Sony Pictures opened the official site for "Cowboy Bebop : the Movie" (http://www.sonypictures.com/cthe/cowboybebop/). People can read synopsis, watch trailers and gallery, and the theater list is available. The theater list has the names of the cities where Cowboy Bebop movie will show, and there are 21 cities in the list as of March 4th.

    According to Yahoo! Movies, the motion picture will be released at New York and Los Angels on 4th April under the title of "Cowboy Bebop : the Movie". They have the same voice actors for the main four characters as the TV sessions.

    I received the package from Hobby Japan yesterday. It included five boxes of the CB Movie Trading Hobby Card and the binder for the series. I got one complete set of the series plus 6 promotional cards, 5 pieces of "PRO1" and 1 piece of "PRO2". I also got a chance to get 7 more promotional cards, PRO3 -- PRO9. As I have 75 pieces of empty packs, I can gather 70 pieces of bar codes of the packs. When I will send those bar codes with the applying form sheets to Hobby Japan by the end of June, they'll give me 1 piece of promotinal card in exchange of 10 bar codes. However, this campaign is available only in Japan. I uploaded the pictures of the cards here.

    Hobby Japan, one of the trading card producing company in Japan, announced that they will release the Cowboy Bebop Movie trading card on April 26th. This series will have 81 regular cards, 27 rare cards, and 9 promotional cards to be completed. Now they are accepting the orders for the boxes and binders, however, they won't ship their products outside of Japan. One pack is JPY400, one box is JPY6000, and one binder is JPY2000. The prices aren't including tax.

    What are the promotional cards and how to get them? Well, one piece of PRO1 card is included each first released boxes. PRO2 is included in the exclusive binder for CB Movie trading card. PRO3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 will be given to those who will have collected 10 pieces of bar codes of the CB Movie Hobby Card, and have sent them by June 30th.

    This CD-Box will be produced in a term of several months. One box will have four CDs plus one 8cm CD. Three CDs will have songs which haven't been included in any Cowboy Bebop CDs, and one CD contains the live performance of the Seatbelts and some songs used in the motion picture but wasn't included in the soundtrack. 8cm CD contains a vocal version of "Tank!", which is sang by the voice actors, and the karaoke. The price of this box is planned to be JPY9800 (without tax).

    In the closed official site for CB Movei, the staff announced that there is a project to show Cowboy Bebop Movie in USA. They had decieded the voice actors for the English version, and they were the same as the TV anime. But there is no futher information about the schedule.

    On January 30th, they announced that the DVD of "COWBOY BEBOP Knockin' on heaven's door" came at the top of several ranking of DVD's sales just after the release. The rankings are Yahoo! Japan News' Weekly DVD (21 to 27 January, 2002), Original Confidence's DVD top 20 (dated 4th February, 2002), and HMV Japan's DVD sales top 200. And in the next week, CB movie's DVD was still on the top in the HMV Japan's movie DVD sales top 200. In other rankings, "COWBOY BEBOP Knockin' on heaven's door" was #2.

I got mails asking about the CB Movie's DVD sold at eBay. They are ellegal copies from Hong Kong, and as far as I can see, those Hong Kong DVDs may lack the bonus footage. I asked about the official English DVD of CB movie in the BBS of the official site, COWBOYBEBOP.COM, and one staff gave me an answer. According to his message, nothing had been determined yet. Would it be shown in the movie theaters in USA? Would it be released on DVDs? No information so far. He also said that if they would make one decision, they would announce in the site. Please be patient. I hope that CB movie will be introduced in USA soon. Thank you for reading.

    COWBOYBEBOP.COM had come back to promote the releasing the DVD of "COWBOYBEBOP - knockin' on hevean's door -". They added the English infromaions on this DVD. According to these information, the DVD is encoded in region 2, and it has no subtitles or dubbed voices. I already got one. I'll post the photos of this DVD as soon as possible.

People keep asking me that when will CB movie released in USA. For the present, I don't have any information on this matter, and in Japan, no anime magazine will have an article about DVD releasing in the overseas. You'd better to look for the information at the site, Anime News Network or Bandai Entertainment. Thank you for reading.

    This CD-Box will have new song and newly recorded versions. The release date isn't determined yet, and they will tell the more detailed information in the near future.

    COWBOYBEBOP.COM announced the release date of the DVD of "COWBOYBEBOP - knockin' on hevean's door -. Be careful, this information is only valid in Japan. The DVD will come out on January 25th, 2002, and it contains the trailor for the movie, the movie's opening anime without telops, and the movie's ending anime without telops. The packaged also contains a 16 pages of booklet "I.S.S.P. FILE". The artworks will be newly drawn by Toshihiro Kawamoto. The price for one copy will be 7800 yen without tax. In COWBOYBEBOP.COM's news section, they added the notice, "*sorry folks, these are available only in japan*". I think that this DVD will have the region code 2, so that you can't enjoy this DVD unless you have a region free DVD player or a DVD player that can play a DVD with region code 2.

    Kadokawashoten announced that the release shcedule of the book "COWBOYBEBOP - knockin' on hevean's door -" is changed to November 25th.

    Almost all movie theaters in Tokyo ended showing CB movie by the middle of October, however, three movie theaters are showing it until November 2nd. We can enjoy CB movie in Halloween! And as the CB moive will go on, the official site for CB movie will continue until November 12th.

    On November 7th, the mook fo CB movie, "COWBOYBEBOP - knockin' on hevean's door -" will be published from Kadokawashoten. This book contains the pictures from all the scenes, and scenario, designs, etc.

    This isn't the news from the official site, but from the most infomative fan site of Cowboy Bebop, "Cowbe Ranch". They say that the BEAT magazine, the magazine of Bandai Entertainment, announced that the DVD of "COWBOYBEBOP - knockin' on hevean's door -" will be released in Japan on January 25th of 2002.

    It's not announced in the English pages (see the URL below for the English page index), however, they announced that they will close the site COWBOYBEOP.COM in the end of this month. The site was created to promote CB movie, and now almost all the movie theaters ended to show Cowboy Bebop - knockin' on heaven's door -, there is no reason to keep the site. Anyway, please enjoy the site for three weeks. Meanwhile, I'll keep this section, and I'll tell any information on Cowboy Bebop movie.

    As long as I know, this is the first English BEBOP webpage that is managed by official staff. Please go and enjoy the contents about the movie, TV series, list of merchandizes, and more!

    In the beginning, Jet and Spike arrested three wanted robbers, but one more man came out of the rest room and aimed his gun at an old woman. Spike shot at the man's gun, ignoring old woman's pleading. The old man cried "What are you?!", and Spike said, "I'm nothing but a cowboy." Then, the opening number started.

    For about the story line, click here. It's contains many detailed spoilers, so, please ready for it.

    In the night of August 31st, 2001, about 200 fans gathered at the gate of the movie theater, where CB movie would show the next day. The staff of COWBOYBEBOP.COM tried to find out the person who came first, but they couldn't, since the fans had prepared one notebook and they had written their names and their order of arrival at the gate on it. Those who had wrriten their names left the place, promising to come back in the early morning on next day, so the crowd before the theater wasn't in order at that time. And in the morning of September 1st, there were 500 fans before the theater, waiting for the VAs to come to speech before the fans. You can see the pictures of the crowds and billboard at the URL below.
    http://www.cowboybebop.com/img/tokyu01.jpg
    http://www.cowboybebop.com/img/tokyu02.jpg
    http://www.cowboybebop.com/img/tokyu03.jpg
    http://www.cowboybebop.com/img/tokyu04.jpg
    http://www.cowboybebop.com/img/tokyu05.jpg

    The LiverPerformance of the Seatbelts will be broadcasted again as an on-demand-program at the internet radio channel. The program isn't the whole performance, but and edited prorgam of 30 minutes of running time. The broadcast is scheduled from Spetember 8th to 14th (just one week).

    On August 17th, new comic book "COWBOY BEBOP : PERFECT COLLECTION OF ALL SHOOTING STAR BEBOP COMIC" was published. This book is the extra issue of monthly comic magazine Shojo Teikoku (Girls Empire), and had all pages of Shooting Star Bebop manga plus, 50 pages of newly drawn episode, Monkey Magic, by Yutaka Nanten. Moreover, the book contains the detailed story of COWBOYBEBOP - knockin' on hevean's door -! Here is the rough transltaion of it.

    On September 1st, the art book of COWBOY BEBOP, "SUNRIZE ART BOOK : COWBOY BEBOP for TV SERIES" is reproduced. To tell the truth, I didn't know the existence of this book until the staff of Hukkan.com sent me an e-mail to tell me about the reproduction of this book! This is the data book of the designs for the characters, spaceships, or the backgrounds of COWBOY BEBOP TV anime.

    Finally, the schedule for the roadshow of COWBOYBEBOP - knockin' on hevean's door - has been decided! It will show from the beginning of September 2001, excepting several theaters. It will be cool and good season to enjoy hot story of the movie!

    On August 10, they broadcasted the last concert of the Seatbelts. which was performed at Sibuya AX. They will broadcast it again as an on-demand program after the members of the band check the images and the sounds. So, please check the URL. By the way, you can find the links to the programs in which the VAs of COWBOYBEBOP talk about the movie and TV anime. The main caster of the program is Dai Satoh, one of the scenario writers for TV anime COWBOYBEBOP.

    Maxi single "ASK DNA" is in store now! (released on July 25). The CD number is VICL-35297, and the price is 1500 yen (not including tax). This maxi single contains 5tracks (19minutes) and all the songs are composed and arranged by Yoko Kanno. You can find the title of each songs at the URL above. If you have Real Audio utility on your computer, you can listen 45 seconds of three songs at Victor Entertainment's site. Please visit the URL above, and find a link with red letters "m-server", that is just below the list of the songs of "ASK DNA". Click the thumnail and you can go the the download site of the songs.

    CD ablum for O.S.T. "FUTURE BLUES" will be out on August 29. The CD number is VICL-60756 and the price is 2900 yen (not including tax). There is an exclusive version for the first release. It is the combination of one CD and one 8cm CD single, and the CD single contains songs that aren't contained in the CDs for the TV series. The CD number of this exclusive combination is VIZL-54 and the price of it is 3200 yen.

    DVD of the music video of Seatbelts "FUTURE BLUES" (tentative title) will be released on October 11. The running time is 30 minutes. The DVD number is VIBL-38, and the price of it is 3900 yen.

    On August 4, they give a preview of COWBOY BEBOP - knockin' on hevean's door - is given at Kudan Kaian in Tokyo.

    Seatbelt will perform their last live on August 10 at Shibuya-Ax. The tickets were sold out within 10 and a few minutes.

    There is a Japanese internet radio station, Radiat (http://www.radiat.net/). They broadcast two special sessions of COWBOY BEBOP - knockin' on heaven's door -. The first session was already broadcasted on July 25. The guest was Aoi Tada, the voice actress for Ed. If you want to listen this program, access to http://www.radiat.net/bangumi/cow/ now. This program is broadcasted on demand of the listners, so, you can listen it any time you like. The running time is about 1 hour. In the end of the special session, you can listen the opening theme of the movie. The second session will be broadcasted on August 10 in Japan, and there will be the live report of the concert of Seatbelts. The guest will be kouichi Yamadera, the voice actor for Spike.

    You can see four pictures from the sneak previed at above URL, and near the bottom of the page, there is a button with letters AII. When you click this button, you'll jump to a mirror site, where you can see the sneak preview with Real Video plug-in. There are three buttons, and the top one is for the highest quality images (the largest file), the middle one is for the middle quality of images, and the bottom one is for the lowest quality of images (the smallest file). When I tried the highest quality images, the server had a trouble, and I couldn't see the sneak preview. Then I tried the middle quality of sneak preview, and I could find that it is GREAT!

    There are two buttons with the words "QUICKTIME MOVIE". The right one is the link to the bigger file (9.2MB), and the left one is linked to the smaller file (4.4MB).

    In Osaka and in Nagoya, there will be the special events of COWBOY BEBOP -knockin' on heaven's door - on the same day, July 28th. The attendants will be selected from the fans who send the postcard by the end of June.

    46 movie theaters are now listed as the place where we will be able to see COWBOY BEBOP -knockin' on heaven's door - in this summer. This list will be updated at any time.

Straps for Mobile Telephones
School Calender
Special Tickets with Exclusive Gift

    It is the story of a famous Space Cowboy, Terpsichore. Here is a brief summary of the story so far.

    You can see the picture of the poster for the motion picture COWBOY BEBOP -knockin' on the heaven's door - at the index page of COWBOYBEBOP.COM. The actual poster is in the silver metalic color, and hadbill of the same design will soon be available at the movie theaters.

    Bandai Visual releases the video, dts limited edition DVD, and normal DVD of Escaflowne (the motion picture) on April 25th, and only in the video, the sneak preview for COWBOY BEBOP - knockin' on the heaven's door - is available.
    Escaflowne : video 12,800 yen / dts limited edition DVD 9,800 yen / normal DVD 7,800 yen.
    Each media has 97 minutes vista sized anime in color with stereo hi-fi sound (dolby surround). All the prices are not including tax.

    On May 25th in Japan, Bandai Visual sells the special ticket for the motion picture COWBOY BEBOP -knockin' on the heaven's door -. There are three types of something plus, and those tickets will be available at CD / Video shops or anime shops.
    a) One ticket + one single DVD (2300 yen)
    b) One ticket + three pins (2500 yen)
    c) One ticket + one T-shirt (3000 yen)
    Each prices are not including tax.

    The logo fo the movie title was completed by the artists' group, Mach 55go. Mach 55go has designed the packages for the CB videos, LDs, and CDs. You can see their works at their homepage. (http://www.mach55go.com/ *Click "UESUGI" there, and you can see the designs for CB items.)

    "COWBOYBEBOP/U.T." is the completely new contents in COWBOYBEBOP.com, combination of the newly drawn illustrations and the newly written short novel. The hero in this novel is Telepsycoley (spell?), one of the legendary space cowboys, whose family member appeared in the session #7. The story takes place in A.D. 2044, 27 years before the story of Spike, Jet, Faye, Ed, and Ein. It starts on Callisto, one of the sattelites of Jupiter. It is the time when several years after the foundation of I.S.S.P. (Inter Solar Systems Pol), and on Callisto, the society is still in a mess... There also appears Xelloss, the cat on the space truck of V.T. (session #7). They say that the first post will be by the end of February. I'll post the summaries of the novel in my homepage, when it will be posted in the COWBOYBEBOP.com.

== Informations of COWBOY BEBOP -knockin' on heaven's door- ==
a. The episode takes place between the session #22 and #23.
b. Spike, Jet, Faye, Ed, and Ein appear in the story.
c. There are four other new characters.
    Vincent : adult male / black long hair / wearing a black shirt, black pants, a black jaket, and a black long coat. / terrorist.
    Electra : adult female / dark brown short hair / wearing a black tank top, black spats, and a red short jaket.
    Rasheed : adult male / wearing a pair of sunglasses, yellow long robe / seems to be a man from Middle East. )
    Lee Samson : young male / seems to be a teenager / wearing a baseball cap, a loose T-shirt, loose pants, and a down vest / This guy is said to be good at operating computers.