American software CEO Biff Standard dreams of a "World Standard", an integrated, conformist utopia that will be created through his company's computer operating system, SynchroniCity, which is used by people everywhere in the world except for Japan. Ramia decides to lend Biff a helping hand with getting Japan to adopt his software for her own gains, but its up to Pretty Sammy to stop them when its revealed Biff's radical vison requires crashing the Moon into the Earth!
Full Recap
Sasami uses a hand-drawn slideshow to quickly recap the events of the previous episode. She adds that she's now battled and defeated Pixy Misa several times, but still can't reveal her identity as Pretty Sammy to others out of fear of embarrassment.
In New York City, Biff Standard, the CEO of software company Standardsoft, ruminates about the growth of his computer operating system, SynchroniCity, which is used by 95% of the world's population. However, Japan has so far refused to adopt his software. Biff won't accept this, as he desires the "standardization" of the whole world through people using his software.
Suddenly, Ramia and Rumiya (in bird form) appear, having bested Biff's security. Biff is about to show them the door when Ramia uses her magic to crash the building's local computer network to get his attention, offering to help him with his endeavors. He accepts, and Ramia leads him through a portal to Juraihelm.
Meanwhile, in Juraihelm, Tsunami sits down with Ramia and watches Sasami's mother Chihiro perform a show and do parlor tricks in front of Sasami, Tenchi, and Misao. Being dimwitted, Tsunami is unaware that "Ramia" is a robot that only ever says "Yes, Tsunami, I agree with you."
Misao eventually leaves Sasami's home to get to see her tutor, but along the way she is met by "Birdie" (Rumiya), who soon transforms her into Pixy Misa. At the Kawai household, Chihiro shows off what she believes is a karaoke machine, but Tenchi points out that she actually purchased a computer that comes with a laserdisc player. She calls Mihoshi over to bring her some music, but not only did she bring a floppy disk that she can't use, but Pixy Misa sneaks into the yard and uses her magic to kill the computer's OS. Chihiro panics when realizes she can't do karaoke and passes out.
After doing that prank on Sasami, Pixy Misa proceeds with Ramia's plan. She goes to Akihabara and chants "Magical Override" infecting all of the computers in the area with Biff's software. Biff then orders his legion of "standardized programmers" to get to work, but not before Washu notices what they're doing over the Cybernet.
The next morning, Sasami, Tenchi, and Ryo-Ohki visit Akihabara to buy new software for Chihiro's computer. For a brief moment, Sasami and Ryo-Ohki spot Pixy Misa, but upon pursuing they only find Misao, who says she came here to shop. Standardsoft merchandise is being sold in the area, and Sasami learns who Biff Standard is right before they happen upon him right in front of Standardsoft's Japanese headquarters. Biff offers them a free copy of his software, but he is distraught to hear how they're not interested, and when Tenchi even calls his operating system "slow", Biff explodes into a rant about how perfect his standardized software is. Ramia witnesses the scene from afar and vows not to let Pretty Sammy interfere with her plans again.
At home, Chihiro wakes up in a zombified state and is obsessed with wanting to do karaoke. Kiyone and Mihoshi try to restrain her on the stairs, but Mihoshi gets kicked in the stomach and throws up off-screen.
Tenchi and the others check twenty stores in Akihabara, but none of them have the karaoke machine they were looking for and instead want to sell them copies of SynchorniCity. Thankfully, Tenchi knows "one place" where he can get one, but it's a ways away from where they're at so he goes alone while the others wait at the nearby game center. Tenchi dons a discreet disguise and meets up with a man who will sell him the software for $110.
At Biff's request, Ramia imbues her magic into his software, hastening the "standardization" of the world. However, his assistant shows him camera footage of Tenchi having purchased a Mach 8 computer OS, not SynchroniCity. Ramia tells Biff that he should use the opportunity to use his new magic powers. He leaves, and Rumiya asks Ramia why she's doing all of this in the first place. Ramia whispers her answer, but Rumiya gets angry and forces Ramia to lock him inside of a birdcage.
At the local arcade center, Sasami and Misao try their luck at a claw machine, which predictably wastes all of their change. Sasami goes to get more, but Misao is drawn to another machine which Ramia uses as a medium to transform her into Pixy Misa again.
Biff catches up to Tenchi and demands he hands over his "non-standard" software, or else he'll destroy it. Tenchi tries running, but Pixy Misa is working with Biff and stops him. She chants "calling mystics" and creates digital minions out from the cybernet. Sasami goes outside to look for Misao but stumbles upon the scene, with Ryo-Ohki telling her to transform into Pretty Sammy. Sasami is reluctant to transform in front of so many people but changes her mind when she sees her brother being cornered.
Pretty Sammy intervenes just in the nick of time and defends Tenchi against the digital monsters, ordered by Biff to seize his copy of the Mach 8 OS. However, Rumiya arrives on the scene having escaped from his birdcage, and he tells Pixy Misa that Ramia is planning to use Biff's cyber-network to make the moon crash into the Earth! Not only does Biff say that it's true, but that it's part of the final phase of his standardization program. He explains that his company's branch offices are using super-magnets powered by energy drawn from his network to draw the moon closer to Earth, and once they collide, he'll build a brand new "standardized" utopia without poverty or war.
Realizing like everyone else that Biff is insane, Pixy Misa offers Pretty Sammy to work together and stop him, but Biff overhears this and orders his digital minions to attack them. Fighting together, they prevail, but Ramia appears on a nearby television and explains to them that when the moon collides with Earth, Tsunami will lose her chance to become queen of Juraihelm and she will be queen instead. To placate Pixy Misa, she offers to set her in a nice suite in Juraihelm, and this convinces her to betray Pretty Sammy. Misa and Biff combine their technology and magic to draw all of Akihabara's electronics into a single mass, creating a giant robot shooting a beam dragging the moon down to Earth.
Washu contacts Pretty Sammy through the Cybernet and informs her that she's going to hack into Biff's network and cut him off from the grid, but Sammy has to destroy Biff's main program inside the robot. While Washu works to disable all of Biff's super-magnets, Pretty Sammy infiltrates the robot through an elevator, only to get trapped by tickling appendages controlled by Pixy Misa. Just then, however, Rumiya returns and transforms into his human form. He tries convincing her that she shouldn't let the moon collide with Earth since she'll lose her friends, family, and school, but Misa doesn't take the hint and tells him to "be gentle". Rumiya instead forcibly de-transforms Pixy Misa and changes back into his bird form.
Misao is quickly confronted by Biff, but Washu frees Pretty Sammy from her ticklish bonds and she arrives as well. Biff insists that his plan must proceed to create a standardized society without wealth inequality and racial discrimination, but Sammy disagrees and makes her way to the robot's computer, smashing it with Pretty Coquettish Bomber, disabling its beam.
Sasami and Misao meet up with Tenchi, but a defeated-looking Biff soon emerges from the robot. He says he's going to apologize for what he's done, and to prove it, he's going to create new software that'll be useful to people and distribute it through the Internet. He proclaims a new "Standard World", making everyone realize that he hasn't changed at all.
In Juraihelm, an angry Ramia finds out that Tsunami is still being fooled by a robotic version of her, which has her so dumbfounded that she hits her head against the computer counting the points that Pretty Sammy has accumulated so far—Ramia hitting her head adds yet another point.
Now that Tenchi and Sasami have returned with new software for her computer, Chihiro puts on a karaoke show for them as well as Misao, Kiyone, and Mihoshi. The end credits roll as she sings "Ai no Makeikasu", but her song is cut short when her computer freezes, causing her to pass out again.
Trivia
- Biff Standard and his company Standardsoft serve as a not-so-subtle parody of Bill Gates, the then-CEO of Microsoft Corporation. During the 1990s, Microsoft held a near-monopoly on the personal computer market with its Windows operating system, and some even accused the company of being anti-competitive.
- The software that Chihiro's new computer uses, "Mach 8", is likely a parody of Apple's operating system Mac OS, evidenced by both the similar name and the fact that the software's logo is a pineapple.
- In one scene, Sasami and Misao try their luck at a claw machine. Not only are there dolls of Ryoko and Ayeka, inside the machine are several other easter eggs, including:
- The sword Tenchi-ken
- Pretty Sammy's magical baton (the heart-shaped portion)
- A red crab (a symbol for Washu)
- The pink monster that Ayeka turned into in the previous episode
- Azaka
- Kazuhito Amagasaki
- And even Katsuhiko Jinnai and a purple Bugrom, both from the anime series El-Hazard produced by AIC.
- In the above scene, Sasami and Misao are in what's is implied to be a Sega Arcade Center, hinted not only by a sign on the building spelling "Zega", but also by another sign showing a caricature of Sonic the Hedgehog.
- One of the digital creatures that Pixy Misa creates bears a striking resemblance to Ness, the main character of the video game EarthBound (known in Japan as Mother 2).
- In one scene right after Pixy Misa creates monsters in Akihabara, Amagasaki can again be be seen among the crowd looking at what's happening.
- In both Japanese and the English dub, Ramia erroneously refers to Juraihelm as simply "Jurai" a couple of times.