Samurai Pizza Cats - Review

If you were a child of the 90's there is a chance that you watched many classic shows, but one of them stands above the rest. Samurai Pizza Cats, its a show about three cats that deliver pizza and also battle a murder of evil ninja crows.

The show takes itself about as serious as a clown, with the show being full of really bad puns and lots of rhymes. However that is the charm of the show. The three cats are named Speedy Cerviche, Polly Esther and Guido Anchovy and when not fighting giant Sushi robots and crow powered dragons, they work in a pizza shop, where Francine runs the shop and sends the cats out on their mission. And she does this by shooting them out of a giant gun located on top of the shop.

Of course, for each hero there must be a villain, one of complete evil, one devoid of morality and this show does not contain anything remotely close to that. Instead we get The Big Cheese, a rat that leads the crows in ever fanciful schemes to take control of Little Tokyo. Thankfully, when he is defeated he loses his temper and blows up, and this serves as the comic relief to the end of each episode. 

The show is a product of the 90’s in almost every way. The character design is that of anthropomorphic animals, with cybernetic implants. Each main character does have a very unique look that means you won’t be able to confuse them, and the voices that each character has are also as unique. While some of the secondary characters change their base appearance each episode, they still maintain a common look.

Sadly the animation does not hold today as it would have back when it was made. The shows level of detail would not have been an issue when it was made, but today, with the clarity that DVD allows, you notice lots of artifacts on the screen, repeating of animation frames, and even the same shots being used in different episodes with a small change in dialogue. 

Madman have done a great job with the presentation of the collection, with a reversible cover to hide the over-sized rating logo, but sadly that's about all that comes with it

This show was part of my childhood, and growing up I remember watching it each and every day. The theme song is still something that is in my head, and it’s as catchy as ever. If you watched this when it first came out, nostalgia might be enough for the investment, but for new viewers, the 90’s pop culture references, old animation and bad audio quality might not be enough to convince you to get them.

The Score

7.0

Review access provided by Madman Entertainment

The Pros

+Classic skits, that still hold up today

+The premise was wacky back then and it still is today

The Cons

-As a collection, there really isn't anything else included, but the show

-Nothing really there for new viewers, as it is definantly a product of its time

© SOTSU • Tatsunoko Production