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are some Q&A sessions from the Ask John section of Animenation.
All answers are from John, and do not necessarily reflect my feelings towards
the questions.
Question
I've thought about this ever since I saw the 5th episode of Cowboy Bebop, and
now with the movie out in Japan, do you think they would even consider making a
prequal to Cowboy Bebop? Do anime have prequals often?
Answer
No one can say whether or not there will be a prequel or even sequel series to
Cowboy Bebop besides the executives and staff of Sunrise Studios. However, word
has come down that there may very well be more Cowboy Bebop produced should the
movie perform well at the Japanese box-office. That potential may be
questionable considering that the Cowboy Bebop failed to even enter the Japanese
box office top 10 grossing films during its theatrical run. Nevertheless, the
popularity of the series among both Japanese and American fans may see more
Cowboy Bebop anime make its was into production.
While it probably would be quite interesting to see a greater exploration of
Spike's relationship to Vicious, prequels for anime series are relatively
uncommon, although not entirely unheard of. Rurouni Kenshin, Slayers, and both
the Space Pirate Captain Harlock universe all had prequel series produced after
their debut series. Rurouni Kenshin had is prequel OAV series. The second
Slayers OAV series, Slayers Excellent, went back in time to Lina's first meeting
with Naga. And Matsumoto's universe had My Youth in Arcadia, Endless Road SSX
and Maetel Legend, all of which detailed the backgrounds of Captain Harlock,
Emeraldas and Maetel. However, much more common are anime sequels or alternate
continuity/storyline series. Gundam is filled with both alternate universe
series and series that go back in time setting, although no Gundam series has
been set earlier in time than the original TV series. Tenchi Muyo is another
good example of alternate continuities that will be familiar to most anime fans.
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