Ask John: Was Samurai Pizza Cats Successful in its Time?

Question:
Was Samurai Pizza Cats (Kyatto Ninden Teyande) a success in its time? What is the current status of the show’s license? I had heard that the original source material for the series has been hard to find.

Answer:
I wish I had more information to share about this particular franchise because I know that it still has a small but loyal fan following in America despite having been unavailable in America since the early 1990s. The 1990 anime television series Cats Toninden Teyande lasted through 54 episodes, which isn’t an especially long run, but also is longer than many typical anime television series. I examined my personal collection of old Japanese Newtype magazines to find that throughout the series broadcast from February 1990 to February 1991, its viewer rating ranged from 9% to 13%. For comparison, current anime television series including Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro, Doraemon, and Chibi Maruko-chan earn ratings in the 9-13% range. In other words, if it was broadcast today and earned the same ratings that it earned in 1990, more Japanese viewers would be watching Cats Toninden Teyande than One Piece, Naruto, Yes! Precure 5, or Pocket Monster Diamond & Pearl – all of which earn ratings around 7% or 8%.

I’m sorry to say that I don’t know the status of the American distribution rights to either Cats Toninden Teyande or its American incarnation “Samurai Pizza Cats.” The series was distributed in America by Saban Entertainment, which handled a number of anime series in the 1990s and early 2000s. Some of Saban’s licenses, such as Tekkaman Blade, Digimon, and Time Detective Genshi, have been re-licensed and released by other companies. Other Saban anime licenses including Moncolle Knight and Mashurambo have disappeared into obscurity. Official Japanese VHS tapes of Cats Toninden Teyande exist, but I can’t find any evidence that any of the anime has ever been released on Japanese laserdisc or DVD. The absence of a modern Japanese home video release may mean that no master footage remains available in Japan. Whatever the case, the absence of a DVD release in Japan significantly diminishes the odds of a future American DVD release. But the second half of the Super GALS! Kotobuki Ran television series did reach American DVD despite not being available on DVD in Japan. So I can’t completely rule out the possibility that Cats Toninden Teyande may someday see American DVD release. Furthermore, I can’t entirely dismiss the possibility of an American release of “Samurai Pizza Cats.” After all, other nostalgic American versions of anime from the 80s and 90s, such as Voltron, Teknoman, and Robotech, have been released on domestic DVD. But, honestly, I wouldn’t hold onto a lot of hope for an American re-release of Samurai Pizza Cats.