In this live-action TV series, Madarame Kyutaro (played by Kazuki Kitamura) is a regular old samurai who's down on his luck in premodern Japan. (The exact time period is carefully left vague, but six months' rent on a tiny room is a little more than one ryō, and there's a secondary character who's selling the new imported delicacy, donuts! so someone who knows more about Japanese history than me could probably pin it down to the half-century or so.) He's a skilled swordfighter, but he has no lord, no prospects of work, and is, in the first episode, reduced to eating crayfish he fishes for himself.

Then he runs into this merchant's assistant who tells him a sad story about the "goblin cat" who he thinks has beguiled his boss. Kyutaro doesn't really buy it, but he is not above taking the assistant's money, and what the assistant wants is for him to sneak into the warehouse and kill the cat.

When he gets there, the cat is the most adorable thing he's ever seen, and he cannot bring himself to kill it -- so instead he steals it, leaving behind an ominous message that makes it sound like someone killed it, and takes it back to his tiny little room. The merchant is heartbroken. The assistant is pleased. Kyutaro can afford to pay his back rent.

But now Kyutaro has a cat. He doesn't know how to take care of a cat. He can't let anyone who knows the merchant see the cat. The cat may or may not actually be a goblin, but, like any cat, especially one that isn't being taken care of to its own standards, it sure is inclined to cause problems on purpose. And he's no longer flat broke, but he still doesn't have a steady job...

This is all played dead serious, despite the farcical premise, and that's about 40% of the fun. Another 40% or so is Kyutaro struggling to interact with people who are just being friendly, like the donut seller. And finally, the cat is adorable, and also impressively well trained; if you're a film buff you might like to watch just for the "how did they get it to do that" moments. (The animal handlers get prominent mention in the credit roll.)

The whole thing is on archive.org with English subtitles: season 1 and season 2.