Samurai Pizza Cats is a controversial American animated television adaptation of the anime series Kyatto Ninden Teyandee (キャッ党忍伝てやんでえ, Cat Ninja Legend Teyandee), produced by Tatsunoko Productions and Sotsu Agency. The series originally aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from February 1, 1990 to February 12, 1991 for a total of 54 episodes. Saban Entertainment picked up the North American rights to the series in 1991 and produced a 52-episode English adaption. But while 52 episodes were produced, initially only 40 aired in the US. Why? In a word... controversy!