Shinichiro Watanabe is one of the most acclaimed anime directors of all time. His most lauded work, Cowboy Bebop, throws audiences head-first into a jazz-infused sci-fi world, filled with grungy aesthetics and moody characters all trying to survive. The director did it again with Space Dandy, another sci-fi series that acts as a love letter to jazz and funk music. His most recent hit, Lazarus (which recently dropped its final episode), also gave fans another soft dose of sci-fi. As a result, you’d be forgiven for thinking that his favorite movie, and the one that influenced his work the most, would be a sci-fi classic… but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Shinichiro Watanabe just released a new book, titled Watanabe Shinichiro no Sekai Cowboy Bebop Kara Lazarus Made (Shinichirō Watanabe’s World: From Cowboy Bebop to Lazarus). As well as diving into his creative process and giving some behind-the-scenes snippets from his most popular series, Watanabe also revealed his Top 100 movies, and the top spot might surprise you.
Shinichiro Watanabe’s Favorite Movie is a Martial Arts Classic
Shinichiro Watanabe’s list top 10 movies is filled with certified classics. Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry is 4th, while Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samouraï is 5th. The film that you’d assume to be his biggest influence, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, was in 8th. But it wasn’t a sci-fi film that held the top spot. As well as transporting audiences to outer space (and ancient Japan in Samurai Champloo) and acting as a crash course in the jazz and hip hop genres, Watanabe’s biggest works all have on thing in common: phenomenal fight scenes.
We shouldn’t be too surprised, then, that his favorite movie of all time is the Bruce Lee 1973 classic, Enter the Dragon. This is far from the first time Watanabe has declared his love for Enter the Dragon. Unfortunately, though, the director still hasn’t explained exactly why the film has inspired him so much.
Enter the Dragon is an absolute classic of the martial arts genre. The film cemented Bruce Lee as a pop culture icon. Enter the Dragon blended Bruce Lee’s iconic martial arts with the spy and espionage genres. Lee played, well… Lee, a Shaolin martial artist who works with the American government to infiltrate an opium lord’s island fortress through the guise of a fighting tournament.
Enter the Dragon‘s Influence on Watanabe
As previously mentioned, Shinichiro Watanabe didn’t directly reveal why Enter the Dragon is one of his biggest influences. But, looking at his filmography, it doesn’t take much detective work to see the influence. Spike Spiegel’s fighting style in Cowboy Bebop feels highly emulative of Bruce Lee’s in Enter the Dragon. The character of Spike also appears to be heavily influenced by Lee’s persona as a philosopher and martial artist.
Shinichiro Watanabe has yet to do an Enter the Dragon-esque fighting tournament series. But, with Enter the Dragon being such a big influence on his work, we’re now desperate to see it in the future. Shinichirō Watanabe’s World: From Cowboy Bebop to Lazarus is currently available in Japan. There is currently no word on an English release.
H/T: Kadokawa
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