Masaki Sasami Jurai

Sasami Masaki Jurai (柾木 砂沙美 樹雷|Masaki Sasami Jurai) is a fictional character in the anime series Tenchi Muyo! and its various spin-offs.

Personality and series role
In most series, Sasami is the younger sister of Aeka and so is also a princess of Jurai. Within the family group 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. 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. This has become true for 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 original series Sasami is, along with Aeka, the daughter of Emperor Azusa Masaki Jurai and second Empress Misaki Masaki Jurai. She is the granddaughter of Seto Kamiki Jurai and Utsumi Kamiki on her mother's side and Amame Masaki of Jurai and Kazuki Yotsuga, a Galaxy Police officer assigned to Jurai on her fathers. Sasami has a half-brother called Yosho Masaki Jurai, who shares the same father, but a different mother - Her father has two wives. She currently lives on Earth with her sister, her brother, her great-nephew (Tenchi Masaki) and the rest of her extended family. She arrived on Earth by 'accident', stowing away on her sisters ship when she went looking for Yosho. She quickly became close friends with Ryo-Ohki and even Ryoko, despite that Ryoko held a blade to Sasami's throat almost as soon as they met.

Sasami holds a dark secret within her past. Seven hundred years ago, during an attack on Jurai by Ryoko, Sasami was mortally injured, and she believed that she died that day, that she was now a copy of the 'real' Sasami. The truth is that Sasami survived her injuries when Tsunami-kami-sama, in the form of Tsunami-no-ki, assimilated with her. Tsunami-no-ki absorbed and re-created Sasami's body in order to heal her. However, Tsunami-kami-sama had a purpose of her own and merged her spirit with Sasami's. In effect, they are now one being with two souls, and as they grow older their spirits will merge. This may account for her maturity in this series. This also grants Sasami several powers that she does not possess in any other series. She now commands the most powerful ship in existence - Tsunami-fune - and can summon it from sub-space at will. Through her link to Tsunami-kami-sama she is linked to every Juraian Ship and their owners, and can sense their location and status. She also has precognitive abilities, but unfortunately these manifest as terrible nightmares. Sasami hid her secret from those around her - including herself - because her greatest fear was that she would be rejected by those she loved.

It should also be noted that Sasami is an accomplished combatant, most likely taught by her mother, who is the Supreme Commander of the Royal Bodyguard, and enhanced by the link with Tsunami-no-ki, easily defeating Mashisu Makibi, who was a trained Galaxy Police officer. One of the cherry-like hair bands she wears is capable of becoming a staff.

Mihoshi Special
In this one-off episode - written as a 'pilot' for both Tenchi Universe and Pretty Sammy - 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 first TV series Sasami is still Aeka's sister and princess of Jurai, but there is no mention of her parents and no direct connection to Yosho or Tenchi. Sasami is a little more immature but is still an accomplished cook. She has a much more happy, innocent outlook on life and no special powers. She does - or did - own her own ship, but unfortunately it was soon destroyed, stranding her on Earth. She is an expert games player, especially fighting games, and takes the revived Azaka as her pupil. 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 though that even in her own story she starts off as a background character, only taking center stage once she has transformed.

Tenchi Muyo in Love 1 & 2
These two movies are set in the Universe continuity and Sasami's personality remains the same. Unfortunately she gets less screen time than the other characters. A manga companion to the second movie, Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2: Eternal Memory, shows what was supposedly happening to Sasami 'off-screen' and introduces Tsunami-kami-sama to the Universe continuity, but it is unknown if this is official. The manga implies that Sasami & Tenchi will one day have a child named Izumi, but Sasami will die soon after her birth. However, according to Sasami's narration, that was only one possible future. 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. An announcement from the creators of Tenchi Muyo! in Love 2 stated that TMIL2:EM marks the end of the Tenchi Universe, and thus it is unlikely that the manga will ever be proved/disproved as cannon.

Tenchi in Tokyo
As with most of the characters, Sasami's personality became much louder than before. Her moods are more erratic, given to bouts of juvenile anger and sulking. She becomes friends with Yugi, before learning Yugi's true nature, but remains her friend until the end of the series.

Pretty Sammy/Magical Project S
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 OAV 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 in the TV version) called Juraihelm. She battles an enemy called Pixy Misa, who is secretly Sasami's best friend, Misao Amano. The Pretty Sammy series was originaly created as a parody of the Magical Girl genre.

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.

Manatsu no Eve/Daughter of Darkness
The Hasagawa novel Manatsu no Eve was made into a movie, and is the only contact most non-Japanese fans have had with this continuity. Sasami seems to have the same persona as her Tenchi Universe counterpart, and demonstrates no special powers or a connection to Tsunami-kami-sama. Sasami has more screen-time as she befriends Mayuka, Tenchi and Yuzuha's (the antagonist in this film) genetic daughter.

Okuda 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.

Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club
The magical girl anime Sasami: Mahou Shoujo 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.