Spun off from one of the ideas shown during the "Parallel universe" saga of the Tenchi Muyo TV series, "Magical Girl Pretty Samy" is the story of a fourth grader, Sasami Kawaii, and her mis-adventures as the chosen superhero of the future queen of Juraihelian, Tsunami. With her guardian, a brown cat-rabbit named Ryo-ohki, Sasami fights the meddling(and English speaking) Pixy Misa, and her notoriously humorous "Love-love monsters".

While this might seem like a rather redundant plot-line, what makes it stand out is the relationship between Sasami and her best friend Misao Amano. Misao is your sterotypical Japanese girl - pressured by her mother to be the best pianist she can, Misao is often neglected by her mother and spends a lot of time alone with her homework. Her father had abandoned her at a young age to pursue his own career, so, Pixy Misa acts as therapy for the troubled girl. Eventually, Sasami finds out the alter-identity of her best friend, and the creators dedicated a lovely two-episode saga towards that friendship.

I found that this anime was rather touching, and very good for children of all ages.

Mew Mew Power, or "Tokyo Mewmew" as the show was originally known as in Japan(and elsewhere in Asia), is the story of Ichigo Momomiya, a rather ditzy junior high student who's quite well-liked at school. Sensing that world was about to be under a serious threat, Keiichiro and Ryou, two young men who have a penchant for science experiments, unleash "Project Mewmew". This experiment will combine several girls with the DNA of several endangered species to form an enhanced being with the ability to fight evil in skimpy lingerie. Ichigo, combined with the genes of the Iriomote cat, becomes Mew Ichigo, and fights against enemies with such excellent names as Pie, Quiche and Tart. Through her various adventures, Ichigo makes new friends including Mew Mint(Minto), Mew Pudding(Pudin), Mew Lettace(Rattasu) and Mew Zakuro(Zakuro).

While I enjoyed the manga far more than the anime series(as it seems most fans did too as the manga started to die once Mew Berry was introduced), the plot was too cutesy for me. While this show was compared to "Pretty Soldier Sailormoon", it lacks the depth and intricated character development that Sailormoon had. The enemies unleash monsters on a daily basis, Ichigo and Co. defeat them and Ichigo and Masaya bond more. Not the most interesting anime, but, the characters are well drawn and very colorful.

An excellent anime for younger children, but, needs more plot line for a more mature viewer.

Thanks in part to the yearly "Seramyu" musicals in Japan, the Naoko Takeuchi's story of the Pretty Soldiers in Sailor Suits in still going on strong in Japan. The anime features a young and incredibly ditzy blond named Usagi Tsukino. While walking to school one day, Usagi befriends a purple cat, Luna. Luna informs Usagi that she is the reincarnation of the princess of the Moon. She hands Usagi a transformation broch and within minutes she's out saving Tokyo as Pretty Soldier Sailormoon. As Sailormoon continues in her fight for love and justice, she is accompanied by several other soldiers who aide her in battle. Each Sailor soldier, armed with various elemental powers and personality quirks, aide Sailormoon in both battle and in normal life.

While the "monster-of-the-day" spiel gets rather old after 200 episodes, the plotline is rather well done. Not only does its creator weave complicated relationships and intricate twists, but she demonstrates an excellent knowledge of astrology by incorporated various features in the anime and manga. The animation artwork, while rather lacking during the first season, is greatly improved on by the third, fourth and fifth seasons.

I would not recommend the fifth season to anyone who has a problem with some mild violence and/or homosexual relationships(merely innuedos, nothing pornographic). While there is never anything that I would consider innapropriate, the final episodes consists of several key deaths. However, particularly the fourth season, most of the series features some violence, but nothing that most 7 year olds couldn't handle.

All in all, with a bevy of characters and more Sailorsoldiers than you can shake a Moon Rod at, this series is probably the best magical girl anime of all time. I encourage you to watch the series in the original Japanese version as the English translations have watered down the plot and character relationships. You will not be disappointed with this superb series.