Shin'ichirō Watanabe
Shin'ichirō Watanabe ( Japanese 渡 辺 信 一郎 , Watanabe Shin'ichirō ; born May 24, 1965 in Kyoto ) is a Japanese director of animes and screenwriter . He gained greater fame through his work on the anime television series Cowboy Bebop .
Professional career
At the anime studio Sunrise , he first worked as an assistant director, and in 1998 he was involved as a co-director for the anime Macross Plus for the first time. His first work as a director and screenwriter was the series Cowboy Bebop .
In 2003 Watanabe was first involved in the production of American films. These were two parts of Animatrix , a series of short films that tell background stories to the Matrix films.
In 2007 he contributed a short film called Baby Blue to the first part of the anime anthology Genius Party .
Special features and style
music
For Watanabe, music is one of the most important means of expression in film, as music is a kind of universal language for him. In Cowboy Bebop , the music was very much influenced by American culture, especially jazz . This as well as the blues were mixed with modern music like funk . Similarly, the anime series Samurai Champloo , which takes place in the Edo period, plays with musical elements from hip-hop .
genre
Watanabe often mixes elements from different genres, cultures and times in his works. So contains Cowboy Bebop elements from Wild West films, the New York film noir of the 1940s and 1950s and from Asian action films. Still, it's a science fiction series.
In Samurai Champloo , the Edo period of 18th century Japan meets modern hip-hop. The culture of the Ryūkyū Islands is also included.
Works
As a director (selection)
- Macross Plus (1994), co-director
- Cowboy Bebop (1998)
- Cowboy Bebop: Knockin 'on Heaven's Door ( Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira ) (2001)
- Kid's Story and A Detective Story as part of Animatrix (2003)
- Samurai Champloo (2004)
- Baby Blue as part of Genius Party (2007)
- Sakamichi no Apollon (2012)
- Space Dandy (2014)
- Terror in Tokyo (2014)
- Blade Runner Black Out 2022 (2017)
- Carole and Tuesday (2019)
As a music producer
- Mind Game (マ イ ン ド ゲ ー ム , Maindo Gēmu ) (2004)
- Michiko & Hatchin (2008)
Web links
- Shin'ichirō Watanabe in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Watanabe, Shin'ichirō |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 渡 辺 信 一郎 (Japanese); Watanabe Shin'ichirō |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese director |
DATE OF BIRTH | May 24, 1965 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Kyoto |