Ah! My Goddess Manga/Oh My Goddess! Manga
ああっ女神さまっVolume 41 Chapter 260

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

As Belldandy fights Slyum in a stalemate, Urd notes Belldandy’s license as a Valkyrie in regards to how Belldandy is staying in the fight but she also notes that their time is limited. As they only have six hours, Keiichi starts thinking of what to do to win or even if they need to win at all in order to proceed onward. Keiichi recalls the spell Belldandy placed on him for speed when he needed to race to school in order to replace his clone to take a test. Urd remembers this along with the fact that she dressed up the clone in a female school sailor uniform and states that she can create the “medicine” required. Urd wonders about Keiichi taking the pill though, but Keiichi assures her that since Slyum enjoys the fight, a chance to fight him will be bait enough since he’s the only one she’s not engaged. Urd agrees and after teasing Keiichi a little bit about showing off for Belldandy, she gives him the pill.

Meanwhile, Slyum appears happy to be fighting Belldandy like this but asks her how she plans on winning. Belldandy knows she has to do something to change the the stalemate and knows it will be very dangerous to do so. As she prepares to change her attacks, Slyum thinks Belldandy has lost when Keiichi calls Slyum out. Keiichi is standing in front of the door and counting down the 20-seconds in his head until the speed spell in Urd’s pill activates. Keiichi is afraid but speaks boldly and Slyum takes the bait. Slyum attacks just as the pill activates, allowing Keiichi to see her apparently moving in slow motion. He waits until the last moment, observing Slyums look of happiness before dodging her punch. Her blow takes out the exit door instead.

Thoughts/Review: It is not surprising that Fujishima-sensei would suddenly retcon in that Belldandy is also a certified Valkyrie along with everything else Belldandy does. After all, Fujishima-sensei has been doing that kind of thing for years. However, in this case, even though this skill has never been mentioned before, I think back to the Lord of Terror arc when Belldandy had to do some major fighting. She proved skillful there so why not have an explanation as to why someone like her who doesn’t like to fight knows how to and can do so?

Keiichi’s plan to save Belldandy actually forced me to pull volume 3 off my bookcase. I haven’t read that volume in ages and it is shocking to see the artwork back then. *lol* That aside, I didn’t remember the incident Urd and Keiichi were talking about until I read that chapter in the manga.

For those who don’t remember, Keiichi had been trying to study for his exams and his buddies from the Motor Club came by to party. To solve the problem, Belldandy attempted to make a clone of Keiichi (with humorous results during the cooking process) so that the Motor Club would have something to play with while Keiichi went to school unmolested. Unfortunately, a drunk Tamiya sees the two Keiichi’s and well twice the Keiichi is twice the fun. Anyway, thanks to Urd, the dumb clone gets to class the next morning while wearing the high school girl’s seifuku and by the time Keiichi and Belldandy arrive, the clone is seated. So, to allow Keiichi to make the switch, Belldandy casts a speed spell on him so that no one notices the switch, but that also means Keiichi had to wear the same seifuku as the clone. *lol*

Anyway, back on topic, I’m surprised that Fujishima-sensei even bothered linking Keiichi’s plan to the past manga story. Still, it was a way to showcase Urd’s pills again (when was the last time we saw those and just how did she make one anyway?) and a way for Keiichi to use Slyum’s strength to their advantage. However, just because she’s blown open a door doesn’t mean that she’s just going to let them leave. So I’m not sure what this accomplishes in the long run. It was an interesting turn of events though.

Fujishima-sensei reminding the audience of the time restriction was helpful since this manga is a monthly publication and thus it has been many months since Keiichi and company left Earth on this quest for Hild. It will also hopefully inject a bit more urgency in the story, but then again, it might not. We’ll see. ^_^;

So, a fun chapter for what its worth. I’m hoping the Slyum part ends next chapter.