By Ray H.

I needed a change in pace this week, and suspected you did too. As cool as mechs are, you can't talk about them forever. So, to keep it fresh this week and get a dose of shoujo, we'll take a look at the Ah my Goddess dolls.

Ah my Goddess is a popular manga and anime created by Kosuke Fujishima. The series chronicles the adventures of Keiichi, who accidentally phones up the Relief Goddess Office while trying to order some fast food. Then, through a string of weird occurrences, he eventually gets stuck with 3 Goddess sisters: Belldandy, Urd and Skuld at his side. There is a new Ah my Goddess movie coming out in Japan soon, so there might be a push on the merchandise accompanying it.

Two manufacturers have taken stabs at Ah my Goddess Dolls, Volks and Yellow Submarine.

The Volks dolls stand about eleven inches tall and are fully articulated. Volks makes all three goddess and the dolls have real fabric clothing. Since their high end limited collectors dolls they cost a pretty penny, somewhere around $125 each. Another cool feature about the Volks line is they make a Skuld doll which has been left out of the other line, Skuld is also a bit shorter too, she clocks in at about nine inches which is accurate to her character.

Yellow Submarine has come up with their own beautiful renditions of Belldandy and Urd. These dolls are about the same size as the Volks dolls, just a smidge shorter. They also feature more accurate detail. The Yellow Submarine figures are also a little bit more expensive than the Volks ones, costing cost around $135 each.

Since were on the subject of Kosuke Fujishima's stuff already, there's also some very cool "You're under Arrest" dolls, also from Yellow Submarine. They make Natsumi and Miyuki, are about the same size as the Ah my Goddess dolls, and cost about the same too. Ah my Goddess and You're Under Arrest are both available on video from Animeigo, and the manga are released in the U.S. through Dark Horse Comics.

All of these gorgeous dolls can be ordered over at Hobby Link Japan.

Special thanks to HLJ for help with the images.