Shinichiro Watanabe is an institution in anime. And he knows it. Serious, attentive, calculating, he listens with extreme attention to questions while trying to control all aspects of the conversation. To the author of cult works like ‘Cowboy Bebop‘ either ‘Samurai Champloo‘ … He likes to clearly express his opinions and points of view. He speaks slowly, meditates first and leaves nothing to chance. He only has one rule, if you have to take photos you have to wait for him to put on his sunglasses. It’s not vanity, it’s a director’s mania, to control the story as much as possible. And he’s been doing it since the 80s.
Watanabe has gone through the Manga Fair like a true institution, even if he still has many stories to tell. This year he released his latest anime, “Lazarus”, a shocking story about a drug sold as the great cure for pain, but after administering it as a miracle painkiller, its side effect is discovered to be death after three years. “Before, my biggest influence was cinema, but as I got older, I saw this reality, and the news, They are much more powerful at telling stories. Reality is neither dystopian nor utopian, it is perfect mix and that’s what I want for my animation,” Watanabe said in statements to ABC.
His introduction to the world of anime was something more practical than professional. Animated films were much better than traditional cinema because they were cheaper. For the same budget, you can create an outlandish sci-fi story as a realistic live-action story limited to a single room. Watanabe had no doubts. “I remember seeing ‘Urusei Yatsura II. Beautiful dreamer and be mesmerized by what animation could achieve. From then on, I knew what I wanted to do and completely forgot my old dream of being a conventional director,” he recalls.
In 1997, he released the title that would mark his career and make it an important step in anime, “Cowboy Bebop.” A mix of western, science fiction and noir with existentialist overtones, the story introduces us to a group of bounty hunters who travel the galaxy in search of adventure. There were only 26 episodes, but its impact still lasts today. Even Netflix made a live-action version in 2021, which he didn’t get to see beyond the first episode because, in the first scene, he already realized that if he hadn’t directed it, it wasn’t “Cowboy Bebop.” “When I started, I insisted on creating stories that weren’t of interest to local audiences, that weren’t made by Japanese for Japanese. I like to see that time has proven me right and that now manga and anime are massively consumed all over the world,” he says.
‘Cowboy Bebop’ Creator Reveals His Fascination with Horror and His Vision for the Future of Anime
The key to the anime phenomenon It has nothing to do with the stories told, nor with the references used to tell them, nor with the creation of pop icons recognizable to all, but rather with the transmission of universal emotions. “If you tell the story of two friends who meet and one disappears or one turns against the other, it provokes universal emotions in characters recognizable around the world. It doesn’t matter if it’s sci-fi, western or horror stories, the characters should always be at the center and experience the story through their emotions,” says Watanabe.
The future of anime
What is clear to him is that even though he has just turned 60, he still has a multitude of stories to tell. And now he has an obsession: telling a good horror story. “When I was little, I couldn’t watch horror films. I remember titles like “The Exorcist” or “Suspiria” and that I was unable to approach them. However, as I got older, I fell in love with them and now I want to explain my story, I have this need,” he emphasizes. He cannot reveal what the plot will be about, but it will be shocking. “I think the fear I felt was actually a curiosity, a deep interest that I was able to discover as I got older. It’s a great genre in times like these,” he says.
He sees the future of anime with great optimism and has no doubt that it will continue to gain audiences. “Being in a room like Barcelona is incredible. The enthusiasm of the fans is wonderful,” he says. What he enjoys most about the creative process is the moment when the idea is realized in animation and combined with the music so that all the elements of the film are established. And a dream for his next works, being able to adapt a work of Philip K. Dick. “As you get older, you think more about things that happen to you and your environment, your experiences and your emotions. With this, you gain more resources to express yourself and your stories become richer,” he concludes.
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