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Pretty Sammy is the magically transformed version of the Sasami character
from the various Tenchi Muyo series. In Magical Project S Sasami Kawai is a
cute young Japanese girl who is asked by magical queen-to-be Tsunami Jurai
to be Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, a champion of justice. She is constantly
harassed by Pixy Misa, 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 (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 (mahou
shoujo) genre of anime (particularly Sailor Moon), using the characters from
AIC's popular Tenchi Muyo series (where Sasami is known as Sasami Jurai
Masaki). 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 six-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.
Well, it is for children, and it is highly entertaining in it's own right.
The episode where Tokyo is attacked by a giant cheesecake is especially fun.
In the Pretty Sammy OVA's, Sasami's father is not present. Sasami's
mother 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, is a man of various and useful talents, and uncertain
employment.
Both the OVA's and the TV series are notable for the quality of the
musical tracks. Many of the tracks are hilarious parodies of popular karaoke
tunes.
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