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The writer behind anime like Cowboy Bebop and Tokyo Godfathers, Keiko Nobumoto, is an overlooked anime legend who contributed to many modern classics.
Many anime writers are famous all around the world. If you mention Akira Toriyama, Eiichiro Oda or Naoko Takeuchi in most anime spaces, people will instantly recognize them. However, one of Cowboy Bebop‘s screenwriters is tragically under-appreciated, despite working on some of the finest anime episodes to ever hit screens.
Born in Hokkaidō, Japan, in 1964, Keiko Nobumoto might be the best anime writer you don’t know. Her first role was writing the screenplay for 1991’s Tobe! Kujira no Peek, which told the story of two children trying to free a whale from captivity. She went on to work on several other scripts before getting her big break working on Macross Plus and the resulting Macross Plus Movie that was released in 1995. The series was popular, and it was highly praised by fans and critics for its fusion of traditional cel and computer-generated animation and its unique and nuanced story.
After this, Nobumoto would be hired to work on her most famous project, 1998’s Cowboy Bebop, where she handled the series composition. In anime production, the person in charge of series composition works with the producers and director during pre-production. Their tasks include laying out the series, developing its plot beats and deciding how it is paced. For anime series that are not adaptations of previous works, the person in charge of series composition plays a crucial role in shaping exactly how the story plays out on screen, taking the narrative from concept to complete series.
However, Nobumoto didn’t just handle series composition. She also wrote scripts for the show, penning 10 of the show’s 26 episodes, including many of the franchise’s most famous episodes. Nobumoto was the writer behind the gripping first episode “Asteroid Blues,” both parts of the extremely popular “Jupiter Jazz,” the series-defining “My Funny Valentine” and both parts of the epic series finale “The Real Folk Blues.” From there, Nobumoto’s career went from strength to strength as she worked on the screenplay for Cowboy Bebop’s follow-up movie Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, which was a smash-hit with audiences and critics.
In 2003 Nobumoto worked on both her grandest and most overlooked projects. She handled the screenplay for Satoshi Kon’s Tokyo Godfathers, which told the story of a trio of homeless people trying to reunite a lost baby with its parents. The story was the perfect fit for Nobumoto, as, like Bebop, it was a tale of people on the outskirts of a harsh and uncaring society doing their best to survive.
2003 also saw the release of Wolf’s Rain, a series created by Nobumoto and animated by Studio Bones. The series told the tale of a group of wolves that stumble upon a strange city. The mystery they uncover in this city causes them to set out on a quest to find a gate that will lead to a supposed promised land. The series was a hit in both America and Japan, spawning four OVAs and a manga adaptation. After this, Nobumoto has worked on several different projects, writing episodes of Space Dandy, Carole & Tuesday and Samurai Champloo. She even worked as a Scenario Supervisor for the first game in the massive Kingdom Hearts franchise before stepping back from anime.
Keiko Nobumoto is an amazingly talented writer. It is a shame that she isn’t as well known as others in the medium, as she has produced several of the most famous scripts in anime history. All too often, women in the anime industry are overlooked, even when they’re the driving force behind a massively popular show. This is why it is important to celebrate these female creatives and make sure they get the recognition they deserve for their work.
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