Pizza Cats Return to the U.K.!!
Samurai Pizza Cats will return to TV in the United Kingdom on Fox Kids UK! It will be showing at 1:30 PM all summer long. this is a good sign for SPC fans in the USA and Canada. We need to keep the pressure up on Saban, so write those letters to:
Saban Entertainment, Inc.
10960 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Check Samurai Saving Time throughout the month for any late breaking SPC news. Samurai Saving Time

Name Contest
MoonLily16@aol.com "Samurai Pizza Delivery"
SalrSun@aol.com "Samurai Sendings"
Kei Fox@aol.com "Princess Vi's SPC Newsletter" "Forever Samurai Pizza Cats!" "That's Samurai Pizza Cats!"
Scout Luna@aol.com "Pizza Cats Review"

You can see in the title who won this. "Pizza Cats Review" has a nice ring to it. Also, "Pizza Cats", as opposed to "Samurai Pizza Cats", applies to all versions of the show, since in the Japanese and all other versions of the show the pizza shop is named "Pizza Cat's".

SPC Discrepancies
From: MIBTLJ@aol.com
I thought I could contribute this example of blatant discrepancies in the Japanese-to-English translations (also prevalent in Sailor Moon - and most other anime translations for that matter) of SPC:
It was one of the Early episodes (before 15), and it was about mid-episode. Keep in mind that SPC is a Japanese cartoon (I know. Sorry, but I had to point that out for all the novices.) Speedy, Guido and Polly were doing something (so descriptive, huh? ) and Speedy had to read a sign on a wall. The sign had Japanese characters on it. Speedy reads the sign without hesitation in perfect English. The next thing said is by Guido who says, "Hey, Speedy, I didn't know you could read Japanese."
There are 3 things wrong with that situation: 1) it is a Japanese cartoon. 2) They're in Little Tokyo. And my point? It's one thing to take a Japanese cartoon and make the audio English, but when you take a Japanese cartoon and then make a discrepancy that goes back on the cartoon's heritage? That's just wrong.

Vi's comments-
Well, it's important to keep in mind that Samurai Pizza Cats was never intended to be a translation of Cat Ninden Teyande. It's not translated at all, it's rewritten. The American writers just watched the animation and made up their own story. A lot of anime fans would consider this as a sort of blasphemy, and normally, it would be, but SPC is an exception. Saban had the translations for the show, and could have easily just translated it. A lot of westerners wouldn't have gotten some of the Japanese cultural references, and it wouldn't have been as funny to us as it was to the Japanese audience. SPC producer Andy Thomas deliberately kept the translations from the writers so they would have to use their imaginations. The American writers and staff were by no means lazy. The writing is very creative. They had to count every movement of the characters' mouths and write to match the number of syllables. That's a lot of work, matching the words like that and making it something funny. SPC still has the sprit of Cat Ninden Teyande, but they should not be thought of as the same show. Both are excellent, and they are both funny.
Yes, SPC does have continuity flaws. For one things, there are several writers for the show, and I wouldn't be suprized to find out different episodes were being written by different people at the same time. But another thing about SPC is that it does not take itself seriously. The show often pokes fun at itself, criticizing the writers, the acting, ect. even at the continuity. Hey, if you could do better, they'd leave it up to you.

Pizza Cats: For Kids, Teens, or Adults?
Well, I of course, think Samurai Pizza Cats is a great show for everyone, regardless of age, who enjoys a fun cartoon. But lately on the alt.tv.pizzacats newsgroup, and on the AOL Pizza Cats message board, there's been a lot of discussion about the ages of SPC fans, and what age group the show was made for.

Tenchi5367@aol.com posted this to the AOL Pizza Cats board at Cartoon Network World:
<<US versions of Samauri Pizza Cats were aimed at a little kid audience. It had corney jokes, refrences to Seseme Street like shows, and was pasted on a school hour timeslot.>>

So? Isn't that when most cartoons are on? The writers of the US version were NOT aiming at a "Little Kid Audience". Saban might have marketed it that way, but is was written for all ages to enjoy. *I* am NOT a little kid. Most adults I know who are actually willing to sit down and watch an episode end up becoming fans. I personally know SPC fans in their 30s & 40's. The majority of all SPC fans I've met on the Internet are in the 15-25 age range. Unfortunately, due to the general western attitude that all cartoons are for kids, which we are only recently starting to get over, Saban marketed the show as a kids show, which kept many adults from even giving it a chance.

<<If it was made for an adult audience, then why have a show about animals that act like people?>>

Why have cartoons at all? A lot of people, and certainly not just kids, like animal characters. If you think that only kids like animal characters, you're not paying much attention. Try going into a Warner Bros. Store and see how kids compared to adults are buying merchandise with Bugs Bunny, Taz, and Pepe Le Pew. Pizza Cats is not for "an adult audience" either, it's for all ages. Some things might be funnier to adults (Big Cheese tied to a post says:"Oh! I love to be punished!"), but everyone who likes a fun show can enjoy it.

Cat Ninden Teyande Manga
Most of the long time Pizza Cats fans on the web know about the Japanese manga (comicbook) about the Pizza Cats, if you don't, you can see some of it at Princess Vi's manga Page. it was, for a long time, one of the only Pizza Cats related items that anyone could get without too much trouble, with over 100 pages dedicated to the cats. Unfortunately, the source has run dry. Magazine Delivery, a Japanese book dealer who sold to people outside of Japan, no longer has the book in stock, and can not find anymore. (it was printed 4 years ago) Fans are currently looking into other sources that may have a few copies left.

Pizza Cat Facts
From Issarlk
Names of the Nyanki's (pizza cat's) swords:
Yattaro (Speedy) sword = "masamasa" (Pun on "Masamune" a famous sword maker, a sword made by him would be called a "Masamune")
Pururun (Polly) sword = "kirakira" (Sparkle)
Sukashii (Guido) sword = "pikapika (about the same)

Some information about "Teyande"
As most of you know, the original Japanese Pizza Cats is called "Cat Ninden Teyande" (also often spelled "Kyatto Ninden Teyande", because that's how it is pronounced). In that show, Yattaro (Speedy) often uses the exclamation, "Teyande!". It's a word that doesn't really have an English equivalent, but here's an explanation of it.

> Teyande is an explitive used primarily by the old Tokyo city district
> residence and represents the Edo (pre-Meiji Restoration(1868) name for
> Tokyo) spirit as espoused by the city folk in the area. It would be
> commonly translated as "You may say or do as you like but I won't go along
> with it" or "Humph!!" or "Bite me!!" or "You got me!" or "Dig this, man!"
> Its a retort (?) to another person's assertion and a sign of disapproval.
>
> Teyande, along with such saying as Beramei and Konchikishou, are figurative
> and decorative terms that are hard to translate into English because we
> tend not decorate our speech that much.

Survey
So, how old are most Pizza Cats fans? There has been a sort of survey going on in the newsgroup, but it isn't getting much in the way of results. Only a few fans actually read newsgroups, and some people, (like me) don't really like to tell their age to people they don't know. So, let's try a survey here. Just hit your e-mail reply & write down your age and send it in. I'll tally them up and post the results (without your names, just the ages). Go ahead & do it right now before you forget, your age is the only thing you need to write.

LINKS
SPC
Spartacat's ultra SPC page
Spartacat has been busy lately, and has a lot of new things on his page. Be sure to visit his shrine to Jerry Atric too!
Want your SPC page mentioned in the next newsletter? Just ask.

Anime
Anime Web Turnpike: Your #1 Guide to the Anime & Manga Internet World!
Has links to just about everything about anime

If you're a fan of Sailor Moon, ScoutLuna@aol.com has a great mailing list for fans of that show, just e-mail her to subscribe.

This Month's picture
It's a pre-animation design for the Pizza Cats. This is what the Pizza Cats may have looked like. But, the designs were changed a few times before the characters came to look like the ones we know.
See you next month!
~Violet
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^.^