 According
to Toshihiro Kawamoto, character designer for the Cowboy Bebop series,
one of the lead characters changed genders during pre-production and was
based on a key member of the production staff. The Bebop team's computer
expert, Ed, "...was actually a boy in a totally different style, not looking
like Ed the girl at all," said Kawamoto. "In the process of making the
first episode, the producer decided to make Ed a girl. The boy that originally
was intended to be Ed was in the fifth episode - check it." In that episode
there's a sequence where a group of boys are stealing things from a convenience
store, and the original Ed is one of them. And that character is based
on Yoko Kanno, the composer who created Bebop's dynamic music score. "The
director is a friend of Kanno, and Ed's personality is based on Kanno.
I had no idea who Kanno was until the director told me. I know the Escaflowne
theme song and that was the only thing i could relate to her, except her
personality. Ed doesn't look like her but she sounds like her. If you ever
meet Yoko Kanno you'll think oh my God, it's Ed." |
 Kawamoto
is a former salaryman who grew up as an anime fan in high school. The admitted
Gundam lover set his schoolboy goal as becoming an animator. When he grew
up, he got some experience on the famed Daicon films, then started to work
with a studio that handled animation for the Urusei Yatsura series. "I
love my job," he said. "When I was a fan I could only watch anime, but
now I'm in the field and I'm very happy with my job." His jobs included
work on Ghost in the Shell, his beloved Gundam and Escaflowne. Kawamoto
was pleased when he mentioned those titles and fans cheered, saying "You're
easy to please - and it's great that you know all about this." |
 Then
came his character design work on Cowboy Bebop, which started in 1997.
"It was a little to spicy for Japanese TV," Kawamoto recalled. "When we
finished the series, it was during the Pokemon seizure incident and some
high school stabbings in Japan. When Cowboy Bebop was done, the television
restrictions were tightened up for a year, and we weren't able to
show it on TV because it was a little bit too hot. So Bebop went on the
Wowow satellite network; think of it as The Sopranos going on Home Box
Office because the show was too racy and violent for broadcast TV. In the
same way that The Sopranos became a hit without a commercial broadcast,
Bebop grew in popularity, despite being shown only after midnight. That
popularity was so high that a Bebop movie was ordered and planned for release
later this year in Japan. |
