Pizza Cats Review Newsletter

[Violet]

I've decided, starting with issue 100, to start posting my newsletter here.  I used to archive old issues on a web page, but that was a pain and I've fallen so far behind I could never catch up now.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, the Pizza Cats Review is a monthly email newsletter that I've been sending out for 100 months now.

If you want to subscribe, send an email to prncssvi@aol.com from the email address you want the newsletter sent to.  There's a plain text version and an "Extra Toppings" version that has embedded pictures and some HTML formatting if your email supports it.  And for those of you currently subscribed who would rather read future issues here on EE and not get them in your email, send an "unsusbscribe" request the same way.  Of course, the monthly picture I send with the email version might be reduced in size here or left out on the EE version.  And if you're getting the "Extra Toppings" version of the newsletter, the EE version won't have all the extras.

[Violet]

KNT #1 With Subtitles Released
As a special treat for our 100th issue, the first episode of Kyattou Ninden Teyandee has been subtitled and is ready for release!  This was actually expected a little sooner, but our translating/subbing team wanted to make sure everything was done right.  Although this is episode #1, most of you probably know episode #2 was subtitled first, since it was easier to translate (thanks to the fact the story was taken almost directly from a manga we had access to).  This is a great occasion for Pizza Cats fans, and all the work was done by our fellow fans, not for any profit (in fact some of us have put our own money into getting this done), but done entirely out of our love for this show, without which, the internationally released Samurai Pizza Cats would never exist.  The great thing about these subtitled episodes is that they are like seeing a brand new episode!  Project leader Tigriss says, "Remember when I told everyone about my "Project Dream"... um...some-odd months ago?  Another dream has just come true. The first KNT episode, "Himitsu Ninja Tai Nyanki Shutsudo!" ("Secret Ninja Team Nyanki Dispatch!") has been translated and subtitled! A huge thank you to Matsumoto Sensei and Princess Vi for their translation work, and to Puutaro-kun for doing the subbing! Go to www.nyanki-fanatics.com to watch the episode that started it all!"

A Gift
SPC Producer, Andy Thomas, has released 2 items from his archives as a gift for us on the occasion of this 100th issue.  These are 2 videos used in the production of SPC.  One is episode #26, in the original Japanese (Daibouken! Zekko-tyou wo Sagase).  It has a timer which was used to measure the times the characters mouths were moving, so the writers could time new dialogue to match.  Unlike many dubbed shows, SPC's dialogue matches up with the character's movement almost exactly.  The other video is a "check copy" of "The Nuclear Potato".  This is the way the episode came strait from the studio, to be checked to see if any last minute changes were needed before the episode was released.  Andy says "It's been a long time since I have seen 'The Nuclear Potato', and I still like it.  But watching Episode 26 instantly made me want to sit at the keyboard and write new dialog, just like the old days.  Perhaps that's a challenge you could present to your readers as an online contest?"  I told him that might be difficult, since we all know how "Cold and Crabby in Little Tokyo", which is what episode 26 of KNT became.  But if anyone thinks they can match the skill of the SPC production team, they're welcome to try!  So, where are these episodes?  They are uploaded to 2 different FTPs:
http://ftp://fmatsumo.quimica.ufpr.br/misc/KNT_ProductionTape_Episode28.m4v
http://ftp://fmatsumo.quimica.ufpr.br/misc/SPC07_NuclearPotato.m4v
and
http://knt.shin-getter.net/misc/KNT%20Production%20Tape%20-%20Episode%2028.m4v
http://ftp://fmatsumo.quimica.ufpr.br/misc/SPC07_NuclearPotato.m4v   
You can play them with the Quicktime player, and m4v also plays on Media Player Classic with the MP42/43/44 codec installed (Thanks for the tip, Tsuneko). 

One Hundred Months of Memories
by Tigriss Tsimsiean =^.^=
The day has finally come--the one-hundredth issue of the Pizza Cat Review newsletter. If you were to ask me way back in 1997 if I ever thought I would come across an online group dedicated to the Cats that I got myself up at 7:00 AM to watch every morning--let alone told me that this fandom would spawn hundreds of web sites and one hundred newsletters throughout the years--I might've looked at you like you were crazy. Back then the only other fan I knew of was my brother, and when SPC went off the air, I found to my horror that I'd taped over nearly all the episodes I'd been recording (it would be some years later before I'd salvage three tapes for a grand total of five episodes) and my calls to the local TV station broadcasting SPC (yes, I was a fanatic right from the start...) were futile. Searching for "Samur(a)i Pizza Cats" in an online search engine (a new feat for me back then) yielded nothing. I was beginning to think I was going crazy; with no proof but my own memories that it even existed, maybe the Pizza Cats were just something I'd imagined.
Then, sometime a year later, a relative of mine I'd told about SPC randomly decided to look it up with an online search engine. Having tried that once before, I said it wouldn't work, but to my surprise,there were a few hits!  The first site I ever went to was samuraipizzacats.com (don't try it now, it's just ads) and I was hooked. I e-mailed Princess Vi not long after, and was soon subscribed to this newsletter, joined the SSPCC ("Save Samurai Pizza Cats Coalition", for those of you who don't remember), and was on my way to renewing my rabid fandom. ^_~
Look at us now. The Edoropolis Emporium forums are going strong with 275 members and counting. We have all the SPC episodes encoded--in English, and a few in other languages--AND all the KNT episodes encoded with two of them subtitled and more on the way! Even just a couple years ago, obtaining all of KNT--let alone being able to understand it unless you were fluent in Japanese--was just a dream. Now that dream is slowly but surely becoming a reality.
So here we are at PCR #100, and I'd like to thank the busy bunny behind it all. I may contribute from time to time (I've been kind of a slacker lately =/ ), but Princess Vi has been doing this on a monthly basis, with or without help, for all these years. And that's on top of everything else she's contributed to the Pizza Cat community. If anyone deserves the title of Ultimate Fan, it's her. Of course, I'll still be trying for second place, but I guess that means I should get my tail in gear and start pitching in more, right? ^^;  I just need to figure out where I left my auxiliary energy pack...
Anyway, as long as I'm thanking people, I'd like to give my appreciation to all you out there reading this who help make this community such a fun one to be a part of; from the fan-artists and fan-fic writers, to the encoders, translators, and subbers helping me with Project Dream, to all the posters on the EE and Nihonbare forums, and to everyone else for keeping the spirit of SPC & KNT alive, even after it's been off the air for all these years. I know in the grand scheme of things it may seem kinda silly to make this much fuss over an animated series, but I've met a lot of really nice people, even made some close friends, because of my obsession. And I hope everyone else, no matter what your level of fandom is, has a good time with it as well. ^_^

This Month's Pic
This is a display card that was part of a vending machine that sold small Pizza Cat figures inside a capsule.  These machines are still around selling the little figures from current anime series, but the Pizza Cats figures are now rare collector's items.  The figures can be seen at http://membres.lycos.fr/spctoys/sfigures.html

Issue 100!
I can't say that when I started this newsletter for about a dozen people in an AOL Pizza Cats Role Play Group that I thought I'd ever get to issue #100, with a few hundred subscribers all over the world.  But here it is!  I would like to thank all of you who have subscribed, and I especially want to thank Tigriss and SPC Polly, who have written many articles in past issues, and the folks over at Edoropolis Emporium, who's discussions often give me ideas for articles.
-Violet

[Methid Man]

Happy 100th Issue! ^_^ I myself never thought we'd ever reach this point but it's great to see SPC fandom still kicking!

-- Sam the Methid Man

[D-Mac]

I'm pretty strapped for time, so I'll have more to say a bit later. >_<

However, I still want to give a quick congrats to you on this 100th issue, as well as a huge thanks for continuing to keep all your incredible service to the SPC fandom going for all these years. 

I tip my hat to thee, Bunny Princess! 

(I'm also moving this thread to General SPC and stickying it due to it's uber importance!  )

[BurkeWorld]

The big 100, very cool.

I think I subscribed for issue 70 something, I forget, but every month I could look forward to an interesting read.

Carry on, you crazy cat people.

^_^

Burkey

[Violet]

(I'm also moving this thread to General SPC and stickying it due to it's uber importance!  )

I had it in Fan Works because I'm a fan and this is my works.

[Alistair Erie]

This is wonderful! I had read almost every archived newsletter before gathering the courage to join the forum.
(yeah, I have a bit of a complex.) I'm really exited to start reading the new ones. I also can't wait to see those production  episodes. Thank you!
(Boy I'm a terrible writer  )

[adam808]

And may it reach 200...

[KageReneko]

Wow... Congrats for that 100th issue... I hope see the celebration of the 1000th issue!!

TEYANDEE!! 

[Daisensei]

Congratulations, Violet! I never suspected the existence of this newsletter.

[Violet]

The Oometsuke
If you watched the newly subtitled Kyattou Ninden Teyande episode #1, in the character information given at the end, it mentions the Nyanki are in the service of the "Oometsuke" (Usually spelled in a more westernized "O-Metsuke").  The subtitles explain that this is the Shogunate's Ministry of Intelligence.  "O-Metsuke" is a position given to certain trusted nobles in the Shogun's court, and is often translated as "Inspector General".  Their duties were basically to enforce the Shogun's orders, in everything from gathering intelligence on foreign powers to inspecting that coins were being minted to proper standards.  This office was held by four or five people who were in charge of monitoring the affairs of the daimyo, kuge, and imperial court.   To assist them, they had 16 "Metsuke" (Inspectors) working under them.  Wanko no Kami (Big Al) is an O-Metsuke, and his area seems to be the protection of the Shogun, his family, and property, not just from direct attack, but also from intrigue.  He is in charge of the guards in O-Edo Castle, and of course, the Nyanki.  The plots of Karakara ninja, secretly employed by Koon no Kami (Big Cheese) usually involve some scheme to discredit the Shogun, hoping to cause his removal.  As part of his duties to protect the Shogun, it's Wanko no Kami's job to stop them.  Thus, we have the O-Metsuke's Nyanki Ninja vs the Anti-Shogunate Karakara Ninja.  The O-Metsuke, along with the Roju (Senior Council), the Machi-Bugyo (City Commissioners), Jisha-Bugyo (Shrine and Temple Commissoners) and Kanjo-Bugyo (Finance Commissioners) formed the "Hyojosho" council, which is the group we always see in the court of the Shogun Iei-Iei and Usa Hime.  Koon no Kami is a member of the Roju.

Conventions and Cosplay
SPC fan, NeoMikey has done something only a hand full of fans have ever done before; he has created Pizza Cat costumes.  Mikey and his group recently attended the "Anime Central" convention, where they received a "phenomenal" reception.  Mikey says "I was hearing from the other two members how people would come up to them, compliment them, sometimes even shake their hands.  There are a lot of fans out there who never expected to see something like Samurai Pizza Cats actually implemented into costume."  The first costume was Speedy, which was home made by Mikey and a family of anime fans who have some costuming experience.  With that experience, Mikey was able to make the next 2 costumes himself and assemble a group to portray Speedy, Polly and Guido for the convention.  Materials used included football pads, plastic canvas, cloth, elastic, super glue, foam, carpet foam, super glue, toy weapons, and even a traffic cone (converted to make Guido's umbrella holder).  Of course, some anime fans who are not familiar with SPC were clueless, so Mikey also made custom "Pizza Cats" pizza boxes, which identifies the costume for the unfamiliar and doubles as a handy place to collect autographs at the convention.

This Month's Pic
A few glimpses into the world of Lucille.

Have a Nice Summer
I hate the heat myself.  My idea of a good summer is staying inside with the air conditioning on!  I'd like to thank everyone who wrote or instant messaged me last month to congratulate me and the others who have been helping out on reaching our 100th issue.  I'll keep working on them just as long as you keep reading them!
-Violet

[Daisensei]

You have done a very good research about the administrative system of Edo period.  It's important to understand better some aspects in the series, since there are many historical references which is obscure outside Japan.

Very funny Lucille/Omitsu's pictures. The one in the bottom resembles the scene of SPC "Youth is for exploding" or KNT "Moyase seishun! Mata deta daisensei" episode, when attaches to her (with explosive consequences).

[KageReneko]

Good article... Is good that the Shogun and his family have so efficient guy working for them (All the other just...  )

How would Wanko gather the Nyankee? 

[Violet]

Edoropolis Emporium Tops 10,000 Posts
The most popular internet gathering place for SPC and KNT fans, the Edoropolis Emporium message board, has recently reached over 10,000 posted messages.  The board contains sub-boards for various areas of interest to Pizza Cats fans, like SPC, KNT, Episode Downloads, Fan Works and Merchandise, as well as boards in Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese.  There is also room for some off topic messages, such as discussion of other anime or games that the fans are interested in.

Scripts
Some of you might wonder where these scripts come from that are used to help accurately translate KNT episodes for subtitling. (And some of you might not even be aware we are using them)  The short answer is they come from me.  As a long time collector of anything Pizza Cats related, I've had some luck acquiring rare Pizza Cat collectibles over the last few years.  These included a few scripts.  Most of the members of the production staff would have gotten a script to use for reference for each episode they helped work on.  Some of these people would keep them afterwards, some would throw them away, and some would sell them.  Like animation cels, scripts have some value to anime fans who collect them.  Unlike animation cels, they have almost no value outside Japan, so you never see them for sale anywhere else.  They have no pictures, they average about one page for every minute of the show, all Japanese text.  Thanks to some communication with Japanese fans, and a few other sources, such as Japanese online auctions, I have managed to collect 33 of the 54 scripts, averaging about $3-5 each.  By scanning the average 30 pages in these and putting them online, I make them available to the people who will translate them (Mostly Matsumoto-sensei).  These are translated into English, Spanish, and Portuguese as text files.  The English version is further edited by Tigriss, then Puutaro does the work of actually placing the subtitles onto the video.  Sometimes the titles and numbers on the front of the scripts don't match up to the title and number of the finished episode.  Probably they thought of another title they liked better while working on the episode.  And if one episode was taking longer than another, it might be aired first, changing the numbering order.  It is also possible for a few last minute changes in lines or scenes during production, making the scripts not always 100% accurate.  But still they are a valuable tool in making the translations easier.

KNT Ratings
Something I read now and then bugs me, and I want to set the record strait.  Some people say that Kyattou Ninden Teyandee received "poor ratings" in Japan, and wasn't popular there, only lasting 2 seasons.  That's misleading.  The fact is that KNT wasn't super popular, like Sailor Moon for example.  That doesn't mean it wasn't liked or wasn't successful.  The fact that it had a second season at all proves that it had "OK" ratings.  There are a lot of anime (some of which were actually pretty good in my opinion, but many that weren't) that never make it to a second season.  The anime market is very competitive in Japan, and there are new shows coming out all of the time.  Plus I'm not sure the studio even wanted to go beyond 2 seasons.  Azumanga Daioh is still extremely popular to this day, but there is only one season; the story had been told and the series was over.  Like a great painting, there comes a time when you stop and say its finished.  The final episode of KNT was certainly meant to be the end of the story, not a lead into a hoped for new season.  It makes us sad when a series we like ends, but the fact that KNT and SPC still have loyal fans after all these years shows that was successful after all.

This Month's Pic
Its an animation cel of cute little Francine.

Hope you're enjoying summer, see you next month with our next issue!
-Vi

[Daisensei]

Really the final episode of KNT hardly left any chance of a new season, in my opinion, since Koon-no-kami () exiled himself. I can't see a way to continue the series without this character pretending to serving the shogun, but secretly plotting a way to take over the power. This possibility was completely ruled out after the last episode. If a new season was wade without Koon-no-kami, it would not be KNT, would become something else. Moreover this episode closed the possibility of love affair between Yattarou () and Omitsu (), breaking therefore one of the strong appeal of the plot (Omitsu would lose her importance in eventual further episodes, I afraid).

It seems T. Souma, author of the Teyandee Manga, supports somehow my point of view. His story brought back Koon-no-kami (who framed and disgraced Wankoo-no-kami  ) and Yattarou still disputes with Sukashii () the Omitsu's love. In other words, the relationship between the characters would be very same. At the final of this manga Souma manifested his dissatisfaction for the ending of the series. I understand his point of view, but can't see this manga as the sequence of the series. I consider it more like a self parody.

And, well, I can't enjoy the summer since it's winter in this side of the Earth. 

Thanks anyway for the Newsletter, it's pretty good. 

EDIT: I forgot to mention, but really there are small differences between the scanned scripts and the video files. I promise to Tigriss mentioning some of these differences. She intends to publish them eventually in the newsletter. This is a work in progress tough, so have some patience. 

[KageReneko]

I always though Koon might return attacking directly Edoropolis, maybe with new Karakaras cause Karamaru and the YaminoYonNinSyu were defeated... Maybe the story could reveal more details like the origin of the Nyankees, Kuroi Bushô and Nyaggo King...

I always heear in several sirtes that KNT wasn't really popular but one of the facts that makes me think the opposuite is that was realized a lot of dojinshis... If a series isn't popular >I don'0t think the people want waste their time drawing mangas about this; I evenb found a Pururun doll in a merchadisuing magazine from 2 years agho more less...

[NPC]

Something I read now and then bugs me, and I want to set the record strait.  Some people say that Kyattou Ninden Teyandee received "poor ratings" in Japan, and wasn't popular there, only lasting 2 seasons.  That's misleading.  The fact is that KNT wasn't super popular, like Sailor Moon for example.  That doesn't mean it wasn't liked or wasn't successful.  The fact that it had a second season at all proves that it had "OK" ratings.  There are a lot of anime (some of which were actually pretty good in my opinion, but many that weren't) that never make it to a second season.  The anime market is very competitive in Japan, and there are new shows coming out all of the time.  Plus I'm not sure the studio even wanted to go beyond 2 seasons.  Azumanga Daioh is still extremely popular to this day, but there is only one season; the story had been told and the series was over.  Like a great painting, there comes a time when you stop and say its finished.  The final episode of KNT was certainly meant to be the end of the story, not a lead into a hoped for new season.  It makes us sad when a series we like ends, but the fact that KNT and SPC still have loyal fans after all these years shows that was successful after all.

Thanks for clearing that up.

[Violet]

ABC Family
American cable TV network ABC Family has been airing old Saban shows, which means they are almost certainly the ones who now control the old Saban collection of shows, including Samurai Pizza Cats.  What's more, it seems SPC would fit in nicely with the type of shows they air.  I think a good push from SPC fans might be enough to tip the scales and get our show back on the air.  Sure, its great that we are getting high quality episodes online, and it would be nice to get some official DVDs, but a real SPC fan should want to share SPC with everyone.  There are a lot of people out there who don't even know about SPC but would probably like it if they did.  And there are those fans who only saw SPC many years ago and don't really remember much about it.  Getting SPC back on the air would bring many more fans out.  This would also help in getting an official DVD released in English.  ABC Family has a feedback form at http://abcfamily.go.com/feedback/  just leave the "Choose a show" part blank since SPC isn't listed.

New KNT Midi
Pizza Cats fan Felineki wasn't satisfied with the existing copies of the MIDI version of the KNT opening theme "Ottodokkoi Nihonbare".  It was made several years ago, and the software has improved since then.  So, Felineki remastered it and made a new version, saying "It's not perfect of course, but I think it's a bit more accurate to the original than the first MIDI. I'm actually quite surprised at how well it turned out, considering that I never really had any musical training of any kind."  You can judge for yourself  by getting it at:
http://home.mchsi.com/~mbiddinger/nihonbare.mid
If you want other Pizza Cats midis, a few can be found at
http://members.tripod.com/~PrincessVi/music.html
including the old version of "Ottodokkoi Nihonbare" if you want to compare it with Felineki's version.

Fans Beware: DVDs on eBay
Recently, a DVD set claiming to be a complete set of all SPC episodes has been showing up on eBay.  Now, since there is no official SPC DVD set out now (the ones made by Jade are questionable, but even if they were legitimate, they only have a few episodes), I personally am not too bothered by someone making DVDs unofficially.  If there are no official DVDs to compete with, then its sort of the company's fault for not supplying the demand.  But, I am opposed to SPC fans getting ripped off.  These DVDs are not the best quality, they were probably made from someone's tapes recorded off TV, or maybe even video files you can get for free off the internet.  Now, that doesn't mean they aren't watchable, and for some people it may be worth paying a little money for the convince of having all the episodes collected onto a DVD for you.  Just keep in mind what these are and don't pay too much.  It's not going to be the quality of an official DVD.

This Month's Pic
Polly has a snack.

Thanks for reading this issue, see you next month!
-Violet

[Daisensei]

Nice picture of Polly! Who is the author?

[Violet]

Nice picture of Polly! Who is the author?

I had to do some research, because I didn't know myself, I found this picture a few months ago during a random search.  After doing some checking, the artist is Zen Migawa.  I can give the link on the Nihonbare board, but some of the content is not suitable for EE.