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At Japan Expo 2018, veterans of Cowboy Bebop told us about the genesis of one of the best Japanese SF TV series.
Let's Jam! An explosion of pop colors, black silhouettes in split-screen to the sound of a fiery theme … In 1998, the credits of Cowboy Bebop burst the screen for the first time. An animated, irresistibly cool and jazzy SF series that follows the adventures of a band of bounty hunters in the solar system of the late 21st century. Directed by Shin'ichirō Watanabe ( who signed last year a prequel animated to Blade Runner 2049 Blade Runner Black Out 2022 ), the series, which lasted 26 episodes (more a feature film derived in 2001), has significantly influenced the minds of his fans: the celebration of his 20 years at Japan Expo 2018 – which has just ended at the Villepinte Exhibition Center – has confirmed, Cowboy Bebop is indeed a clbadic of space western and TV animation tout court. Its creators remember the genesis of the series at the microphone of Première
Masahiko Minami, producer:
"At the beginning, the Bandai company wanted to make toys of spaceships, so I received instructions to develop a series around this idea: "We have to sell rocket toys, we need a cartoon!" I went to find the director Shin'ichirō Watanabe, with whom I had a good understanding Watanabe proposed a story of mercenaries in space What was new to me was to make a series of one-shot episodes, not a big story like the series Vision of Escaflowne that I produced. Our references were mainly Macross and Space Battleship Yamato Series that evoke an immense universe, seen through a small group of characters.When we projected the first episode in the office of Sunrise studio with all the sta ff, executives, administrators, the public split into two equal groups: one who worshiped, the other who hated. The reaction was of the style "what is this tiny story, without ambition?" This division also meant that something new was being done. And so, that we had won our bet. "
Keiko Nobumoto, screenwriter:
" I worked on the production of Akira but I do not did not have a big role. I mainly made coffee. But it allowed me to put myself in touch with Katsuhiro Otomo and I was able to write in 1991 the scenario of the horror comedy World Appartment Horror directed by Otomo on an idea of Satoshi Kon. After, I worked with Watanabe on Macross Plus and he made me work on the project Cowboy Bebop which was called at the beginning Nagareboshi Bebop ( "shooting star Bebop"). Watanabe is a huge fan of music and he wanted every episode to be called a "session". In retrospect, there was on Cowboy Bebop an incredible and unique creative synergy. In our Cowboy Bebop it was not a question of fighting an external enemy but of describing the daily life of these characters in this universe. To be basically realistic. At the beginning, the opinion that came most from the executives of the studio was: "it's good, but it will not sell." The proof. "(Laughs) [19659008]
Toshihiro Kawamoto, character designer:
"I was an independent animator, and I worked with Shin'ichirō Watanabe on the TV series City Hunter . But it's on the TV movie Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory that I really welded my friendship with Watanabe. For many members of the team, Cowboy Bebop was their first TV series. I think that enthusiasm was transmitted on the screen, one way or another. We dropped. Our imagination was blown up and the budget exploded. We quickly found ourselves in the red. But the series came out when the DVD appeared in Japan, and the DVDs of Cowboy Bebop were huge successes. We survived thanks to that. Watanabe wanted characters with flesh. The general inspiration was the first series Lupine the Third ( Edgar, the burglar detective in VF): this cool seventies atmosphere, the jazz … Spike is inspired by many Edgar. I gave him the same shoes as him. For Edward (the mischievous hacker, Ed), I was inspired by Watanabe, the postures of the series' composer, Yoko Kanno. How she fell asleep in a meeting, for example. But the character I preferred to design was Ein, the dog of the series. I ended up buying a corgi to be able to animate it better. And I asked Watanabe that he be more present to be able to draw it more often. "
Kimitoshi Yamane, mecha designer:
" I ' had designed mechas on the series Vision of Escaflowne . I learned that Mr. Watanabe was preparing a sci-fi series and I had an "audition" where I had to draw the characters' ships from a few written notes. I designed the main ships of the series, the Bebop, the Swordfish, the Hammerhead-but that one, it was much changed in the end. We all worked in the same room, designers, colorists, animators … While I worked, I listened to a lot of film music, but not jazz: Encounters of the third type by John Williams, Alien by Jerry Goldsmith, Das Boot ] by Klaus Doldinger … Music of war or SF, to immerse myself in the world of Cowboy Bebop . I did not have instructions from Bandai to create toys. We had a lot of freedom. The rule was that the characters had to be able to fly the ships without changing their suit, suit or suit, for example. My main inspirations were the submarines of the Second World War, the bathyscaphe, Commander Cousteau's submarine. I always thought about the sea. Space is the ocean. "
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