when it came out. I was touched by the romantic story and character design, all which make the sensitive side in me get beaten up by the sports jock side of me. The straight truth, however, concerning the Mini-Goddesses and Ganchan is that it throws out everything story wise from the movie and series,(except the goddesses and their presence), for the sake of comedy. So if you dislike seeing the beautiful goddesses shrunk down to the size of cell phones, the near complete absence of K1,(inside joke for japanese language students, Keichi), the overwhelming presence of a rat, and a main focus on just Urd and Skald,. .....then skip Mini-Goddess.
If you said no to the above, super.
Now to the grits of the Mini-Goddesses. First off, as mentioned above, you can get a taste of the series on the dvd of the Ah! My Goddess movie.(great movie). If the hook sets in properly, then continue on to the Mini-Goddesses dvd. Each episode is approximately five minutes long,(not counting credits), and is basically stand alone story lines involving Urd, Skald, and the rat, Ganchan. The stories are as grounded in truth as much as Ronald McDonald is acclaimed as a serious dramatic actor. To give a point of reference, the Mini-Goddesses emerged from a panel cartoon consisting of perhaps three to four panels; hence their shortness, lack of continuity, and hardly any grounding in reality.
The complaint that it has an educational slant is entirely out of base. One of the running gags of the show is that Belldandy pops up and gives real short lectures,(it happens maybe twice?). Utterly, Mini-Goddesses is a straight up comedy that while often time using a poor rodent as a punching bag, its still repeatedly entertaining.

At

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Laugh your .....and find a sickening adoration for vermin.
Review: I watched first the Ah! My Goddess ovas, then the movie when it came out. I was touched by the romantic story and character design, all which make the sensitive side in me get beaten up by the sports jock side of me. The straight truth, however, concerning the Mini-Goddesses and Ganchan is that it throws out everything story wise from the movie and series,(except the goddesses and their presence), for the sake of comedy. So if you dislike seeing the beautiful goddesses shrunk down to the size of cell phones, the near complete absence of K1,(inside joke for japanese language students, Keichi), the overwhelming presence of a rat, and a main focus on just Urd and Skald,. .....then skip Mini-Goddess.
If you said no to the above, super.
Now to the grits of the Mini-Goddesses. First off, as mentioned above, you can get a taste of the series on the dvd of the Ah! My Goddess movie.(great movie). If the hook sets in properly, then continue on to the Mini-Goddesses dvd. Each episode is approximately five minutes long,(not counting credits), and is basically stand alone story lines involving Urd, Skald, and the rat, Ganchan. The stories are as grounded in truth as much as Ronald McDonald is acclaimed as a serious dramatic actor. To give a point of reference, the Mini-Goddesses emerged from a panel cartoon consisting of perhaps three to four panels; hence their shortness, lack of continuity, and hardly any grounding in reality.
The complaint that it has an educational slant is entirely out of base. One of the running gags of the show is that Belldandy pops up and gives real short lectures,(it happens maybe twice?). Utterly, Mini-Goddesses is a straight up comedy that while often time using a poor rodent as a punching bag, its still repeatedly entertaining.

At

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Oh My Goddess, they've shrunk!!!
Review: It's not animation that will change the world or make you think. And that's the point. Adventures of the Mini-Goddess is a foray into cute, harmless fun, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Fifteen episodes of your favorite Goddesses, Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld, as they explore the house in a diminuitive size, and have adventures with their friend (and constant foil for their mischevious pranks) Gan-Chan.

Missions to the moon, weddings among household appliances, and battles with giant moldy monsters (remember kids, just toss the moldy cake and don't eat it), as well as adventures in weight loss, and a game of baseball, it's good clean fun.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Funniest Anime Ever
Review: Mini is among my favorite anime series ever made. The story of AMG-Mini is that the goddesses can reduce their size down to about the size of a small mouse. They then have various funny and interesting adventures. Mini uses a super deformed style and this alone causes some of the comedy. The main characters are Gan-Chan, Urd, and Skuld. Belldandy and Keichi make very small appearances every so often however. I greatly enjoyed this anime and reccomend it to everyone. Even though you may not enjoy AMG you will definetly love this series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Funniest Anime Ever
Review: Mini is among my favorite anime series ever made. The story of AMG-Mini is that the goddesses can reduce their size down to about the size of a small mouse. They then have various funny and interesting adventures. Mini uses a super deformed style and this alone causes some of the comedy. The main characters are Gan-Chan, Urd, and Skuld. Belldandy and Keichi make very small appearances every so often however. I greatly enjoyed this anime and reccomend it to everyone. Even though you may not enjoy AMG you will definetly love this series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cuteness Factor at 1000%
Review: The adventures of Mini Goddess has got to be the cutest piece of anime out. Basically, the episodes are approx. 5 minutes each allowing our cute little Goddesses to go on all kinds of adventures. The Gan-Chan files is the 1st DVD in the series and contains episodes 1-12. A Better description of this wonderful anime show would probably be it's like the Muppet Babies only 1000 times better. So do yourself a favor and purchase all three, currently available, DVD's of this fantastically cute Anime series. You won't regret it:) You can also be like me and pace back & forth, while waiting patiently for the release of The Adventures of Mini Goddess-The Skuld Files:)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cuteness Factor at 1000%
Review: The adventures of Mini Goddess has got to be the cutest piece of anime out. Basically, the episodes are approx. 5 minutes each allowing our cute little Goddesses to go on all kinds of adventures. The Gan-Chan files is the 1st DVD in the series and contains episodes 1-12. A Better description of this wonderful anime show would probably be it's like the Muppet Babies only 1000 times better. So do yourself a favor and purchase all three, currently available, DVD's of this fantastically cute Anime series. You won't regret it:) You can also be like me and pace back & forth, while waiting patiently for the release of The Adventures of Mini Goddess-The Skuld Files:)


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