Samouraï Pizza Cats

When this show first premiered in 1991, I immediately didn't watch it, dismissing it as nothing more than a lame "Ninja Turtles" rip-off. But then, on one rainy afternoon, there was nothing else on, and I began to watch it. This show is just SO funny! What other cartoons feature a cross-dressing villain, heroes whose secret identities are exactly the same as their hero personas, and a total babe with a missile launcher in her head that nukes whatever upsets her? I watched it religiously until 1997, when all my local carriers quit showing it. But, trust me, this show is one of the best forgotten gems of animation. And always remember, "although they may be pen and ink, we know they'll fight like...PIZZA CATS!!"

Just visualize a scene where two anthropomorphic cats are fighting to win the affection of a female sheep. One of them violently smashes a tree, yes a tree, on his rival's face. Nothing but ordinary cartoon's slapstick served by over-the-top flashy Japanese animation but like some Jazz singer would say, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothing yet (which is a line spoken in the show, too). The smashed cat retorts:

"Well now I've seen everything, as if the destruction of the Brazilian Rainforest weren't enough for ya, you're the most environmentally irresponsible person I met!"

"Save that pinko pop ecology stuff for the next Greenpeace newsletter!"

Then the girl gets so emotional that her geisha hairstyle conceals homing missiles, launched in their direction, while she shouts "Stop talking' politics!" then the narrator comments, while the two cats are left smoking on a desolated crater, with shocked expressions, that "love can be a mind-blowing experience".

This comes from "Samurai Pizza Cats", (the real business and the cover are in the title) and those were a few quotes from the first episode, one that efficiently set the tone of sardonic, rapid-fire, fourth-wall breaking and tongue-in-cheek humor that'll make the series' trademark. I hope these quotes worked as appetizers, in fact, just copy-pasting a link to a quotes' section should be enough to convince you. And this is as quotable as a cartoon can ever get and some of them are from the Narrator whose freedom of tone might echo the opinion of those who think this is too silly, or idiotic, this is why it's almost impossible to hate: the show, as it is perfectly aware of its own silliness.

Take another scene for instance, the cats work in a pizza parlor but officially, they're Samurai protecting the Kingdom of Little Tokyo, and they have the duty to fight evil whenever it raises its ugly head, and when bravery is called, the three heroic felines, two male: Speedy Cerviche (the self-centered long-suffering leader), Guido Anchovy (the womanizing and laid-back sidekick) and one female Polly Esther (the temperamental and bossy feminist) use a launching cannon operated by the owner of the Pizza Cat restaurant named Francine, it's like a pulling trigger device that blasts the heroes in the air toward their destination.

In one episode where they are all replaced by the rescue team (each member helps them when they meet a tricky situation), so they're all blasted in the air although Francine isn't there. Then you have the most delightful running-gag of the show (which is saying a lot, as the series is full of mother) a mother Mutt and her son watch them flying in the air, the sons asks how the last cat managed to launch himself although no one operated the cannon, the mother reminds him that it's been a long time the writers stop caring for these details, which ironically works as a perfect bit of writing.

Seriously, who remembers "Samurai Pizza Cats", one of the most awesome animated TV shows of the early 90's, or should I say, the most underrated since its name has probably sunk into oblivion and is only remembered by a fistful of hardcore fans. Well, I guess one must be truly nuts to love this show and consider it superior to any other animated series about anthropomorphic warrior-like animals, especially the emblematic "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". But believe me, it takes quite a gourmet taste to grab a slice of THAT Pizza!

Indeed, not only it's better than "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", and I can talk since this is my generation, but it's cooler, funnier and full of the most hilarious one-liners one would ever hear in an animated TV aiming a young audience, actually, this is more a show for teens and young adults, and it features so many fourth-wall-breaking moments you even feel like you're part of the show. There's no wall anymore… It is creative and original in every single way.

I mean how many cartoons have the bad guy, an egomaniac and flaming fox, who enjoys cross-dressing, openly flirting with male crew made of crows, dressing as a geisha or a cheerleader or even wearing female swimsuits. How many cartoons feature a kingdom governed by an Emperor so retarded it's his spoiled rabbit daughter who rules the town. It's not just "Litte Tokyo" but "Crazy Tokyo" and within their own craziness, all the characters are very consistent.

How many cartoons feature such lines "hey how come we show up at each episode and episode you act surprised?" or a Narrator asking "Is this the end of the Pizza Cats? After only seven episodes?", "I want to talk to my agent' or "Do you serve shrimps" "We serve everyone" Well, I stop here the quotations. But they're so integral to the show's greatness, and there is a reason for that.

The show was produced by Saban company, one of our childhood heroes, and the original scripts were either nonexistent or badly translated.The writers used their imagination and came up with translations that had nothing to do with the original material, I'm not too sure since the show looks funny in Japanese, and they certainly didn't dub the cross-dressing, but this proves that sometimes, the absence of means can be a mean by itself.

On the surface, the show looks very formulaic (it is to some extent) with the same recycled image, Speedy pulling out his sword and terminating the episode's evil robot, the Pizza Cats introducing themselves every time and so forth, but the dubbing makes the difference. In one scene, Bad Bird, one of the bad guys wonders why they keep introducing themselves, he can read credits.

This is one of the few occurrences where the original is less popular than its foreign version, another oddity that makes "Samurai Pizza Cats" such a surreal case in the history of animation.

This show is funnier than Woody Allen's "What's Up, Tiger Lily?," which is very much in the same vein.

Like Allen's film, the SPCs are a Japanese production given a very funny English soundtrack, only this time the Japanese production was a spoof of anime to start with. The result: A very, very funny show, both visually and in the soundtrack, with no slow spots or inappropriate humor.

The English soundtrack was made up out of whole cloth, because there were no transcripts of the Japanese scripts to translate. The crew made a virtue out of necessity.

Beware the funny-looking blue stuff.

Samurai Pizza Cats was originally made by Tatsunoko Studios in Japan as "Cat Ninden Teyande". Saban bought the rights to dub the show, and has made English, French, German, Spanish, and Hebrew dubs. The dubbed version, "Samurai Pizza Cats" was produced by Andy Thomas, who had new stories written to match the animation. This was very well done (in fact the lip synic is often better, since the writers matched the dialoge to the mouth movements) and resulted in a very funny show. Although Saban marketed the show for children, the show has humour that can be enjoyed by all ages. Most fans of the show are actually teens and young adults. The show features heroic cats in armor (who also run a pizza shop), a villain who enjoys cross-dressing, ninja crows who build giant robots, and a sarcastic narrator. If it's ever on where you live, don't be put off by Saban's dumb ads, it's actually a very fun show for kids or adults.

A creative, fun anime. This one involved the Pizza cats who were also samurais and fought evil characters when inter-rumping peace in Tokyo. See, the cats work on a Pizza restaurant!

This cartoon is really a hidden gem. It had the necessary humor to entertain children and adults. The situations were really comical with

the Japanesse touch. I really dug the sometimes black humor used because it fit perfectly with the characters.

I liked their comical adventures and the cartoon's ending always had a positive message.

Oh, this is pure nostalgia. I remember always sitting in front of t.v. every day at 4:00 p.m. waiting eagerly for the show.

This cartoon is tender but really humorous. I don't know where to find it but believe me, if it's released on DVD, it will be a HUGE success. This may be the best comical anime.

Also, the opening song is stuff for legend. Samurai Pizza Cats!!