Oh Urd, how have you wrapped my heart around your little finger for all these years? Perhaps it is her exotic looks, or carefree approach to life, or maybe her loyalty to her family. I don’t know what it is, but surely, her school uniform in this volume helps along my infatuation.
Creative Talent:
Writer/Artist: Kosuke Fujishima
Translation: Dana Lewis
Adaptation: Dana Lewis
What They Say:
As powerful (and wrathful) as Belldandy’s older sister Urd is, what’s the real reason she never became a Goddess First Class? Now, in order to finally achieve that exalted state, Urd must fulfill a challenge decreed by Peorth: give Keiichi a certain amount of happiness! That sounds great… until you realize that with Urd, giving a certain amount of happiness is going to mean inflicting a great amount of misery first!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Urd has successfully passed all but the final portion of her test to become a Goddess First Class. All that remains is the smiley button test. Peorth gives Keiichi a badge that measures his happiness. The happier Keiichi becomes the bigger the smile on the badges face. All Urd has to do is get Keiichi to a point of being ecstatically happy. A mere Urd wind produced Belldandy panty shot proves to be inadequate, so she decides to pull out the big guns. Urd shoots Keiichi right up to ecstatic when she joins him in the bath. Only problem is where are they going to stick the smiley face badge on a naked Keiichi.
The direct approach isn’t working with Keiichi, so Urd tries her old tactics. Working from the shadows, Urd tries to get Keiichi in a position where he will tell Belldandy he loves her. Urd is running out of time on her Goddess First Class test and these tactics have never worked in the past, so is this really the right approach? I don’t know if Urd is going to be successful, especially since she hasn’t pulled that off in 29 volumes. Then again, does the heaven and earth really need a Goddess First Class Urd? There is more soul searching in this volume, and another great look at Urd’s childhood.
On a different note, Peorth has finally reached the limits of her patience with Keiichi. She decides it is up to her to make Keiichi admit his love for Belldandy. Peorth is quite different from Urd, so what tactics will she resort to in her attempt to make a love connection between Belldandy and Keiichi? It might surprise you.
In Summary:
This is another great volume in a long line of good books from Fujishima. We learn something somewhat surprising about Urd, and Peorth pushes Keiichi farther than Urd has ever achieved. At this point, Fujishima’s skill at depicting the goddess’s faces is nothing short of extraordinary. The way he depicts their eyes and hair is just beautiful.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: August 20th, 2008
MSRP: $10.95
