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Synopsis:
Firstly, it's important to note that this is a different continuity to the other Tenchi Muyo adaptations.
Sasami Kawai is a regular schoolgirl, she works with Kiyone and Mihoshi in a record store with her brother (Tenchi) and her mother Chihiro.
Mean while there is a competition going on between the two to see who will become the Queen of Juraihelm, which they will determine by having a magical girl each. Because, reasons.
Sasami Kawai is a regular schoolgirl, she works with Kiyone and Mihoshi in a record store with her brother (Tenchi) and her mother Chihiro.
Mean while there is a competition going on between the two to see who will become the Queen of Juraihelm, which they will determine by having a magical girl each. Because, reasons.
Plot:
The first issue to tackle is that this is a split timeline from other Tenchi shows; thus there are odd things such as Tenchi being Sasami's brother, Ayaka being her sister and Chihiro being the mother.
Another issue is that Sasami, in another timeline, is supposedly Tsunami (don't quote me on that, I remember reading it a long time ago.
Tsunami and Ramia are candidates to be the next Queen of Juraihelm and are to use magical girls to earn points to become the victor? This seems to be the base plot of the OVA, in each episode there is an over-layed plot which can sometimes overshadow the base, and vice versa. There is no conclusion to the story at all, which was a let-down.
Several seemingly important things were brought up during the show but were never fully addressed; Misao's father disappearing, the aliens and who actually gets to be Queen?
Plot was scattered as a whole but the structure and content of individual episodes was very enjoyable, especially with episodes being 39 minutes long, though it's debatable that a lot more could have been done to advance the depth of the characters in this time.
Another issue is that Sasami, in another timeline, is supposedly Tsunami (don't quote me on that, I remember reading it a long time ago.
Tsunami and Ramia are candidates to be the next Queen of Juraihelm and are to use magical girls to earn points to become the victor? This seems to be the base plot of the OVA, in each episode there is an over-layed plot which can sometimes overshadow the base, and vice versa. There is no conclusion to the story at all, which was a let-down.
Several seemingly important things were brought up during the show but were never fully addressed; Misao's father disappearing, the aliens and who actually gets to be Queen?
Plot was scattered as a whole but the structure and content of individual episodes was very enjoyable, especially with episodes being 39 minutes long, though it's debatable that a lot more could have been done to advance the depth of the characters in this time.
Characters:
Sasami Kawai/ Pretty Sammy:
Your normal school-girl, though quite a lot more responsible. She often takes on more of a mother-like role to the people she lives and works with. She, against her will, becomes Tsunami's "magical girl representative" and tries her best to protect the world, though she tries to do this without her friends or family seeing her out of sheer embarrassment.
Pretty Sammy is no different from Sasami in any way.
Pretty Sammy is no different from Sasami in any way.
Misao Amano/ Pixy Misa:
A soft-spoken, poorly girl; she is a girl from a broken home, has flash-backs of her parents fighting and more recently her composer father has disappeared without. She's not given much affection at all, except for her friendship with Sasami. As a character she's essetially a shadow or a hollow shell, making her a perfect subject for manipulation.
When she is hypnotised she turns into Pixy Misa, the polar opposite of Misao; loud mouthed, selfish, and suggestive with loads of poor Engrish for fun.
When she is hypnotised she turns into Pixy Misa, the polar opposite of Misao; loud mouthed, selfish, and suggestive with loads of poor Engrish for fun.
Despite being the strongest candidate for Queen, Tsunami seems air-headed and aloof, though her redeeming quality is her ability to see the best in people and draw it out. Throughout the OVA she is utterly unaware of Ramia's plans or actions and at one point can't even differentiate between Ramia and a robot. It really makes me question Juraihelm's future...
Another candidate to be Queen of Juraihelm. Ramia is a very proud, narcissistic kind of person who strives for superiority at the expense of anyone, including her little brother and Misao. She loses her memory at a point and almost becomes a respectable person.. but then goes straight back to being a good-for-nothing manipulator.
The younger brother of Ramia. He can turn into a bird and uses this technique to aid his sister in hypnotising Misao. He looks up to his sister and tries his best to help her and seems to be ignorant to the fact she couldn't care less about his well-being, but he still holds out that she deeply must love him.
He establishes a bond with Misao, possibly because he knows what it's like to just be a pawn. He even goes as far as to go against Ramia's wishes in order to protect her. Despite some shifts in character in the end he settles back to being his sister's doormat.
He establishes a bond with Misao, possibly because he knows what it's like to just be a pawn. He even goes as far as to go against Ramia's wishes in order to protect her. Despite some shifts in character in the end he settles back to being his sister's doormat.
Animation/art:
The art style is typical of the titles around the time, very vibrant backgrounds and some pretty good levels of detail. I love the bright designs and very unique character traits- very specific chunky bangs and massive eyes are an old anime love of mine.
Translation Quality:
The version I was watching was hard-subbed by Pioneer. I really take issue with professional subtitles, with all the budget they may have and connections, you think they'd be able to make a decent job of translating.
Most of the subtitles were just lines of the English script written out. So it wasn't a translation so much as an "adaptation". in doing this they left out a bit of emotion and accuracy of personalities of the characters. This aside, the subtitles were easy to read.
Most of the subtitles were just lines of the English script written out. So it wasn't a translation so much as an "adaptation". in doing this they left out a bit of emotion and accuracy of personalities of the characters. This aside, the subtitles were easy to read.
BGM, Songs and SFX:
The soundtrack of this anime will be reviewed in a separate review, all I can say for now is there are so many good songs of really high quality. I may be slightly biased as these are things I downloaded as single mp3s over 10 years ago and I associate them with great times, but I'm sure people can appreciate them too because of the high quality of music and brilliant singing.
Background music is very gentle, nothing used to overtly influence your feelings during the episodes. It's a nice kind of underrated that just about emphasises the atmosphere and nothing more.
Background music is very gentle, nothing used to overtly influence your feelings during the episodes. It's a nice kind of underrated that just about emphasises the atmosphere and nothing more.
Voice Acting:
The voice acting is great, with the exception of Sasami's voice seeming way to grating to be that of an adorable protagonist's and anything that is said by Ryoko sounds like a line in an adult movie, making it beyond cringey to watch with other people... you almost have to excuse both these voice acting choices to the person who agreed to watch it with you!
Final Thought:
It's silly and cute and that's about all there is to it. I would see why some people wouldn't like it at all, but this is from a time in anime that I hold close to my heart and while there could have been so much more done with the plot and characters, I can be content with it as it is.
On a side note.... WTF?! Ryo-ohki is in love with Sasami and vice versa? That's a bit wrong... I thought Ryo-ohki was a girl.. since whe..? Ah.. never mind..
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