Pretty Sammy

Ah, yeah, a Sasami site wouldn't be complete without a tribute to Pretty Sammy, Sasami's alternate superhero personality. This page, like much of the rest of the site, contains spoilers if you haven't watched Pretty Sammy (or Dream Project).

So, with all that said, exactly who is Pretty Sammy? She's a superhero who fights for...uh...justice. She's super cute. Oh, and many of you are probably saying, "Hey, she looks an awful lot like Sailor Moon." That's not an accident; AIC and Pioneer made it like that, trying to take advantage of Sailor Moon's popularity (note: I don't know whether Sasami's hairstyle is a rip off of Sailor Moon, but I highly doubt it because both characters appeared in anime at about the same time although Sailor Moon did appear in manga before it; also if you look at it, Sasami and Sailor Moon have different hairstyles).

Yes, Pretty Sammy is Sasami in case you didn't know. She goes through a transformation sequence to get to her Pretty Sammy state. Exactly how Pretty Sammy got her powers differs depending on what series you are in. Pretty Sammy appeared in the Tenchi Muyo! OAV (Tenchi Muyo!), the Tenchi TV series (Tenchi Universe), her own OAV series (Pretty Sammy), and her own TV series (Magic Project). Quite a lot for an 10 year old little superhero, huh (Pretty Sammy is 10 in the Pretty Sammy OAV and TV series)?

Pretty Sammy first appeared in the Mihoshi Special in the OAV (Tenchi Muyo!). Unfortunately, the Mihoshi Special is the only episode in the OAV series that did not show on Cartoon Network. In this episode (which really did not go along with the storyline), Ryo-ohki just kind of told her to get up and transform into Pretty Sammy.

Pretty Sammy also appeared in one episode of the TV series Tenchi Universe. In this episode, Pretty Sammy was in one of the "alternate realities" that had come to be through Washu's crazy machine, the dimension generator (supposedly Sasami was the one who generated this universe as this is Sasami's ideal universe).

After these two appearances, Pretty Sammy became pretty popular in Japan. So, the result? She got her own OAV series.

The Pretty Sammy OAV is really short, consisting of three videos. However, I've only seen a promo for it, and I've never actually watched the series (I plan on doing so soon though). The OAV, however, is incomplete. There is a Pretty Sammy TV series (called "Magic Project"), though, based on basically the same thing the OAV is based on.

In Pretty Sammy, Pretty Sammy is a 10 year-old girl living in Japan. Pretty Sammy's brother is Tenchi. Her mother owns a record store in which Kiyone and Mihoshi work. Meanwhile, Washu is new to the town and gets a job at Sasami's school as a teacher. Ryoko and Ayeka are classmates of Tenchi. They spend their time fighting over Tenchi (some things never change...). Their fights are always literal and obvious and Tenchi doesn't agree with them. Sasami's best friend is Misao, who wasn't seen previously in Tenchi Muyo.

There is a magical kingdom in this story called Juraihelm (you can tell where they got that from). On this kingdom there is a vacancy in the seat of the throne and there are two people can be elected. Tsunami prevides of her rival Ramiya, but Tsunami has to do some good deeds before she can ascend the throne. She needs to select someone on Earth to be her "champion" and reflect Tsunami's ways, and make the Earth a better place. Surprisingly, Tsunami chooses an ordinary school girl, noneother than Sasami, as her champion. Ramiya, still a bit cold from losing to Tsunami, chooses her own "champion", Misao (Sasami's best friend) to jump and keep Sasami from doing any good. Both are given magic powers, and the ability to transform (Sasami into Pretty Sammy and Misao into Pixie Misa). Tsunami also gives Sasami a guide named Ryo-Ohki (who in this series is a boy).

Pretty Sammy's magic comes in the way of spells. These spells mostly affect people's emotions, although some can destroy things like her enemies (demons, etc.).

If you do intend on watching this, a word of advice: you probably might take some time to get used to new roles as the chracters have very different roles than those in Tenchi Muyo. If you like Sailor Moon and animes like that, you'll probably like Pretty Sammy. Also, please watch Pretty Sammy OAV 3 because it's the only one I've actually seen (well...not the whole thing, just part of it) and it looks really good! (No, wait I take that back...it is probably best to watch the entire series from the start)

Also, watch for the Pretty Sammy TV series, which is dubbed, "Magic Project." This series seems to be based on what the OAV was based on with no other differences, and some people have called it a "continuation" of the OAV as a TV series. The TV sries has 26 or so episodes.