"Conformity is boring."
— Pretty Sammy

"It's the software that does everything."
— Biff Standard

"Somebody's being naughty on the Internet."
— Washuu

SAILOR MOON move over, make room for PRETTY SAMMY! PRETTY SAMMY is yet another spin-off in the TENCHI MUYO universe. It is a completely different reality, where Sasami is a school girl on Earth and Tenchi is her brother. One day she is granted powers by the queen of Juraihelm, Tsunami, and ever since has been fighting the evil Pixy Misa and her leader, Ramia... All of this is revealed to the viewer within the first two minutes as a recap, for those who missed the first appearances of PRETTY SAMMY.
PRETTY SAMMY 2 is, obviously, the second of the SAMMY OVAs. However, the Sammy character has appeared before. She made her premier in the TENCHI MUYO MIHOSHI SPECIAL OVA. Further, in Japan she has appeared in radio drama programs, her own video game, and even in her own TV show. What started out as a spoof of the Magical Girls genre of anime has turned into a legitimately popular series. However, if you are an American PRETTY SAMMY fan, you'll have to settle for the 2 OVA's and the MIHOSHI SPECIAL. All have been released subtitled in English as well as dubbed, so buyers and renters alike can enjoy these regardless of preference.
The PRETTY SAMMY world is unlike any other TENCHI MUYO spin-off. Ayeka, Ryoko, and Tenchi are high school students, Kiyone and Mihoshi work in a store, Washuu is a professor, and there are several new characters added into the mix. Sammy and Tenchi have a mother named Chihiro. Sammy's best friend Misao is actually her arch-nemesis, Pixy Misa. And Ryo-oh-ki can actually talk, la Luna from SAILOR MOON.
The plot of this video is extremely humorous, especially if you are familiar with the world of personal computers. Biff Standard, CEO of a major software company has visions to make his Operating System the industry standard. Enter Ramia; with her magical powers, she offers Biff a chance to make his dream a reality. Ramia and Biff plot to have the Moon collide with the Earth, to kill off the majority of the inhabitants. Biff would then re-create the world so that his software would have a monopoly on its remaining computers.
This video is rife with computer references. For instance, within the opening minutes, you can see a clip of a Buddhist monk using a laptop, spoofing the IBM commercial. And it is fairly obvious that Biff Standard is meant to be parody of the CEO of Microsoft. Dialogue like the phrase above, and "one PC per person" are some of the philosophies of this software corporation. But PRETTY SAMMY 2 does not limit itself to references to Microsoft. In fact, the Standard OS boots up with a small pineapple icon in the center of the screen, emulating the MacOS. And Tenchi heads to the black market to find a copy of something called the Mach OS. There are subtle messages being propagated here for the discriminating viewer to pick up on.
The animation and character designs were extremely well done. The quality of the animation perhaps even surpasses that of the original TENCHI OVA series. AIC has consistently been able to produce above-average quality animation, and this holds true for PRETTY SAMMY 2. So animation fans, Magical Girl fans, and computer enthusiasts alike will find some aspect of this video to their taste.

PRETTY SAMMY 2 Tenchi & Friends Special Pioneer Entertainment Copyright © 1996 AIC / Pioneer LDC, Inc. / Pioneer Entertainment (USA) L.P. Subtitled in English 45 Minutes, Not Rated, Color, Hi-Fi Stereo