Publisher: Pioneer (Geneon, USA)Format: Region 1 and 4 DVD, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional English Dub and English Subtitles
Length: 27 mins (Mihoshi), 3 Episodes x 45 mins (Sammy)
Production Date: 1994 – 1997
Currently in Print (as of writing): No
Story Outline: In the Mihoshi Special, Ayeka annoyed at Mihoshi’s laziness and general incompetence questions how she ever became a Galaxy Policewoman. Mihoshi responds by telling the story of "Ultra-Energy Matter”, her greatest case ever. Naturally as she tells it, the members of Masaki household become characters in the story, which involves her and her partner Kiyone Makibi saving the universe from a plot to destroy it. This OVA also marks the first appearance of Magical Girl Pretty Sammy. Oddly this disc contains the three Sammy OVAs. Sasami Kawai an ordinary primary school aged Japanese girl is asked by queen candidate Tsunami of the magical kingdom of Juraihelm to become Magical Girl Pretty Sammy. Despite her initial reluctance, Sasami agrees to do it. Tsunami gives her a baton to transform and a part rabbit, part cat talking magical creature named Ryo-Ohki who helps her. However a rival queen candidate Ramia decides to put a spanner in the works. She forces Sasami’s best friend Amano Misao against her will to transform into the evil magical girl Pixy Misa. Pixy causes chaos on Earth which Sammy has to then fix.
Mini Review: This one is a bit of a mixed bag. I never really understood why the Mihoshi Special was never included in the Tenchi Muyo DVD box set. It’s certainly a lot funnier and more enjoyable than some of the latter OVA episodes. I’ve always had a soft spot for Mihoshi. I think it’s probably because she didn’t try to hit on Tenchi like all of the other girls. The opening animation which features Mihoshi inadvertently causing havoc in a fairy tale land is really funny, as is the main program. The long suffering Kiyone also makes her first appearance here. The music video for "Pretty Sammy, the Magical Girl", originally part of the “Tenchi Muyo! Soundfile”is tacked on here during the credits of the OVA. Which brings us to the three part Pretty Sammy OVAs. For the most part they’re overlong and a little uninteresting. However as each OVA progress’, they get a little better and so does the animation. The first OVA looks really cheap and sub standard when compared to the Tenchi Muyo OVA series. The second OVA is a Bill Gates/Microsoft parody which is a little mediocre (I remember we played this at the local anime club I was co-running back in 1998. Unsure why we chose to play it though…), but the third OVA is really fun. There’s a few changes to characters like Tenchi becoming Sasami’s sister and Mihoshi as her teacher. Rika Matsumoto who played Ayaka in “Phantom Quest Corp (You-Gen-Kai-Sya)” plays Sasami’s karaoke loving mother which I thought was brilliant. I also love Chisa Yokoyama who played Sasami in just about all of the Tenchi Muyo anime. Her voice is great. Sasami is such a fun character. I just wish they’d written these OVAs a bit better. There are a lot of laughs and the magical girl genre is parodied well, but I think they’re a bit too long. They should have only been about 30 mins in length. So overall the disc gets 6.5 out of 10. I would have given more if the Mihoshi Special was the only thing on the disc.
Remaining Backlog: 21 months (it's much easier this way than listing the number of discs).
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