Pretty Sammy
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Pretty Sammy (魔法少女プリティサミー) is an anime based on the magically transformed version of the Sasami character from the various Tenchi Muyo! series. The Pretty Sammy anime itself has been dubbed into English by Geneon (back when it was known as Pioneer USA) while the Magical Project S television series has not, and is only available subtitled in the original Japanese.
In the Pretty Sammy OVAs and Magical Project S Sasami Kawai (河合 砂沙美 Kawai Sasami) is a cute young Japanese girl who is asked by magical queen-to-be Tsunami to be Magical Girl Pretty Sammy (プリティーサミー), a champion of justice. She is constantly harassed by Pixy Misa (ピクシィミサ), an evil magical girl created by a rival candidate for queen of the magical world, Ramia. Sasami is unaware that Pixy Misa is actually Sasami's best friend, Misao Amano (天野美紗緒 Amano Misao) (who is herself unaware of the transformation forced on her via hypnosis by Ramia's brother Rumiya).
Collectively, the various Pretty Sammy vehicles spoof the magical girl (mahō shōjo) genre of anime (particularly Sailor Moon), using the characters from AIC's popular Tenchi Muyo! series (where Sasami is known as Sasami Jurai Masaki). Ryo-Ohki (who is a male in both of the Pretty Sammy Series) is Pretty Sammy's assistant and plays the same role that Luna, (of the Sailor Moon series) had done, including keeping the fact he could talk a secret. In demonstration of its strangeness, a notable episode in the OVA series features Sasami fighting the evil "Biff Standard", an obvious parody of American entrepreneur Bill Gates.
There were actually two Pretty Sammy series: A three-episode OVA, followed by the 26-episode TV series Magical Project S. Aficionados of the Tenchi Muyo! OVA series often disparage Magical Project S as being for children. There was an episode where Tokyo is attacked by a giant cheesecake.
In the Pretty Sammy OVAs, Sasami's father is not present. Sasami's mother, Chihiro Kawai (河合 ちひろ Kawai Chihiro) is constantly breaking into a fit of karaoke where she sings a dramatic torch song about a man who leaves his wife for another man (who cooks and sews better). In the TV series (Magical Project S), Sasami's father, Ginji Kawai (河合 銀次 Kawai Ginji), is a man of various and useful talents, and uncertain employment. Sasami's mother in the TV series is Honoka Kawai (河合 ほのか Kawai Honoka). Sasami's mother in the OVAs does cameo sometime later in the series as a member of Team Lovely Madams, but is of no special relation in the TV show.
Both the OVAs and the TV series are notable for the quality of the musical tracks. Many of the tracks are hilarious parodies of popular karaoke tunes.
The other major characters of Tenchi Muyo that also appear in different roles in the Pretty Sammy OVAs and (Magical Project S) series are Tenchi, Washu, Tsunami, Ryoko and Ayeka. In the OVAs Tenchi is Sasami's brother. Ryoko and Ayeka also appear in the OVAs as bickering schoolgirls who are constantly competing for Tenchi's attention. In the TV series, Tenchi only appears in one episode as a TV director that Sasami has a crush on. Ryoko appears in the last few episodes as Tsunami's bodyguard Oryo, and Ayeka appears as the evil third candidate for Queen, Romio. Tsunami's role in both OVA and TV is the same. Washu is a scientist that has shown an interest in magical power and sometimes follows Pretty Sammy around, known as Washu Kobayashi in the OVA and Washu Fitzgerald in the TV series.
Pretty Sammy was first seen in the Mihoshi Special and has also appeared in Episode 12 of Tenchi Universe (Tenchi Muyo! TV: Time and Space Adventures Part 2) in a costume that more resembles Sailor Moon's than her original outfit.