The original Japanese title is "Aa! Megami-sama!". The problem of how to translate this phrase has led to a great deal of debate and flamewars amongst English-speaking anime fans during the early 1990s. The US-anime import company AnimEigo obtained the OVA rights and entitled them: "Oh My Goddess!".[9] Those who objected felt that the title should be "Ah! My Goddess". References to "Oh my god" and "Oh my goddess" in a number of songs (such as Hottokenai No Sa, Megami-sama tto Oyoubi) only fueled further debate.
Series creator Fujishima was ultimately consulted. His initial reaction was to agree with the "Ah" camp. After the English phrase "Oh my God" was explained to him, he decided that "Oh" would be closer to what he was trying to convey. Yet, when a Japanese fan later pointed out to Fujishima that the Japanese merchandise uses "Ah", Fujishima said that it would be better to keep things consistent.[10]
Ah! My Goddess is the official English title for the manga, which is published by Dark Horse Comics;[11] AnimeEigo later also used Oh My Goddess! for the OVA.[9] The bilingual release, which was released by Kodansha, uses Ah! My Goddess.[12] Pioneer chose to use Ah! My Goddess in their North American release of the movie;[13] this was possibly due not to any aesthetic considerations, but rather because AnimEigo uses the title Oh My Goddess!.
The 2005 TV series and DVD releases carry the title Ah! My Goddess.
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