Magical Girl Pretty Sammy

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Magical Girl Pretty Sammy is a Japanese magical girl animation franchise spun off from the hit 1990s Tenchi Muyo! sci-fi media property, centered on a reimagined version of the fan-favorite character Sasami Kawai (砂沙美), a cheerful elementary school student selected by the magical lunar kingdom of Juraihelm to spread goodwill across Earth and balance the realm's cosmic moral score. It reassigns nearly all core Tenchi Muyo! characters to new, unrelated roles, leaning into light parody of classic magical girl genre tropes rather than following the parent series' harem sci-fi premise.

Key moments

1995-08-25First installment of the core 3-part Pretty Sammy OVA series launches in Japan
1996-06-25Second OVA feature titled The Counterattack of the Computer Empire is released
1996-10-04First full TV broadcast series Magical Project S premieres on TV Tokyo
1997-08-24Third and final original core OVA episode is distributed
2006Standalone follow-up series Sasami: Magical Girls Club debuts to expand franchise lore

Unusual Cross-Demographic Origin

The project initially started as a small throwaway comedy bonus sketch for a Tenchi Muyo! special episode, with no plans for full standalone release until massive positive fan feedback pushed production studio AIC and rights holder Pioneer LDC to greenlight full OVA and TV productions. Unlike most 1990s magical girl media that was explicitly targeted at young female viewers, Pretty Sammy inherited the large existing adult male fanbase of the Tenchi Muyo! franchise, creating a rare mixed cross-demographic audience appeal that set it apart from peers in the genre.

Cult Legacy in Retro Anime Circles

As a gentle, affectionate parody of magical girl tropes that pokes fun at over-the-top transformation sequences, secret identity drama and rival magical girl conflicts without veering into mean-spirited satire, the series maintains consistent lighthearted, family friendly comedic tone across all its iterations. It is widely cited as a cult classic among retro anime collectors, and its structural choice to rework established IP characters for a full genre shift paved the way for later similar comedic magical girl spin-off projects in the Japanese animation industry.

episodes
type	ova
director	Kazuyuki Hirokawa Takeshi Aoki Yasuhito Kikuchi
writer	Yōsuke Kuroda Hideyuki Kurata
music	Seikou Nagaoka
studio	AIC Pioneer LDC
first	March 24, 1995
last	August 24, 1997
runtime	45 minutes

Background

Magical Girl Pretty Sammy originated not in animation but in voice drama, beginning in 1993 with the release of ''Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki CD Special 1 (Creation of the Universe Journey Across Space-Time)''. Here, Washu's newest invention, the Dimensional Controller, is glitched by the girls, creating several parallel Tenchi! worlds. Stories from the drama would later be adapted for Tenchi Universe's "Time and Space Adventures" arc (episodes 11-13). A second CD release, ''Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki's Christmas'', incorporated ideas revisited again in the series, drawing on Tsunami as the source of Pretty Sammy's magical powers.

The music video for "Pretty Sammy, the Magical Girl", originally part of the ''Tenchi Muyo! Soundfile'', marked Pretty Sammy's anime debut. After having a kiss between her and Tenchi interrupted by the villainous Kiyone, Sasami must transform into her magical alter-ego to save her love and teach his kidnappers a lesson. Though the Soundfile was never released officially in the U.S., this short can be seen during the end credits of the Mihoshi Special.

The Mihoshi Special OVA was the first time Sammy was ever featured as a full-fledged character in the animated medium, and after her appearance 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, the magical girl would go on to star in OVA specials and television series of her own.

Overview

Sasami Kawai is a cute young Japanese girl who is asked by magical queen-to-be Tsunami of Juraihelm to become "Magical Girl Pretty Sammy", a champion of justice. She is constantly harassed by Pixy Misa, an evil, but friendly magical girl created by a rival candidate for queen of the magical world, Ramia. Sasami is unaware that Pixy Misa is actually her best friend, Misao Amano, who herself is unaware of the transformation forced on her via hypnosis by Ramia's brother, Rumiya.

Collectively, the various Pretty Sammy vehicles spoof the magical girl genre of anime (particularly Sailor Moon, with the "champion of justice" theme), using the characters from AIC's popular Tenchi Muyo! series. Ryo-Ohki (who is a male in both of the Pretty Sammy series, but a female in Tenchi Muyo! material) is Pretty Sammy's assistant and plays the same role that Luna (of the Sailor Moon series) has done, including keeping the fact he can talk a secret.

Both the OVAs and the TV series are notable for the quality of the musical tracks. Many of the tracks are parodies of popular karaoke tunes.

The other major characters of Tenchi Muyo! appear in various roles in the OVA. They include: Tenchi, Washu, Mihoshi, Kiyone, Ayeka, and Ryoko.

Music

Opening: "Chanto Yume o Mimasho!" ("Dream Away"; Japanese version performed by Chisa Yokoyama, English version performed by Sharyn Scott)

Ending 1 (episode 1): "Baka" ("Idiot") ["Money No More"] (Japanese version performed by Chisa Yokoyama, English version performed by Sharyn Scott)

Ending 2 (episode 2) and "Insert Song" (episode 1): "Ai no Makeikusa" ("Losing the Fight of Love"; performed by Rika Matsumoto) and replaced in English version with Your Hiroshi, performed by Diane Michelle)

Ending 3 (episode 3): "Mahô no Tobira" ("Magical Door"; Japanese version performed by Chisa Yokoyama, English version performed by Sharyn Scott)