Magical Girl Pretty Sammy

(Sasami Spin Off: OVA and TV Series)

Magical Girl Pretty Sammy is a spin off from the Tenchi-verse, focusing in on Sasami and making something of a spoof of her relationship with the Goddess Tsunami, among other things. Almost all of the major Tenchi characters make an appearance in this show somewhere, however - though most of them do not appear as themselves, so you have to be watching very carefully!

There are two different Pretty Sammy canons (plus I believe there is yet another show on this subject with completely different backstory and animation, but I haven't tracked it down and honestly, I'm not that interested in doing so...Maho Shoujo Club or something like that). For the time being, anyway, this page will deal in the main Pretty Sammy spinoffs: The OVA and the TV series, also called Magical Proje ct S.

Pretty Sammy: The OVA
I haven't managed to watch all of this yet, so I expect there will be more to come back to on this front. The OVA for Pretty Sammy is different from the TV series in terms of characterisation - Ayeka and Ryoko exist as themselves, although they are school companions of Tenchi's. Tenchi is Sasami's brother, and though she loves him, his indecisiveness drives her mad. She's still best friends with Misao, who is also secretly Pixy Misa, but her first battle with Pixy Misa involves Ayeka and Ryoko being made into Love Love Monsters and the wisdom that until Tenchi makes up his mind and stops leading them on, they'll continue to behave how they are. (They are sort of amusing though. Really)

The most annoying character in the Pretty Sammy OVA is Tenchi and Sasami's mother, with her Karaoke addiction. I thought Ginji and his wife were bad, but this woman takes the cake completely. There's also a more dark background to Misao's family - her parents split up, as opposed to her father just touring around the world for most of his time.

Ramia is still the villain, with Rumiya her reluctant accomplice. But his crush on Misao seems a touch more forced into play in this one. More to come when I've had more time to watch the rest ;)

Pretty Sammy: Magical Project S (Television Series)
Stupid as it is, I have to confess a strange liking for this show. Even though it's not dubbed into English (and the Japanese voice artist for Sasami and for Pixy Misa are somewhat earsplitting at times), it still has a nice, humourous touch to it and is obviously intended as a spoof in a lot of ways.

Sasami Kawai is an ordinary ten year old girl who suddenly finds herself dragged into the world of magic by Tsunami, the hippyish, flower-loving Queen-elect of a spiritual planet called Juraihelm. Tsunami's beaten rival, Ramia, doesn't take this very well and sets out to ruin Tsunami's chances of being crowned by taking over the life of Sasami's best friend Misao, forcing her (with the help of her shape shifting brother Rumiya) to transform into the mischievous and cheeky Pixy Misa, Sammy's nemesis. However, there is a third rival in the wings, waiting to strike the true death nell blow - and she bears an uncanny resemblance to the good Princess Ayeka!! Other original Tenchi Muyo! stars appear in the following roles: Tenchi Masaki as himself (but as a film director, referred to as an ADULT, who Sasami has a crush on), Ryoko as Overly Splendid Oryo, the Juraihelm Royal Guard. Mihoshi is Sasami's class teacher and Kiyone another member of teaching staff who develops an alarming propensity for fainting or turning to stone (at one point, Kiyone comes very close to an arranged marriage!) Washu appears as herself, only a twelve year old super genius who graduated from MIT aged 10 and who uses her powers in the pursuit of peace (she is Sammy's true ally in the series, although Sasami is not always very appreciative of her attention). And Noboyuke and Yosho appear as a cowboy and a ninja respectively, fighting over a town that they want to make either a ninja or a western village for tourists.

Then there are the other characters.

We have Sasami's (highly irritating) parents, with her father Ginji who has apparently been and done everything on the known planet. (For some reason, he and Washu refer to one another as Johnny and Catherine for a lot of the latter episodes!). Despite Ginji's apparent flexibility, he doesn't work out that his daughter is Pretty Sammy until the very end of the series. There are her classmates - the loud and boisterous Konoha, her crush, the 'popular kid' Hiroto (who is more interested in someone else!), Misao, Sammy's best friend (and as I said, Pixy Misa's alter ego), the class leader, Eimi, who always has a rule for everything and who winds up becoming a Magical Girl herself at the end of the series, and the comic relief boy with his camera, Kenji.

Of course, the deeper theme running through the series is the friendship between Sasami and Misao and Misao's own journey of discovery to find herself in her split personality. And then there's the um, affection between Sasami and Ryo Ohki, also ;)

Rating:6/10 (Isn't an Oreo a type of biscuit...?)