A Hair-Raising Space Adventure

Adult Swim welcomes Toonami’s newest hero from the Land of the Rising Sun, Space Dandy. by Mercedes Milligan

Adult Swim welcomes Toonami’s newest hero from the Land of the Rising Sun, Space Dandy. by Mercedes Milligan

The popular Saturday night programming block Toonami, Adult Swim’s destination for action-packed anime series, is kicking 2014 off with a bang as it premieres Shinichiro Watanabe’s ( Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo) latest show Space Dandy on January 4. In an unprecedented move for the network, the English dub (provided by FUNimation) will hit U.S. airwaves near simultaneously with the Japanese TV launch.

Produced by Bandai Visual Co. and Japanese toon house BONES, Space Dandy follows its titular, pompadour-sporting hero (voiced by Ian Sinclair) as he travels the galaxy in search of undiscovered alien species—each new specimen of which earns him a hefty reward. Joined by his run-down robot QT and cat-like alien creature Meow, Space Dandy must outrace and outwit rival bounty hunters as he explores exotic planets and encounters strange new beings—all while looking fabulous.

The English voice cast also features Alison Viktorin, Joel McDonald, J. Michael Tatum, Micah Solusod, Kent Williams, Alexis Tipton, Colleen Clinkenbeard and R. Bruce Elliott as the narrator. The 2D-animated adventure-comedy reunites the talented creative team behind the hit 1998 series Cowboy Bebop. In addition to general director Watanabe, the crew comprises director Shingo Natsume ( Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos), screenwriters Kimiko Ueno, Dai Sato, Keiko Nobumoto and others; character designer Yoshiyuki Ito and spaceship designer Thomas Romain.

“The number one thing is [the show] is supremely confident,” says Jason DeMarco, Adult Swim’s VP and creative director for on-air. “It’s really playful, really funny. There are definitely moments of danger and seriousness but it’s way more playful than anything we’ve seen before … There’s some anime that’s very insular, there are certain tropes and certain modes of storytelling and things occurring over and over again, and this show feels like it’s playing with these conventions and turning some of them on their heads. Right now [Watanabe] is like a master who has nothing to prove and can now do anything he wants.”

DeMarco reveals that Space Dandy’s transcontinental premiere was a huge bonus to the network, which came onboard for the show early thanks to strong relationships with Bandai and BONES. Toonami originally expected to have the standard six month delay between the Japan premiere and completed English dubs. “It was basically luck that FUNimation was able to record all the voices and get us the final episodes early enough that we can air it technically before Japan,” he admits. “I wish I could tell people it was some kind of master plan!”

A Dandy of a Plan

As series creator Watanabe told us through an e-mail interview last month, the acclaimed director set out to create “a pop, avant-garde anime” with his newest project. These watchwords

“There’s some anime that’s very insular, there are certain tropes and certain modes of storytelling and things occurring over and over again, and this show feels like it’s playing with these conventions and turning some of them on their heads. Right now [Watanabe] is like a master who has nothing to prove and can

now do anything he wants.”

show both in Space Dandy’s fresh design and its irreverent approach to storytelling. DeMarco notes that while there is occasional story continuity from one episode to another, for the most part each adventure is a self-contained story. Space Dandy and crew also aren’t afraid to break the fourth wall for comedic effect.

“Part of what makes it a good fit for Adult Swim—and why we’re premiering it at 11:30, which we’ve never done—is it’s so funny,” DeMarco adds. “It’s a very good transition from the classic Adult Swim cartoons to the action Toonami stuff.”

“In every episode, the show’s sensibilities and style always change,” says Watanabe. “You never expect what the story is going to be like next, which makes you feel excited.”

Since each episode of the show takes Space Dandy to a new, unexplored planet in a far corner of the universe and introduces viewers to a brand spankin’ new E.T., the BONES studio crew has plenty of opportunity to flex their creative muscles when it comes to designing characters. “I think many people thought when they were kids, ‘there must be aliens like this, like that,’” Watanabe explains. “Space Dandy is an animation show in which those thoughts got realized.”

“It’s like someone took the Cantina scene in Star Wars and it’s like that all the time,” adds DeMarco. “It’s awesome. It’s just people having fun and letting their imaginations run riot.”

Watanabe’s previous hit Cowboy Bebop also involved a space-travelling hero. The anime

— Jason DeMarco, Adult Swim VP & creative director for on-air

legend says that having a whole galaxy of possibilities definitely has its ups and downs. “One of the benefits is being able to give life to various strange ideas,” says Watanabe. “The challenges are... it is really a lot of work to draw settings.”

In addition to the Toonami and Japan launches, Space Dandy will be sweeping Asia, Australia/ New Zealand and parts of Europe thanks to a number of broadcasters, VOD and streaming services who have partnered with Bandai to spread the love (and great hair). For DeMarco and the Toonami crew, all this has meant a new level of coordination. “To make the show happen near simultaneously in all these territories, it takes like five or six partners to make sure no one is screwing anyone else’s territory up. It’s not like any show I’ve worked on before. It must be a very small taste of what it takes to launch a major movie worldwide!” DeMarco adds that despite the size of the venture he’s amazed at how smoothly the process has gone so far.

With other successful shows under his belt and Space Dandy getting ready to set the world on fire for his to-die-for ‘ do, we couldn’t miss asking Watanabe about his take on the global television toon industry. “In many countries, they stopped creating 2D animation drawn by hand, which is disappointing,” he opines. “I think drawings and illustrations made by human hands are very attractive, so I want to continue to create hand-drawn animation.”

Space Dandy premieres on Adult Swim’s Toonami block January 4 at 11:30 p.m.