Summary
Shinichiro Watanabe is a titan in the anime scene, and his name is attached to some of the most era-defining anime shows of the past decades. From thrillers and noir mysteries to dystopian adventures, Watanabe’s work is always characterised by sleek animation, complex, grey characters, thought-provoking themes, and let’s not forget, an incomparable music score to boot.
Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop count as one of his greatest achievements as a director, continuing to influence and inspire more than 20 years after their release. As such, we believe that it’s the perfect time for us to rank the best anime of Watanabe’s celebrated filmography.
8Carole And Tuesday
2019
Following closely in the footsteps of 2012’s Kids on the Slope, Carole and Tuesday is another fantastic and emotionally impactful musical slice-of-life anime. Unlike Kids on the Slope, Carole and Tuesday take place in a futuristic world where humanity has colonised other planets.
But at the expense of such technological advancements, creative fields like music have been taken over by AI, something that eerily mirrors what’s going on today. The story focuses on Carole and Tuesday, two girls from different social classes who band together as a musical duo. Notwithstanding the amazing songs that the show offers, Carole and Tuesday is a sweet story where two girls seek authenticity in a technologically artificial world.
7Macross Plus
1994
Macross Plus is a four-episode OVA of sci-fi blockbuster epic, Macross, and would prove to be Watanabe’s directorial debut. Acting as co-director alongside Shoji Kawamori, Macross Plus offers a well-paced narrative revolving around grudges and friendships, with excellent animation and a soundtrack by Yoko Kanno (who also worked on Cowboy Bebop).
This OVA depicts the intensifying rivalry between pilots Isamu and Guld, who once started out as friends. The two grew distant from one another due to competing to be the next variable fighter, only to be forced back together to stop Sharon Apple, an AI performer that turned rogue. Despite the lamentable circumstances, the conflict helped mend the relationship between Isamu and Guld in this poignant yet entertaining action adventure.
6Terror In Resonance
2014
Terror in Resonance gifts you with a concise, gripping story of revenge and truth in its 11-episode run. With an emotional, touching soundtrack by the accomplished Yoko Kanno, the anime first presents itself as acat-and-mouse thriller, but gradually shifts into unveiling the motivations behind the reprehensible actions of its two main protagonists.
The anime opens with Nine and Twelve breaking into a nuclear facility and stealing an atomic bomb, before disappearing. Nine and Twelve soon spread a video threatening to detonate the bomb and destroy Tokyo unless their riddle is solved. Meanwhile, the duo hide in plain sight as newly enrolled high school students and strong-arm a classmate, Lisa, to help them in their terrorist activities. The story uncovers Nine and Twelve’s harrowing backstory, leading to the sad, bittersweet ending that concludes their fight for the truth to be known.
5Space Dandy
Animated byStudio Bones, Space Dandy is as fun as it appears. In this sci-fi comedy space opera, Space Dandy is perfect for those thirsting for a lighthearted, though no less epic, swashbuckling space adventure with equally comical and larger-than-life characters.
Space Dandy chronicles the travels of Dandy, a bounty hunter who regularly gets into the silliest mishaps in his mission to discover new alien species throughout the galaxy. He is accompanied by his sidekicks Meow and QT, who are great characters in their own right. All in all, Space Dandy is a breath of fresh air, a parody of Western-themed space anime that makes fun of itself and doesn’t take things too seriously.
4Kids On The Slope
2012
Unlike the stylish, jazzy gun-toting adventures that have marked most of Watanabe’s filmography, Kids on the Slope is a more laid-back,slice-of-lifemusic anime that explores the concept of friendship, religious themes, and finding yourself.
Kids on the Slope delves into the story of Kaoru Nishimi, a shy high school student who regularly switches schools. He meets a religious classmate with a totally different background to his own named Sentaro, who finds solace in jazz music away from his difficult upbringing. The two soon bond and connect through jazz music in this down-to-earth coming-of-age anime that anyone can enjoy.
3Lazarus
2025
Lazarus is a jazzy, noir mystery thriller that really echoes Cowboy Bebop when it comes to the overall feel of the show. Set in the year 2052, humanity has gone through leaps and bounds in technology and medicine. One of these miracles is a painkiller, Hapna, that seemingly has no side effects.
However, when Hapna’s creator, Skinner, announced that he’d designed the drug to mutate and kill its host within three years, the show’s characters were put in a race against time to stop billions of people from dying. With only a 30-day time limit to find Skinner and the cure, the Lazarus task force is assembled and moves to locate Skinner and discover his motivations.
2Samurai Champloo
2004
With a hip-hop soundtrack by the legendary Nujabes, Samurai Champloo goes far beyond your averagesamurai anime, gifting you with top-notch character progression, sick swordfight sequences, and a well-written plot. The show centres on the journey of three characters, unveiling their struggles and backstories in a masterful and poignant way.
As mentioned above, the story revolves around Fuu, Mugen, and Jin. Fuu, a former waitress, manages to wrangle two skilled samurai, Mugen and Jin, to help her in her quest to find a mysterious samurai who ‘smells like sunflowers’. The trio begin to build a rapport with one another despite their odd and shaky start, as well as encounter others who help these characters discover something new about themselves along the way.
1Cowboy Bebop
1998
Watanabe’s magnum opus,Cowboy Bebop has maintained its legacy as one of anime’s greats. Like most of Watanabe’s work, Cowboy Bebop has a defining aesthetic where jazzy, noir retropunk meets Western. However, it’s the layered characters and their personal struggles that make the show so interesting.
The plot takes place in 2071 and follows main character Spike Spiegel, a criminal-turned-bounty hunter who captures criminals alongside his ragtag bunch of fellow bounty hunters aboard his ship, the Bebop. As the story unfolds, we learn more about Spike’s dark past as an assassin and how the old ghosts he tries to keep buried have a knack for resurfacing.
