I was skeptical when readers emailed me about this episode of a new CG animated series called Cat Shit One. It is actually really good. The story is about a two rabbit special forces soldiers in Afghanistan fighting the camel terrorists. Episode starts 3:40 minutes into the below video.
UPDATE: They have taken the video offline.
[ Many thanks to Matt, Lt. & Paul for emailing me the link. ]
Bunnies because “rabbit” in Japanese is Romanized to “usagi”… USA GI. I put a forehead shaped dent in my desk when I realized that. Then it got lampshaded.
Been following development on this for two years now, so am thrilled it finally saw release. My Blu-ray Disc copy arrived in the mail from Amazon today (stereo only, tho’, weirdly enough).
It’s a shame they couldn’t have picked a better name.
Wohoo! My name in a blog post!
Does this make me famous?
Oh and just FYI. The reason they are bunnies is because the word “Usagi” is Japanese for rabbit. It’s a play on USA G.I.
So the show is great and I would like to throw them a couple of bucks, but not $20 for a 22 minute show.
Any ideas?
There’s a pun here. Usagi is the japanese word for rabbit. It can also be read as U.S.A. GI. That’s why the americans are rabbits.
Other nationalities are are what you’d expect: British= bulldogs, french= frogs, etc.
This is actually an animated version of a Japanese manga called Apocalypse Meow (Cat Shit One in Japan). I would definitely recommend reading the manga. The only difference is that the manga takes place during the Vietnam war while the animated series takes place in the middle east.
From the original manga :
* American – Rabbit (Rabbit is Japanese “???: USAGI”. In a word “USA-G.I.”)
* Vietnamese – Cat
* French – Pig (from pig that looks for French Ingredient truffle)
* Chinese – Panda
* Japanese – Monkey and Gorilla
* Russian – Bear
* Korean – Dog
* British – Rat (from The Desert Rats)
* Australian – Kangaroo
The following are new animals depicted in Cat Shit One ’80:
* German – Fox (from Desert Fox)
* Middle Eastern – Camel, Goat and Sheep
* Latin Americans – Cow
A little more background. The show is a sort of a pilot episode for (hopefully) a full fledged season. The premise is based on the comic series “Cat Shit One” (aptly titled “Apocalypse Meow” in US version) that focuses on a group of US Army commandos during the Vietnam war. A sequel “Cat Shit One ’80? follows characters from the original as they deal with various conflicts during the 1980s. The sequel is more “informative” as it has more of a “historical non-fiction” style narrative.
@ Overload in CO
Actually, the British are Rats, the French are pigs, Japanese are monkeys, and the Chinese and the Russians are… why, Pandas and Bears, of course.
Fore more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Meow
I discovered this a few days ago and love it. It’s like if Watership Down took place in modern Afghanistan. Also, the rabbits have assault rifles.
The best part is that the camels have a hole in their shirts for their humps.
The original mangais old and was about vietnam, if you have not read that comic I strongly recommend it. I love how they modernized it and brough packy and Botasky to the Afghan front, the manga sold in the US as Apocalypse Meow and is one of the very first i read, holds a special place in my heart.
Hells yeah! I’ve been waiting for this for some time now. Packy’s a bad ass. Looking all cute with his twitching tail and his little paws triggering the claymore.
I believe that the original comics were based on the Vietnam War where the VietKong were depicted as cats. That’s where we get the title.
I saw the teaser a while back, I’m very grateful to you for letting me know it’s actually been released properly!
I think the DVD contains 12 episodes. Doesn’t it?
Play on words or not, that’s just plain weird.
let read “Apocalypse Meow”! Bunnies in ‘Nam!
it’s amazing!
@ Ben: $20 is a steal; the Japanese typically pay $50 for half-hour or under, and $80-$100 for a feature-length film, depending on the format. Whenever I’d go to Japan, I’d really have to think hard before buying any videos.
Tanner, its because of the name of the original graphic novel series. Over there, our swearing isnt as taboo.
DVD – purchased. Why, oh why did Amazon NOT recommend this to me.
its worth noting they infer that the rabbits are Mercs, explaining any weapon “innacuracies”
I cant watch it because of copyright… Is it up somewhere else?
Huh, Steve,
though funny as hell, the repetition of the same idea by several posters one after the other is gonna get bananas if you don’t step in and ‘tame’ them! Apparently, they are breeding like ‘usagi’! LOL
Cheers!
In the series, French are pigs actually. This series is actually an update of a much older manga from the late 90's of the same name that was actually based around a Long Range Recon Patrol team in Vietnam. It had a reputation for a high degree of accuracy when it came to the gear and weapons used by the characters and gritty/realistic action. Chinese were Pandas, Russians were Bears, Japanese were Chimps and Gorillas, Vietnamese were Cats (hence the title), Koreans were Dogs, British were Rats, Aussies were Kangaroos, Germans were Foxes, and Latin Americans were Cows.
This is loosely based on the Apocalypse Meow comic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Meow) which is where the title of this movie originated. The animals representing various nationalities kind of reminded me of Maus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus), and interesting read for those of you who haven’t seen it before and generally a great approach to telling a story that seems to have been told so many times before.
just watched it, and have to say, it was very impressive. I’ve seen much worse war films
Also, the part about all the tacti-cool shit on the EBR is hilarious.
@MrSatyre: Oh yes, that is right. We wandered back into the anime realm. Thanks for reminding me!
Nice ! I doubt Disney will be optioning the rights for a US remake anytime soon ! The Japanese anime proves that animation doesn’t have to be always associated with the usual pap that Disney pumps out. Hope to see more such in the future.
Reminds me of Bonta-kun in Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu.
The disc you buy has the whole season on it. Your not just getting this single episode. It is intended as a teaser to encourage you to buy the whole season on DVD or Blu Ray
Sorry … gotta correct my last post on this. It is pretty much just this episode. I saw the “75 minutes” note and figured that was more episodes. Aside from that being a low number, further reading revealed that those extra minutes are all with subtitles only.
I have to agree that this seems a bit skimpy for the asking price.
Is it normal for long-range recon teams in Afghanistan to not wear pants?
if they are Americans whats with the Russian attack chopper saving their puffy white tails?
As people can see a single stack 1911 is sufficient for taking down terrorists. No need for a double stack mag.
http://www.goodanime.net/cat-shit-one-episode-1
enjoy
video has been made private 
bummer dude.
Too bad the dialogue sucks
@subase: Actually, that’s and STI 2011. With a double stack magazine. LOL
Wow, late in the game. Saw it awhile back. It’s definitely awesome and it hearkens back to news posts I’ve seen here and other blogs about the Japanese and their affinity to guns. Like how they go to Guam to shoot as well as airsoft originating in Japan.
I’ve seen many anime where the attention to detail on firearms is superb, and while the gun action can range from realistic to John Woo/Equilibrium crazy, anime can be a good source of gun pr0n.
Sorry, random gun-lovin’ otaku talking.
Steve, this video has been made private and is no longer viewable.
Rijoenpial; the reason for all the repeats is that post don’t show up on the blog until hours after they are posted. My post was the third on the list but when I posted there weren’t any comments on this article yet. I always check the comments to make sure I’m not repeating info but most of the time half of the posts allready made haven’t shown up in the comments yet.
I guess they go to steve for approval first or something.
Heath, thanks for letting me know.