Nekozamurai (Final Thoughts)

Title(English): Samurai Cat
Genre: period drama, comedy
Episodes: 12
Network: tvk
Release: October 2013 (Tue)
Theme song: Waga michi yo by NOAH

Official website

Story: Kyutaro Madarame (Kazuki Kitamura) is an expert swordsman. However, he is poor and doesn't have a job. His landlord threatens him to kick him out of his house, if he doesn't pay his rent as soon possible. But Kyutaro has no luck at getting a job. Until one day, a person comes up to him, after seeing his swordsmanship, and asks him to assassinate his boss's cat named Tamanojyo. He believes that Tamanojyo is a demon cat who is possessing his boss's soul. Ever since his boss found the cat, his personality has changed and he became so mesmerized by the cat. Kyutaro thinks that this is silly, but agrees to help the man as long as he gets paid.

The next day, Kyutaro hands over a jar with a protection charm on it. He tells the man that he has trapped  the demon cat inside the jar. He warns him to never open the jar. However, all of that was just a bluff. In fact, he did not kill the cat and instead, he decides to hide the cat in his home. In the end, the cat's charm was no match for the samurai. 

Thoughts: Just looking at the promotional image, there's a handsome-looking, fearsome samurai, and...why does he have a cute cat? That was enough for me to get me to watch the drama and see what this was all about. And, I thought it was not bad.

At first, Kyutaro thought that Tamanojyo was a nuisance to be around. The cat wets the bed, he's a picky eater, and causes other random mischief. Eventually, the cat starts to grow on him and he begins to learn how to take care of the cat. At the same time, while doing certain activities with the cat, he gets flashbacks of his life with his family. And, it showed why he left them and moved to Edo by himself. While all of this was happening, the original owner of Tama-chan has sent some people out to find whoever killed his cat and bring him justice. Basically, this is the summary of the whole story.

The story is very simple. It was humorous to watch a very serious samurai taking care of a cat. He later  admits that he had fun taking care of the cat, even though he doesn't why he's even doing this. I liked the subtle humor through his inner monologues and the other people that he encounters with. But overall, it was a nice little fun drama to watch. 

There's also going to be a movie following this drama, which comes out in March 2014. I don't understand why it's necessary because not a lot happens in the story. I'm not sure what kind of plot they are going to build up for the movie, but we'll just have to wait and see.

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