Neko Zamurai (2013)

While scrolling through Amazon Prime I came upon a series titled Samurai Cat. Two disparate words juxtaposed is like catnip to me. I had to check it out.

I wasn’t expecting much. In fact, I expected it to be so bad that it would be laughable. I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case.

Kitamura Kazuki was delightful as Madarame Kyutaro the unemployed samurai living away from his wife and daughter while he tries to find a job. Nearly destitute and unable to pay his rent he is approached by the servant of a wealthy man who hires him to kill the man’s cat. The servant tells him it’s a monster cat stealing his master’s energy. Madarame finds the cat and in the last instant is unable to kill her and takes her home to his small room instead. This begins his revolutionary change from hardened, self-center warrior into a compassionate human being. He was once described as the man with the face of a devil and the heart of an angel. He let his better angels win in this drama. By slowly bonding with the cat and learning to care for her he learns more about himself and how to take care of and care for other people.

There were two moments in the drama I had to hit the pause button because I was laughing so hard. There are truly heart-warming moments and very funny ones as well.

The music was okay. The best music was when Madarame was singing his own theme song to himself and adding verses to it as he performed different tasks. Of course, it always ended with kill it or slay, slay, slay! Many episodes included him reciting a haiku or poem. With the translations it was hard for me to tell what the counts were.

The cinematography was unexpectedly beautiful. It’s rare for older dramas to have such gorgeous shots.

The only drawback to this drama was that these were some of the worst wigs I have seen in any drama. You can see the netting. Thankfully, Madarame’s wig looked great on him.

All the actors played their roles well so I have no complaints there either.

I hope I have purr-suaded you to give this meow-nificant drama a try.

I leave you with the words of the Samurai Cat.

Living in Edo
I have no money and I have no job
But I take a nap under the sunshine
What a perfect day for a cat.

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Story of The Samurai and White Cat

I was expecting a slapstick manga-like comedy when i started watching. But it wasn't.

The story was about how the male lead turns from a cold/self-centered man to a more caring human being, after meeting the cat.
Male lead, Madarame, i think he had the grumpiest face ever. I love his interaction with Tamanojo. I was kinda surprised the cat didn't have any dialog. But she did awesome just by being present (♡‿♡)

Acting was great!
The pacing was okay, the problem is they replayed some flashbacks for too many times.

The music fits the vibe
"Kirubeshi, Kirubeshi, Kirubeshi"

Overall it's a purr-fect watch ^^
It's only 20 minutes per episode, so it's easy to rewatch.

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