Oh My Goddess!

Oh My Goddess! (Japanese: ああっ女神さまっ, Hepburn: Aa! Megami-sama) or 'Ah! My Goddess!' in some releases, is a Japanese seinen manga series written and illustrated by Kōsuke Fujishima. It has been serialised in Monthly Afternoon since September 1988; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon by Kodansha, with the first released on August 23, 1989; the final volume of the manga series, volume 48, was released on July 23, 2014, marking nearly 26 years of publication. The series follows college sophomore Keiichi Morisato and the goddess Belldandy who moves in with him in a Buddhist temple; after Belldandy's sisters Urd and Skuld move in with them, they encounter gods, demons and other supernatural entities as Keiichi develops his relationship with Belldandy.

The chapters have been adapted into an original video animation produced by Anime International Company (AIC), and an anime series which aired from 2005 to 2006. Additionally, AIC has developed two OVAs and a film, and OLM, Inc. has also developed an anime series as well. Companies have developed thousands of types of merchandise, such as video games, and a light novel.

The manga series has been licensed for an English-language release by Dark Horse Comics. The OVA was licensed by AnimEigo, while the film was licensed by Geneon Entertainment, and the various TV series were licensed at various points by Media Blasters, ADV Films and Funimation.

Story
Keiichi Morisato is a college sophomore who accidentally calls the Goddess Help Line. The goddess Belldandy materializes and tells him that her agency has received a system request from him and has been sent to grant him a single wish. Believing that a practical joke is being played on him, he wishes that she will stay with him forever, and his wish is granted.

Since he is unable to live with Belldandy in his male-only dorms, they are forced to look for alternative housing, eventually seeking shelter in an old Buddhist temple. They are allowed to stay there indefinitely after the young monk living there leaves on a pilgrimage to India upon being impressed by Belldandy's intrinsic goodness. Keiichi's life with Belldandy becomes even more hectic when her elder sister Urd and her younger sister Skuld move in as well. A series of adventures ensue as his relationship with Belldandy develops.

Setting
The Oh My Goddess! universe is fashioned loosely around Celtic/Norse Mythology; various names and concepts are recycled for humour. Three worlds exist in the Universe of Oh My Goddess: Heaven, Hell, and Earth. Heaven is the realm of the All Mighty and goddesses, Hell is the realm of Hild and demons, and Earth is the realm of humans. Reality is controlled by an enormous and complex computer system, named Yggdrasil.

Each goddess is assigned Class, Category, and Restrictions. Class indicates power and skill in performing pure magic. First Class goddesses are held to a stricter standard regarding the prohibition to lie. There are also three categories: Administration, Commercial (Field), and Special Duty. Limited and Unlimited restrictions indicates boundaries on permitted actions. Goddesses may be penalised for dereliction of duty and may have their license suspended for a time. A goddess using her powers during suspension will have her license permanently revoked. Belldandy is a Goddess First Class, Second Category, Unlimited License. Urd and Skuld are Goddesses Second Class, First Category, Limited License. Goddesses also wear power limiters, usually in the form of jewellery.

The goddesses' purpose is to bring happiness to everyone around them. Toward that end, Heaven has created the Goddess Technical Helpline (also called Goddess Relief Agency), designed to bring happiness to the people of Earth, especially those with great virtue but terrible misfortune. A competing institution named the Earth Assistance Center, also is staffed by goddesses. In most scenarios, a goddess appears before one that the system has deemed worthy and grants him or her one wish. The wish must be approved by the system, after which a contract is created between the human and the goddess and stored on the Yggdrasil system as a file. The wish contract file is protected by a passcode known to the Goddess. As demons work toward the opposite end, the total happiness on Earth must remain in balance. Heaven and Hell strictly abide by an agreement to work through contracts and to prevent bloodshed between them, each god is linked to a demon by a life contract, thus if one of them is killed, the other perishes as well, with their memories of the contract erased to ensure no one knows who is paired with whom.

Demons have similar class and license restrictions, and are accompanied by familiars instead of angels. A seal exists between the demon world and Earth, named the Gate to the Netherworld. It was "created by the gods and can only be broken by an instrument of the gods." As such, demons require a catalyst to manifest on Earth. The demons possess a system similar to Yggdrasil, named Nidhogg. Both demons and goddesses possess the power to seal beings away. The demons also operate in a fashion similar to goddesses by creating contracts with humans and offering them wishes, but often at a price.

A goddess does not have an angel automatically, but receives one in egg form. When her power matures, the egg hatches into an angel, becoming a lifetime companion. The angel always obeys the goddess, being a reflection of the goddess' inner self.

Other creatures that exist in the Earth plane are a multitude of spirits that are responsible for almost every aspect of life. These include the spirits of Money, Wind, Engine and such. More specific entities include Earth spirits, which are guardians over a specific area of land. Morgan le Fay, a villain from the movie, is probably a high ranking Earth spirit (or a being from another dimension, but that is less likely because her tragic love story with a human must have happened on Earth) who demonstrates great strength fighting Belldandy and Urd, even though her powers are less potent than the ones of goddesses of their level.