The adventures of space bounty hunters, also known as Cowboy Bebop, have been an inspiration to many for almost 26 years. The series created by Shinichirō Watanabe is considered one of the best anime series out there to this day. It had twenty-six episodes and ran for almost a year, but it still managed to leave a mark on the anime industry.
The mark was so big that Cowboy Bebop fans are still waiting for any kind of spin-off series or movie of the story, even after 26 years. While there were some hopes of potential sequels and spin-offs, nothing was confirmed until now, when Koichi Yamadera, the voice actor of the protagonist, Spike Spiegel, gave fans the bad news.
The voice actor thinks that although there was a chance for Cowboy Bebop to make a grand comeback into the anime world, the creators should not continue with it because of the deaths of Unsho Ishizuka, the voice actor of Jet Black, and Keiko Nobumoto, the screenwriter.
Koichi Yamadera’s Feelings for Cowboy Bebop
A few months ago, the official website of Cowboy Bebop concluded the 25th anniversary with a special interview with Spike Spiegel’s voice actor. During the interview, Yamadera talked about his work in the 26-episode series and what Cowboy Bebop meant to him. He even confessed that he does not think that any of his roles can surpass Spike’s.
Yamadera stated:
I’m sure all the staff think so too [on surpassing the series]. It’s hard to list many series I can say I’m truly proud of, or are my most important work, after all. I have a lot of feelings about Bebop.
According to the voice actor, not only him but the entire staff thinks that a work like Cowboy Bebop cannot be surpassed. Not only that, he even explained that there is no other work, which makes him feel proud as much as Cowboy Bebop did. From the music to the characters, everything about the series was perfect.
Spike’s Voice Actor Shares a Bad News About Cowboy Bebop’s Spinoff
While talking about the importance of Cowboy Bebop, Yamadera explained that although there were many ideas for the spinoff series and movies of Shinichiro Watanabe’s masterpiece, all of them were either dropped or put on hold. He even stated that he did not like the idea of working on the series without Ishizuku and Nobumoto.
Yamadera explained:
Following the series’ release, they indeed decided to produce the Heaven’s Door movie set during the events of the latter half of Cowboy Bebop — so I do think there were several spin-off ideas — but I don’t think we should do that given the passing of Unsho Ishizuka and Keiko Nobumoto.
According to the voice actor, he desperately wants to work on a Cowboy Bebop project, but he knows that it won’t be the same without the voice actor of Jet Black and the screenwriter.
Therefore, he thinks that it is good that the series is not going forward without the people who made it one of the best anime series of all time.
You can watch Cowboy Bebop on Hulu and Crunchyroll.
