CobbWebbs.com - History
Cowboy Bebop almost did not make it on Japanese broadcast television due to its depictions of violence. It was first sent to TV Tokyo, one of the main broadcasters of anime in Japan. However, at the time it was cracking down on violence and sexuality in animes after the notoriously controversial broadcast of Neon Genesis Evangelion in 1995. The show had an aborted first run beginning on April 3, 1998 and running until June 19, 1998 on TV Tokyo, broadcasting only episodes 2, 3, 7-15 and 18. Some blame this on TV Tokyo, however, there is evidence to suggest the time slot after April 23rd was already booked. In fact, the episode XX is said to be protest by staff for the treatment of the show. Later that year, the series was shown in its entirety beginning on October 23 and running until April 23, 1999 on the satellite network WOWOW. With this broadcast slot fiasco, the whole production schedule was completely shot enough that the last episode was in fact turned over to WOWOW on the day of broadcast. The full series has also been broadcast across Japan by the anime television network, Animax, who have also aired the series via its respective networks across Southeast Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Latin America and other regions. Cowboy Bebop was popular enough that a movie, Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira (Knockin' on Heaven's Door), was commissioned and released in Japan in 2001 and later released in the United States as Cowboy Bebop: The Movie in 2003.
In 2001, Cowboy Bebop became the first anime title to be shown as part of the U.S. Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. It has been successful enough that it continues to be broadcast regularly until present. The success of Cowboy Bebop paved the way for Adult Swim's showing of mature anime, including InuYasha, Lupin the Third, Trigun, Blue Gender, Fullmetal Alchemist, FLCL, Witch Hunter Robin, Samurai Champloo, and Wolf's Rain.
* In the United Kingdom, Cowboy Bebop was first broadcast in 2003 as one of the highlights of the ill-fated 'cartoon network for adults', CNX.
* In France Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during summer 2000 on Canal+.
* In Germany Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during 2003-2004 on MTV.
* In Poland, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast several times by Hyper and TVP Kultura.
* In Israel, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during 2001-2002 on Bip's late-night anime block.
* In Spain, Cowboy Bebop was broadcast during the summer of 2006 on Cuatro's late-night show Cuatroesfera.
Bandai released a Cowboy Bebop shoot 'em up video game in Japan for the PlayStation in 1998. A PlayStation 2 Cowboy Bebop video game has been released in Japan, and the English version had been set for release in North America during the first quarter of 2006; however, as of June 2006, there has been no release date set for the American release. [1]
In 2005, seven years after its original Japanese broadcast, Bebop was finally licensed and released in the European market by Beez, an extension of Bandai Entertainment.