The Anime Series On Streaming That Was Made Without Any Scripts
Before Dragon Ball Z, before Sailor Moon, and most importantly, before the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (we’ll get to that connection), there was Samurai Pizza Cats, an off-the-wall, completely insane anime that made waves in America. Originally intended to air as dubbed episodes of Cat Ninja Legend Teyandee, Saban Entertainment quickly realized a problem when they secured the distribution rights to the series in North America.
Samurai Pizza Cats is the surprise hit anime of the early 90s, even if the dub has nothing to do with the original series.
There was no way to translate the original scripts, which were either lost completely or of such poor quality that no one knew what they were saying, so the bold choice was made to move forward and dub the entire series with no scripts to work from. If that sounds insane, that’s because it is, but the mad geniuses behind the production took full advantage of the freedom and took the dour, serious original and transformed it into a wacky comedy. Somehow, the show became a hit among North America’s rapidly growing anime communities.
In retrospect, I should have realized the cartoon I was watching before school each day was….not quite right….from the opening credits. The main theme of Samurai Pizza Cats includes the line, “as soon as someone finds the script, we’ll start the show.” Much like The Snowman, the clues were right there for us the whole time.
The theme song to Samurai Pizza Cats was reportedly performed by one of the writers after having a few drinks one afternoon.
Beyond the key line, it was clear that Samurai Pizza Cats was not to be taken seriously, given the names of the characters. Speedy Cerviche (the cat in white), Polly Esther (in pink, and say that name real fast), and Guido Anchovy (the tall one in blue) are the main heroes, working at the Pizza Cat Restaurant when not trying to stop the nefarious Big Cheese from conquering Little Tokyo. There’s a theme here; I’m not sure if you picked up on it yet, considering how subtle it is.
Most episodes of Samurai Pizza Cats play out the same as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: there’s a main plot for the cats, from Polly becoming a hit singer in The Pointless Sisters to Guido going on a date, that’s somehow ruined by Big Cheese unleashing his Ninja Crows (think the Putty Squad), followed by a giant monster that requires the team to power up in order to defeat.
Much like House, Samurai Pizza Cats found a formula that worked and stuck to it, with a few exceptions here and there. Amazingly, the dubbed episodes have very little to do with the originals; despite using the same animation and general plots, Cat Ninja Legend Teyandee was overly serious and played everything straight. Throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks makes the dubbed episodes much funnier than the originals.
The Japanese audience agreed that the original Cat Ninja Legend Teyandee series was a flop, but Samurai Pizza Cats was re-released back in Japan with the English dub. With wacky hijinks, despite the same animation, the series found an audience and became a hit back in its home country as well.
The Samurai Pizza Cats/Power Rangers Connection
Now, as for how Samurai Pizza Cats relates to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, it’s simple: the money Saban Entertainment made from the success of the cat-based comedy was used to create the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers out of Super Sentai footage.
The same trick, re-dubbing dialogue over old footage that made Samurai Pizza Cats a success also made Mighty Morphin Power Rangers incredibly cheap to produce. It’s been done for decades in animation, but never has it been pulled off as successfully as with a franchise that recently celebrated 30 years.
So, while Super Sentai influenced the Samurai Pizza Cats, it’s because of this bizarre footnote in anime history that Super Sentai became widely known on both sides of the Pacific.
The kid-friendly nature of Samurai Pizza Cats shouldn’t scare you off from checking it out, as some of the jokes are absolutely vicious. There is no way a children’s cartoon could get away with some of them today, and in a few cases, that’s for a good reason.
Every anime fan needs to experience at least a little bit of Samurai Pizza Cats, if only to witness what writers can get away with when no one is paying attention. The complete series is streaming on Crunchyroll, Peacock, and even Tubi.
