This page uses content from the Shinichiro Watanabe biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

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

Shinichiro Watanabe (渡辺 信一郎 Watanabe Shin'ichirō, born May 24, 1965 in Kyoto, Japan) is a director and writer. He is most well-known for the anime works 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, and jazz, among other influences, which is set in space. In Samurai Champloo Watanabe mixes the cultures of Okinawa, hip-hop, modern-day Japan, and samurai.

Career

After joining the Japanese animation production company 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.

Notable Works

Writer/Director

• (1998)
• (2001)
• Kid's Story (Part of The Animatrix) (2003)
• A Detective Story (Part of The Animatrix) (2003)
• (2004)

Co-Director

• Macross Plus (マクロスプラス) (1994)

Music Director

• Mind Game (マインド ゲーム) (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.

External links

• Shinichiro Watanabe at the Anime News Network Encylopedia

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the biographical information on this page under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.