Shinichiro Watanabe Confirmed Popular Theory About Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and His Other Works, Including Lazarus

Fans of Shinichiro Watanabe's anime have speculated for years that Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and his other works are set in the same universe. Now the creator himself has spoken out.

Edyta Jastrzebska

Source: Lazarus, Shinichiro Watanabe and Chad Stahelski, Adult Swim, 2025 / Cowboy Bebop, Shinichiro Watanabe, Studio Sunrise, 1998

Shinichiro Watanabe is the creator of beloved anime such as Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and others. For years, his fans have speculated that they take place in the same universe, as the aforementioned anime uses the same fictional currency and contains numerous references to each other in the form of easter eggs.

So far, however, this was just a theory, with many details pointing to it, but finally, we have an answer from the creator of these anime himself. Shinichiro Watanabe confirmed during an interview with Anime News Network that Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy, Carole & Tuesday, and Lazarus take place in the same universe. Thus, the speculation has come to an end, and the theory turned out to be true.

I've always thought my shows took place in the same universe.

It appears that Watanabe is continuing to make works within the same universe. However, we do know that at the same time, he gives each series its own style, and it looks like it will be no different with Lazarus, which will soon appear on screens. The release is scheduled for 2025.

This is a series on which Watanabe collaborated with Chad Stahelski, the creator of John Wick. Watanabe initially asked Stahelski for choreography tips, but the Hollywood filmmaker said he would simply choreograph all of Lazarus. In the same interview, the creator of John Wick confessed that he did it because Watanabe's creations had inspired him for years. Interestingly, Stahelski and his team even filmed real fight scenes with stuntmen.

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Author: Edyta Jastrzebska

A graduate of journalism and social communication as well as cultural studies. She started at Gamepressure.com as one of the newspeople in the films department. Currently she oversees the Gamepressure movie&TV newsroom. She excels in the field of film and television, both in reality-based and fantasy themes. Keeps up with industry trends, but in her free time she prefers to watch less known titles. Has a complicated relationship with popular ones, which is why she only gets convinced about many of them when the hype around them subsides. Loves to spend her evenings not only watching movies, series, reading books and playing video games, but also playing text RPGs, which she has been into for several years.