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Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
Cowboy Bebop Knockin' on Heaven's Door poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Shinichirō Watanabe
Produced by
Screenplay by Keiko Nobumoto
Based on Cowboy Bebop
by Hajime Yatate
Starring
Music by Yoko Kanno
Cinematography Yōichi Ōgami
Edited by Shūichi Kakesu
Production
company
Distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan
Release date
  • September 1, 2001 (2001-09-01)
Running time
115 minutes
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Box office $3 million

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, known in Japan as Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Japanese: カウボーイビバップ 天国の扉 Hepburn: Kaubōi Bibappu: Tengoku no Tobira?, lit. Cowboy Bebop: Heaven's Door), is a 2001 Japanese animated space Western action film based on the 1998 anime series Cowboy Bebop created by Hajime Yatate. Multiple staff from the original series worked on the film, including director Shinichirō Watanabe, writer Keiko Nobumoto, character designer/animation director Toshihiro Kawamoto, and composer Yoko Kanno. The original Japanese and English voice cast also reprised their roles.

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is set between episodes 22 and 23 of the original series. The plot centers on a mysterious terrorist planning to destroy the human population on Mars using an unknown pathogen. The bounty hunter crew of the spaceship Bebop work to find the terrorist and discover the source of the pathogen before the attack can take place.

The film was conceived by Watanabe as an extension of his work on the television series, which he treated as a series of miniature films. So as not to alienate fans of the series, a large amount of aesthetic material was incorporated, while also adjusting it to make it accessible to newcomers. Increased budget and production facilities enabled the use of filming styles associated with live-action films and a higher animation quality than the series. Arabic thematic elements were incorporated to contrast against the series, which entailed Watanabe traveling to Morocco for research. The Arabic atmosphere was also used in Kanno's music.


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