Shinichiro Watanabe is one of the biggest names in anime, and for good reason. For over 30 years now, Watanabe has combined gorgeous animation with incredible music and overall direction to create projects that excel on nearly every level, and while not every project he works on is a hit, they almost always have something great to offer.
Few anime directors are held in higher regard than Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop), and even after so many years, he can still capture the attention of everyone in the world whenever he puts out something new. There’s never been a director quite like Shinichiro Watanabe, and there’s plenty of merit in measuring how all of his shows rank against each other.
8) Lazarus
In MAP’s Lazarusthree years after the distribution of a miracle drug called Hapna, its creator, Dr. Skinner, reveals that it will kill everyone who took it over time. The first wave of deaths is only a month away, so it falls onto Lazarus, a covert team of former criminals assembled by the government, to track down Skinner for a cure to Hapna before humanity goes extinct.
As the first new Shinichiro Watanabe project in six years and one that clearly played into Cowboy Bebop’s iconic aesthetic, there was plenty of hype for Lazarus’ premiere, and it initially seemed to live up to that hype. That was short-lived, however, as between the poor pacing and its lack of urgency, terrible English dub, and often nonsensical story decisions, Lazarus ultimately failed to do anything other than look good, and it’s hard to see it as anything other than Watanabe’s worst anime, by far.
7) Terror In Resonance
In MAP’s Terror in ResonanceLisa Mishima’s usual routine of being bullied by her classmates and abused at home is suddenly interrupted by two new boys who transfer into her school and take a sudden interest in her. As it turns out, though, the boys are a pair of geniuses named Nine and Twelve who masquerade as the terrorist group Sphinx, and Lisa can’t help but find herself drawn to them as they slowly carry out their revenge against the government.
Terror in Resonance is probably one of the most gorgeous of Shinichiro Watanabe’s modern anime, and the mystery of Nine and Twelve’s past is plenty engaging from start to finish. The problem, however, is that the mystery is more interesting than the characters involved, as the main duo never gets much in the way of development, and Lisa added nothing to the story to the point that she probably should have been written out. Add in how much the short runtime hurts the pacing, and it’s another series with little more than wasted potential.
6) Kids On The Slope
MAP’s Kids on the Slope stars Kaoru Nishimi, an introverted boy who moves to a new city as he enters high school. There, Kaoru befriends Sentaro Kawabuchi, a kind delinquent who introduces Kaoru to the world of jazz music, and Ritsuko Mukae, Sentaro’s childhood friend, whom Kaoru develops feelings for, and everything that follows is the heartwarming and often turbulent events that come about from their friendship and everything they’re struggling with in life.
Much like Lazarus and Terror in Resonance, Kids on the Slope suffers from its short runtime, especially as that led to many important details from the manga being cut out of the anime, but even then, it feels like a far more complete story, thanks to how much development the main cast is given in such a short time. Add in the stellar animation and some of the best music of any Shinichiro Watanabe project, and Kids on the Slope is one of the only times Watanabe succeeded with a short run-time.
5) Space Dandy
Bones Film’s Space Dandy stars Dandy, a dandy guy in space who works as a largely unsuccessful alien bounty hunter alongside the robot QT and the cat-like alien Meow. The three of them travel across the galaxy in search of bounties and women, the latter being mostly Dandy’s priority, and their travels often get them involved in some sort of bizarre and abstract adventure.
Not only is Space Dandy one of Shinichiro Watanabe’s most visually creative anime, with many episodes featuring guest animators who add their specific styles to the series. The writing is also phenomenal, as it never fails to deliver on incredible, abstract comedy with occasional moments of genuine heart. Space Dandy wasn’t a big hit when it first premiered, but it’s easy to see why it’s now held in such high regard so many years after the fact.
4) Samurai Champloo
Mangolog Samurai Champloo takes place in Edo-era Japan and opens with two swordsmen: the brash and sloppy Mugen, and the stoic and orderly Jin, trying to kill each other over a petty fight. When Mugen and Jin end up in trouble with the law and are sentenced to death, a girl named Fuu manages to get them out of trouble and has them repay the favor by helping her find a man who smells of sunflowers, thus beginning a journey across the country for the unlikely trio.
As the first anime Shinichiro Watanabe created after Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo has a lot of the same stellar visual flair, but not only does the change in setting allow it to stand out on its own, but the main cast, despite some superficial similarities to Cowboy Bebop’s cast, are all uniquely entertaining as they slowly grow into a found-family of their own. Samurai Champloo isn’t held in the same regard as Cowboy Bebopbut it’s just as fun and dramatic, and that makes it just as fun to watch.
3) Macross Plus
Triangle Staff’s Macross Plus is the official canon sequel to the legendary sci-fi anime Super Dimension Fortress Macross. 30 years after the war with the Zentradi, the U.N. Spacy is testing new military aircraft on the colony planet Eden, and the ace pilots brought in to test them are the loose cannon Isamu Alva Dyson and the stern and serious Guld Goa Bowman. Unfortunately, the longstanding rivalry between Isamu and Bowman makes things unnecessarily complicated, but they’ll have to put aside their differences when things behind the scenes threaten to spiral into another war.
While Macross Plus is far more grounded than its predecessors, it is the dramatic character work of Isamu and Bowman’s relationship always fun to watch. They’re given a surprising amount of depth in such a short time, and the animation and direction are easily among Shinichiro Watanabe’s best work, even being considered revolutionary for the time it was made. Macross Plus was Watanabe’s directorial debut, and it made it clear that he was a legend in the making.
2) Cowboy Bebop
Sunrise’s Cowboy Bebop takes place in a futuristic setting where humanity has begun to live out in space, and going right along with that has been a new wave of crime that necessitates the use of bounty hunters called Cowboys. Among those Cowboys are series protagonist Spike Spiegel and the rest of the crew of the Bebopand the series follows their episodic adventures chasing after bounties to make a living while occasionally confronting the demons of their pasts.
With its stellar writing, gorgeous animation, direction, and masterful use of Western themes in its writing and overall aesthetic, Cowboy Bebop stands out as one of the most unique and engaging anime of all time, with an incredible cast to flesh it out at every turn. Not only is Cowboy Bebop Shinichiro Watanabe’s most iconic anime, but it’s a series often considered one of the greatest anime of all time. Even after 25 years, it deserves to be recognized.
1) Carole & Tuesday
Bones Film’s Carole & Tuesday stars Carole Stanley and Tuesday Simmons, an orphan and a runaway who become friends on a terraformed Mars over their love of music. With Carole on keyboard and Tuesday on guitar, the two become a duo with the hopes of taking Mars by storm, and despite the odds stacked against them, including an increasingly harsh political climate that threatens them and their friends, they just might have a shot at it.
Carole & Tuesday isn’t as coherent or consistent as some of Shinichiro Watanabe’s other works, especially with how messy its second half gets, but the series still shines with its political messaging, heartfelt character work, and especially with its amazing music, so it’s still fun to watch despite (and somewhat because of) how flawed it is. Objectively speaking, Cowboy Bebop is a much better anime, but with how emotionally resonant Carole & Tuesday can be, it’s easy to see it as the best Shinichiro Watanabe anime, by far.
