'Cowboy Bebop' Unveils New Artwork For Cafe Collaboration

Cowboy Bebop is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year, and fans have been happy to celebrate one of the biggest series in anime history. Some fans are even going to be able to go to a brand new cafe featuring the series as well.

Cowboy Bebop is teaming up with Animate Cafe, which has collaborated with other anime like Hunter x Hunter in the past, to bring limited goods and a special Cowboy Bebop themed menu to the Osaka and Akibahara locations in Japan.

From May 15 to June 10, lucky Japanese fans will able to experience the special collaboration which is being advertised by a brand new piece of art from character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto.

The art features every member of the Bebop crew (Spike, Faye, Jet, Ed, and even Ein!) in a brand new, classy attire that's befitting of the kind of celebration this series deserves after 20 years of greatness. It's a great time to be a fan of the series too as the celebration for the series' 20th Anniversary has resulted in many great projects.

Original creator/director of the series Shinichiro Watanabe has revealed a new anime project Carol & Tuesday, and fans can even buy a recreation of Spike Spiegel's famous suit. Cowboy Bebop has a wide range of fans too, even expanding to the creator of Nickelodeon's The Fairly OddParents' Butch Hartman who drew a picture of Spike hanging out with Cosmo in his signature style.

To complicate things even further for anime fans, Sunrise is reportedly working on a live-action television series that's going to adapt the anime in various ways. Watanabe recently opened up about the series as well, stating "In my personal opinion, if the live-action adaptation is able to bring out the good points of what was part of the anime or original manga series - if they're able to keep that alive - then I think it's a good point."

For those unfamiliar with Cowboy Bebop, the series was first created by Sunrise in 1998. It was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, with scripts written by Keiko Nobumoto, character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto, and songs composed by Yoko Kanno. Set in the year 2071, the series explores many existentialist philosophies as it follows the adventures of Spike Spiegel, and a group of bounty hunter misfits aboard the titular spaceship the Bebop.

The series premiered in Japan back in 1998, and ran for 26 episodes until 1999. It was licensed for an English language released by Bandai Entertainment and Funimation, and was the very first anime series to air on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block in the United States. It's often credited by fans from the 2000s as a major "gateway" show to the world of anime overall and has gone on to major critical, cult, and commercial success.

via Otaku USA