Bandai nearly canceled Cowboy Bebop before it aired due to concerns over toy sales. Bandai Visual, a separate division, saved the series by taking over sponsorship, not focused on toy merchandise. Ironically, Cowboy Bebop toys and models now sell well, proving Bandai's initial concerns wrong.

Cowboy Bebop is widely regarded as one of the greatest anime of all time, but early in its production, the entire project almost got canned for a ridiculous reason. This decision was made by the show's original backers, a company that nearly everyone in the anime fandom is familiar with: Bandai.

Cowboy Bebop, as many fans know, was originally funded with a cynical goal in mind: to sell spaceship toys of Bebop's ships. Bandai ordered an anime featuring spaceships, and provided little to no feedback to series creator Shinichiro Watanabe during its development, effectively giving Watanabe carte blanche to design the series as he wanted.