When Studio Sunrise gave the go for Shinichiro Watanabe's Cowboy Bebop, they only had one constraint: whatever the story was, it had to have spaceships that they could sell models of. With that one rule, Watanabe and some of the best minds in the industry created a neo-noir masterpiece remembered fondly decades later, but has he made anything that has surpassed it?
Watanabe has directed around 11 different anime, discounting "episode director" credits and some smaller projects. With the name recognition allotted to him, such a sizable portfolio sounds almost small at first glance, before the weight of some of those stories is taken into consideration. Watanabe's name brings with it an idea of a "Watanabe anime": film-like imagery inspired by western cinema, great music, and even a push for diversity and representation not often seen in anime. With so many works that have formed this perception, even in recent years, what has made Bebop so persisting?
The Work, Which Becomes A New Genre Itself...
Upon reflection, Bebop holds a place in viewers' hearts because of the unique position it holds in history. As one of the big successes to come from the shift in TV anime brought on by Neon Genesis Evangelion, Bebop was also a colossal hit in the west, propelled by earlier iterations of Toonami. It was a simple premise, about ludicrously cool bounty hunters, kung fu, and gunfights, but it was so cool that it drew people in.
This is thanks to people like Toshihiro Kawamoto, who designed the characters for Bebop, as well as shows like Gundam 8th MS Team, another Toonami hit from Sunrise. Animators like Yutaka Nakamura raised the bar for action scenes in Anime. Yoko Kanno created a soundtrack that was familiar to humanize such an out-of-this-world story. Additionally, the show has one of the best English dubs and casts of all time, many of whom went on to be legendary in the industry because of Bebop.
Life After Bebop / "The Battlecry"
After Bebop and its movie, Watanabe went on to direct two short films for the Animatrix, "Kid's Story" and "A Detective Story". As part of a larger anthology, these were some of the biggest standouts, but it's hard to argue that they are superior to a full TV show with the time to flesh out its plot. A much more fair fight would be between Bebop and 2004's Samurai Champloo.
It wouldn't be incredibly out there to suggest that "Bebop vs Champloo" is a far more contentious debate than people expect. For as revered as the former is, the latter's fanbase is equally passionate. Champloo was also an episodic story, but there was a definitive end goal: finding the samurai who smells of sunflowers. It also does a lot to aesthetically distinguish itself from Bebop, favoring hip-hop and lo-fi over jazz.
The main trio wanders from adventure to adventure not unlike the Bebop crew, albeit in a drastically different setting. Even Steve Blum returned to voice the lead, Mugen, just as he had for Spike in Bebop. Both shows enjoyed casual fun that every now and again would slow down to tell quieter, more human stories that rewarded the audiences for their investment.
A Return To Roots
Sakamichi no Apollon, or Kids on The Slope, was Watanabe's next big series, and the reunion of him and composer Yoko Kanno, to tell a period piece drama about high schoolers playing jazz. The brief description alone is quintessentially Watanabe, as music is the lifeblood of all of his shows at the end of the day.
Kids on the Slope might not appeal to the same crowd as his previous works, but Watanabe saw an opportunity to adapt a good story in the best way he knew. This coming-of-age story is told with a touching enthusiasm and the romance boiling beneath feels warm in the light Watanabe shines on it.
A Dandy Guy... In Space
Space Dandy is a peculiar show to pose as a successor to Bebop in Watanabe's arsenal, as it's not a project solely captained by him. Watanabe is credited as the Chief Director of the show, while Shingo Natsume is the director, known soon after for his work on One Punch Man and recently for Sonny Boy.
Dandy is very different from a lot of Watanabe's work. The show is arguably more Natsume's, to whom the style of makes more sense in the grand calculus of their resume, even with their dramatic works such as ACCA-13. So it's difficult to give credit to Watanabe. It's even more difficult because some of Dandy's stories are right up there with Bebop's best.
The places Space Dandy takes the audience are wholly unexpected, especially for those going into it expecting a non-stop comedy like other Adult Swim hits. In terms of its blend of obtuse humor and sincere drama, it could be called a precursor to Rick and Morty, but with a slower pace focused more on visual storytelling. Some of the episodes could have won awards as short films in their own right.
In the same year as Dandy, Watanabe also produced the highly dramatic Zankyou no Terror, or Terror in Resonance, about two young men who become terrorists. It was an exciting show and one far more in line with the expectations of Watanabe. However, for many, the ending came as a disappointment that lacked a certain build-up to earn its bittersweet finale.
His most recent work, Carole and Tuesday, was met with initial excitement thanks to its musical premise, and its sci-fi setting. However, the longer it went on, the less it felt like a fleshed-out story and more of an excuse for its soundtrack to exist. A jukebox with pretty interludes and missed opportunities for LGBT representation.
Has Watanabe Succeeded Bebop?
Within the cultural zeitgeist, it is hard to say any of the anime he's been involved in surpassed the impact and reputation of Bebop, but it doesn't mean there aren't shows of his that aren't arguably stronger stories. Even if it was only an adaptation, Kids on the Slope handles high school drama with more nuance and care than many of its peers. It could easily be seen as one of his best for how fresh it feels, but then again, what was fresher than Bebop?
Bebop was inspired, sure, as were all Watanabe works, but it's the blending of genres that often creates new concoctions that break the mold. If the answer lies in the Blend, Champloo is just as deserving of praise, but that show's biggest fault lies in the anticlimactic conclusion that pales in comparison to how Spike's journey concluded.
Maybe Watanabe's drive to try and tell new stories means we won't get anything that can be agreed to be better than Bebop. However, to succeed in something implies carrying on a legacy, doesn't it? What if Bebop wasn't meant to be succeeded by Watanabe, but by someone else.
Space Dandy might not be definitively Watanabe's show, but it might be the closest to a new Bebop the industry has gotten to in years. It's zanier and few would say the shows have similar stories, but as eclectic, episodic shows that blend crude humor with unmatched sincerity, they are both phenomenal.
Cowboy Bebop raised a bar in anime that few reached not because there haven't been better shows, but because few shows told that kind of story the way Bebop did with the kind of creative drive that they did. Space Dandy's creative spark arguably burned even brighter, culminating in an assemblage of the greatest animators of the time, telling as many stories as there were to tell. If - as the old adage goes - that Bebop is "the work, which becomes a new genre in itself," then Space Dandy is Cowboy Bebop, and therefore, the only work that could top it, even potentially.