TV Rewind: 10 Years Later, Shinichirō Watanabe’s Space Dandy Is the Kind of Creative Mess We Need More Of
Photo Courtesy of Adult Swim
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our TV Rewind column! The Paste writers are diving into the streaming catalogue to discuss some of our favorite classic series as well as great shows we’re watching for the first time. Come relive your TV past with us, or discover what should be your next binge watch below:
On paper, Space Dandy appeared to have everything needed for it to become the next big international hit.
It had a big name attached to it, none other than Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichirō Watanabe, making his return to science-fiction for the first time since his groundbreaking debut. The series would be produced by Studio Bones, a major and respected player in the anime business, with the hopes that this new series would be viewed as a return to form after a lackluster few years without a significant hit. A roster of writers, directors, and animators composed of seasoned professionals and up and comers all waiting to flex their skills on an original series where there would be little to no limitations. There were write ups in both The Atlantic and The New York Times, unheard of when it comes to anime, and it would make history as the first Japanese anime to premiere its episodes in North America before airing them in Japan.
Over the last decade, seeing an anime receive an exorbitant amount of hype before its first episode is almost common, but back in 2014, you would have to be on the level of Fullmetal Alchemist or Dragon Ball Z to generate that much excitement. So when Space Dandy premiered on January 4th, 2013 at 11:30 in the evening on Cartoon Network, there was some belief among the creators, executives, and those that have followed Watanabe’s career that what we were getting was the next big thing in anime—an anime that would provides us with iconic moments and characters we would reference for years to come. However, even with all of the hype and media attention the show received, after 24 episodes split between two seasons, Space Dandy ended up not becoming the next big international hit, but one that its creator would view as a mistake.
In a post on the social media site formerly known as Twitter, Jason Demarco, Senior Vice President of Adult Swim and currently the Senior Vice President of Anime and Action Series/Longform for Warner Bros. Discovery wrote in response to a post marking the ninth anniversary of the series: “Still baffled this show wasn’t a hit. Watanabe always brings it up in conversation as a big mistake on his part. I try to tell him it’s a great show and his approach w/r/t to letting each episode director do their own thing was really cool, but he doesn’t believe me. Too bad!”
A decade after its premiere, was Space Dandy a rare miss from one of the most cherished and, at the time, consistent creators in anime? Or a true gem that fell under the weight of impossible expectations?
Space Dandy follows the sometimes bizarre, sometimes uncategorizable misadventures of Dandy, a pompadoured, easy going, surprisingly charming yet dimwitted bounty hunter. Along with his outdated cleaning robot, QT, and slacker Mewoth, a lazy cat-like creature, they travel the stars in search of rare alien species so that Dandy can earn enough income to visit his favorite place in the universe, BooBies, a Hooters-style intergalactic bar and restaurant. Throughout all of his adventures, Dandy and his misfit crew are tracked down by Dr. Gel and Bea, members of the Gogol Empire, who are in the midst of an intergalactic war that Dandy (unbeknownst to him) is at the center of.
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