With its likable cast, interesting stories, and hip tone, Cowboy Bebop is regularly mentioned as one of the greatest anime series ever created. Considering such weighty accolades, it would be easy to think that the anime is based on either an award-winning, or popular, or deep and serious manga that inspired a big-budget studio to turn it into animation gold. The reality is that its development from concept to finished product was based on much less lofty influences than anyone could have imagined.
From its very first episode in 1998, Cowboy Bebop set itself apart as the anime, that defied fans' expectations of the genre. For 26 episodes, Cowboy Bebop detailed the adventures of Spike, Jet, Faye, Ein, and Ed. Besides the content, its iconic mix of science fiction and old-school crime drama, the series is known for its gorgeous animation and Yoko Kanno's stunning soundtrack. Intuitively, to make such a well-made series, it would make sense for there to be a rich, and well-formulated backstory behind its creation. Something that would inspire its creators yet serves as the core to keep its ideas from going too far. The flow of the series suggests that it was not based on random ideas that have no connection. Doing so would be a recipe for disaster, but Cowboy Bebop was no disaster.
However, in a 2013 panel discussion at Otakon (originally reported on by Anime News Network), series creator Shinichiro Watanabe revealed how Cowboys Bebop came to be, and it was not as serious-mined as one would expect for such a ground-breaking anime series. According to Watanabe not only was randomness a significant influence in its development but that randomness was based on a rather cynical reason to create the series. According to Watanabe, Cowboy Bebop came about because the toy division of the Japanese entertainment conglomerate Bandai wanted to sell more toy spaceships. So, it hired Watanabe to make, in essence, a toy unboxing video wrapped in a story, and gave him absolute creative freedom to complete the project. As Watanabe went on to say, Bandai said he was free to do whatever he wanted for the series, "so long as there's a spaceship in it." Being Watanabe's first solo directorial project, he took the opportunity and spun it into gold.
Cowboy Bebop Was First Created to Sell Spaceship Toys
As per their request, he included plenty of spaceships. In fact, Cowboy Bebop debuted a number of iconic spaceships throughout its run, and even included the name of the crew's spaceship in the anime's title. Once Bandai's requirements were met, Watanabe used the freedom they gave him to put into effect many of the ideas he's been thinking about doing for a series but was otherwise not able to do as an assistant or co-director. After reviewing some early footage, Bandai Toy's balked. As Bandai put it, the show would "never sell spaceships" in its current form. Subsequently, it pulled out of the project leaving the completion of the series in serious doubt. Ultimately, another Bandai division, Bandai Visual, took over the project and financed the series to its conclusion.
Bandai Visual rescue of Cowboy Bebop illustrates its understanding that artistic freedom and a producer's trust in the creators are sometimes all that is necessary in creating a classic hit. As Watanabe joked, had Bandai Visual not come to his rescue, he might have ended up working in a supermarket. Indeed, and the anime world would have never been the same if Cowboy Bebop had ended earlier.
Source: AnimeNewsNetwork