Editing Cowboy Bebop (section)

==Production==
[[File:Shinichiro Watanabe 20090703 Japan Expo 01.jpg|thumb|right|Series director [[Shinichirō Watanabe]] at the 2009 [[Japan Expo]]]]
''Cowboy Bebop'' was developed by animation studio [[Sunrise (company)|Sunrise]] and created by [[Hajime Yatate]], the well-known pseudonym for the collective contributions of Sunrise's animation staff. The leader of the series' creative team was director Shinichirō Watanabe, most notable at the time for directing ''[[Macross Plus]]'' and ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory]]''. Other leading members of Sunrise's creative team were screenwriter [[Keiko Nobumoto]], character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto, mechanical art designer [[Kimitoshi Yamane]], composer [[Yoko Kanno]], and producers Masahiko Minami and Yoshiyuki Takei. Most of them had previously worked together, in addition to having credits on other popular anime titles. Nobumoto had scripted ''Macross Plus'', Kawamoto had designed the characters for ''Gundam'', and Kanno had composed the music for ''Macross Plus'' and ''[[The Vision of Escaflowne]]''. Yamane had not worked with Watanabe yet, but his credits in anime included ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' and ''The Vision of Escaflowne''. Minami joined the project as he wanted to do something different from his previous work on mecha anime.<ref name="AWNcowboy">{{Cite web|last=Patten|first=Fred|date=March 31, 2003|title='Cowboy Bebop: The Movie'... At Last|url=http://www.awn.com/animationworld/cowboy-bebop-movie-last|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004201534/http://www.awn.com/animationworld/cowboy-bebop-movie-last|archive-date=October 4, 2015|access-date=April 19, 2014|publisher=[[Animation World Network]]}}</ref><ref name="DVDcommentary">{{Cite AV media|title=Cowboy Bebop Remix Complete|date=October 5, 2009|language=ja|publisher=[[Bandai Visual|Beez Entertainment]]|edition=Standard|chapter=Season #0|medium=DVD}}</ref>

===Concept===
''Cowboy Bebop'' was Watanabe's first project as solo director, as he had been co-director in his previous works.<ref name="WatanabePanel" /> His original concept was for a movie, and during production he treated each episode as a miniature movie.<ref name="WatanabeInterview2">{{Cite web|title=Animatrix Director: Kid's Story and A Detective's Story|url=http://www.intothematrix.com/rl_cmp/rl_interview_watanabe.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102061952/http://www.intothematrix.com/rl_cmp/rl_interview_watanabe.html|archive-date=January 2, 2013|access-date=January 19, 2015|publisher=The Animatrix official website}}</ref><ref name="DVDfeatures">"From the Small Screen to the Big Screen". {{Cite AV media|title=Cowboy Bebop: The Movie|date=2003|publisher=[[Sony Pictures Home Entertainment|Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment]]|place=[[Culver City, California]]|medium=DVD}}</ref> His main inspiration for ''Cowboy Bebop'' was [[Lupin the 3rd Part I|the first series]] of the anime ''[[Lupin the Third|Lupin III]]'', a crime drama focusing on the exploits of the [[Lupin III (character)|series' titular character]].<ref name="AWNcowboy" /> When developing the series' story, Watanabe began by creating the characters first. He explained, "the first image that occurred to me was one of Spike, and from there I tried to build a story around him, trying to make him cool."<ref name="WatanabePanel">{{Cite news|last=Sevakis|first=Justin|date=August 15, 2013|title=Shinichiro Watanabe focus panel - Otakon 2013|work=[[Anime News Network]]|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2013/otakon/7|url-status=live|access-date=April 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426230941/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/convention/2013/otakon/7|archive-date=April 26, 2014}}</ref> While the original dialogue of the series was kept clean to avoid any profanities, its level of sophistication was made appropriate to adults in a criminal environment.<ref name="AWNcowboy" /> Watanabe described ''Cowboy Bebop'' as "80% serious story and 20% humorous touch".<ref name="WataToon">{{Cite web|last=DuBois|first=Todd|date=August 21, 2013|title=Otakon 2013: Press Conference and Public Q&A With Director Shinichiro Watanabe|url=http://www.toonzone.net/2013/08/otakon-2013-with-shinichiro-watanabe/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140421064325/http://www.toonzone.net/2013/08/otakon-2013-with-shinichiro-watanabe/|archive-date=April 21, 2014|access-date=April 19, 2014|publisher=Toon Zone}}</ref> The comical episodes were harder for the team to write than the serious ones, and though several events in them seemed random, they were carefully planned in advance.<ref name="AODinterview" /> Watanabe conceived the series' ending early on, and each episode involving Spike and Vicious was meant to foreshadow their final confrontation. Some of the staff were unhappy about this approach as a continuation of the series would be difficult. While he considered altering the ending, he eventually settled with his original idea.<!--  ♦♦♦ not used <ref name="WatanabeInterview3"/> ♦♦♦ --> The reason for creating the ending was that Watanabe did not want the series to become like ''[[Star Trek]]'', with him being tied to doing it for years.<ref name="AODinterview" />

===Development===
The project had initially originated with [[Bandai]]'s toy division as a sponsor, with the goal of [[Toyetic|selling spacecraft toys]]. Watanabe recalled his only instruction was "So long as there's a spaceship in it, you can do whatever you want." But upon viewing early footage, it became clear that Watanabe's vision for the series did not match Bandai's. Believing the series would never sell toy merchandise, Bandai pulled out of the project, leaving it in [[development hell]] until sister company [[Bandai Visual]] stepped in to sponsor it. Since there was no need to merchandise toys with the property any more, Watanabe had free rein in the development of the series.<ref name="WatanabePanel" /> Watanabe wanted to design not just a space adventure series for adolescent boys but a program that would also appeal to sophisticated adults.<ref name="AWNcowboy" /> During the making of ''Bebop'', Watanabe often attempted to rally the animation staff by telling them that the show would be something memorable up to three decades later. While some of them were doubtful of that at the time, Watanabe many years later expressed his happiness to have been proven right in retrospect. He joked that if Bandai Visual had not intervened then "you might be seeing me working the supermarket checkout counter right now."<ref name="WatanabePanel" />

The city locations were generally inspired by the cities of [[New York City|New York]] and [[Hong Kong]].<ref name="WatanabeInterview1">{{Cite web|title=The Director's Voice: Shinichiro Watanabe Interview|url=http://www.cowboybebop.org/english/door/interview/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030307023145/http://www.cowboybebop.org/english/door/interview/index.html|archive-date=March 7, 2003|access-date=January 6, 2015|publisher=Cowboy Bebop: The Movie website (English)}}</ref> The atmospheres of the planets and the ethnic groups in ''Cowboy Bebop'' mostly originated from Watanabe's ideas, with some collaboration from set designers [[Isamu Imakake]], [[Shoji Kawamori]], and [[Dai Satō]]. The animation staff established the particular planet atmospheres early in the production of the series before working on the ethnic groups. It was Watanabe who wanted to have several groups of ethnic diversity appear in the series. Mars was the planet most often used in ''Cowboy Bebop''{{'s}} storylines, with Satoshi Toba, the cultural and setting producer, explaining that the other planets "were unexpectedly difficult to use". He stated that each planet in the series had unique features, and the producers had to take into account the characteristics of each planet in the story. For the final episode, Toba explained that it was not possible for the staff to have the dramatic rooftop scene occur on [[Venus]], so the staff "ended up normally falling back to Mars".<ref name="AnimeGuide4p64">{{Cite book|last=[[Newtype]]|title=Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide Volume 4|date=May 21, 2002|publisher=[[Tokyopop]]|isbn=1-931514-08-9|page=64}}</ref> In creating the backstory, Watanabe envisioned a world that was "multinational rather than stateless". In spite of certain American influences in the series, he stipulated that the country had been destroyed decades prior to the story, later saying the notion of the United States as the center of the world repelled him.<ref>{{Cite book|title=カウボーイビバップ Extra Session|trans-title=Cowboy Bebop Extra Session|language=ja|date=January 28, 2005|publisher=Bandai Visual|pages=22–23}}</ref>

The guns on the show were chosen by Watanabe, and in discussion with set designer Isamu Imakake and mechanical designer Kimitoshi Yamane. Setting producer Satoshi Toba said, "They talked about how they didn't want common guns, because that wouldn't be very interesting, and so they decided on these guns."<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/CowboyBebopAnimeGuide2 |title=Cowboy Bebop Anime Guide 2 |pages=79 |language=English}}</ref>

===Music===
{{Main|Music of Cowboy Bebop{{!}}Music of ''Cowboy Bebop''}}
[[File:Yoko Kanno.jpg|thumb|left|[[Yoko Kanno]] in 1999]]
The music for ''Cowboy Bebop'' was composed by Yoko Kanno and comprises genres including jazz, [[Western music (North America)|western]] and jazz.<ref>{{Cite news|date=May 16, 2013|title=Composer Yoko Kanno to Perform Concert at Otakon|work=[[Anime News Network]]|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-05-15/composer-yoko-kanno-to-perform-concert-at-otakon|url-status=live|access-date=April 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426234335/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-05-15/composer-yoko-kanno-to-perform-concert-at-otakon|archive-date=April 26, 2014}}</ref><ref name="AODinterview" /> Kanno formed the [[blues]] and [[jazz]] band [[Seatbelts (band)|Seatbelts]] to perform the music.<ref>{{Cite news|date=December 16, 2002|title=Seatbelts Reunite|work=[[Anime News Network]]|url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2002-12-16/seatbelts-reunite|url-status=live|access-date=April 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426234412/http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2002-12-16/seatbelts-reunite|archive-date=April 26, 2014}}</ref> According to Kanno, the music was one of the first aspects to begin production, before most of the characters, story, or animation had been finalized.<ref name="AODinterview" /> 

Watanabe said Kanno operated independently: "She gets inspired on her own, follows up on her own imagery, and comes to me saying 'this is the song we need for ''Cowboy Bebop''{{'}}, and composes something completely on her own."<ref name="WataToon" /> She was sometimes surprised at how her music was mixed into the show, at times wishing it had been used elsewhere, but felt that none of its uses were "inappropriate". She was pleased with the working environment, finding the team more relaxed than other teams she had worked with.<ref name="DVDcommentary" />

Watanabe said Kanno's music inspired him to create new scenes, which in turn inspired Kanno to create more music, including music she had not been commissioned for. According to Watanabe, while this normally would be  "unforgivable and unacceptable", it was a "big hit" with ''Cowboy Bebop''. Watanabe described their collaboration "a game of catch between the two of us in developing the music and creating the TV series".<ref name="WataToon" /><ref name="Cowboy Bebop music book">{{Cite book|last=Bridges|first=Rose|url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/yoko-kannos-cowboy-bebop-soundtrack-9781501325854/|title=Yoko Kanno's Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack|date=2017|publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=9781501325854|location=New York|access-date=November 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702111840/http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/yoko-kannos-cowboy-bebop-soundtrack-9781501325854|archive-date=July 2, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Cowboy Bebop'' music has been released across seven soundtrack albums, two singles and EPs, and two compilations through label [[JVCKenwood Victor Entertainment|Victor Entertainment]].<ref name="CowboyCrunchy">{{Cite web|last=Green, Scott|date=November 13, 2012|title=Out of Print 'Cowboy Bebop' Soundtracks Reissued|url=http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2012/11/13/out-of-print-cowboy-bebop-soundtracks-reissued|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116051742/http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2012/11/13/out-of-print-cowboy-bebop-soundtracks-reissued|archive-date=November 16, 2012|access-date=January 8, 2015|publisher=[[Crunchyroll]]}}</ref>