On Saturday, January 11th, a packed room of Anime Los Angeles attendees sat eagerly for the spotlight panel of one of the con’s highest-profile guests, acclaimed anime director Shinichiro Watanabe. Watanabe attended Anime Los Angeles in celebration of both his 30th anniversary as a director and in promotion of his upcoming series, the sci-fi action thriller Lazarus. Today, Shinichiro Watanabe would greet his fans and give a presentation detailing his history working in anime. However, because some of the material Watanabe planned to share was private, there were no photos allowed during the panel. That said, not much from the early portions of Watanabe’s rundown of his inspirations and his body of work were new pieces of art or photos you couldn’t find elsewhere.
The panel was moderated by voice actor Ezra Weisz, who was one of the main hosts tasked with running panels for Anime Los Angeles over the weekend. Watanabe was welcomed on stage with great applause as Eszra ran down all of his major works, going backwards from Space Dandy to Cowboy Bebop. Though, Ezra mispronounced Champloo as “Shampoo.”
Watanabe then began his presentation by sharing his origin story as an anime director, starting with his childhood. He was born in 1965 in the countryside of Kyoto. As a kid he was surrounded by rivers, mountains, and rice paddies. He shares a cute personal photo of himself as a child, and as someone used to seeing Watanabe presenting himself as an adult who presents himself as cool and aloof in both style and attitude, seeing and image of him as a smiling and playful little kid was a pretty fun and interesting contrast. Watanabe explained that when he was very little, Tensai Bakabon was one of his favorite shows, describing it as a popular comedy show that was pretty zany and crazy. He explained that it was like the South Park of his day, which got chuckles from the crowd. In elementary school, his tastes became more sophisticated, he was a fan of Bruce Lee movies and even made his own nunchuck he swung around. Lupin III was Watanabe’s favorite anime in middle school, which is unsurprising considering it’s evident influence on Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy, and now on Lazarus.
In high school, Watanabe started watching more American films, one of his favorites was The Godfather. Robert DeNiro was his favorite actor, and he wanted to grow up and be like him. But he lamented that the only thing he learned from him was to speak in a funny fashion. Dirty Harry was also an influence in Watanabe. For a while, he wanted to be like Clint Eastwood and grow up to be a trigger-happy adult. When Watanabe was done with school he watched the second Urusei Yatsura film, Beautiful Dreamer, which was the film that inspired him to become an anime director and get a job in the industry. But Pierrot, the studio that made Urusei Yatsura was not hiring, so he went to Sunrise instead, which was making Gundam.
Watanabe thought the dress code in the anime industry was pretty casual so he did his job interview in a t-shirt and jeans, but everyone in the interview was suited up. Watanabe just said whatever was in his mind for the interview and they must’ve thought he was an interesting character and he was hired. He was asked what his favorite Sunrise show was and he replied he had none, miracle he was hired. Watanabe’s first job at Sunrise was as a production manager on Layzner and City Hunter. After that he graduated to being an episode director on Dirty Pair and Gundam 0083. After that he got his first co-directing job on Macross Plus. Watanabe then shows a sizzle reel of all of his directed works, including his segments for Animatrix and Genius Party, ending with preview clips from his yet to be released Taisu Project short and Lazarus.
Macross Plus is the only show that Watanabe hasn’t solo-directed. Watanabe was 29 when he directed Macross Plus, and has been working as an anime director for 30 years now. All the staff members on Macross Plus were crazy, it was quite the task herding them, he thought he wouldn’t want to work with them again. The craziest guy of all was Shoji Kawamori. He would get distracted and derail their screenplay meetings by talking about space for hours.
Cowboy Bebop was produced to promote toy spaceships from Bandai. Watanabe was told that as long as you feature a spaceship, it can be any type of show you want. He took advantage to incorporate elements that wouldn’t be in a normal spaceship show, like mobs and gangsters. When Bandai stepped away from being a sponsor the show was almost cancelled but a video label came in clutch to continue producing it.
Later, Watanabe was told the Wachowskis were big fans of Cowboy Bebop, and they asked him to work on The Animatrix. Watanabe described his work on it as a battle against Hollywood. He complained that Hollywood people initially contact you and tell you how much they respect you. But when you present them with something, they tell you to make fixes and changes. So, he’s learned not to take what they say at face value.
In contrast, Watanabe had the most creative freedom working on Samurai Champloo, especially because it was an all-Japanese production. Another project where he was able to flex his creative freedom was in his short on the Genius Party anthology. Watanabe mused that made the “Baby Blue” short as sort of an apology, Another anime director had told him that he’s never killed off a character whereas Watanabe’s works always feature death, so he wanted to make a work where no one dies. He joked that Kids on the Slope was his second work where no one dies, and is one of the few works of his adapted from a manga.
After these projects, Watanabe was tired of doing serious stories, so he wanted to make something completely silly, with no rhyme or reason. He feels Space Dandy shows his childhood influence from Tensai Bakabon, and that they’re on par as zany comedies. After this, he didn’t want to be pigeonholed as someone who made just silly works, so he also made Terror in Resonance. Usually his works are a mix of comedy and serious, but since he depleted all of his comedy in Dandy, Terror is all serious. He believes that going back and forth between watching the two is the ideal experience in which to enjoy them.
After this, Watanabe began part two of his battle against Hollywood with his Blade Runner short, Black Out 2022. Once he was told to do as he pleased, but was then given notes and told to alter and change things. The experience reinforced his belief that you can’t believe anything that Hollywood tells you, take them at their word, and trust that they won’t overmanage his productions.
Amusingly, as Watanabe was talking about Carole and Tuesday there was loud singing coming from the adjacent panel room, so Watanabe joked he’d up the volume to compete. He’s proud of the music in Carole & Tuesday. He believes it’s his most underrated show, and really wants more to see it.
Watanabe then concluded his presentation by talking about his two most recent projects, starting with his Taisu Project short. Watanabe directed one of the segments of Taisu Project, an anthology film produced in China. He noted that the short is done in a different style than previous works. He asked the crowd whether they want to watch the short or have a Q&A, and the crowd chooses to watch the short. While this short was previously been screened at other international animation festivals, it’s screening here may have been its first public screening in the U.S., and nonetheless was a rarely seen treat to get to watch, so the crowd arguably chose wisely. I certainly was glad to get to watch this short, which I truthfully didn’t even know about until Watanabe brought it up during the panel. The one downside to the experience was that the soundproofing between rooms in Anime Los Angeles is incredibly poor, and the panel next door was incredibly loud, adding an extra soundtrack to the generally quiet and subdued short that
The story of Watanabe’s Taisu segment follows a girl searching for other people in a war-torn world. She meets a friendly amnesiac robot who falls off a train. They take another train to a ravaged city and find a young male survivor. Alas, though the two have been searching for human connection, they cannot escape the senseless war around them that continues despite their being no one left to fight and nothing left to fight for. During the dramatic climax where the protagonists attempt futility to escape and save one another from this cycle of violence, the short slowly unravels into time-travel and metaphysical twists that play with perception, time, and memory in ways akin to films like The Sixth Sense and Interstellar.
Stylistically, Watanabe’s Taisu segment is much more subdued than his other works, but there’s a scene of characters bonding through piano and dance that is very him, and the commentary of technology and war is in line with Terror in Resonance and Lazarus. The short certainly was a very different vibe from what you’d usually expect from a Watanabe joint, but it nonetheless demonstrated his deft skill in imbuing characters with a wealth of personality with just a few scenes, his penchant for creating distinct and memorable worlds and aesthetics, and his expertise in crafting a compelling and thematically-rich story. The crowd I saw the short with was enraptured, with several shedding tears and sobbing by the end of it. I overheard much positive buzz and enthusiasm for the short as people were leaving the panel, including someone who professed their amazement of how Watanabe could develop such a tearjerking story in such a short runtime. If nothing else, Taisu truly speaks to Watanabe’s ability to craft a story with such emotional heft and deft that leaves a profound impact and impression on its viewers.
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At Shinichiro Watanabe’s retrospective panel at Anime Los Angeles! Moderated by voice actor Ezra Weisz.
No photos for the rest of the panel. pic.twitter.com/p2bJZeIDAn
— LumRanmaYasha (@LumRanmaYasha) January 11, 2025
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During the screening, ALA staffers went up to have a hushed conversation with Eszra, likely warning him that the panel was getting short on time. Luckily, the short is just under 20 minutes long, and the screening finished just before the panel’s time was about to run over. In closing, Watanabe thanked the crowd and encouraged fans to meet him at his autograph session later that afternoon, and to check out the Lazarus screening tomorrow, where those who hoped to ask him questions would hopefully get a chance to during the Q&A. Leaving the stage to thunderous applause and adoring cheers, Watanabe once again showed he not only knew how to put on an entertaining show, but also how to end things going out with a bang.
