100 Days of Anime: Day Ninety Nine – Shinichirō Watanabe

Shinichirō Watanabe
Birthday: May 24, 1965
Notable Works: Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy

I’ve already spent six days and 5,306 words on Shinichirō Watanabe. He is undoubtedly one of my favorite directors in anime, but at this point I’m not entirely sure what else I have to say.

We have thoroughly explored his motifs. He likes trios. He likes Western influences. He believes music is a universal language, and he tries to weave it into the core of his shows. He defies genre labels. Perhaps the only motif we haven’t discussed is his tendency to focus on the eyes of his characters, but while a noteworthy creative thumbprint, there’s not much to say about that.

The Internet doesn’t cough up a huge amount of information on Watanabe like it does for Miyazaki and Takahata and even Kon. He was born in Kyoto. He started at Sunrise.

Like a lot of the team from Bebop and Champloo, he tends to run in the same crowd. He’s worked on a lot of the same shows. He worked on Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, The Vision of Escaflowne and Eureka Seven. He also served as music producer on Sayo Yamamoto’s Michiko to Hatchin and Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. Over here stateside, he’s also noted for directing two shorts in The Animatrix and 2017’s Blade Runner Black Out 2022.

Way back in 2005, Watanabe did an interview with Newtype. He was asked what the worst part about being director is.

“It actually kind of sucks having to be a director,” he said. “Once you do it, you discover how hard it really is. This is no kind of a job for a human being, let me tell you. I think I ought to quit, but I can’t really do anything else!”

It seems to me that Watanabe has a pretty strong grip on the reins whether he likes them or not. I remember listening to a Kevin Smith podcast several years ago, and he characterized the job of a director as knowing what he wants and being able to make decisions quickly. And to that end I think Watanabe is at his best when he sets himself up for a challenge. Watanabe’s best works seem to come about when he sets out for an ambitious, high concept finish line and when he stacks his team with creative, talented, challenging people.

His next work (produced at Bones) is called Carol & Tuesday, and it’s slated for a 2019 release. The promo art doesn’t look quite like anything he’s ever done before, and that’s got me excited. The tagline right now translates to “The two met and created a song. No one knew what a miracle it would bring.” Eisaku Kubonouchi is the character designer, Aya Watanabe is the screenwriter, and Flying Dog is handling the music.

So that’s it. That’s all I’ve got on Watanabe, but I think it’s in line with his artistic spirit to shut up when I’m out of new words and ideas. This is the last director in the series, and we’ve got just one more post to go in the challenge. This is probably the last time I’ll be typing this for awhile: Until tomorrow!