[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samurai_cat_9.png]]
[[caption-width-right:330:What a stud.]]

->''Sixteenth-Century Japan -- a land suffering through the long night of'' Sengoku Jidai, ''the Age of Battles, a period of constant civil war, of anarchy and terror, of savagery and bloodshed and lots of other good stuff. The social order was shaken to its core; class distinctions blurred as military prowess became all-important. With luck, even a peasant could slash a place for himself among the mighty.''

->''Even a cat...''

''The Adventures of Samurai Cat'' is the first of a series of six books by Mark E. Rogers, describing the adventures of one Miaowara Tomokato, a samurai in the service of Lord UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga, a key player in Japanese history in the late 1500s. Tomokato is an anthropomorphic cat, skilled in the ways of the samurai, who, following the death of his lord, which occurs in the first 11 pages of the first book, embarks upon an epic journey of revenge and reprisal upon those who banded together to slay his lord.

Apparently, Lord Nobunaga traveled a lot in his youth. And torqued a lot of people off. People from oddly familiar settings. For this is parody. His first mission leads him to [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings the Bridge of Catzad-Dum]]. Then he travels to fabled Outsmouth, where dwells [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Great K'Chu]]. Afterward to [[Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian Pictland]], and thence to [[Myth/NorseMythology Asgard]]. And that's just the first book.

Joining Tomokato is his nephew, Miaowara Shiro, a spunky bloodthirsty sidekick lacking in the samurai spirit but filled with bloodlust and a love for MoreDakka.

Other books in the series are ''More Adventures of Samurai Cat'', ''Samurai Cat in the Real World'', ''Sword of Samurai Cat'', ''Samurai Cat Goes to the Movies'', and series finale ''Samurai Cat Goes to Hell''. Very, very few of these additional story collections take place in feudal Japan.

Mostly out of print.

Not to be confused with ''Anime/SamuraiPizzaCats''.

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!!Tropes:

* AerithAndBob: Tomokato's nephews Huki, Duki, Luki, and Agamemnon.
* AirVentPassageway: In ''The Sword of Samurai Cat'', a cruise ship's air vents are "...really thoroughly in excess of function, if you ask me. Unless it was ''designed'' for clandestine travel as well as ventilation. But that's probably the simplest explanation for the people movers, I suppose."
* AllJustADream: Even the ''characters'' aren't sure whether any of the events of ''The Sword of Samurai Cat'' actually happened, or if it was all just the dream of a little Martian child.
* AnachronismStew: ''Revels'' in this. One example: discussing how bad the Chicago Cubs are. Problem? This is in Prohibition-era Chicago (the Cubs were serious contenders during this time, winning penants every 3 years), and Miaowara is from 16th-century Japan. Later in the story he ends up meeting thugs armed with GAU-8 Avenger cannon, too.
** It seems that all you need to travel in time or to other fictional realms is to know the right bus schedules.
** The Terminationer uses a Temporal Plot Device.
* BadassBack: Parodied, of course.
--> '''Hanako''': "Wave good-bye to your Uncle Tomokato, children."
--> '''Huki, Duki, Luki, and Agammemnon''': "But his back is turned!"
--> '''Hanako:''' "Nonsense. If he can deflect bullets with his sword without looking at them, he can certainly tell you're waving good-bye."
* BadassFamily: The Miaowara clan. Tomokato and Shiro are a given, but Shimura, Shiro's brothers, and even Shimura's wife Hanako join in the fight at some point or another.
* BarehandedBladeBlock: This is tried by one of the targets of Tomokato's vengeance. He then smiles up to Tomokato. [[spoiler:And then dies due to the razor-sharp katana buried in his skull -- he failed the manoeuvre.]]
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Notable in the trip to ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]''.
* CallBack: "Letters of Transit" in ''Goes to Hell.''
* DeadAllAlong:[[spoiler: The heroes for the plot of ''Goes to Hell''.]]
* TheDragon: Ubersaurus Rex tends to act as one; to the Nazi high command in ''Adventures'', to the God-Emperor in ''Movies'', and to Satan in ''Goes to Hell'' (Not that Satan really needs a dragon, but...)
* DiagonalCut: Used on ''[[Franchise/StarWars Darth Vader]]''.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Why, yes, he did. Tomokato has taken on not one, but two Cthulhu analogues, sliced Thor's hammer in half, ''single handedly prevented Ragnarok'', and ends the series by [[spoiler: killing Satan.]]
* DrinkBasedCharacterization: In the Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian parody in the first book, Tomokato enters a tavern and orders a saucer of milk. This leads to some of the tavern's tougher patrons thinking the cat is an easy target for a bit of harassment. Of course, this ends very badly for them.
* {{Epigraph}}: Each chapter is prefaced by a relevant snippet from ''Cat Out of Hell: A Biography of Miaowara Tomokato,'' by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shirer William Shirer]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._J._P._Taylor A.J.P.]] Franchise/{{Godzilla}}. And, in the first two books, a parodical FantasyWorldMap.
* FakingTheDead: The original battle scene when Nobunaga's enemies think Tomokato is dead.
* GatlingGood: Troll mobsters carrying GAU-8 Avengers.
* HeroicSacrifice: In ''Sword of...'', Tomokato is forced to work with his current target, Carlos [=LaFong=] against an alien invasion. [=LaFong=] promises to die heroically in order to make up for his past sins. When the dust settles, [=LaFong=] is still alive, but Tomokato lets him off the hook anyway.
* HighlyVisibleNinja / TechnicolorNinjas: The Hollywood Ninja from ''The Sword of Samurai Cat'', who insists on wearing white at night and black in the daytime. And on being generally ridiculous.
* HyperspaceArsenal: Shimura's kimono, which conceals roughly ''all the .45 automatics ever made''. And Hanako's -- she has the ammo clips.
* HurricaneOfPuns: In ''Goes to Hell'': the "Pax Mongolica" sequence goes on for three hilarious pages, by which time even the ''author'' is begging for it to end.
* IdiosyncraticWipes: In the ''Film/SevenSamurai'' parody, the characters employ a Kurosawa-esque wipe to end a scene. Which is to say, everybody shouts "WIPE!" and voila, the scene changes...
* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Lampshaded up the wazzoo by Shiro the homicidal kitten, who '''revels''' in his Baby+Cat Immortality, gleefully rushing into meat-grinder battles in the smug confidence that [[BreakingTheFourthWall the author wouldn't dare kill him]]. Eventually this trope was averted in ''Samurai Cat Goes To Hell'', but only as a plot device to send his uncle to retrieve the bloodthirsty little creep.
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Happens all over the place, but honorable mention goes to Shimura, a black-belt samurai of the Colt Semi-Auto school.
* ItsAWonderfulPlot: Blatant rip-off. Tomokato, finding Shiro less than mindful of bushido, considers what would've happenned had he not been there. That's when we find out the difference between CharacterAlignment Neutral and what could have been...
** Bonus points for having the Terminationer be from the alternate future.
* LampshadeHanging: Of ''everything'', including the lampshade hanging. Recursive trope is recursive.
* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Typical when it's a fictional setting.
* LukeIAmYourFather: Darth Shatner tries this on Tomokato, only to find his claim reversed: "How can that be, when I'm ''your'' father?" It catches him off guard long enough for the cat to finish him.
* MagicalNegro: The W.O.B.L. (Wise Old Black Lady).
* TheMagnificentSevenSamurai: In ''The Magnificent Seven Samurai Cats'', natch.
* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover: The army sent to take out Nobunaga. Itself an AnachronismStew.
* MathematiciansAnswer: [[RuleOfFunny Used when appropriate]], as in ''The Magnificent Seven Samurai Cats'':
--> "Where did you get those alligators and all that lava?"
--> "Different places."
* MoreDakka: Shiro ''lives'' this trope.
* MotivationOnAStick: The giant turtle in Hell's River of Blood is steered by its demonic riders by dangling a long-dead sturgeon in front of it.
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Ubersaurus Rex is a Nazi werewolf Tyrannosaurus Rex!
* NoFourthWall: The series ''is'' this trope. It folds, spindles, mutilates, and slices sashimi out of the FourthWall, so much so that the feline characters constantly deride the author for being such a spineless, unimaginative hack. Occasionally, this incurs direct in-story retaliation in the form of bad luck, nasty enemies' inexplicable appearance, or even a giant hand appearing and shoving an obnoxious character's face in the muck.
* NobleDemon: Ubersaurus Rex in ''Goes to Hell'': when his plan [[spoiler: to kill Satan and take over fails, he tosses the god-gun to Tomokato and lets himself die.]]
* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: When Tomokato complains that Ubersaurus Rex couldn't possibly have survived a fall, the SS tyrannosaur replies: "Logic means ''nothing'' to a true Nazi!"
** Ubersaurus Rex has the distinction of being one of the most difficult-to-kill enemies Tomokato has ever faced. He survives the fall of Der Kampfburg and becomes an ally of Josef Stalin -- and a ''werewolf'' to boot. Yes, a werewolf ''tyrannosaur''. He shows up again in an alternate universe ruled over by an evil Shiro, and which means Tomokato has to go through all the trouble of killing him ''again''.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow: In ''Samurai Cat Goes to the Movies'', Tomokato ends up shot nearly to pieces by his enemies. The bullets are said to pass through the several places in his heart and brain where a bullet could pass through harmlessly. He and Shiro are 'millimetres more accurate' in their return fire.
* OddNameOut: Shiro's brothers Huki, Duki, Luki, and Agamemnon.
* PaperMaster: "Origami Ito" (a reference to ''Manga/LoneWolfAndCub'') is able to create anything out of paper, including weapons, soldiers, even paper tanks. The last one does him in, though, since he took too long folding the men to crew it and gets shot.
* PlayingBothSides: In Prohibition-era Chicago, Tomokato decides to do the classic bit with the Capone and Moran gangs as "a refreshing break from (his) usual style." At the end, once most of the dust has settled, [[Film/{{Yojimbo}} Sanjuro]] and [[Film/AFistfulOfDollars the Man With No Name]] show up to score his efforts.
* PowerBornOfMadness: Shiro, able to carry an [[GatlingGood Avenger]] around like it was a toothpick. Actually ''firing'' it was a bit too much, though.
* PublicDomainCharacter: typical in a historical romp, although [[strike:[=Santa=]]] [[SantaClaus Colonel Claus]] and {{Satan}} also crop up.
* RedScare: A fallen Soviet satellite irradiates a graveyard, resulting in Communist Zombies! The horde seems unstoppable until Tomokato and Shiro manage to trick them into talking to each other; the only thing Communists hate more than Capitalists are other Communists who do things slightly differently, so the horde soon falls on itself with cries of "left deviationist!" and so on.
* RetiredBadass: Tomokato's brother Shimura, who can still step up to kick ass if need be.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Tomokato's whole quest.
* {{Ronin}}: As a former samurai, Tomokato ends up going this route after his liege lord dies.
* RuleOfCool: Whatever can't be excused by this...
* RuleofFunny: ... is excused by this.
* {{Samurai}}: of course. Miaowara and his brother were actual samurai under UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga; his brother retired with an injury, while Miaowara went {{ronin}} and spent the entire series avenging him.
* ScrewDestiny: Tomokato almost single-handedly (with one assist from Shiro) ''wins [[Myth/NorseMythology Ragnarok]] for the dead-drunk Aesir'', [[BeyondTheImpossible foiling supposedly unbreakable prophecy]].
* SilverBullet: When fighting werewolves, naturally. Shiro tends to carry these.
* TakeThat: A few, here and there. He apparently doesn't like the movies ''Film/{{Willow}}'' or ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', since the former is dreamed up by a scriptwriter who has had his brain removed. And [[RunningGag every book]] includes a slam against DickVanPatten and ''Series/EightIsEnough''.
* TakeThatAudience: One digression about the ethical dilemma of over-the-top violence points out the ''readers''' hypocrisy in savoring the books' {{Gorn}}, yet convincing themselves that Tomokato's role as the nominal hero and Shiro's BlackComedy excuses their delight in all the LudicrousGibs. Tomokato judges this series' readers to be ''slightly'' less pathetic than its author, which is definitely damning with faint praise considering the writer's continual FourthWall-breaking SelfDeprecation.
* ThoseWackyNazis / StupidJetpackHitler: In order to kill Reinhard Heydrich, Tomokato must team up with [[SantaClaus Colonel Claus]] and assault a ''three-mile-high Nazi fortress''. Run by the '''jackboot-clad SS tyrannosaur''' named Ubersaurus Rex. Who plans to launch a missile containing thousands of dehydrated Nazi dinosaurs into the Great Lakes.
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Inverted. Shiro throws a sword at a fleeing bad guy, and strikes the man firmly in the head with the '''pommel''' of the sword, knocking him out cold. He had been aiming for decapitation.
* TriggerHappy: Shiro. At one point he claims his weapons will go to a museum. A very big one.
* WeaponBasedCharacterization:
** Katana for Miaowara; then again, while he thinks KatanasAreJustBetter, he will use other weapons if needed (for example, when fighting Xenomorphs straight out of ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'', guns are clearly the way to go).
** Guns for Shiro. He knows his guns very, very well. He does take up a sword once or twice, though.
* YouHaveFailedMe: The God-Emperor of the Universe has what amounts to an ''assembly line'' of {{Mooks}} standing on trapdoors being randomly shot, dumped, and replaced while the line is shouted at them. ForTheEvulz.
** Satan comes up with an appropriately-twisted, ''definitely'' unique variant of this when he's chewing out his high command in the last book.
* ZombieApocalypse: A fallen Soviet satellite irradiates a graveyard, resulting in a horde of -- yes! -- ''[[RedScare Communist]] [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Zombies]]'' in ''Red Dawn of the Dead''.

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