In the world of anime, there are several brief but intense cults that have marked a generation. And among them is one who makes a "bang" known to all. Cowboy Bebop goes beyond what it represents, it's not just an anime, it's a web of stories set in a futuristic and near-destroyed solar system.
It's not for nothing that Cowboy Bebop is still considered a masterpiece today. The same cannot be said for the TV series aired on Netflix, which Shinichiro Watanabe, the anime's original writer, was only remotely involved with. Watanabe has revealed a lot of information to Forbesin an interview that spanned a variety of topics including the current TV series and even some details on the original anime.
During his conversation with Forbes, Watanabe revealed that Cowboy Bebop was originally going to have a different name. βIn the original plans it was called Nagareboshi Bebop or 'Shooting Star Bebop' but we found that it was unusable as a name for trademark reasons. So we tried the English version Shooting Star Bebop, but still there was a registered trademark. So we thought about the story and its focus on bounty hunters who could be considered cowboys, and that's how we finally came up with the name Cowboy Bebop. In fact, it was Keiko Nobumoto who came up with the idea of ββcalling bounty hunters cowboys. He thought we should have used that in the title. Nobumoto and I shared similar tastes and feelings for these things, so we got along really well without a lot of explanations."
So Cowboy Bebop was selected due to pre-registered trademark issues. In the same interview, Watanabe spoke about the Netflix TV series and his involvement in the project.
