Matt Schley
May 28, 2025 
Polish up your Japanese reading skills, kids, because this one is going to be one to pick up. Shinichiro Watanabe, the legendary director behind Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and currently Lazarus, has released a memoir covering his entire career.
The book, published by Japan’s ele-king, is called The Fantastic World of Shinichiro Watanabe, and covers all his animated work, from Bebop to Lazarus. The book also features a list of Watanabe’s favorite 100 albums — and considering how important a role music plays in his anime, it’s sure to be a good list.
It also features interviews about Watanabe from folks like Haruomi Hosono, Kamasi Washington, Flying Lotus, Bonobo and Thundercat.
The book just hit shelves in Japan yesterday.
Hey English-language publishers: I know someone who’d be happy to translate this for a reasonable fee (cough: me).
Meanwhile, it’s not exactly a memoir, but we do have an in-depth interview with Watanabe from back in 2016.
Source: Natalie
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