Customer Reviews

Magical Project S - Pretty Sammy Debut (Vol. 1)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This DVD set consists of the first half of the Magical Project S TV series about an elementary school girl Sasami chosen by Juraihelm Queen candidate Tsunami to restore the balance of good and evil in the universe - a precondition for Tsunami's ascension. Sasami transforms into Pretty Sammy to fight the evil Pixy Misa. The universe of the series is one typical of animes targeting young girls. It is a world that is basically sweet and innocent with evil nothing more than a word. The goals of the villians are nothing more serious than to embarrass Pretty Sammy and make her bawl. Nothing other than monsters are seriously hurt in this show. The show reminds me of Cardcaptor Sakura except that it is done in a tongue in cheek manner. If you enjoy other Magic Girl shows like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura and you don't mind parodies of this genre, you will probably like this show.

The extra section of this DVD set contains a hilarious parody of Cinderella that you have to see to believe.

It should be noted that the only audio track is in Japanese. English subtitles are available of course.

The Pretty Sammy TV series(aka Magical Project S)is on DVD at last! The first disc has episodes 1-7. The second disc has episodes 8-13 and the extras(by the way, the extras are cool!). The extras are an art gallery(in color), the non-credit opening(Yume Mireba Yume Mo Yume Janai), the first non-ending(PERSONA), and three bonus theaters which are Cinderella Misa(a funny verison of Cinderella starring Misao/Pixy Misa), the 26 secrets of Sammy(a little presentation showing Sammy's magical attacks), and the Secrets of the Kawai Family(a tour of Sasami's house and family). This 2-disc DVD set also comes with a pencil board(while supplies last)! Get this if you like Pretty Sammy and/or Sasami(this also is a great addition with the Mihoshi Special and the Pretty Sammy OVA).

great anime! nothing but the best from the cutest girl from the tenchi muyo series.

~I don't exactly know what a "send-up" is, (nor do I care to use the term regardless) but I know a parody (an actual genre) when I see one. This series has everything you love and hate about "magical girl" anime, but never takes itself too seriously in that respect. There are many references to how lead character Sasami's magical baton looks "crummy", her Pretty Sammy costume being "lame", and innappropriate outfit not making much sense... ("her mini-skirt is one of her charming points"). They creators even go so far as to knock such sacred ground as transformations and magical girl poses. Almost nothing is held back within parodying that genre, but you'll be laughing so hard and so much that you'll hardly care.

~True that this tv series has nothing to do with the 3 part Pretty Sammy OVA, but that series itself was literally disjointed and nonsensical. Here the nonsense is given the spotlight, almost as the writers were saying that there was no way to tell this story with a straight face. If you are of the crowd who think that some shojo (girly) animes take themselves too seriously... Magical Project S is for you.

~The typical Tenchi Muyo women fighting over one guy scenerio was getting in the way of Sasami's life, so old favorite like Ayeka and Ryoko are pushed far into the background (and given name changes) by necessity. So gone is the confusing school for all ages, in favor of a full on elementary school where our heroine has more friends than just Misao, and an interesting school faculty with special cameos from Tenchi. I belive this was done to hone in on Sasami's younger fan-base from Tenchi Muyo. Her best friend is still Misao, but her being sick all the time in the Pretty Sammy OVAs seemed a pathetic attempt to make the viewer feel sorry for her. Instead, she is given a more believable setting of her parents being too busy with work to spend a lot of time at home. Japan is in a major recession after all. Plus it creates a great contrast to Sasami's parents, who are surrounded in mystery as to how they met but are near perfect seperations of Sasami's new personality.

~Yes it's true! Sasami is given a real personality instead of the stereotypical "Japanese demure pre-teen housewife in training" guise. She is given "faults" to make her more human, can one really complain about that? She gets angry and silly and even lazy, with tomboyish hints (see how excited she gets when reading Shonen "boys" comics).

~For the uninitiated the premise is familiar, but never predictable. A young girl named Sasami is given magical powers by a young lady named Tsunami from a planet called Jurai in order to become queen of her planet and restore balance to both worlds. Her rival in queen candidacy, (Ramia) tries to smite the attempt by forcing magical powers on to another girl, (and coinicidentally Sasami's best friend Misao) into stopping Tsunami from becoming queen by causing all kinds of trouble for Sasami. And although the story-telling point of view may originate from the perspective of young girls, like most good anime it never glues itself to that generic formula enough to make the male viewers gag. For instance we aren't forced into seeing Bishonen (long-haired pretty boys) showing off how sensitive yet handsome they are. This is not typical shojo, (girls comics) but isn't shonen (boys comics) as much as Tenchi, (some may argue isn't shonen at all, but I beg to differ). There are some more serious scenes involving girl friendships, but they aren't totally beyond the reach of any guy with a heart lurking somewhere in his chest. And the drama certainly isn't forced, but feels very real.

~I tell you this anime is a complete surprise, and had American cartoons hit that close to home when I was Sasami's age I'd probably be less like her shy best friend Misao and more like Sasami.

~I must give both of these DVDs a perfect score, but there are some issues that needed addressing. Although well drawn the level of detail found in this TV series in contrast to the OVA is not nearly as eye pleasing, (costuming for Jurians in particular is more "generic"). The animators seemed to be content with a more cute look, but that is acceptable. And while I longed for this series to be dubbed in English with the Tenchi USA seiyu (voice actor) regulars that I fell in love with years ago, it isn't truly missed. Besides which the group has since "disbanded", (as you might have noticed watching the OVAs in English how voice actors changed) where as Japanese voice actors never change.

~Real anime fans shouldn't watch butchered English dubbed versions anyway, but the subtitling here isn't without it's own flaws. For instance, my main gripe is the actual title of this US production. Why wasn't this called Magical Girl Pretty Sammy like it's OVA counterpart? I wonder if anyone at Pioneer even remembers what Magical Project S is supposed to mean?

~Anyway if you need a laugh or a hundred from your anime, I dare call this one of the most consistantly funny animes I've seen since Rumiko Takahashi's (Ranma ½, Inu Yasha, Maison Ikkoku) original Urusei Yatsura. I also recommend the new Tenchi Muyo GXP, Dual and El Hazard and The Wanderers: El Hazard (another unfortunate name change) series.

It is a 2 DVD disc set of the first 13 episodes of the series, this is the first box set out of 2 DVD box sets to complete the series. It has English subtitles with Japanese audio only because Pioneer did not dub it. It is one of the best Tenchi Muyo spin-off series. The bonus extras are great with mini episodes. The whole Tenchi cast appears in the series at lest once. If you love Magical Girl anime or love any of the Tenchi Muyo series you will love this DVD set.

Great show just wish it was in english, this is japanese only with english subtitles. :(

I love this anime! I watched the first episode and laughed and then the second and laughed even harder, and on and on, I loved every minute of it, I love Magical Girl Anime and out of the many i've seen this definetly on eof my favorites!

Two complaints I had about this anime. One is that it was never dubbed into English. I for one prefer not needing to learn Japanese or read subtitles, so this was a big downside for me. The other is that this is a retelling of, not a sequel to, the three part OAV Pretty Sammy series. (The OAV series Pretty Sammy can be watched in ether English or Japanese, by the way.)

Here's a rundown of the origonal Pretty Sammy series (which is continued by a two-part manga short story which can be found in the graphic novel No Need For Tenchi Vol. 3, by the way): Sasami Kawai is a seeminly ordinary girl from earth (most of the characters returning from Tenchi Muyo are semi-ordinary earth folk here, though their personalities are still pretty much the same) who lives with her mother Chihiro, a blonde ex-pop singer who still loves to sing karioke, and her older brother, Tenchi. Sasami goes to school with Tenchi and her best friend, shy, frail latch key girl Misaou. Tenchi is at the center of conflict between filthy rich high school student body president Ayeka and tough school girl delinquent Ryoko, and the two are always fighting over him, much to his chagrin. (Ayeka is highly skilled in martial arts, so she can hold her own against Ryoko.) The Kawai family owns a music store, CD Vision, where college students Mihoshi and Kiyone work. Anyway, Sasami's life is drastically changed forever when she is visited by Tsunami, a woman from the magical world of Juraihelm. Tsunami is first in line to become Jurai's next queen, and her first assignment is to select a girl from earth to turn into a magical superheroine and help make the world a better place. Sasami is chosen to become Pretty Sammy, and she is givin the talking Cabbit (a rabbit that mews like a cat, basically,) Ryo-Oh-Ki as her guide. However, Ramia, the other candidate for Jurai's future queen who lost out to Tsunami, won't take her defeat lying down, and she drafts her younger brother Rumia to find another girl to change into a magical girl of their own to cause trouble and humiliate Sasami. In a twist simular to Greek tragadies and superhero comics, Sasami's own best friend Misou is picked by Ramia to become Pixy Misa, Sammy's arch-nemesis. (Pixy Misa becomes a seperate personality, so that she doesn't remember ever being Misou and Misou never remembers being Pixy Misa. Pixy Misa also LOOKS really different from Misou, so it's easy to belive Sasami couldn't tell the two are the same.)

Anyway, now here's a description of Magical Project S. Or, more specifically, what's different about it: Sasami has no siblings and lives with her mother and father. Her mother, who this time is pink haired, spends the days playing videogames. Her father resembles Tenchi but is called Gemini (I think). Her father drives her and Misou to school every day. Ryoko and Ayeka are no where to be seen, though I think Ayeka appears later in the series. Mihoshi is Sasami and Misou's teacher, and Kiyone teaches the class next door. We also get to meet some of Sasami and Misou's other classmates. (Not all changes to the show are bad; character richness is usually a good thing.) We start back at the beginning of things with Tsunami being elected number one candidate for next queen of Juraihelm, Sasami first meeting Tsunami and Ryo-Oh-Ki and becoming Pretty Sammy and Misou being turned into Pixy Misa by Ramia and Rumia.

Anyway, those who aren't bothered by a show that re-tells the Pretty Sammy OAV series instead of continuing it which can only be seen in Japanese with subtitles will probably enjoy this well enough.

Magical Project S, originally known as Magical Girl Pretty Sammy TV, is a satire on the magical girl genre, mostly Sailor Moon, using the cast of Tenchi Muyo. There is an alternate universe to the OVA, however it's a full 26 episode series.

The main character is Sasami Kawai (a human as opposed to a Jurain), who gets recruted by Tsunami from the magical kingdom of Juraihelm to help her become queen by performing good deeds as her avatar. She beomces Magical Girl Pretty Sammy, and has a talking sidekick Ryo-Ohki. Tsunami's rivel, Ramia, recruits Sasami's best friend Misao to become the Magical Girl Pixy Misa, however Misao does NOT realize this, nor does anyone else.
The show is mainly the standard monster-of-the-day formula, however there are many things that help it stand out. First of all, it IS a satire, so there are plenty of moments where things are simply over the top -- such as Sasami's finishing attack which charges up in space and creates a bright display seen for miles. There are also a great number of wonderful characters from the Tenchi-originated Mihoshi, Sasami's teacher (who still gets on poor Kiyone's nerves), and Sasami's next door neighbor and chemestry teacher Washu (who plays a guitar!), to her classmates -- the braty teacher's pet Eimi who tries to always enforce the rules, the lust driven Haida, and jock-like Hiroto who does NOT return Haida's affections but seems to have a thing for Misao -- to her parents, including her father Ginji who seems to have done and been anything you can think of!

As the series goes along, the good humor never lets up. One of my favorite episodes is #11, where Sasami somehow accidently throws her wand away and thus can't transform. Haida finds it and manages to transform into Magical Girl Funky Connie, and tries to seduce Hiroto with her powers and STILL doesn't succeed.

The extras on the DVD set are great as well -- the main thing being three little humourous bonus shorts, including a silly take on the Cinderlla story. The video is pretty good, there plenty of wonderful vocals, and the Japanese cast is excellent. The only down sides is that the background music isn't all that good, and there's no dub (however, the cheapness makes up for it). I highly recommend this to anyone who likes a good laugh and doesn't mind the over-the-topness.

this is kinda like sailor moon but much cuter and no nuddity.i had to hide sailor moon from my parents when i was wacthing it because she was naked in the dvd i was watching(uncut version)now i wont have to since there is no nuddity in this!i did not get this but i saw it in a magazine and i thought it was cute so i got the one in english magical girl pretty sammy!i also like saint tail,tokyo mew mew,mink,magic knight rayearth,chobits,angelic layer,zodiac pi,and fushigi yugi.