On paper, Cowboy Bebop reads like something John Wayne, Elmore Leonard, and Philip K. Dick came up with during a wild, all-night whiskey bender.
The response from critics and fans may have sounded hyperbolic—the word “masterpiece” was thrown around a great deal—but the praise was justified. Watanabe had created a gorgeous tale of morality, romance, and violence–a dark look at the lives of outlaws that’s shot like an independent film. It was unlike anything the genre had seen before. It even approached its music differently. Countless filmmakers, animators, musicians—they’ve all been drawn into the orbit of Watanabe’s space-age cowboy western.
As producer Sean Akins explains, Watanabe’s show “created a whole new world.” “It’s hard for me to quantify the impact that I think it has had”.
