Cult classics are odd ducks. They often don’t get a critical mass of fans on first release, but gain a fanbase over time. Word of mouth and fan introduction builds up the fanbase over time, as the existing fans bring in new ones, usually through the idea of, “You have to see this!” Mystery Science Theatre 3000’s “Keep Circulating the Tapes” in the credits helped expand the fanbase to regions where first KTMA and later Comedy Central and the Sci-Fi Channel couldn’t reach.
In 1991, Samurai Pizza Cats first aired. The Saban Entertainment series was an English dub of Kyatto Ninden Teyandee (literally, Cat Party Ninja Legend What the Heck?), which ran fifty-four episodes. Kyatto Ninden Teyandee featured a team of ninja cats – Yattaro, Pururun, and Sukashi, working for Otama, owner of the pizza place the cats work at, and Inuyama Wanko-no-kami, chief of the Palace Guard, to prevent Edoropolis and it’s ruler, shogun Tokugawa Iei Iei, from falling to the machinations of the evil Prime Minister, Kitsunezuka Ko’on-no-kami and his minions, Karasu Gennarisai, Karamaru, and the Karasu Ninja. When things get tough, the cats can call upon the Rescue Team by ringing their little bells, but when even the Rescue Team isn’t enough, Yattaro can call upon the power of his sword, Masamasa, or even the Nyago-King.
Edoropolis is a mix of feudal and modern aesthetics, with the population being cybernetic anthropomorphic animals going about their lives. The shogun, Tokugawa, is very eccentric, so rule of the city is left to his daughter, Usako, and a council that includes Inuyama and Kitsunezuka. The series played out as a semi-serious drama with anthropomorphic animals, and didn’t perform well in Japan. The license was easily had for a lower price as a result, and Saban picked it up to use to compete with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. After all, cats have more fur than any turtle ever had.
When Saban got the license, they got the animated series and not much else. Tatsunoko, the studio behind Kyatto Ninden Teyandee, provided at best poorly translated scripts. Not every episode had a script provided, translated or not. The theme song calls this out – “As soon as someone finds the script, we might begin the show.” The writers did what they could; they watched the episodes and worked out what was happening on screen. The result is a series that breaks through the fourth wall, has characters who know they’re cartoons, and doesn’t care about keeping to the original series. Samurai Pizza Cats was a gag dub and an abridged series before either were really known.
Samurai Pizza Cats first aired on ITV in the UK in August, 1991, followed by YTV in Canada in 1992. However, the big break came in 1996 when it ran in first-run syndication in the US. In 1995. anime broke out of its niche audience when three series – Sailor Moon, Dragonball, and the Tekkaman Blade adaptation, Technoman – all began airing fall of the year. This new interest in anime saw a boom at university anime clubs and caught the interest of networks and stations looking to fill time. Having Samurai Pizza Cats handy gave Saban an edge in taking advantage of the new interest. YTV also took advantage of having SPC to add more anime to its lineup.
The series is an example of what not to do when adapting a foreign series, yet it does it so well that even the original creator of Kyatto Ninden Teyandee prefers Samurai Pizza Cats. Names were changed. Yattaro became Speedy Cerviche (officially, might have been originally conceived as Service pronounced as if it’s Italian). Pururun became Polly Esther, because puns. Sukashi became Guido Anchovi. The Pizza Cats pizza parlour owner became Francine, who regular spoke in rhyme. The chief of the Palace Guard became “Big Al” Dente. Instead of protecting shogun Tokugawa and his daughter, the Pizza Cats protected Emperor Fred and his daughter, Princess Vi. The villainous Prime Minister became Seymour “The Big” Cheese, with his minions becoming Gerry Atric, the old bird, and Bad Bird, the leader of the Ninja Crows. Even Speedy’s sword was renamed to the fabulous Ginzu Sword, and he has the Supreme Catatonic for when the Ginzu Sword isn’t enough.
The episodes leaned heavily on then-current events. “Field of Screwballs” has a baseball pitcher, Fernando Curtainzuela, named after the then-Dodgers pitcher Fernando Venezuela. “Youth Is for Exploding” has the Big Cheese’s army of exploding robots, “Blown Up With People” named after “Up With People”, a non-profit youth group that promoted multiculturalism, racial equality, and positive thinking through performance. The Christmas episode, “The Cheese Who Stole Christmas” manages to slip more adult humour than the average SPC episode with a reworked version of Monty Python’s “Lumberjack Song”; Gerry Atric swearing off a brand of bird seed named after Timothy Leary, who advocated for the use of psychedelic drugs; and a two-for with Seymour reminiscing a past Christmas where he hoped to get, “a real boy toy” only to get a toy ox-and-cart leading to him exclaiming, “What is this bull?”
Samurai Pizza Cats only had fifty-two episodes, dropping two clip shows from the run of Kyatto Ninden Teyandee. With no new episodes coming from Tatsunoko, the series went into perpetual rerun, but can still be found on streaming services. That means, the series has had thirty-four years to build a larger audience. Older fans mentioning the series ad nauseum will get the name lurking in other people’s heads so that when it comes up, what’s a few minutes to check it out? That makes Samurai Pizza Cats a lasting cult classic.
Why bring up a thirty-four year old series? A trailer recently dropped for the video game, Samurai Pizza Cats: Blast from the Past!
It’s a short trailer with the game coming out next year, in time for the 35th anniversary of Samurai Pizza Cats. However, that’s new animation in the old style done with cels, along with the English voice actors. The script breaks the fourth wall, including Gerry suggesting the Big Cheese even bribe the animators. Playable characters appear to be the Pizza Cats, the B-Team as can be seen with Spritz T. Cat briefly highlighted, Princess Vi, and even Speedy’s girlfriend, Lucille.
The game developer put a lot of effort into the trailer to bring back the sights and sounds of Samurai Pizza Cats. The game is still in development, with the goal of being released in 2026 but no date announced. There’s no guarantee that the game will have the voice actors or the feel of the series. However, Blast Zero put a lot of effort into the trailer; if they didn’t plan on using the voice actors in the game, why bring them in for the trailer? The developers are aware of what they’re doing and who will be buying the game. Time will tell. In the meantime, have a pizza pie!
This article was originally published at THE REMAKE ZONE.