Shinichiro Watanabe (渡辺 信一郎 Watanabe Shin’ichirÅ, born May 24, 1965) is a Japanese anime television and film director. He is best known for directing the critically acclaimed and commercially successful anime series Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Space Dandy.
Watanabe is known for incorporating multiple genres into his anime creations. In Cowboy Bebop, for example, Watanabe blends classic cowboy western with 1960s/1970s New York City film noir, jazz/blues music, Hong Kong action movies, and sets the entire series in space. In his later work, Samurai Champloo, Watanabe unites the cultures of Okinawa, hip hop, modern-day Japan, and chanbara.
A short documentary on Japanese animation featured on the DVD for The Animatrix (2003)….
Shinichiro Watanabe Directing Movies
Movie Name
Job
Release Date
Overview
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Director
2001-09-01
The year is 2071. Following a terrorist bombing, a deadly virus is released on the populace of Mars and the government has issued the largest bounty i…
A Detective Story
Director
2003-04-04
A private detective is hired to find the elusive computer hacker “Trinity.” Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts in the Matrix universe…
Kid’s Story
Director
2003-06-03
A high school student is haunted by thoughts of “The Matrix” and a person named “Neo”. Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts set in the …
Genius Party
Director
2007-07-07
The seven short films making up GENIUS PARTY couldn’t be more diverse, linked only by a high standard of quality and inspiration. Atsuko Fukushima 
Macross Plus: Movie Edition
Director
1995-10-06
Three decades after the great war between the humans and the Zentradi, the U.N. government is developing new technologies to use in their transforming…
The Animatrix
Director
2003-05-09
Straight from the creators of the groundbreaking Matrix trilogy, this collection of short animated films from the world’s leading anime directors fuse…
Blade Runner: Black Out 2022
Director
2017-09-26
This animated short revolves around the events causing an electrical systems failure on the west coast of the US. According to Blade Runner 2049’s o…
Cowboy Bebop: Don’t Bother None
Director
2012-12-12
When three bounty hunters accidentally meet in a bar, their stark personalities begin to clash, turning into a three way gun fight….
BABY BLUE
Director
…
A Girl Meets a Boy and a Robot
Director
2022-05-08
Having lost her memory, The Girl wanders alone in a desert of ruins. She encounters The Robot, who has also seemed to lose its memory, and The Boy see…
Assistant Director
It is the year 0083 of the Universal Century. The rebellious Principality of Zeon has been defeated in the One Year War by the Earth Federation. Howev…
Series Director
Macross Plus is a four-episode anime OVA and theatrical movie in the Macross series. It was the first sequel to the original Macross television series…
Director
Armor Hunter Mellowlink was a twelve episode anime OVA spinoff of Armored Trooper VOTOMS. It takes place in the same universe as VOTOMS, but the two s…
Director
Two different students – a successful but aloof academic and a rebellious but kindhearted delinquent – form a friendship through their love for music….
Director
In an alternate version of the present, Tokyo has been decimated by a shocking terrorist attack, and the only hint to the identity of the culprit is a…
Series Director
In 2071, roughly fifty years after an accident with a hyperspace gateway made the Earth almost uninhabitable, humanity has colonized most of the rocky…
Series Director
Our main character, Ossan, is a no-good father with a messy appearance even though he looks nice, and decorates restrooms. He is a divorced, single-da…
Director
Our main character, Ossan, is a no-good father with a messy appearance even though he looks nice, and decorates restrooms. He is a divorced, single-da…
Series Director
Fifty years have passed since mankind began migrating to the new frontier: Mars. It’s an age where most culture is produced by AI, and people are cont…
Series Director
Space Dandy is a dandy in space! This dreamy adventurer with a to-die-for pompadour travels across the galaxy in search of aliens no one has ever laid…
Director
Fifty years have passed since mankind began migrating to the new frontier: Mars. It’s an age where most culture is produced by AI, and people are cont…
Director
Macross Plus is a four-episode anime OVA and theatrical movie in the Macross series. It was the first sequel to the original Macross television series…
Series Director
Break-dancing but fierce warrior Mugen has to deal with the cold-blooded and conceited Jin, a samurai who believes he is above all. These sworn enemie…
Shinichiro Watanabe Production Movies
Movie Name
Job
Release Date
Overview
Supervising Producer
Fifty years have passed since mankind began migrating to the new frontier: Mars. It’s an age where most culture is produced by AI, and people are cont…
Consulting Producer
Long on style and perpetually short on cash, bounty hunters Spike, Jet and Faye trawl the solar system looking for jobs. But can they outrun Spike’s p…
Writing
Movie Name
Job
Release Date
Overview
The Animatrix
Writer
2003-05-09
Straight from the creators of the groundbreaking Matrix trilogy, this collection of short animated films from the world’s leading anime directors fuse…
A Detective Story
Writer
2003-04-04
A private detective is hired to find the elusive computer hacker “Trinity.” Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts in the Matrix universe…
Kid’s Story
Writer
2003-06-03
A high school student is haunted by thoughts of “The Matrix” and a person named “Neo”. Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts set in the …
Blade Runner: Black Out 2022
Writer
2017-09-26
This animated short revolves around the events causing an electrical systems failure on the west coast of the US. According to Blade Runner 2049’s o…
Cowboy Bebop: Don’t Bother None
Writer
2012-12-12
When three bounty hunters accidentally meet in a bar, their stark personalities begin to clash, turning into a three way gun fight….
Osamekamaijo The Art Of Sexual Love In The Edo Period 36 Kind Guides
Writer
2011-04-28
…
Osamekamaijo The Art of Sexual Love in the Edo Period Technique Guide
Writer
2011-04-28
…
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway
Storyboard
2021-06-11
After Char’s rebellion, Hathaway Noa leads an insurgency against Earth Federation, but meeting an enemy officer and a mysterious woman alters his fate…
A Girl Meets a Boy and a Robot
Writer
2022-05-08
Having lost her memory, The Girl wanders alone in a desert of ruins. She encounters The Robot, who has also seemed to lose its memory, and The Boy see…
Writer
In 2071, roughly fifty years after an accident with a hyperspace gateway made the Earth almost uninhabitable, humanity has colonized most of the rocky…
Creative Producer
Los Angeles 2032. A young woman wakes up with no memories, and possessing deadly skills. The only clues to her mystery are a locked data device and a …
Writer
Our main character, Ossan, is a no-good father with a messy appearance even though he looks nice, and decorates restrooms. He is a divorced, single-da…
Writer
Fifty years have passed since mankind began migrating to the new frontier: Mars. It’s an age where most culture is produced by AI, and people are cont…
Writer
Break-dancing but fierce warrior Mugen has to deal with the cold-blooded and conceited Jin, a samurai who believes he is above all. These sworn enemie…
Sound
Movie Name
Job
Release Date
Overview
Music Consultant
On August 16, midway through a seemingly endless summer vacation, middle school third-year student Nagara, the mysterious transfer student Nozomi, and…
Other Info
Movie Name
Job
Release Date
Overview
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Storyboard Artist
2001-09-01
The year is 2071. Following a terrorist bombing, a deadly virus is released on the populace of Mars and the government has issued the largest bounty i…
Storyboard Designer
It is the year 0083 of the Universal Century. The rebellious Principality of Zeon has been defeated in the One Year War by the Earth Federation. Howev…
Storyboard Artist
Break-dancing but fierce warrior Mugen has to deal with the cold-blooded and conceited Jin, a samurai who believes he is above all. These sworn enemie…
Creator
In an alternate version of the present, Tokyo has been decimated by a shocking terrorist attack, and the only hint to the identity of the culprit is a…
Creator
Break-dancing but fierce warrior Mugen has to deal with the cold-blooded and conceited Jin, a samurai who believes he is above all. These sworn enemie…
