Sasami Masaki Jurai (柾木 砂沙美 樹雷, Masaki Sasami Jurai) is a key character in the Tenchi Muyo! metaseries as well as her own various non-canonical spinoffs.
In the Tenchi continuities, Sasami is the younger sister of Ayeka and so is also a princess of the planet Jurai. Within the Masaki extended family, Sasami usually takes on the dual role of younger sister/mother. She may be the most responsible of the group and takes care of all the cooking duties. She has a rarely-seen mischievous streak within her however, and takes great delight in fooling the older girls.
Sasamii has teal-colored hair usually tied in long pigtails with melon pink eyes. In the Tenchi continuities, Sasami also has a upside down triangle birthmarked on her forehead, as a symbol of her status as Juraian royalty.
Sasami has appeared in every Tenchi Muyo! series, as well as/including several spinoffs based around her as the central protagonist. In almost ever incarnation her personality, background, primary outfits, relationships and abilities change. In some incarnations, her art style is altered more than others, though her basic coloring and structure remaining the same.
Sasami has a huge fan following across the globe and is the inspiration for what VIZ editor Carl Gustav Horn called 'The Sasami Effect', in that any young cute girl within a cast of characters will inevitably become the most popular. Possible examples of this include the Sailor Moon character, Chibiusa, plus many other "young" female characters in Japanese, French, and American series.
Sasami's personality is more mature in the OVA than in the other continuities, and more aggressive in the second TV and the Pretty Sammy spin offs.
Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki
In the official continuity, Sasami Masaki Jurai and her sister Ayeka are the daughters of Emperor Azusa Masaki Jurai and the second of his two wives, Empress Misaki Jurai.
Sasami stowed away on Ayeka's Royal Treeship Ryu-Oh during the 700 years that her older sister attempted to search for their missing half-brother Yosho and seek revenge on space pirate Ryoko for nearly decimating Jurai. When the princesses arrive on Earth, they get into a battle with the ressurected Ryoko, resulting in all of them crash landing at the home of Tenchi Masaki. Shortly into the series, Sasami and Ayeka take to living on Earth with Tenchi's family (Tenchi, his father Nobuyuki, and his grandfather Katsuhito Masaki, who is later revealed to actually be Yosho), along with the catlike creature Ryo-Ohki who is the incarnation of the ship that almost destroyed her planet and the other women staying in the house. She quickly becomes nearly inseparable from Ryo-Ohki and even becomes friends with Ryoko, despite the fact that Ryoko held a blade to Sasami's throat almost as soon as they met, not to mention nearly destroying her home all those centuries ago.
Like the other members of Jurai's Royal Family, because of her connection to her Royal Tree, Sasami has an extended life span so she appears to be a pre-adolescent girl when in fact she is over 700 years old. She still appears as a little girl because Ayeka kept Ryu-Oh in suspended animation during their search for Yosho. Sasami will continue to grow until she reaches a maturity where she can remain for centuries without aging.
Sasami OVA
Personality-wise, Sasami is a sweet, caring, innocent young princess who puts the needs of others before herself. She is an amazing chef and cooks regurlarly for everyone at the Masaki house. Even though she is (relatively) the youngest (even though, in actuality, Tenchi is centuries younger than her), she sometimes is the most mature of the extended Masaki clan.
Sasami is a particularly interesting character because of the fact that
Sasami and Tsunami
she is assimilated with Tsunami, one of the Chousin - the three goddesses that created the universe. Tsunami is also the patron of the planet Jurai and ancestor to their mighty Royal Treeships. Sasami assimilated with Tsunami after a near fatal accident that occured when she was three years old. During Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki's attack on Jurai, Sasami fell from a walkway in the Royal Arboretum, into a septic where the royal trees are grown near the roots of the original royal tree, Tsunami-no-ki. Sasami was fatally injured and Tsunami assimilated with her in order to save her life. Sasami hid her secret from those around her - including herself - because her greatest fear was that the real Sasami was dead and she was just a fake, which she thought would result in her being rejected by those she loved. When the truth was finally revealed, Ayeka informed Sasami that she didn't care and still loved Sasami just the way she was. Tenchi, Yosho, and the other girls also accepted the fact as well. Though they are separate now, as Sasami grows, they will eventually become one and the same.
Because of her assimilation with Tsunami, Sasami is automatically bonded to the 0th generation Royal Tree, Tsunami-no-ki and the owner/captain of it's ship, Tsunami-fune, which is obviously the most powerful ship in the Juraian Fleet.
It should also be noted that, if needed, Sasami is an accomplished combatant, most likely taught by her mother, who is the Supreme Commander of the Juraian Royal Bodyguard. Sasami's strength and endurance is also enhanced by the link with Tsunami-no-ki, easily defeating Mashisu Makibi, a trained Galaxy Police officer. One of the cherry-like hair bands she wears is capable of becoming a battle staff.
In OVA 3, Sasami admits to Mashisu during battle, that she is in love with Tenchi even though she is still a child.
When her connection to Tsunami was revealed, the girls understood that when Sasami reaches maturity she will take on the appearance of the beautiful Tsunami, and that she will become a threat in their battle for Tenchi.
The fact that Tsunami has always appeared as Sasami's adult form supports the theory that she and the young princess were destined to be one.
Mihoshi Special
In this one-off episode - written as a 'pilot' for both Tenchi Universe and Pretty Sammy[citation needed] - Sasami appears as herself, possibly her OAV version, but in the story told, her name and image is used for the role of a Galaxy Police cadet, and has a secret identity as Pretty Sammy, along with her pet Ryo-Ohki. She is also known as the best tea maker in the GP.
Tenchi Universe
In the Tenchi Universe continuity, Sasami is still Ayeka's sister and a princess of Jurai's Royal Family, but there is no mention of her parents, and Yosho (along with his grandson Tenchi) appears to be only a distant member of the Royal Family to them and direct heir to the throne..
Sasami is still an accomplished cook. She does not use any special powers other than the ones usually possessed by the members of Jurai's Royal Family. She does - or did - own her own ship, but it was soon destroyed, stranding her on Earth at Tenchi Masaki's home in an attempt to bring her sister back home.
She is also an expert video gamer, especially fighting games.
During the three part special episodes 'Time and Space Adventures', which seem to be homages to various genres or specific shows/films, Sasami is usually side-lined away from the main story, except of course in her own in which she once again plays the role of 'Pretty Sammy.' It is worth noting that even in her own story she starts off as a background character, only taking center stage once she has transformed.
The revived ancient knights of Jurai, the real Azaka and Kamidake, become her guardians at the end of the series, with Azaka also becoming her gaming pupil. And after briefly returning to her place at Jurai, she leaves permanently to Tenchi's home on Earth.
Tenchi Muyo! in Love
Sasami travels with the rest of the extended Masaki clan to the year 1970 to keep a close eye on Tenchi's mother Achika after it is revealed that something happens to her in the past, causing Tenchi and the house to start fading away from existence.
Tenchi Forever!
Six months after Tenchi went missing, Sasami returns to Jurai with Azaka and Kamidake in order to use the Juraian network to find Tenchi or clues of his whereabouts with no good results. A manga companion to the second movie, which is also called Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2: Eternal Memory, shows what was happening to Sasami off-screen and introduces Tsunami to the Universe continuity. Sasami is taken into a sacred place in the Jurai palace with a girl named Izumi as her guide. Izumi and Sasami pass challenges in order to reach Tsunami, whose power Sasami plans to use to free Tenchi from the parallel world that he is trapped in thanks to a woman named Haruna. Meanwhile, Sasami reflects on her true feelings for Tenchi, revealing that even though she is possibly too young to "even know what love means," she loves Tenchi with all her heart. Tsunami makes Sasami realize that Tenchi will choose who he wants to be with and that she cannot force him to leave Haruna's world. However, Sasami comes to assimilate with Tsunami just as she had done in the official continuity. She reveals to the reader that although the others believe that Washu's instruments are what allowed the door to Haruna's world to be opened, Washu's plan failed and it is actually Sasami using her power due to her bond with Tsunami keeping the door open, hoping Tenchi would choose to return to them...to her.The manga heavily implies that Izumi is the future daughter of Tenchi and Sasami but Sasami will die soon after her birth. However, according to Sasami's narration, that was only one possible future because with every choice they make, they can change their fate. It's also told that Tenchi might not choose Sasami but she'll still care for Tenchi the same as always.
Tenchi in Tokyo
Sasami's look in Tenchi in Tokyo
In the series Tenchi In Tokyo, Sasami's personality changes drastically. Instead of being shy, extremelly polite and mature, she is shown to be much more emotional and her moods became more erratic, given to bouts of juvenile anger and sulking. Sasami also became much louder than before. Her feelings towards Tenchi are much clearer, as she tends to be more honest in expressing herself.
Towards the end of the series, Sasami becomes friends with Yugi, the antagonist of this series who desires to separate the girls from Tenchi, before learning Yugi's true nature, but remains her friend even after finding out the truth about Yugi. At the end of the series Sasami visits the now-sleeping Yugi everyday.
Ryo-Ohki is her guardian in this series, and not the pet of Ryoko as in the other series and was always in Sasami's ownership. Sasami can take command of Ryo-Ohki's mecha's form, that is only shown in this series.
Okuda manga
Sasami Manga
Two official manga series have been created by Hitoshi Okuda - No Need For Tenchi and Shin Tenchi Muyo! (aka The All-New Tenchi Muyo!). Based on the OVA series and branching off after episode 13.5. The manga series generally has a lighter attitude than the anime series and the characters personalities reflect this. Sasami has a much more open relationship with Tsunami-kami-sama, who herself is more breezy than her own OVA counterpart, possibly due to Sasami's influence, but more likely by Okuda-sensei wanting to write her that way. Sasami is the only person, in the manga or the anime, that Tenchi has said the words "I love you" to. In volume 5 of the second manga series, Sasami's age is given as 709 years; however, Sasami's age was returned to 708 in volume 7 of the second manga series for unknown reasons. Possibly a mistranslation in either volume.
Hasegawa novels
A series of books written by Naoko Hasegawa, a former scriptwriter for the OVA. The novels branch off after episode 6 of the OVA series. These novels were never translated however, so little is known about the character development in this time-line.
Tenchi Muyo! Daughter of Darkness
One Hasagawa novel, Manatsu no Eve, was made into a movie, which was later adapted to English and released in the U.S. under the title Tenchi the Movie 2: The Daughter of Darkness. This is the only contact most non-Japanese fans have had with Hasegawa's branch continuity, and in perspective retrospect both the OVA and Universe canons seem to be meshed into this one. Sasami's connection to Tsunami-kami-sama from the OVA is not mentioned in the film. Sasami has more screen-time as she befriends Mayuka, Tenchi and Yuzuha's (the antagonist in this film) genetic daughter.
Pretty Sammy
Pretty Sammy
The OVA and TV versions of Pretty Sammy have a completely re-worked Sasami. Now she is Sasami Kawai (河合 砂沙美 Kawai Sasami?); in the OVA she is the daughter of a failed singer turned record-store owner named Chihiro Kawai and sister to Tenchi Kawai; in the TV version her parents are Ginji & Honoka Kawai, also record-store owners and she has no siblings.
An ordinary young girl, Sasami was granted magical powers by Tsunami, who is in line to become queen of a magical realm/planet called Juraihelm. She battles an enemy called Pixy Misa, who is secretly Sasami's best friend, Misao Amano. The Pretty Sammy series was originally created as a parody of the Magical Girl genre, particularly Sailor Moon.
Overview
In both series, Tsunami was chosen to become to the next queen of the magical kingdom, Juraihelm. Before she can accept the crown, Tsunami must choose someone to represent her on Earth, and she has selected Sasami Kawai, a schoolgirl whose parents run a music store, CD Vision. Sasami was sent off by her parents to deliver a CD to a house she has never been to, and discovers that the customer was actually Tsunami, who then introduces herself to Sasami. Sasami was given a magical baton that would allow her to transform into the magical girl, Pretty Sammy. She was also given Ryo-Ohki as her advisor (similar to Luna of Sailor Moon).
At first, Sasami was reluctant to transform into Pretty Sammy (as she fears that everyone will be able to see through her disguise), but once Pixy Misa, another magical girl, comes into action, Pretty Sammy has to put a stop to her actions. However, neither Sasami nor her best friend, Misao Amano, are aware that Pixy Misa is actually a transformed Misao.
Also in these series, the upside-down triangle birthmark only appears on her forehead in her Pretty Sammy form.
Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club
Sasami from Mahou Shoujo Club
The magical girl anime Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club (known in English as Sasami: Magical Girls Club) again reworked Sasami as Sasami Iwakura (岩倉 砂沙美, Iwakura Sasami). Although superficial changes to her include the total absence of the mark on her forehead, and her freckles, she is still fairly recognizable. (In fact, rather than Chisa Yokoyama, child voice actress Mana Ogawa plays the voice of the character to make her sound more like a child.)
In this anime, Sasami is a fifth-grader who has magical powers since birth. But she has been forbidden by her parents to use those powers since age three; she still practices it, but in secret. It is after she and her new friend Misao find out about the secret of her new teacher, Washu Kozuka that she becomes a member of the latter's magical girl club and maximize the use of her magical power.