A commemorative visual for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie has been released to mark the anime film’s 25th anniversary, which is also receiving a 4K remaster screening in Japan starting on October 30, 2026. A website for the anime film’s 4K screenings has also been launched.
The 25th anniversary visual is illustrated by the Cowboy Bebop TV anime series’ and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto. Atsushi Morikawa, who was the art director on Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, is credited with the visual’s background art and Toshiaki Uesugi (Mach55 Go) worked on the logo design.
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie was originally released in Japan on September 1, 2001 with the title Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no Tobira or Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.
Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Lazarus) directed the anime film with a screenplay written by the late Keiko Nobumoto (Wolf’s Rain, Cowboy Bebop). Yoko Kanno (Kids on the Slope, Terror in Resonance) served as the anime film’s music composer, while Bones handled the animation production.
Funimation previously released Cowboy Bebop: The Movie on SteelBook Blu-ray in November 2018. It described the synopsis as:
What should have been an easy bounty turns into biological war after a terrorist gets ahold of a deadly virus. Drawn in by the pretty price on the mastermind’s head, Spike and the Bebop crew are ready to collect a much-needed reward. Unfortunately, the gang’s about to find themselves in more trouble than money when the terrorist threatens to unleash the virus on Halloween—effectively killing everyone on Mars. With little time and leads that seem more dreamy than helpful, they’ll have to use their own bag of tricks to stop a dangerous plot.
The Cowboy Bebop anime series contained 26 total episodes and was released in Japan in 1998. Crunchyroll is currently streaming the series in select countries and territories.
Sources: Cowboy Bebop Official X/Twitter (2), Crunchyroll News
Update: Corrected staff roles for Kawamoto and Uesugi.
