Tsunami, first-in-line for the throne of the magical kingdom of Juraihelm,
chooses a young earthling girl named Sasami Kawaii as her champion for the
cause of good.
Sasami is given an enchanted baton which enables her to transform into the
magical girl Pretty Sammy, and a talking cabbit named Ryo-ohki is dispatched
to assist her every step of the way.
But Tsunami's rival for the throne, Ramia, picks a champion of her own to
counter Pretty Sammy's every move. She ends up using Sasami's best friend
Misao, without Misao's knowledge... and she emerges as the magical girl Pixy
Misa!
Review: Magical Girl Pretty Sammy
The Pretty Sammy OVA series is a Tenchi Muyo spin-off / magical girl parody
featuring the cute and lovable Sasami-chan. For those of you who are already
familiar with Tenchi Muyo, Pretty Sammy casts the whole Tenchi gang into
slightly different roles while retaining the personalities they've already
established in the past Tenchi installments. You don't need to have seen any
Tenchi to appreciate this series however, since all the characters are given
sufficient introduction and no references to other Tenchi series or movies are
ever made.
Three episodes make up the Pretty Sammy OVA series. The first episode sets up
the whole scenario. Sasami, her brother Tenchi, and their karaoke-crazed
mother Chihiro run a CD shop called CD Vision -- where a couple of girls named
Kiyone and Mihoshi work.
Keeping true to the Tenchi tradition, Tenchi has two female schoolmates named
Ryoko and Aeka who are constantly vying for his attention. Somewhere along the
way Sasami is chosen to become a champion for good as the magical girl Pretty
Sammy anime, while her best friend Misao becomes her rival magical girl Pixy Misa.
The second episode pits Sasami against a Bill Gates-esque software mogul named
Bif Standard, who aims to monopolize the business and standardize the whole
world into using his products exclusively... no matter what the cost.
The third episode is a bit more complex, with Ramia disappearing from
Juraihelm while mysterious form-assimilating aliens land on Earth and wreak
some havoc.
Of all the episodes, I found the first one to be most entertaining. It pokes
fun at the magical girl genre all the while taking full advantage of all the
characters' quirks to bring you a totally hilarious viewing experience.
The second and third episodes were amusing enough, but don't come close to
being as humorous as the first one. A few things bothered me about this
series.
First of all, since Sasami and Tenchi are supposed to be brother and sister,
why was Sasami showing signs of having a romantic interest in Tenchi in the
last episode? Isn't Pixy Misa a bit underage to have an attack called
"Pixy Sexual Fire"? And why has Tsunami been reduced to an airhead who
can't even distinguish a real live person from a dummy? My third gripe
wouldn't hold for those who've never seen Tsunami before though.
The art and animation are above average but somewhat inconsistent. In some
scenes everyone would look really good, while in others they would look either
washed out, pudgy-faced, or just plain strangely drawn. There is also some fan
service in the form of a few panty shots and an episode featuring a beach trip
wherein some of the girls wear revealing swimsuits.
The English dubbing can be considered good if you don't compare it to the
Japanese language version. Everyone sounds about right except for Ryoko and
Aeka. Ryoko sounds rather mannish in the English dub while Aeka possesses the
voice of a whiney old crone.
Pretty Sammy is overall quite fun and enjoyable. I would have given it a
higher rating had the second and third episodes possessed the lightness and
hilarity of the first.
Miscellanies: Magical Girl Pretty Sammy
More Pretty Sammy? Also see "Magical Project S". The Pretty Sammy OVA
series has been released on DVD back-to-back with the Mihoshi special episode.
Magical Girl Pretty Sammy (Mahou Shoujo Pretty Sammy) | |
| Genre | Comedy, Fantasy |
|---|---|
| Episodes | 3 |
| Status | Finished Airing |
| Aired | Aug 25, 1995 to Aug 24, 1997 |
| Producers | - |
| Studio | AIC |
| Rating | PG-13 - Teens 13 or older |
| Themes | Parody |
0 comments
Post a Comment