Kabuki Cat is the thirty-second episode of Tom and Jerry in New York.
Synopsis[]
Upon his return to Japan, a Kabuki actor finds Tom and Jerry in his luggage, In which Tom does varies things to catch Jerry in the new environment there in.
Plot[]
Tom is chasing Jerry around the hotel in his usual manner. Jerry leaps on a wheeled clothes cart, so Tom follows him there. An attempt to grab Jerry beneath the carriage winds up bad for Tom - he spins himself and Jerry, then they are forcibly bailed out from a cart into one of the bedrooms, where they fall into a travelling case and move it right into the balcony. The case opens and ejects Tom and Jerry right off the balcony, high above the street level. The animals don't fall, because a spring holds them. After a brief dangling, the spring takes Tom and Jerry back to the case, which is pushed into the room again. It turns out, that a Japanese theatrical actor, Mr. Tsubuya was using this bedroom and the case is his property. Molly takes his case, so the actor tips her generously, even making an origami from the banknotes.
Tom and Jerry are unaware, that they are travelling from New York in the USA to Japan. When they open the case, they see Mr. Tsubuya (the former hotel guest) wearing makeup and testing his katana sword. The show of arms is interrupted by theater worker, who asks the actor to reach the scene. When humans leave, Jerry leaves the case and snaps Tom inside it. While Tom is struggling for escape, Jerry paints his head white and wears makeup. Tom uses a bonsai tree to approach Jerry, but his painted face scares Tom off - the tree catapults him to the opposite corner of the room right into the wall. When Tom falls, two katana swords and a wig fall on him, giving him weapons.
Having obtained weapons, Tom attempts to inflict bodily harm on Jerry using those. Instead, he manages to cut the bonsai tree and he accidentally obtains own makeup. Shortly afterwards, Jerry flees to the stage, being chased by armed Tom. The mouse uses a fan as a shelter and Tom attacks it with his swords. This leads to major show interrupt, when Tom and Jerry are literally blown away into the actor performing on stage. The show seems to have turned into a disaster, but the audience seems pleased with it. The theater worker accepts the audience's gratitude, takes both animals away, and kicks them out of the building. The animals stumble on the sumo wrestling arena, where they literally get squeezed out from the site.
The protagonists land in a suburban part of the city, where they cause some mess in the neighborhood. Jerry finds a shelter upon local mice, which infuriates Tom. The cat runs uphill, where a restaurant and an electronics shop are located, where he gets a wooden crate with a stick and sushi meal to create a trap. Having set the trap with one sushi roll as bait, Tom enjoys the three remaining sushi rolls, until he tries the small wasabi dose left in the bottom. The spice literally causes his throat to burn, hopefully a water barrel stands nearby, so the fire can be extinguished. When Tom comes back, it turns out the mice took the food from the trap without setting it, instead they left him a letter of gratitude for the treat with a small package, which explodes upon unboxing.
After a brief recovery, Tom obtains an electronic translator called "Language genie" to communicate with the locals. The device doesn't seem to work as desired - when the cat sets the device to talk phrases in Japanese in front of the mice house, one of them takes the device through the door and throws it back after a moment. The device is set to English - the voice mocks Tom being "a foolish feline with limited intelligence" and suggests going home. Tom gets infuriated and stomps around in range.
Shortly afterwards, the local mice abandon their hideout and perform their martial skills. They seem related, as the mice have names: Justin Yamaski, Joey Yamaski, Jack Yamaski, and the youngest Jay Yamaski. Jerry is watching the scene from the door. Tom finds the mice's movements amusing to behold, then he attempts to stomp them flat. The mice counterattack by using their small size as an advantage for precise blows. Tom gets hit at his head by one of the mice in leap, then he manages to deflect blows of the three Yamaski brothers. The fourth mice attacks Tom from the rear. When the cat hits the ground, other mice whack him on the ground back and forth. Tom attempts to attack twice, but he can't stand up to smaller and better-trained opponents, who easily knock him down three times in a row. Having been badly beaten up, Tom flees away.
The Yamaski brothers invite Jerry for a meal in the site, where Tom got his sushi bowl. The episode ends.
Characters[]
- Tom Cat
- Jerry Mouse
- Molly
- Mr. Tsubuya
- Yamaski Mice
- Justin Yamaski
- Joey Yamaski
- Jack Yamaski
- Jay Yamaski
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode taking place in Asia.
- The Japanese mice from Yamaski family, which consist of brothers, (oldest to youngest: Justin, Joey, Jack, and Jay) are similar references of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
- The way Tom wears his wig and Mr. Tsubuya is shown with his hair queue untied are reminiscent of 19th Century prints showing the samurai warriors with their hair streaming in the wind.
- In reality, only few samurai warriors fought by dual-wielding two katana swords at once. Since the 15th Century, most of them carried a set called daisho during the peace time - one katana and one wakizashi sword. The longer katana was typically a combat weapon, while shorter wakizashi was a ceremonial weapon. According to S.R. Turnbull, samurai warriors preparing to battle and donning their suits of armor would traditionally carry the katana long sword and a dagger called tanto instead of the wakizashi short sword, for it was unusual for the samurai in the Momoyama period to wear the short sword when armored.