Shinichirō Watanabe (渡辺 信一郎, Watanabe Shin'ichirō, born May 24, 1965) is a Japanese anime television and film director. He is best known for directing the critically acclaimed and commercially successful anime series Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Carole & Tuesday, and Space Dandy. Watanabe is known for incorporating multiple genres into his anime creations. In Cowboy Bebop, for example, Watanabe blends classic cowboy western with 1960s/1970s New York City film noir, jazz/blues music, Hong Kong action movies, and sets the entire series in space. In his later work, Samurai Champloo, Watanabe unites the cultures of Okinawa, hip hop, modern-day Japan, and chanbara.