Name: Magical Girl Pretty Sammy - Part 1 (68.00% in 5 votes)
Type: ANIME
Platform: VHS/VCD
Company: AIC
Release date: 1995
Reviewed by: KurenaiJiku
When you take the infamous Tenchi Muyo series, mash it, twist it, and even mash it some more you would probably get Magical Girl Pretty Sammy. It's a great addition to the Tenchi Muyo series; but be warned, as it's place in the standard Tenchi Muyo storyline is nowhere to be found. However, it does carry all the characters from the original conception and blows their personalities even up more. Although the Magical Girl Pretty Sammy is quite short and doesn't leave enough room for personal character development; the actual value of this OAV is not in it's depth, but rather it's entertainment.
The story takes off as the writers present a highly overused twin dimensional concept; your ol' standard Earth, and a magical world called Juraihelm. It is time for the royal council to choose a successor to the ruler of Juraihelm and the canidates are Tsunami and a psycho, sadistic (but in a funny way), woman named Ramia. Of course we all know who is chosen; Tsunami. But before she takes on the throne, she must complete a trivial task (in the magical world) which is turned into big trouble by choosing the most strangely placed human on the planet. Tsunami must choose a valiant person to become a magical girl and bring peace to Earth. Once done so, she will become the new ruler of Juraihelm. Though, Ramia is steamed of the royal council's choice, and decides to foil Tsunami's plans.
Anyways as the story proceeds, Tenchi is introduced as a idiotic and indecisive main male character, Ayeka as a rich school president, Ryoko as an insanely powerful and vulgar normal school girl, Misao who is Sasami's timid best friend, Sasami's mother who is a karaoke freak, Mihoshi and Kiyone the college students, and Washu the underaged high school teacher. The cast is just as before, but the comedy in the Anime is a lot more twisted than what you would see in a normal Tenchi Muyo episode. In fact, it feels like what I would write for my comedic stories.
The animation is a slight disappointment though. As the problem with most animation itÆs the concept of animation consistency. The animation overall is your ill-standard OAV-type animation. It never reaches the fluidity which Giant Robo or any other higher quality OAVÆs have reached. There are scenes evident in the animation which could have brilliant, but have been animated poorly, drawn poorly or are highly disproportionate relative to other scenes the characters have appeared in. ItÆs nothing to get really angry about though as the whole purpose of Pretty Sammy is to entertain. Though if your entertainment pet peeve happens to be watching quality animation, do not come near this OAV. ItÆll probably kill you in the first 10 minutes.
Part 1 is well paced, and has good dubbing for both the English and Japanese counterparts. However, certain parts of the voice acting for the English dubbing are horrid, but worst of all; Misao's voice is absolutely unbarable. If you're a person who can stand bad voice acting, then feel free to pick up this Anime as the rest of the Anime provides good entertainment and humor for your funny bone to keep you thinking "how did they come up with this stuff?" kinda idea. If you're looking for a little more depth in storyline, characters, and overall development you certainly aren't going to find it here. Not as complex as El Hazard, but certainly as entertaining if not slightly less.
Artwork (technical) - 3.5/5
Artwork (creative) - 3/5
Animation (technical) - 3/5
Animation (creative) - 3/5
Audio (technical) - 4/5
Audio (creative) - 3.5/5
Implementation - 3.5/5
Ambience - 2.5/5
Continuity - 2/5
Plot - 2.5/5
Fun Factor - 4/5
Overall Value - 3.5/5
|
|
[ Demo Music ]
N/A
[ Screen Shots ]
[ Voting ]
|
