Samurai Pizza Cats

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
From left to right: Polly Esther, Speedy Cerviche and Guido Anchovy
"A fully functioning, cybernetic, technologically advanced team of superheroes... and nobody's got a flashlight?"
—Polly Esther

Samurai Pizza Cats is The English dub of Kyattou Ninden Teyandee (キャッ党 忍伝 てやんでえ, "Cat Ninja Legend, What Are You Talking About"[1]), licensed by Saban Entertainment, who didn't manage to get transcripts of the original anime dialog (or just horribly translated scripts, according to the writer). As such, the writers had to make up stories and dialog out of whole cloth. It seems to have worked fairly well, all things considered. The show pretty much got turned into a really well-written Gag Dub, and the series is actually better known around the world as "Samurai Pizza Cats" than the original source.

As for the plot: the eponymous Cats are the owners/employees of a pizza parlor, who defend their city and the royal family (pushy, spoiled Princess Violet [Usa-Hime], and her demented father, Emperor Fred [Shogun Tokugawa Iei-Iei]) from the machinations of the villainous Big Cheese (Kon-no-Kami). Between the giant robots, the ninja crows and the, um, peculiarities of their emperor, this is both harder than it sounds and easier than it ought to be.

While the plots can be a bit formulaic, most of the show's appeal comes from the humor and the lame puns (some main characters being Speedy Cerviche [Yattarou], Guido Anchovy [Sukashii], Polly Esther [Pururun] and "Big" Al Dente [Wanko-no-Kami]), and an astounding number of running gags.

The show is notable for being perhaps the only heavily edited, rewritten and hacked-up anime dub which international fans actually prefer to the original.[2] While the original show also took a light-hearted and goofy approach to its action show format, the English Pizza Cats is chock full of sly references, shameless puns, rapid-fire sardonic humor, and a total refusal to so much as acknowledge the fourth wall.

Despite what you may have heard, it is not a lame Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rip off, but a decent cartoon that can stand on its own merits. (It was, however, licensed as part of a TMNT Follow the Leader movement.) To quote the theme song, 'These 'Cats have more fur than any Turtle ever had!'

There's a character sheet if anyone is interested.

Tropes used in Samurai Pizza Cats include:

Michael (in Gratuitous English): Hey you! Bad! Bad! You are bad!

Speedy: I'd do anything for you, Lucille! To other people, you may just be a hand-painted animated character, but you mean a lot more than that to me!

  • Palette Swap: The American Pizza Cats' counterpart to Francine is Abigail, who looks just like her except with slightly different coloring.
  • Panty Shot: During the transformation sequence.
  • Parasol of Doom: Guido's Samurai Sunspot Umbrella.
  • Parody: In the Japanese version, of the Super Sentai genre.
  • Pizza Cats Can Breathe in Space: At least when in their Super Extra topping Forms.
    • And Bad Bird can apparently do this too, even without special armor. Granted, they are "animaloids" in the Japanese version.
  • Politeness Judo
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: The original scripts weren't shipped along with the animation, so Bandai had to improvise. They improvised very well.
  • The Psycho Rangers: The Rude Noise (Yami no Yon Nin Shu). Although given their designs and weapons they're actually Pyschos of the Rescue team.
  • The Power of Friendship: The way the Cats were finally able to defeat the upgraded Bad Bird. And how Speedy and Bad Bird were able to defeat the incoming comet.
  • Punny Name: Quite a lot of the cast.
  • Redubbing
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Rude Noise again.
  • Rapid-Fire Comedy
  • Recap Episode: Three of them, "Candid Kitty", "Big Cheese's High-Definition TV", and the Japan-only "Kie! Koon no Kami no Dai Kenkyu (Frightening! Koon no Kami's Big Research)".
  • Rhymes on a Dime: Francine [Otama], when she launches the Cats from a gun.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: Polly, Francine and the Ninja Crows.
  • The Rival: Bad Bird
    • One of the KNT soundtracks even has a track titled "The Rival" for him.
  • Royal Brat: Unfortunately, for the characters of this show, Princess Vi's the real power in the royal family.
  • Royally Screwed-Up: The royal family has few screws loose. Except for Emperor Fred. He doesn't have a single screw tight left.
  • Sentai
  • Schizo-Tech: Little Tokyo has a curious mix of robots, high tech armor, and Shogun era Japan. The song even comments on it "Where the past meets the future!"
  • Sexy Secretary: Francine.
  • She's a Man In Japan: Amazingly subverted. Despite his frequent cross-dressing and flirting with his male henchmen, the Big Cheese retains his gender. In fact, the only thing about him that changes is his species - in the original he's a fox, but the dub makes him a rat.
  • Shout-Out: Quite a few actually. They've had several references to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bat Cat is a reference to Batman, General Catton is a reference to the real life General George S. Patton, Spritz the Cat is a reference to Fritz the Cat, and so on.
  • Sixth Ranger: The Rescue Team. By the end, also Bad Bird.
  • Slices, Dices And Cuts Through Giant Robots!
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Speedy Cerviche vs. fanon Speedy Service.
  • Spiritual Successor: Arguably, Juuni Senshi Bakuretsu Eto Ranger AKA Twelve Warrior Explosive Eto Rangers, since they share the same character designer. YMMV.
  • Spoof Aesop: "Whoever said 'Violence never solved anything'... wasn't a Pizza Cat!"
  • Stable Time Loop: The Cats end up traveling back in time in one episode and rescue Big Al, giving him the idea to create the Pizza Cats in the first place.
  • Stock Footage Several cases, but most obviously Speedy's Cat's Eye Slash, "Because it's in his contract!"
  • Super Mode: Their "Extra Toppings" armor.
    • Evil Costume Switch: Bad Bird's Armor of Worc in the two-part episode, "Bad Bird Uncaged", complete with a flute that transforms into a bazooka or a machine gun (the latter which is only seen in the Japanese version).
  • Super Robot: The Supreme Catatonic (a.k.a. Nyago King or Nyago Ou in the original Japanese version.)
  • Take That: A lyric in the theme song says "They've got more fur than any turtle ever had."
    • Also in the first episode "Stop Dragon My Cat Around" there's a mention of a retirement home for aging Ninja Turtles.
  • There Was a Door: In one episode Polly gets SO TICKED off she runs right through the wall of the pizza place- even though the door was right across from her!
  • They Fight Crime
  • Those Two Guys: Mother Mutt and Junior.
  • Three Amigos: Speedy Cerviche, Polly Ester, and Guido Anchovy.
  • Time Travel
  • Expository Title Theme Tune: "Sa-mur-I Piz-za Cats!" "As soon as someone finds the script, we might begin the show!"
  • To the Batpole: The top of the pizza parlor is actually a giant revolver, and the ovens are used to load the cats into it.
  • Training Montage
  • Nakama:

Guido: (to Speedy) You may be an ungrateful, self-centered little jerk, but you're still a Samurai Pizza Cat.

  • Tsundere: Polly. In one episode she attacks Speedy for surviving what looked like a fatal attack and invalidating all their emotional distress.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: The main team of Speedy Cerviche, Guido Anchovy, and Polly Esther of course.
  • Two-Timer Date: "Speedy's Double-Time Trick."
  • The Vamp: Dee Dee/Madonna, complete with a dominatrix getup (mask and high heels), a whip, and Noblewoman's Laugh.
  • Verbal Tic: In the original Japanese version, Yattarou (Speedy) says "Teyandee!" a lot, which becomes his Catch Phrase. Emperor Fred in the English/Spanish dub says "Fred" a lot.
  • Villainous Crossdresser: The Big Cheese.
  • West Coast Team: The Rescue Team, and the American Team.
  • Who Would Want to Watch Us?: When the Cats go to Guru Lou to see about getting a giant robot of their own, Guido off-handedly remarks, "If he's such a wise guy, what's he doing working on our stupid show?"
  • Who Writes This Crap?: To quote Guido: "What's the matter, did that last joke hurt?"
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: Lucille.
  • You Are Number Six: In Kyattou Ninden Teyandee, when the Pizza Cats are in their battle gear, Yattarou (Speedy) is known as "Nyanki #1", Sukashii (Guido) is known as "Nyanki #2", and Pururun (Polly) is known as "Nyanki #3".
  • You Can Say That Again[context?]
  1. ↑ The word "Teyandee" does not have an actual translation for English. It is used by Yattarou/Speedy to show frustration or determination.
  2. ↑ perhaps with the exception of Latin America dubbed Koni Chan
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