The bulletin board Keiichi is putting the NIT Motor Club recruitment poster on at the start of the movie has a number of other posters on it that seem to have been borrowed from the manga or Mr. Fujishima's life. Surrounding K-1's poster is the one from Robot Wars (DH issue IV-1, K chapt. 40, Dec. 91) announcing the robot competition that Skuld and Megumi face each other in, and the Manager Wanted poster from the NIT Women's Volleyball Club door in On A Wing And A Prayer (DH issue III-3, K chapt. 24, Aug. 90). I also suspect that the woman featured on the row of posters at the top of the board is one of the voice actresses, possible Kikuko Inoue, but I'm not familiar enough with how she looks to really say (just a couple of old pics on old sites). Anyone more familiar with how the goddesses voice actresses look feel free to give an opinion on this.

There are also a few posters advertising a horse race (See the race course on it?) with the English words Blood-Horse on them. Blood Horse is the name of an international organization, magazine, and website for the breeders of thoroughbred race horses. It also seems to be of some importance to the Japanese horse racing community, but what the purpose of having a poster with its name on it on a Nekomi Tech bulletin board eludes me. Any ideas? Has anyone heard of Mr. Fujishima or the Ah! Megami-sama crew being involved in horse racing? I wouldn't put it past him considering all his other hobbies.

In the scene right after Morgan appears and looks at the Nekomi MCC recruiting poster on the bulletin board, we get a great animated view of a terraced plaza where the various campus groups are supposedly having recruitment booths for the new students. Right at the front is a table with several people around it, one with a guitar, and a sign next to it that says Raekwon, AA Only Built 4 Cub, on sale. The one guy is obviously talking to the passerbys and the guitar player is holding some sort of session. Well, this is a plug for a real CD.

The following is a transcription (modified) from a music review website.

Artist: Raekwon
Title: ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX
Manufacturer: RCA
Released: 01 August, 1995
Audio CD Features: Explicit Lyrics

Review: "Shaolins Finest. Shallah Raekwon, he's the Chef and cooks up some marvellous s#!t to get your mouth water. He drops amazing lyrics along with Ghostface Killer. When he first portrayed his skills on "Bring DA Ruckus" it was easy to see he had more talent than most of the Wu. Making arguably the BEST Wu-Tang solo album. This amazing debut from the man who calls himself the Chef showed he was one of the greater members of the Wu. He and Ghostface Killer rule the album until Nas and Method Man come and rock the mic. This album is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to ANY rap fan, whether you are a fan of the Wu-Tang Clan or not. It is a stroke of brilliance."

The album cover on the sign is the same one that's on this CD, and the crew around the table look kinda like the group's members. So someone high up in the production crew of the movie is a big rap fan and stuck in a real rap group as a cameo in the movie, possibly as homage or as a favor.

A plea from the Japanese impaired.

There are several other posters on that bulletin board and numerous student signs on the terrace in this scene sequence, all of which are drawn clearly enough to actually be read. Unfortunately they're all in Japanese (DUH!) so I can't read them, but I gotta feeling there's a lot more hidden references in this scene, and not necessarily for just Oh/Ah! My Goddess. If someone out there can read Japanese and has access to the movie and a DVD player with pause, I'd appreciate it if they'd take a look at the other signs and posters and post what they find.

The four vehicles shown by the motorclub at their recruitment show are; the hill climb motorcycle from "It's lonely at the Top", K-April 1993, the go-cart from "Winner Take All", K-June 1990, the fuel conservation racer from "Mystical Engine", K-Feb. 1991, and the Honda Super Cub funny bike from "Leader of the Pack", K-Aug. 1989, all from the early years of the series.

And of course, Bell and Keiichi are driving the side car racer from "The Phantom Racer" arc, parts 1-4, K-chapt. 110-113, Sept.-DEC 1997 (the year the movie was announced).

Just like with the character montage at the start of the OAV series, an effort to tie the movie and the manga together.

The calendar over the phone in the Morisato household was dated 2001, the year the movie was released just like with the episode dating in the manga, and was for the months (3 and 4, meaning March - April). Cherry trees blossom in mid-April in the Chiba prefecture.

When Urd takes off to rescue Belldandy after her phone call from Peorth, did you recognize the broom? Several people besides myself have identified it as Stringfellow, the flying broom from "The Goddess's Apprentice", K-chapt. 80, April 1995. (Note the attached charm)

I'm sure a lot of people noticed this but I'll mention it anyway. If you look carefully at the Yggdrasil command station being (WO)manned by Chrono, Ere, and Ex you'll see the controls they're working are in the form of threads and shuttle cocks on a weaving loom. This is undoubtedly a reference to the mythological tradition of the Norns who take care of Yggdrasil being weavers.

Belldandy remembering to offer Keiichi her card was actually important. Japanese business protocol requires that you exchange business cards when introduced to another person you may be doing business with. If Bell had failed to do so it would have been terribly impolite. (She and Urd give Keiichi their cards when they first meet him in the manga. It is assumed that Skuld was too young to need one and Keiichi, being still a student, wouldn't have one either.) This exchange of cards is not   required    for    social   or   employment

situations, but is often done anyway when the parties are at a high level of responsibility or social position. (Source, US State Department post briefing for diplomatic personnel being stationed in Japan.)

As you probably recall, at the conclusion of "Childhood's End" when Skuld and Bell are going home, Belldandy says they'll get Skuld a bicycle the next day. But we never hear or see anything more about it. At least until the movie. For lo and behold, in the shed next to Keiichi's broken BMW are two bicycles, one of which is definitely Bell's from that story and the end of Peorth's arc, and a smaller yellow one leaning against the wall that is probably Skuld's.

In the scene where Belldandy goes into Keiichi's room to clean up after she's cooked that oversized breakfast, you may remember she drops a photo album she'd just picked up. It falls open as it hits the floor, revealing pictures of her past that Bell finds strangely effecting. Well, thanks to having just spent several days rereading the story for another topic, I've recognized the first two photos as being the girls in their softball uniforms from "Play The Game", K-June 1993, the story where Megumi drafts Keiichi and the goddesses to help her softball team defeat the NIT baseball team.

Further investigation has shown that the next two photos are from the hot spring vacation in "Karaoke Hell", K-Aug. 1993, the story that starts the "Demon Urd" Arc (check the yukata the goddesses are wearing), and the last two are from "Sorrow, Fear Not", K-July 1993, featuring Bell, Keiichi, and Marron, the dog Megumi found and asked them to look after. (The other pages just seem to be general pictures, but maybe others can spot additional connections.)

The second hot spring vacation photo is a group shot of Urd, Bell, and Skuld, with a fourth female face to their left half obscured by the photo's frame. She has orange-bronze skin the same color as Urd's, an eye like Urd's, and wavy, curly blondish hair. There also appears to be a shadowy triangular cheek mark. Now who do we know that was at the hot springs with the goddesses that might fit those characteristics? Unfortunately, between her hair and the degree of picture resolution, I can't see if there's a diagonal marking on her forehead

That would cinch the identification as Mara, but there's still enough similarities to make me pretty sure that's her in the left hand corner of that photo. (If anyone has better digital/optical capabilities and wants to check this out, please do so and let me know what you find. If, as I think, I've discovered that Mr. Fujishima snuck a previously unknown picture of Mara with the goddesses into his movie after all the negative commentary about how he'd left her out of it when the movie first came out, it'll be some sort of triumph for me and whoever can help.)

Also to be found in this scene sequence in Keiichi's room are the salvaged computer he cobbled together in Welcome, K-June 1992, a plastic Tamiya model tank kit, I believe it's a German Tiger, and the TV with vice grips replacing the tuner knob that was seen in some earlier episodes. If you watch carefully, you'll notice the computer vanishes in the last part of the scene. (Look behind Belldandy.)

In scene 16 of the movie, in the sequence where Belldandy starts having her memory cascade, if you look behind Keiichi when he's standing in his room you'll see a Hamaya (demon exorcising arrow) sticking out of the closet. While probably NOT meant to be any one of those seen in the manga, it does refer the movie back to those occasions when they were used in the manga.