"Pretty Sammy, a cheerful, energetic 4th grader made her first appearance in another series - Tenchi Muyo: Rho Ohki (vol 5), and was originally meant as a parody. However, she has become so popular that Pioneer have given her her own show - over 40,000 copies have been sold in Japan to date."
"Following a chance visit to a strange lady who introduces Sammy to a magical kingdom called Juraihelm, she asks Sasami to help make the earth a better place by using the magical powvers she can endow upon her. Her magical career thus begins. Rivalries with another Magical Girl, conflicts between Ryoko, Ayeka and her elder brother Tenchi mean that Sasami's task is not an easy one!"
Director: Kazuyuki Hirokawa Screenplay: Yosuke Kuroda & Hideyuki Kurata Music: Seikou Nagaoka Copyright: AIC/Pioneer LDC, Inc. VHS version: Language: English Label: Pioneer Volume: 1 2 3 Running time: 45 mins 45 mins 43 mins Certificate: PG PG PG Catalogue no: PIO 10032 PIO 10033 PIO 10046 Price: £8.99 £8.99 £10.99 Release Date: 12th Jan 1998 May 1998 28th June 1999
Walter Rabuck:: IMHO it was disappointing. Seems like the "intro" episode to a so-so series. As a spoof, it wasn't nearly as good as the Mihoshi Special. As a serious or comedic show, it's even worse. Ryan Mathews:: It's cute, but... My biggest complaint was the ending, which left nearly everything up in the air, requiring more episodes. I complain at this because, as a one-shot, PRETTY SAMMY is really cute and worth sitting down for 45 minutes. As a series, PRETTY SAMMY would be nothing more than another mediocre, cliched magical girl show. Taken by itself, it's not a particularly good anime. Its appeal is based in seeing the familiar TENCHI MUYO characters act in the roles of a standard magical girl plot while still being basically the same people. If it does become a series, I doubt I'll by any more episodes, unless they get rave reviews on r.a.a. :-) Tomar:: It was ok for a Tenchi story but stunk as a Magical Girl story. The thing that irked me was that since they were no longer aliens, they had to invent backgrounds for the characters. Oh well...maybe I just the love the OAV series a little to much. ^_^ The story itself was very weak because of the fact that they left all of it up in the air as if there were more episodes to come. It's always bad to write a story open like that in the hopes that interest will spur continuations. Ryan Mathews:: After I wasted, er, spent my money on the first PRETTY SAMMY OAV and watched it, I had decided never to buy another PRETTY SAMMY video. Then I heard the sequel was going to make fun of Bill Gates, so of course, I had to get it. I'm glad I did. I haven't laughed that hard in a good while! After having hated the first video so badly, now I find myself disappointed that there probably won't be any more. This OAV is one of the funniest things they've ever done with TENCHI. Ryoko and Aeka aren't even in it (!), which is actually a good thing, as it allows the plot to focus on the important characters in the PRETTY SAMMY storyline, which definitely do not include Ryoko and Aeka. I won't give anything away, but if you're curious about an anime which makes fun of Bill Gates and Windows 95 (and does a damned good job of it), pick this one up. Now, are you ready for the sacrilege? The dub is better. Yes, you heard me, *better* than the Japanese version. I watched the dubbed version first, and nearly fell on the floor laughing. I then invited some friends over. I knew they didn't care for dubs, so I put on the CC subtitled version. It was funny, but rarely laugh-out-loud funny. The main problem with the Japanese version is the villain, "Biff Standard". The Japanese actor plays him too straight, while the English actor plays him as an over-the-top, power-mad psycho. This works a lot better, especially when you see how Biff acts, posing with Pixy Misa with a maniacal grin on his face.