Watanabe was born in
Kyoto in 1965. After joining the
Japanese animation studio
Sunrise, he supervised the episode direction and storyboards of numerous Sunrise anime, and soon made his directorial debut as co-director of the well-received
Macross update,
Macross Plus. His next effort, and first full directorial venture, was the 1998 series
Cowboy Bebop, which received universal praise and is considered by many to be one of the greatest anime series of all time. It was followed by the 2001 film ''
Knockin' on Heaven's Door. In 2003, Watanabe directed his first American-produced anime, the short films Kid's Story and A Detective Story'', both parts of
The Wachowskis'
The Animatrix, an anthology of animated short stories from
The Matrix. His next directorial effort was the critically acclaimed 2004 anime series
Samurai Champloo which began broadcasting on
Fuji Television in Japan on May 19, 2004. Following the release of
Samurai Champloo, Watanabe directed a short film called
Baby Blue, which was released on July 7, 2007 as a segment of the
anthology film Genius Party. In recent years, he has been active as a creative music producer, overseeing the 2004 film
Mind Game, 2008's
Michiko & Hatchin, and supervising the storyboards for episode 12 of
Tetsuwan Birdy: Decode. In 2012, he directed the anime series
Kids on the Slope (Japanese title:
Sakamichi no Apollon), a coming-of-age story about young jazz musicians, which premiered in April 2012 on Fuji TV's
Noitamina block. In 2009, it was announced that Watanabe would be working as an associate producer on the upcoming live-action adaptation of
Cowboy Bebop, alongside his fellow Sunrise staff members
Kenji Uchida and
Keiko Nobumoto. During
FicZone in
Granada,
Spain, it was reported that Watanabe was collaborating with anime studio
BONES on a space science-fiction comedy.
BONES subsequently confirmed that the studio was working with Watanabe, but did not confirm the genre of the series. In late 2013, the original trailers for
Space Dandy were released to the public. The dubbed version premiered on
Adult Swim on its
Toonami block on January 4, 2014 in the
United States, hours before airing in Japan. He is frequently ranked among Japan's best animation directors. Watanabe directed the anime short film
Blade Runner Black Out 2022, which was released in 2017. On November 29, 2018, it was announced that he would be creative producer of
Blade Runner: Black Lotus, an anime series produced for
Adult Swim and
Crunchyroll. He received an associate producer credit on the
Netflix adaptation of Cowboy Bebop but was not involved in its production and criticized it after its release. In 2024, while promoting the upcoming series Lazarus, Watanabe confirmed in an interview with ANN that all of his original projects, including both sci-fi and historical shows, take place in the same universe. However, he did not elaborate on any specific chronology or canon. == Works ==