Movies that spawn from anime series tend to be a mixed bag in terms of quality, since the fact that they mostly function as episodes with bigger duration has frequently proven an issue. This however, is not the case with “Cowboy Bepop the Movie” with director Shinichiro Watanabe following the recipe of the original, iconic series, which aimed at each episode functioning as a short movie. The result, in a story that is placed between episodes 22 and 23 of “Cowboy Bepop”, is exceptional, with the movie being of at least equal quality with the series.
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Sony Pictures) Screens Jan. 21st (sub), Jan. 22nd (sub), Jan 23rd (encore of choice), courtesy of Ax Cinema Nights and Iconic Events Releasing
The movie starts nicely with Spike and Jet apprehending a bunch of robbers with their usual coolness and style. Faye Valentine on the other hand, is on the heels of a hacker,...
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Sony Pictures) Screens Jan. 21st (sub), Jan. 22nd (sub), Jan 23rd (encore of choice), courtesy of Ax Cinema Nights and Iconic Events Releasing
The movie starts nicely with Spike and Jet apprehending a bunch of robbers with their usual coolness and style. Faye Valentine on the other hand, is on the heels of a hacker,...
- 1/16/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In the late 1990s, Bandai Entertainment and the Japanese animation studio Sunrise approached young director Shinichirō Watanabe to make a sci-fi action show (mostly so they could sell spaceship toys). Watanabe took that directive and led the creation of "Cowboy Bebop."
This 26-episode show followed down-on-their-luck bounty hunters in the year 2071, when mankind has colonized the solar system and left behind a ruined Earth. It brought Western and noir storytelling together into its sci-fi setting, fused with an existential mood and jazzy music composed by Yoko Kanno.
"Cowboy Bebop" first aired in Japan 25 years ago, from 1998 to 1999, and Bandai Entertainment soon imported it stateside, where it debuted on Cartoon Network block Adult Swim in 2001. If anything, it's become an even bigger (and more enduring) hit in the U.S. than in its homeland. A big reason for this popularity was because the English dub was excellent: The characters speaking the...
This 26-episode show followed down-on-their-luck bounty hunters in the year 2071, when mankind has colonized the solar system and left behind a ruined Earth. It brought Western and noir storytelling together into its sci-fi setting, fused with an existential mood and jazzy music composed by Yoko Kanno.
"Cowboy Bebop" first aired in Japan 25 years ago, from 1998 to 1999, and Bandai Entertainment soon imported it stateside, where it debuted on Cartoon Network block Adult Swim in 2001. If anything, it's become an even bigger (and more enduring) hit in the U.S. than in its homeland. A big reason for this popularity was because the English dub was excellent: The characters speaking the...
- 11/21/2023
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
It’s been a rough few years for young men. The role models offered up in today’s crop of alpha male podcasters and crypto grifters provide little in the face of the world’s dizzying buffet of hostilities. So it’s comforting to see Detroit hip-hop maximalist Danny Brown’s virtuosic brand of weirdo make its way to the TikTok generation. His podcast The Danny Brown Show (imagine Joe Rogan put through Adult Swim’s intellectual filter) is a reliable source for viral snippets. It also provided the promotional...
- 3/28/2023
- by Jeff Ihaza
- Rollingstone.com
It’s hard to make food look unappetizing on screen. Fill up the screen with the greasiest monstrosity you can muster and the very fact it’s on a TV gives it a certain kind of baseline appeal. Fiction has a way of priming our stomachs in a way that even real life sometimes can’t.
In a weird way, that makes the cooking in “The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House” feel like even more of a challenge. Kore-eda Hirokazu’s new Netflix series can’t just rest on looking at some rice dishes or stews. It needs to convey the idea that Kiyo (Nana Mori), a bright-eyed teenager looking for a new life in the Gion district of Kyoto, is so entranced by the possibilities of her own food that it changes her life.
“The Makanai” finds the same magic in the everyday that’s dotted Kore-eda’s film resume.
In a weird way, that makes the cooking in “The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House” feel like even more of a challenge. Kore-eda Hirokazu’s new Netflix series can’t just rest on looking at some rice dishes or stews. It needs to convey the idea that Kiyo (Nana Mori), a bright-eyed teenager looking for a new life in the Gion district of Kyoto, is so entranced by the possibilities of her own food that it changes her life.
“The Makanai” finds the same magic in the everyday that’s dotted Kore-eda’s film resume.
- 1/14/2023
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
I love anime opening credits. The best of them distill the strongest qualities of their source material into beautiful, ninety-second chunks of music and animation. Even the worst of them churn up love in my heart. I remember almost nothing about "Nobunagun," but I have a special place in my heart for its outrageous hard-rock theme song "Respect for the Dead Man." The opening guitar riff of "Rewrite," Asian Kung-Fu Generation's theme for "Fullmetal Alchemist," brings back vivid memories of my teenage years. I know that I'm not alone on that, either. "A Cruel Angel's Thesis," the theme song to "Neon Genesis Evangelion," topped Joysound's karaoke rankings for the Heisei period (1992-2019.) "Gurenge," the theme song to "Demon Slayer," has been downloaded over a million times and was even featured in Japan's recent Olympics Closing Ceremonies. The right Anisong can make a lot of money.
Anime opening credits are frequently over the top,...
Anime opening credits are frequently over the top,...
- 12/4/2022
- by Adam Wescott
- Slash Film
Without the music of Yoko Kanno, it is safe to say that the world of "Cowboy Bebop" would not be nearly as memorable. Sure, the story of a band of misfits traveling the galaxy is already an exciting premise. However, the composer's music made the episodes come to life in ways that the animation alone cannot accomplish.
Shinichirō Watanabe always knew that Kanno was the one for this genre-bending series, even if she initially wasn't a big fan of jazz, the primary genre of music he had in mind for "Bebop." In an interview with otaku website OTAQuest, the director revealed that her eventually agreeing to compose a jazz score set the tone for the entire series.
"If things really did go that way, and she wasn't involved, then 'Tank!' would have never seen the light of day, and 'Cowboy Bebop' may never have realized its full potential,...
Shinichirō Watanabe always knew that Kanno was the one for this genre-bending series, even if she initially wasn't a big fan of jazz, the primary genre of music he had in mind for "Bebop." In an interview with otaku website OTAQuest, the director revealed that her eventually agreeing to compose a jazz score set the tone for the entire series.
"If things really did go that way, and she wasn't involved, then 'Tank!' would have never seen the light of day, and 'Cowboy Bebop' may never have realized its full potential,...
- 9/26/2022
- by Erin Brady
- Slash Film
Part of the tragedy of "Cowboy Bebop" is how the main characters are so weighed down by their pasts that they're unable to live in the present. The creative team behind the classic anime series didn't share this attitude though. When making the series, "Hajime Yatate" (their collective pseudonym) were all focused on the present, not what lay behind or ahead of them.
Series director Shinichirō Watanabe and producer Masahiko Minami discussed their episode-by-episode attitude at a roundtable for the show's 20th anniversary, held at French convention Japan Expo 2018. Watannabe recounted (transcribed by SakuraBlog):
"I had an episodic series in mind from the get-go. I wanted every episode to feel fresh. And all the aforementioned problems we encountered only reinforced that vision of the series I had... But we still needed a thread, albeit thin, common to all episodes for the setting, world elements, characters, etc."
Those thin threads wound up being (a.
Series director Shinichirō Watanabe and producer Masahiko Minami discussed their episode-by-episode attitude at a roundtable for the show's 20th anniversary, held at French convention Japan Expo 2018. Watannabe recounted (transcribed by SakuraBlog):
"I had an episodic series in mind from the get-go. I wanted every episode to feel fresh. And all the aforementioned problems we encountered only reinforced that vision of the series I had... But we still needed a thread, albeit thin, common to all episodes for the setting, world elements, characters, etc."
Those thin threads wound up being (a.
- 9/26/2022
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
How long will you stick with a new TV show before dropping it? According to acclaimed Japanese anime director Shinichirō Watanabe, the answer for most people is five episodes. He was sure to keep this in mind when heading the production team for "Cowboy Bebop" at animation studio Sunrise.
In "Cowboy Bebop," episodes are called "sessions," a reflection of Yoko Kanno's jazz-flavored score and how important music is to the show's identity. The first session, "Asteroid Blues," has some vague flashes of protagonist Spike Spiegel's past. However, for the most part, the first four sessions are standalone vehicles for introducing the show's primary characters. Session 5, "Ballad of Fallen Angels," is when things start to heat up and Spike's past comes to the forefront.
Watanabe bet a lot on session #5 by pulling back the curtain. In what might be an inside joke about these high stakes, Faye Valentine discovers...
In "Cowboy Bebop," episodes are called "sessions," a reflection of Yoko Kanno's jazz-flavored score and how important music is to the show's identity. The first session, "Asteroid Blues," has some vague flashes of protagonist Spike Spiegel's past. However, for the most part, the first four sessions are standalone vehicles for introducing the show's primary characters. Session 5, "Ballad of Fallen Angels," is when things start to heat up and Spike's past comes to the forefront.
Watanabe bet a lot on session #5 by pulling back the curtain. In what might be an inside joke about these high stakes, Faye Valentine discovers...
- 9/26/2022
- by Devin Meenan
- Slash Film
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