Cowboy Bebop 20th Anniversary Marathon Screening in New York City

New York, NY (March 22, 2018) - Anime NYC powered by Crunchyroll, Subway Cinema, organizers of the New York Asian Film Festival, and Quad Cinema today announced a special screening in honor of the 20th anniversary of the acclaimed anime series Cowboy Bebop. A worldwide phenomenon, Cowboy Bebop is widely heralded as one of the most important examples of Japanese animation from the past 20 years. Cowboy Bebop: The 20th Anniversary Binge Sessions will celebrate this phenomenon with a rare screening of the entire 26-episode series on the big screen on Sunday, April 22nd at Quad Cinema (34 West 13th Street) in NYC. Tickets are available now.

Directed by Shinichirō Watanabe (Samurai Champloo, Space Dandy), with music from Yoko Kanno (Macross Plus, Escaflowne), and animated by SUNRISE (Gundam, Code Geass), Cowboy Bebop tells a sophisticated story of outcasts living on the fringes of the future. A daring combination of science fiction, noir, and action themes with influences spanning Japanese and Western cinema and literature, Cowboy Bebop was unlike anything that had come before it and influenced a generation of animation in its wake.

“Cowboy Bebop redefined anime as an art form,” said Samuel Jamier, Executive Director of the New York Asian Film Festival. “And we invite you to discover or rediscover Shinichirō Watanabe's brilliant synthesis of genres as diverse as heroic bloodshed flicks à la John Woo, Westerns, and Yakuza Cinema and Yoko Kanno's legendary soundtrack!”

“Cowboy Bebop is an audacious series and thoroughly earns its praise as a masterpiece,” said Peter Tatara, Event Director of Anime NYC. “It changed the animation world and showed both creators and fans unimagined heights. Even 20 years later, it lives up to the hype, and we're now deeply excited to present it on the big screen for fans new and old.”

Cowboy Bebop's accolades include winning “Anime of the Year” in both 1999 and 2000's Anime Grand Prix Awards and being ranked as the “#1 Anime of All Time” by Anime Insider. Alex Suskind of The Atlantic calls Cowboy Bebop “something John Wayne, Elmore Leonard, and Philip K. Dick came up with during a wild, all-night whiskey bender” and “a gorgeous tale of morality, romance, and violence - a dark look at the lives of outlaws that's shot like an independent film.” Kyle Mills of DVD Talk states “Regardless of the medium, be it live action television, film, or animation, Cowboy Bebop is simply one of the finest examples of storytelling ever created.”

Cowboy Bebop: The 20th Anniversary Binge Sessions will present the entire Cowboy Bebop series in its original Japanese language with English subtitles from 12 Noon until Midnight on April, 22nd. It is presented in cooperation with Funimation.

Cosplay is encouraged, and a cosplay contest and various other fan events are set in between the episodes, with prizes ranging from Weekend tickets to Anime NYC to Cowboy Bebop goods direct from Japan. Tickets are $30 online now or $35 at the door. Tickets can be purchased here.

About Anime NYC powered by Crunchyroll:
Anime NYC is New York City's anime convention! A showcase of the best of Japanese pop culture in the biggest city in America, Anime NYC brings anime fans and publishers together for three days of unique exhibits, exclusive screenings, extensive panels, and appearances by some of the biggest creators in Japan. This year's event takes place November 16-18 in New York's Javits Center, and we invite you to join over 30,000 fans for a celebration of Japanese animation, manga, cosplay, movies, food, fashion, travel, technology, toys, and games in the heart of NYC! For more, visit animenyc.com.

About Subway Cinema:
Subway Cinema Inc. is America's leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the exhibition and appreciation of Asian popular film culture in all its forms, with year-round festivals and programs, and a view to building bridges between Asia and the West. In 2002, Subway Cinema launched its flagship event, the annual New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF), which has been presented in collaboration with the Film Society of Lincoln Center since 2010. Now entering its 17th year, NYAFF is North America's leading festival of popular Asian cinema. Subway Cinema's other events and initiatives include the annual Old School Kung Fu Fest (showcase for the best of classic martial arts films) and the New York Korean Film Festival (presented with the Korea Society). Subway Cinema receives generous, year-round support from the Kenneth A. Cowin Foundation. For more, visit subwaycinema.com.

About Quad Cinema:
The Quad holds an important place in Manhattan moviegoing history: when it opened October 18, 1972, it was the first theater in the city to have multiple screens under one roof. With our completely reborn Quad Cinema, we intend to honor that legacy. We have maintained the theater's name, and its DNA, as well as its head projectionist, and its democratic neighborhood spirit. Our programming will give you a little bit of everything: high and low, foreign and domestic, fiction and documentary, arthouse and grindhouse. Our renovations have brought the Quad into the 21st century, creating spectacular theater spaces that offer the intimacy and luxury of high-end private screening rooms, each with a unique look and color scheme: a refined setting typically seen in European cinémathèques, but rare in New York City. For more, visit quadcinema.com.