Summary 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.
If Bandai's only concern was selling toy ships, it's not hard to see why they might have lost confidence in Bebop; the series doesn't feature all that many ships, and isn't really aimed at young children who buy toys. Fortunately, another division of Bandai, Bandai Visual, came to the rescue.
Cowboy Bebop navigated some very difficult situations in order to be made, and in some ways it's a miracle that fans got the show that they did. Yet, despite all odds, Cowboy Bebop has gone on to be one of the most influential anime of all time--and a decent seller of spaceship toys, too.