Every Anime Series Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, Ranked by Rating

Shinichiro Watanabe is one of those rare anime creators whose name instantly promises attitude, rhythm, and emotional punch. Across his TV work, he has kept finding new ways to fuse music with genre storytelling, whether that means jazz-soaked space noir, hip-hop samurai chaos, coming-of-age jazz drama, or a futuristic thriller built around a killer miracle drug. 

Japan Society’s recent celebration of his work even grouped Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Lazarus around the black musical traditions that run through his storytelling, which says a lot about how deeply music shapes his worlds. That is why ranking his anime series is not just a fan exercise. It is a look at how one director helped define modern anime cool, then kept reinventing it. And yes, Cowboy Bebop still sits at the top for many fans.

8  Lazarus Marks Shinichiro Watanabe’s Next Unbeatable Classic

Even before the dust fully settled, Lazarus already felt like a major Watanabe event. Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it would premiere on Adult Swim on April 5, 2025, and Polygon reported that the series is set in 2052, where a miracle painkiller called Hapna is revealed to carry a deadly built-in kill switch.

MAPPA’s works page also confirms Lazarus as a 2025 TV anime, while Japan Society calls it Watanabe’s latest series. With MAPPA, Sola Entertainment, Chad Stahelski’s action choreography, and a soundtrack tied to Kamasi Washington, Bonobo, and Floating Points, this looks designed to be both sleek and serious. Sad that Adult Swim ditched Watanabe’s wish of having a prequel to Lazarus.

7 Carole and Tuesday Turned Music Into Pure Magic

Carole & Tuesday is Watanabe’s most openly hopeful music story. Bones’s official synopsis places it on Mars, decades after humanity’s move there, and centers it on two girls who both want to make music even though the world around them feels artificial and cold. The series ran for 24 episodes and was listed by Bones as a 2019 original work with Watanabe as general director.

What I love about it is how sincere it is. There is no edge-for-edge’s-sake attitude here. The show believes in connection, performance, and the idea that music can still mean something in a world obsessed with convenience. That sincerity might make it his gentlest series, but it also makes it one of the most emotionally rewarding.

6 Macross Plus Started Shinichiro Watanabe’s Iconic Legacy

Macross Plus is where the Watanabe style first started to feel unmistakable. Japan Society describes it as his directorial debut as co-director, and Macross’s official site frames the story around the Eden test program, where two prototype pilots, Isamu and Guld, clash over pride, power, and Myung’s tangled place in the middle.

That emotional triangle gives the OVA real weight, but what fans remember most is how polished it feels for an early work. The aerial battles are sharp, the music is electric, and the whole production already carries that Watanabe instinct for making human emotion feel bigger than the machines around it. For a first major step, it is seriously impressive.

5 Terror in Resonance Showed Watanabe’s Darkest Vision

Terror in Resonance is the Watanabe series that feels coldest and most haunted. MAPPA’s works page lists it among the studio’s 2014 projects, and the series itself centers on Nine and Twelve, two boys who steal a bomb and use the name Sphinx to threaten Tokyo with cryptic violence.

That premise alone makes the show feel dangerous, but Watanabe pushes it further by giving the story a lonely, tragic mood that never really lets up. Lisa’s presence softens the edges, yet the series never pretends this world is safe. For me, this is Watanabe at his bleakest, and that is exactly why it matters. It proves he can do more than charm and style. He can also make dread feel beautiful.

4 Space Dandy Became Anime’s Wildest Sci-Fi Adventure

Space Dandy is pure Watanabe mischief. Bones’s official page calls Dandy an alien hunter who searches the galaxy for rare species, traveling with QT and Meow across a universe full of strange planets and stranger ideas. Japan Society also lists it among Watanabe’s signature series, which feels right, because this is one of his loosest and funniest creations.

It is sci-fi, but it is also a joke machine, a visual playground, and a show that seems delighted to blow up its own rules whenever it gets bored. That freedom is what makes it special. Not every episode lands the same way, and that is part of the point. Watanabe clearly wanted a series that could dance, stumble, and suddenly become brilliant. It does.

3 Kids on the Slope Delivered Watanabe’s Most Emotional Story

Kids on the Slope might be Watanabe’s warmest and most heartfelt series. It adapts Yuki Kodama’s manga, which ran in 10 collected volumes, and the anime version is a 12-episode story about Kaoru, Sentarō, and their friendship through jazz in 1960s Japan. Crunchyroll’s synopsis gets right to the point: Kaoru meets Sentarō, falls into jazz, and slowly discovers friendship along the way.

This is Watanabe working on a smaller emotional scale than Cowboy Bebop, but that is exactly why it lands so hard. The music is gorgeous, the teenage feelings are real, and the whole show has the ache of a summer that cannot last. To me, it is his most tender work. It does not chase cool; it earns it.

2 Samurai Champloo Perfectly Blended Hip Hop and Edo Japan

Samurai Champloo is Watanabe at his most playful and most fearless. The series follows Fuu, Mugen, and Jin on a journey through a fictionalized Edo-period Japan, chasing the mysterious sunflower samurai while the show throws hip-hop attitude, modern dialogue, and unexpected tenderness into the mix.

Watanabe’s own themes, as reflected in the show’s coverage, lean into individuality, death, and tolerance, which keep the series from becoming just a style piece. That is the trick: it is loud, funny, and often chaotic, but it still has a real emotional center. As a fan, I think this is one of his boldest swings because it refuses to behave like a period drama. It turns history into a vibe, then makes that vibe meaningful.

1 Cowboy Bebop Remains Shinichiro Watanabe’s Masterpiece

This is the one. Cowboy Bebop is still the series that turned Watanabe from a great director into a legend. Sunrise’s official page identifies him as the director of the original 1998 series, and Netflix’s synopsis captures the appeal neatly: three bounty hunters, endless trouble, and the past always waiting to catch up.

That setup sounds simple, but Watanabe turned it into a space western with jazz swagger, noir mood, and some of the most stylish character work in anime. In my view, no other Watanabe series balances cool and sadness this well. It is fun, but it hurts. It looks effortless, but every frame is doing something smart. That is why fans keep coming back to it decades later.

Here’s a ranked table of the abovementioned anime:

RankTitleProduction HouseRelease DateIMDb Rating (as of May 11, 2026)MAL Rating (as of May 11, 2026)Streaming Platform

1	Cowboy Bebop	Sunrise	April 3, 1998	8.9 / 10	8.75 / 10	Crunchyroll / Hulu / Apple TV in the U.S.; availability varies by region
2	Samurai Champloo	Manglobe	May 20, 2004	8.5 / 10	8.52 / 10	Crunchyroll
3	Kids on the Slope	MAPPA, Tezuka Productions	April 12, 2012	8.1 / 10	8.29 / 10	Crunchyroll / Prime Video (buy/rent)
4	Space Dandy	Bones	January 4, 2014	8.0 / 10	7.89 / 10	Crunchyroll
5	Terror in Resonance	MAPPA	July 10, 2014	7.8 / 10	8.29 / 10	Crunchyroll
6	Macross Plus	Triangle Staff	August 25, 1994	7.8 / 10	7.75 / 10	Disney+ in some regions
7	Carole & Tuesday	Bones	April 11, 2019	7.7 / 10	7.84 / 10	Netflix
8	Lazarus	MAPPA, Sola Entertainment	April 6, 2025	7.0 / 10	7.19 / 10	Adult Swim / HBO Max

Do you agree with this ranking, or is there a Watanabe anime you think deserved a much higher spot? Drop your list in the comments!