Nominee for “Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Home Video Production” – 1995 / 1996 ASIFA – Hollywood Annie Awards 2040: On the colonial planet of New Eden, the Ministry of Defense is developing a new transforming stealth aircraft – an advanced defense vehicle to counter alien attacks. Isamu Dyson, a maverick jet fighter fresh from the battlefield, is assigned as a test pilot for Project Super Nova. At the time of its release Macross Plus was the most expensive animated project ever created which can be seen in every painstakingly rendered frame which skillfully blends traditional 2-dimensional cel animation with then unseen 3D computer generated imagery. Based on the original Macross, it was edited for U.S. television and released as the popular series Robotech. Director Shoji Kawamori provided the story concept and directed the film with Shinichiru Watanabe (“Cowboy Bebop”). Several additional scenes were added including a new ending featuring extended footage of the concert given by the film’s virtual pop star, Sharon Apple. —Manga Video

Director

Shinichiro Watanabe

Shinichirō Watanabe (渡辺信一郎 Watanabe Shin’ichirō?, born May 24, 1965 in Kyoto) is a Japanese anime filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer. He is known for directing the popular anime series Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo.

Watanabe is known for blending together multiple genres in his anime creations. In Cowboy Bebop, for example, Watanabe mixes classic cowboy western with 1940s/1950s New York City film noir, Jazz music and Hong Kong action movies, and sets the entire series in space. In his later work, Samurai Champloo, Watanabe mixes the cultures of Okinawa, hip-hop, modern-day Japan, and chanbara.

After joining the Japanese animation studio Sunrise, Watanabe supervised the episode direction and storyboards of numerous Sunrise anime, and soon made his directorial debut as co-director of the well-received Macross update, Macross Plus. His next effort, and first full directorial venture, was the 1998 television series Cowboy Bebop. It was followed by the 2001 film, Knockin’… read more