Cowboy Bebop Screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto Has Died

Cowboy Bebop and Macross Plus screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto has died after a battle with esophageal cancer. Keiko Nobumoto died on December 1, 2021, and her family held a private funeral on December 4. Fellow screenwriter Dai Sato announced her passing via a Facebook post. Nobumoto was 57 years old. [Thanks, ANN]

According to Sato, he received word of Nobumoto’s passing from director Shinichiro Watanabe. Nobumoto had returned to her hometown in Hokkaido and had checked into a hospital earlier this year. Regardless, Sato states that Nobumoto did not mention her illness and fondly remembers her joking during a remote call.

Keiko Nobumoto was born in Hokkaido on March 13, 1964. Though she initially worked as a nurse after graduating from a specialized training college, she later transferred to the animation industry. She was a student of prominent screenwriter Takao Koyama at Anime Scenario House, alongside BLUE SEED‘s Naruhisa Arakawa, and After War Gundam X‘s Hiroyuki Kawasaki. She would go on to win Fuji TV’s Young Scenario Grand Prix in 1989.

Afterwards, Nobumoto worked as a screenwriter for various popular TV dramas and anime. Notably, Nobumoto’s works include Cowboy Bebop, the Macross Plus OVA, and WOLF’S RAIN. She also worked on some episodes of Samurai Champloo and Space Dandy. Additionally, she also wrote the scripts for Cowboy Bebop: The Movie and Satoshi Kon‘s Tokyo Godfathers. In video games, Nobumoto also worked as Scenario Supervisor for Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts. Her last work was on the 15th episode of Carole & Tuesday in 2019.