Samurai Cat

[Drunk Monk]

A down and out ronin is looking for work in Edo.  He is hired to kill a master's cat by a jealous servant. He doesn't. He can't. He catnaps it.  Hilarity ensues.  

This is a Japanese serial that ran for two seasons beginning in 2014. Not to be confused with Samurai Cat, an English-language book serial.  The Japanese title is Neko Zamurai, which is more properly translated as 'Cat Samurai,' because that's what the protagonist becomes.  

I started watching S1E1 and in one of the early scenes, the ronin says the quote below:

I loved today’s ‘gram. There is no finish-line in swordsmanship.

I was totally hooked. Binged the whole S1 yesterday. 

The funny thing is there aren't many swordfights.  There were only a few in S1, quick and well choreographed, but very short. It's really all about the comedy drama as the cat Tamanojoh affects the ronin's philosophy.  

Ahhh, who am I kidding?  It's all about the cat.  Tamanojo is the best cat actor I've ever seen, a gorgeous white cat with soulful eyes that just steals every single scene.  Luv that cat.  Tama-chan is the best. 

It is sooooooo Japanese, with their obsession with cats and samurai. Beautifully shot, lush locations, and a very commoner feel to medieval Japan I find simply delightful.  

I'm delving into S2 now.  



Note that I don't really recommend this to non-cat DOOMers, and only marginally to cat DOOMers.  It's just that given my peculiar relationship to cats, especially the last one, Skittle the CATalyst, it just works for me.  Note also that some of the web reviews say that there's a dog-loving gang that initiates the assassination attempt.  Not true.  There are no dogs involved.  It's all about cats.  Just cats.  And samurai.

[Drunk Monk]

Almost done with S2.  It's not as strong.  It's more cartoonish, more caricature.  Still enjoying it though.  It dropped into the Yokai world and I'm wondering where they will go with that.  Also wondering how good the 'plastic surgery' subtitle was translated.  That story was just too odd, and it didn't go anywhere, whereas the Yokai detour did.  

Apparently there's a movie too.  I'll have to chase that down at some point.

Cats are family.

[Drunk Monk]

Well, that was enjoyable.  The eps are only 20 mins, so they are super addictive.  Amazon Prime had this broken into 2 seasons, but it may have just been one, but marketed to AP through different distributors.  

The movie is allegedly S2, at least according to some reviews. I don't know - sometimes Japanese TV and movies get really blurred lines.  I do know there's an entirely different adventure, a tropical adventure, that looks even more absurd.  I found it on the web, but I think it's a paid stream.  I'll investigate more later.

As for the rest of what I watched, there was a funny hallucination - or was it?  Not that trippy but quite comical.  And it did pay out with a decent sword fight in the end, but not really the climax of this series at all.  It's all about the cat.

 NEKO 

[Drunk Monk]

I'm obsessed with this show.  I watched the BTS eps.  Turns our Tama was played by only two cats!  Those cats are rock stars.  Also it was filmed in some sort of historical theme park.  

There are some movies which I tried to chase down online but couldn't find them.  Found some Japanese streaming sites but I don't trust those (got burned bad by a Chinese streaming site a long time ago).  My next trip to Japantown vid store, I must find those on DVDs.

I recommended this to Tara.  She's into it.  Last I heard, she was watching it with this guy she's been seeing.  

I now highly recommend this for DOOM cat lovers, especially the CFs, although not tQ because if I recall, she disdains subtitles.  And definitely not for PPFY - he'll be upset by the lack of swordfights.

[Drunk Monk]

Now free on Netflix 



I might have to rewatch this…