RELATED: Best Anime That Turned 20 In 2022
While Shinichiro Watanabe anime have superbly crafted stories and are set in meticulously built worlds they’re mainly beloved for their often weird but always relatable and nuanced characters. Anime fans can explore some of the best noir anime as well as exciting and meaningful anime sci-fi stories that explore human relationships, identity, and morality in a thoroughly fun, entertaining, and often hilarious way.
7 Terror in Resonance
Terror in Resonance is Shinichiro Watanabe’s darkest mystery anime series set in Tokyo. This thrilling crime anime has a twisty and thought-provoking story that deals with the issues of terrorism and paranoia. It’s a popular anime show that has a great animation style as well as intriguing characters that truly make the experience memorable.
Terror in Resonance is set in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo where most of the city has been destroyed by a sudden terrorist attack. The police have only a weird and bizarre internet video as a clue so fear and paranoia soon start to plague all the survivors.
6 The Animatrix
The Animatrix is one of the most popular sci-fi anime anthologies of all time that was actually written by the original Matrix franchise creators Lana and Lilly Wachowski. However, the segments were directed by various Japanese filmmakers including Shinichiro Watanabe who directed the Kid’s Story and A Detective Story.
RELATED: Forgotten Anime That Aired On American TV
The Animatrix became almost as popular as the original Matrix movies thanks to its stunning visuals and similarly twisty stories that explore AI and the relationship between body, brain, and mind. The stories are all related to the original Matrix universe and fans can meet many of their favorite characters again including Neo and Trinity.
5 Kids on the Slope
Kids on the Slope is Shinichiro Watanabe’s most wholesome anime that’s perfect for anime fans who love great slice-of-life anime stories. Most of the episodes of this charming music anime have been directed by Shinichiro Watanabe who marked this feel-good show with his distinctive artistic style.
Kids on the Slope tells the story of an unlikely friendship that develops between the class delinquent and his introverted classmate once they realize that they both love jazz music. The stories follow their lives and adventures as their friendship develops, and their personalities are influenced by each other.
4 Carole & Tuesday
Carole & Tuesday is praised by fans and critics alike as one of the best music anime shows of all time. Many of the episodes were directed by Shinichiro Watanabe who created one of the most memorable futuristic anime worlds.
RELATED: Slam Dunk: Things That Hold Up Well About The Classic Sports Anime
Carole & Tuesday is a highly motivational story about two teen girls, a part-time worker Carole, and a rich runaway Tuesday who meet by chance and decide to start a band and make music together. The anime has a great art style as well as unforgettable music, and is an inspiring story about working hard and never giving up when it comes to fighting for one’s dream.
3 Space Dandy
Space Dandy is Shinichiro Watanabe’s weirdest and funniest anime show that takes its viewers on a trippy and surreal adventures-filled journey. It’s one of the most hilarious space anime series with unique visuals and some of the most unforgettable and eccentric characters ever created.
Space Dandy is about the misadventures of an alien hunter who’s also known as the Space Dandy. Fans can follow his adventures as the Dandy embarks on various hunting missions around the galaxy while searching for rare and undiscovered aliens with the help of his friend Meow and his robot assistant QT.
2 Samurai Champloo
Samurai Champloo is Shinichiro Watanabe’s epic adventure anime series with a beautifully designed world and some of the most honorable and hilarious characters. It’s often praised as one of the best samurai anime series thanks to its remarkable art style, emotional stories, and its brilliant characters.
RELATED: The Best Anime Stepsisters
While Samurai Champloo has breathtaking fighting scenes it’s a show not about fighting but about responsibility, justice, and loyalty. Its story follows two brave and talented Samurais with very different fighting styles and a teahouse waitress who rescues them from execution and asks them to help her find a mysterious samurai who smells like sunflowers.
1 Cowboy Bebop
Cowboy Bebop is Shinichiro Watanabe’s most popular anime show, that’s often praised by critics and fans as a perfect anime. It’s one of the greatest anime set in a spaceship with a brilliantly built post-apocalyptic world and well-crafted and complex characters. Watanabe created the anime world’s most well-known group of misfits who just tried to live their life in a cruel and dark world.
Cowboy Bebop is a classic sci-fi anime that’s set in a dystopian future in 2071 where Earth has become uninhabitable. Its stories follow a group of bounty hunters who travel around the solar system while trying to hunt down wanted fugitives to make some money. The fans can go on their often dangerous misadventures while also exploring the characters’ stories, tragedies, and dreams on a deeper level.
MORE: Anime That Deconstruct The Mecha Genre
