Samurai Pizza Cats

English-language version

When Saban licensed the Japanese version, they learned that because the original show hadn't performed well in Japan, Tatsunoko had not preserved the original production documents.[11] This led to the localization team being handed scripts that were either translated poorly, not translated at all, or missing entirely. The writers essentially had to assemble a show out of 54 episodes of raw Japanese footage and what little production materials they did have. However, they were also relatively unrestricted in how they produced the dub and chose to make it more blatantly comedic with contemporary pop culture references, puns, meta-jokes, sardonic humor, and fourth wall breaks in almost every episode. Script writer and voice actor Michael McConnohie commented in response to a fan question about the production: "There were no chains upon us. We were free to look at it and say 'That would be funny... that might work... we'll do that! Who's gonna tell us not to?'"[12][13]

The theme song contains the line "As soon as someone finds the script, we might begin the show", a reference to the lack of proper translations given to Saban for production on the American version.[14]

The English version of the series first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on August 31, 1991,[15] with repeats continuing until 1995. In Canada, the series first appeared in 1992, on YTV,[16][17] and in 1996, in the United States, on first-run syndication.[18] The series was broadcast on Australian television on the weekday Seven Network morning kid's wrapper programme Agro's Cartoon Connection, from April 1992. A repeat run occurred in the same time slot in early 1994.

Madman Entertainment released the show on DVD in Australia initially in two collections, with four discs in each set. Collection 1, containing episodes 1–26, was released on October 16, 2013;[19] collection 2 containing episodes 27–52, was released on December 4, 2013.[20] A box set of the complete series was released by Madman on April 6, 2016.[21]

In 2012-13, Discotek Media announced the release of the show in both the original Japanese-language version and the North American English-language version dubbed by Saban. DVDs were released in region 1 format, with the Japanese version in Dolby Stereo 2.0 and English version in Dolby Digital Mono. The Kyatto-Ninden Teyandee: Complete Uncut Japanese Language Collection was released on April 30, 2013 and the English-dubbed version, Samurai Pizza Cats: Complete English Language TV Series Collection – 8 Disc Set, was released on July 30, 2013.[22] The Kyatto-Ninden Teyandee: Complete Uncut Japanese Language Collection set includes all of the 54 original episodes (including the two clip-show episodes that were never dubbed into English) while the Samurai Pizza Cats: Complete English Language TV Series Collection set includes all 52 English-dubbed episodes.[23][24]

A Blu-ray version, titled Samurai Pizza Cats: The Complete Collection, was released on January 19, 2016. This release featured every episode in standard definition on a single disc.[25]

Soundtracks

A soundtrack CD titled Kyatto Ninden Teyandee: The Cats' First Performance (キャッ党忍伝てやんでえ 猫座第一回公演) was released on September 21, 1990.

A second soundtrack CD, Kyatto Ninden Teyandee: The Cats' Final Performance Day (キャッ党忍伝てやんでえ 猫座千秋楽公演) was released on December 21, 1990.

Video games

In 1991, Tecmo (now known as Koei Tecmo) published a video game based on the anime for the Nintendo Famicom.[28] It was officially released in Japan only but was bootlegged outside Japan as Ninja Cat. Although the game was never officially released in the West, an English fan-translation (with characters' names and places adapted to those from the Samurai Pizza Cats dub) is available via a fan-made ROM patch.[29] Two standalone handheld LSI games (similar to Nintendo's Game & Watch) were also made by Bandai ("Launch! Yattaro" and "Yattaro appears").[30]

Players take the role of the three main cats and Otasuke members, who can be switched to at any time and have special abilities to progress through the game. The game features most of the characters in the series as well as an additional villain, a mysterious scientist named Dr. Purple (Dr. パープ) who shows up later on in the game and appears to ally with Koon-no-Kami.

The main characters were considered at one point to appear in the Wii fighting game Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.[31] The game's producer, Ryota Niitsuma, was quoted in an interview as saying: "One of the main anime we got more requests for than any others was Samurai Pizza Cats... I wanted to see that, but we couldn't reach an agreement."[32]

Speedy is also playable with Guido and Polly as supports in the arcade version of the game Jitsu Squad that was unveiled in Amusement Expo 2024 in Las Vegas.[33]

An action-platformer role-playing video game, known as Samurai Pizza Cats: Blast from the Past!, is currently under development. Developed by Blast Zero and published by Red Dunes Games, the game is slated for a 2026 release on Windows and all major home consoles.[34][35] Almost all of the show's English and Japanese cast is set to reprise their roles, with the known exception of Guido Anchovy (Sukashi), who will be voiced by Seiichiro Yamashita in Japanese.[36][37]

Home video releases

Some episodes were released on video in Japan, but a complete release of the show was held up for many years owing to poor sales. It was rumored that the lack of a DVD release was due to the original masters of some episodes being lost, but this proved not to be the case. Starchild Records released the complete series on DVD in Japan on August 8, 2012, as part of a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Tatsunoko.[38] The limited edition set sold well, placing second in the national animation DVD sales charts the week of its release.[39]

In North America, Discotek Media announced on March 12, 2012, that they had licensed the home video rights to the series with plans to release both the original Japanese version with English subtitles and Saban's English dub in separate box sets for each version.[40][41] The Japanese language box set was released on April 30, 2013, while the English dubbed version was released on July 30, 2013.[42]

On May 16, 2016, anime streaming service Crunchyroll began streaming the show under license from Discotek with improved quality subtitles for at least six episodes while the rest used the DVD footage.[43] As of May 23, 2016, all 54 episodes are available for free users.[44]

Toys

Toys and model kits were released in Japan and Europe by Bandai, the latter usually being reboxed versions of the prior. Action figures were made for the Nyanki and the Otasuke (the Japanese originals came as model kits while the European figures came pre-assembled). There were large and small (Gachapon-sized), rubber-like figures, as well as playsets for the smaller figures, including the Nyago King and the pizza parlor.

Manga

A tie-in manga by Yoshimi Hamada was serialized in Comic BomBom in 1990.[45] A sequel manga that took place after the end of the television series was released in 1994. The manga was made by Tatsuya Souma.[46]

Comic books

Samurai Pizza Cats comics were released as back-up stories in Saban Powerhouse (published by Valiant/Acclaim) which ran for two issues in 1997.[47][48] In August 2025, it was announced a graphic novel series is currently in the works from Nakama Press and Mad Cave Studios. The first volume was set to be published on April 7, 2026 but was delayed to August 25, 2026.[49][50]