Shinichirō Watanabe

Shinichirō Watanabe should not be confused with the similarly-named Shinichi Watanabe, director of Excel Saga.

Shinichirō Watanabe
Born	(1965-05-24) May 24, 1965 Kyoto, Japan
Occupation(s)	Film director and screenwriter

Shinichirō Watanabe (渡辺 信一郎, Watanabe Shin'ichirō, born May 24, 1965 in Kyoto) is a Japanese anime director and writer. He is known for his popular anime series Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo.

Watanabe is noted for blending together multiple genres, such as in Cowboy Bebop, where classic cowboy western mixes with 1940s/1950s New York City film noir, Hong Kong action movies, among other influences, which is set in space. In his later work, Samurai Champloo, Watanabe mixes the cultures of Okinawa, hip-hop, modern-day Japan, and samurai.

Career

After joining the Japanese animation studio Sunrise, Watanabe worked as an assistant producer and, following that, made his directorial debut as co-director of the well-received Macross update, Macross Plus. His next effort was the television series Cowboy Bebop, followed by the 2001 film, Knockin' on Heaven's Door . In 2003, Watanabe directed his first American produced anime, the short films Kid's Story and A Detective Story, both part of The Animatrix, an anthology of animated shorts of back stories from The Matrix. His next directorial effort was the anime television series Samurai Champloo which began broadcasting on Fuji TV in Japan on May 19, 2004.

He directed a short film called Baby Blue, a segment of the anthology film Genius Party which was released on July 7, 2007.

Notable works

Writer/Director

• Cowboy Bebop (カウボーイビバップ, Kaubōi Bibappu) (1998)
• Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (カウボーイビバップ 天国の扉, Kaubōi Bibappu Tengoku no Tobira) (2001)
• Kid's Story (Part of The Animatrix) (2003)
• A Detective Story (Part of The Animatrix) (2003)
• Samurai Champloo (サムライチャンプルー, Samurai Chanpurū) (2004)
• Baby Blue (Part of Genius Party) (2007)
• Ergo Proxy

Co-Director

• Macross Plus (マクロスプラス, Makurosu Purasu) (1994)

Music director

• Mind Game (マインド ゲーム, Maindo Gēmu) (2004)

Stylistic trademarks

Music

Watanabe has a distinct vision regarding the importance of the film score of his works and believes that music is the universal language. Cowboy Bebop is widely respected for its multiple layers and deep characters, combined with a very free-flowing feel to the story itself (heavily influenced by American culture, especially the jazz movements of the 1940s, hence "bebop"). This style is blended with a phenomenal score by the prolific composer Yoko Kanno featuring jazz, blues, and funk music. In Samurai Champloo, an Edo period piece, the anachronistic soundtrack draws heavily from hip-hop music, and is full of melodic beats with record scratches.

Speed and focus

Watanabe's films are all about pacing. His stories move with a very deliberate flow; constantly slowing and speeding up keeping the viewer off-balance and totally involved. Watanabe's characters often move the same way. In Cowboy Bebop, Spike seems almost lazy and uninterested in his surroundings most of the time - his hands stay in his pockets, or he is leaning against a wall. But once the action starts, Spike moves quickly and deliberately, using everything around him to his advantage. This attitude is notably recurrent in the character of Mugen from the Samurai Champloo series.

External links

• Shinichirô Watanabe at IMDb
• Shinichiro Watanabe at the Anime News Network Encyclopedia