Anime: Cowboy Bebop 2e3u6q

I never wanted to write an article about Cowboy Bebop because it’s such a sacred treasure to so many anime fans. I typically don’t care about shitting on popular anime but Bebop is the first time I’m complaining about what is definitely a universally beloved show. It’s like taking a dump all over Evangelion; it’s just not something you do.

But I feel like I have to. It’s occasionally nice to have an opposite opinion when there is so much positivity and I’m sure there are others that agree with me about this show.

To put it simply for those who wonder how I can sit through so much garbage but can’t wait through Bebop; I quit because it bores me. And that’s a huge problem. I can sit through something terrible if that something has a modicum of entertainment value but Bebop had me looking at web pages when I should have had my eyes glued to the show.

This doesn’t hold true for some episodes. The initial few offerings are pretty good and have a great balance of serious action and plot with quirky comedy. The problems start with the appearance of Vicious and the mafia storyline. This is the main thread of Cowboy Bebop and an occasional episode deals with this story. That’s wherein the biggest problem with my being entertained by Bebop comes from.

It’s good to have a main story when you’re handling an episodic show, but it’s hard to watch those story episodes when they’re as serious as cancer and the next episode is a silly, self-contained romp. In that regard Bebop is a lot like creator Shinichiro Watanabe’s future series Samurai Champloo. Because of these major tonal shifts, Bebop is kind of hard to watch and I can’t get invested in the story of Vicious and Spike when it’s being broken up by a few funny or serious but unrelated episodes.

To tell the truth, it’s like the majority of the episodes are filler to pad out what could have been compressed into a movie or a show with half the episodes.

And I can agree that some of that padding is fantastic. Mushroom Samba is a hilarious and memorable episode; in fact you mention Bebop and that’s the episode that comes to my mind. But then there’s the trucker episode and one about an old man with the body of a kid…ones that bored me and didn’t add anything to the overall experience.

Character development also didn’t seem to be a huge issue. Even when characters return to their homes or reminisce on past events, nothing seems to matter to the next episode and that kills any drama to be had. I like learning the pasts of the characters because Spike, Jet, Faye, and Ed are all interesting and pretty decent for the most part; but nothing seems to stick.

The ten episodes I watched aren’t the only episodes I’ve seen; I’ve caught tons of repeats on Cartoon Network over the years–enough to get the main gist of the story and to have seen the ending. Knowing the ending and understanding how underdeveloped Vicious is as a villain may be another reason I didn’t make it through the whole show. I don’t think Vicious is memorable or anywhere close. While the main thread provides some of the best action of the series, Vicious is about as developed as one of the villains from a stand-alone episode. Because of that, I don’t care enough to sit through the boring episodes to see the plot to fruition.

I’ve said a lot of negative but let me point out a lot of positive. The fight scenes are excellent, some of the most memorable of all sci-fi anime. The fluidity of the hand-to-hand fights is breathtaking. That’s a testament to the animation, which is brilliant. The ship designs are great, the character designs are good, and the locales are interesting and fun.

Musically, of course, Bebop is brilliant. The opening is one of the best and most memorable in all of anime. The music during the show ranges from jazz to operatic numbers to rock and I don’t hearing the same song twice. In that regard, Bebop truly is the visual and auditory experience that everyone has raved about for fifteen years.

On top of all that the dub is one of the best ever made with every voice actor playing their character to a T. This is the anime that proved that anime can have great voice acting and paved the way for some of the other great dubs of the time.

Oh, and Ed. Even if the other characters don’t do it for me usually, Ed’s amazing.

Don’t let me dissuade you from watching Bebop or continuing to love it because I can completely understand where fans of the show come from. I really want to love it too. It has nothing to do with my long standing hate of Watanabe either because, to tell the truth, I’d consider this his best product even if it is the only Watanabe anime I haven’t been able to fully sit through. Week to week it’s okay to watch but marathoning it is not too fun because you start to see the inconsistencies and feel the abrupt shifts in tone.

Cowboy Bebop holds the same place in many people’s hearts that Outlaw Star does in mine. Comparing the two shows is inevitable. Both are Sunrise anime, both came out around the same time. Bebop is where you go for the animation and music but the story and characters aren’t as great, for me, as Outlaw Star’s. But Outlaw Star doesn’t have the same great animation nor music (though Star’s opening is still my favorite ever). Outlaw Star is also much more cartoonish and silly while Bebop has moments like that, but maintains a serious tone for the most part.

I feel that Cowboy Bebop is loved and revered, anymore, nostalgically. It’s an anime that tons of people grew up with and got them into the fandom and because of that, they revere it. I don’t think it’s as good as everyone else thinks, but I also can understand the praise considering what was being offered to American audiences at the time. In Japan, Bebop was well-received but not as popular as it would be in America. It was the first anime to play on Adult Swim and because it filled a barren void of adult-oriented anime (that would later be filled by Ghost in the Shell and Big O) it was a success. I think that nostalgia plays a huge part in the love of Cowboy Bebop and may be the reason it’s as highly regarded as it is. Because while in Japan it was another great adult anime, in America it was THE great adult anime.

And that’s about all I have to say. Hopefully the next series I watch will keep me more entertained.

*Note: This is an archive from my Anime-Planet *

Critic's Log: Earthdate - March 12, 2012. Review #1: Cowboy Bebop.



It is the year 2071 and Mars has become the central hub of human
civilization ever since a hyperspace experiment on the moon failed and
made Earth uninhabitable. The entire Solar System has been accessible
thanks to reliable hyperspace gates and crime syndicates have exerted
their power and influence over the government and the ISSP (Inter-Solar
System-Police). As a result, The ISSP has put in a bounty system similar
to The Old West has been included to deal with fugitives, terrorists
and other criminals. The bounty hunters are usually called "Cowboys".
Bounty hunters Spike Spiegel and Jet Black are flying around space and
trying to catch their bounty.



That is the premise of Cowboy Bebop. This is where I start to get
technical, Cowboy Bebop does not have much of a main storyline (except
for episodes like Ballad of Fallen Angels, the Two-part episode Jupiter
Jazz and the two part finale The Real Folk Blues), and those 5 episodes
are what you could call "plot" episodes, while the remaining 21 are
standalone episodes. With that said, those episodes are not even
considered filler. Some of the ideas in these standalone really stand
out impressively. Here are some examples: Sympathy for the Devil, Waltz
for Venus, Ganymede Elegy, etc., etc...



If there is a blinding aspect, it is the animation. For 1998, the
animation was pretty good back then and still looks good today. Some
episodes have some cool animation effects as well. Sunrise is the
animation studio behind Cowboy Bebop and that might not be saying much,
however there is one apparent note about this show, apparently Cowboy
Bebop's success led to 3 staff from Sunrise that co-founded the
studio that we know today as Studio Bones. In other words, animes like
RahXephon, Wolf's Rain, Eureka Seven, Darker than BLACK, Soul Eater, and
both Fullmetal Alchemist animes were apparently made possible due to
Bebop's success. The action scenes are well animated, and the visuals
are even breathtaking at times.









If there are any anime purists out there that have not seen Cowboy
Bebop yet, consider this recommendation an exception, the English dub is
very good and hardly flawed. Steven Jay Blum gives Spike a good badass
tone to his character, Wendee Lee sounds both sexy and sensitive as
Faye, Beau Billingslea has a cool father-like tone as Jet, and Melissa
Fahn is charmingly silly as Edward. The dub can be considered better
than the original Japanese version of the show, and I have known some
purists that mention that Cowboy Bebop's dub was very good. I personally
love the dub, it was spot-on and all the voices matched. So, what do I
think of the subtitled version? Answer: I find it Underrated compared to
the dub. The voice cast of the subtitled version had some well-known
voice actors such as Kouichi Yamadera, Megumi Hayashibara, Unsho
Ishizuka, and even Norio Wakamoto is in the subbed version. There is
nothing wrong with the subtitled version; it may be a bit overshadowed
by the dubbed Version





If there is an aspect that struck all the chords right is the
soundtrack which is by Yoko Kanno. Some people consider Bebop's
soundtrack to be her best. There is one fact about the soundtrack is
that Kanno-san formed a band known as The Seatbelts which includes over
70 musicians which resided in Japan, New York, and Paris. I consider it
impressive. If you try listening to the soundtrack without the show, it
may feel like you're listening to an album rather than a soundtrack. The
soundtrack really made a permanent impression on me. My personal
favorite moment that involved the soundtrack was the two songs used in
the cathedral scene, which were Rain and Green Bird. Hell, the opening
theme kicks so much ass, and The Real Folk Blues is a good closing
theme. The soundtrack is groovy.







What really makes the show impressive is that some scenes have music
playing and not have much dialogue in it. This is somewhat of a symbolic
example that silence can indeed be golden. This is Kanno-san’s most
famous and critically acclaimed soundtrack. Otakus mostly rejoice when
Kanno –san is involved in musical compositions ever since she finished
her work on Cowboy Bebop. She is mostly a fan favorite in the anime fan
base when it comes to the music department and that should come as no
surprise. She’s that popular and talented. I do appreciate the work she
has done up to this very day.



The characters are also great. Spike is shown as a rogue badass with a
past catching up to him. Jet appears to be a cool guy who happens to be
the Captain of the Bebop. Faye is a con-woman and an interesting
character even though she is kind of rude. Ein is adorable, and Edward
is a silly random character that has a positive outlook in life. I think
she was an awesome character for comic relief in the show. Some minor
characters were also interesting. There is a common theme that runs
through all of the characters and that is the pasts of these characters.
It's definitely an overused trope but I think the past is something we
all quite can't forget which doesn't make this trope clichéd, it's just a
common one that is almost always effective.



Cowboy Bebop claims to be a genre unto itself. I am not sure how to
give a clear analogy on that, but it has interesting themes that are
unique to the show. There are some homages and send ups to famous movies
in this show. This is a show that knew how to treat adults and people
who like movies, music, Science Fiction, Western and so forth.
Shinichiro Watanabe really nailed the direction of this anime because he
always liked to mix up different opposing styles to make something
completely new and unordinary. Cowboy Bebop has elements of Western,
Space Opera, Film Noir, Martial Arts, and Jazz music. All these elements
blended extremely well and this was a very unique anime at the time and
I can understand why this anime was so revolutionary at the time. End
Result: WINNING!





Since the popularity of Cowboy Bebop soared past through the stars,
is it even fair to say that this show is overrated? It is considered an
influential anime and I see why, a lot of people have universally
praised the hell out of this show. The stories, animation, characters,
music, and style are blended in so well that it almost makes it hard to
see animes of this caliber.



If there is a drawback, I could say that this show could have gone a
bit longer, and on a personal note, Boogie Woogie Feng Shui was the only
episode I did not like too much. If you like it, that's fine.



If you stick to the series long enough, I guarantee you'll like the
ending. There are a lot of people that see the ending as one of the most
fitting endings to an anime and it really ends with a bang. I'm dead
serious, if you haven't seen this series then do yourself a favor and
watch the damn show, it will not disappoint you unless you are extremely
picky.





Cowboy Bebop is available by Bandai Entertainment, and even though
Bandai Entertainment no longer licenses anime, they mentioned that they
will keep their current catalog, so apparently there's nothing to worry
about this anime being out of print in the US (I hope). The manga
adaptation Cowboy Bebop: Shooting Star written by Hajime Yatate and
illustrated by Cain Kuga and another manga adaptation of Cowboy Bebop
also written by Hajime Yatate and illustrated by Yutaka Nanten were
available by Tokyopop and It is possible that those two manga
adaptations are out of print. Cowboy Bebop the Movie is available by
Sony Pictures and I will review it next.



With that said, Cowboy Bebop is a smash hit jam-session that has
become a genre unto itself; it has thrills, action, humor, and most of
all fun. It is a hard one not to like. However, Not only anime fans like
this show, some people that don't watch anime much or even anime-haters
it this show is exceptional and they even liked the show. This show
has an American influence and it appeals to viewers that like anime,
sci-fi, action flicks, and westerns. At the time I am posting this, this
anime is still airing on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block since 2001.
The constant re-runs and the fan base have turned this anime to a cult
classic (metaphorically speaking, it has a devoted fan base... nothing
to do with religious cults or something like that; it's a play on
words). It may not be everyone's cup of tea but it is definitely worth
trying. It's an anime I sometimes quote as well as some others. Some
will say that this is the greatest anime ever made, but that may be
stretching it too much, but I will agree in calling it a revolutionary
anime and a fun anime at that. it is truly a gem.







I give Cowboy Bebop a 10 out of 10 (It is a MASTERPIECE!)





Feel free to comment below and until then... Stay gold, Bang!

This is a hard to judge anime as it has many elements that make it good next to other elements that you need to tolerate if you need to consider them great. Although it is still considered top 10 of all times for many after all these years, there are many more (me included) that had a very hard time accepting all that as top material.

I will start with an easy part to judge; its animation and artwork, which are some of Studio Sunrise gold moments. I have absolutely nothing against them and I accept them as they are. The setting is as they designated a space western; meaning a blend of the Wild West with some futuristic elements. And true, you get a highly technological advanced world full of spaceships and computers, next to sceneries full of societies that still seem to dwell in the 19th century. Besides being a gimmick to attract attention it is also part of the themes of the story as it used as such to create an antithesis of values. In many parts of the series, moral values are trampled over consumerism and exploitation and the visuals work as means to make that al cleared. Here you have the romantic image of a lone cowboy living in the wilderness, looking forward to adventure, finding gold, having brawls in taverns and singing songs around a campfire with a banzo, with his only company being the howling wolves at the full moon, his trusty horse and a copper plate of cold beans. Isn’t that nostalgic or what?

Well, the show is actually trying to inflict you indirectly with such notions, as each villain is pretty much someone who takes advantage of ideals and naivety as means to get rich or powerful. You constantly see ments of products promising happiness, people claiming money can buy happiness and leaders convincing followers to do bad things for the greater good. All that as intertwined with the feeling of the visuals and thus create a very interesting atmosphere. Although there are other space western-style anime like Outlaw Star or Trigun, none had used the setting as means to tell a message. It was just for show and that is why Cowboy Bebop is by far the best in this sub-genre.

There are other things besides the artwork that works in the show, and that is the generally high production values. The characters and the backgrounds are very detailed and lively for the time the anime was made, with very good body language, facial grimaces and usually small albeit good action scenes. All that together leads me into giving artwork and animation the full score. It deserves it.

I will now move to the characters, another part that is easy to excuse. Although the main characters begin as somewhat stereotypes, along the way they are fleshed out a lot and by the end of the show they become lovable and memorable. The tricky thing is that you need to find all the fleshing out by paying attention to THEM and not the OBJECTIVES of the story. For you see, the characters don’t have clear motives from the start and each episode does not consciously bring them closer to their ulterior motives. Each mission provides small bits of information around each one of them and as long as you pay attention to those then you really get to see how they become more colorful and likable with each ing episode. As someone else told me, it is highly ironic how a mostly episodic series like Cowboy Bebop develops its characters a lot more than most shows with an on-going story. Because most such shows would have a lot of dead time where nothing new or of importance is revealed about the characters or the setting. Cowboy Bebop is constantly offering insight to its setting and cast and that is what makes it so great.

As far as personalities go, pretty much everybody in this show is nihilistic and selfish, aiming for money and not some ideal like world peace. The heroes are just mercenaries, their employers are usually greedy capitalists, the people on television just want to brainwash you with hollow consumerism, and generally everybody is out for personal gain. This sort of treatment was back then rather unorthodox, as the heroes would usually be idealistic fools and such traits would only be found in a few selective villains, while all the rest of humanity would just be apathetic and ive to all that. This anime offers a somewhat similar mentality to everybody and the only thing to set them apart ends up being different moral values or different short-sighted goals. Instead of going for an objective that may take decades, we mostly get to see ephemeral goals, which allow you to focus more on how they think and not how they progress towards that goal. One can even say that this way they constantly need to adapt to each given goal and thus are far more intellectual than most teen shows where heroes and villains have a one-dimensional line of thought and stick to that for the entire show no matter what happens.

So if I am to judge the characters, I say they are interesting, have quirks to become easily memorable, get colorized, get indirectly developed, and even receive somewhat of a catharsis in the end. All of which happen in a mostly episodic show which makes the whole deal even more amazing. Thus I again give the characters the full score.

And now for the story, which is the first hard to explain thing. I have already described how it has a great setting and gradually developed characters but it is otherwise episodic. It is a bit hard to get attached to any individual situation if everything is resolved in one or two episodes. The core themes are always present and remain constant throughout the various stand-alone missions and that may keep you permanently attached to the mood of the show. That still does not feel too good to anyone (like me) who prefers and on-going plot that an episodic one. And yes, you gradually see more to the characters which may be perceived as on-going but that has to do with the cast and not the story. One could of course label this anime as 100% character-driven and thus share the same score with the characters. I also prefer it when the story moves forward by personal choice and not pulled by the nose because the scriptwriter said so and was unable to show it otherwise. On the other hand, you still see many characters for just one episode doing stuff that do not matter thereafter, which still makes you feel like they are wasting potential here. Wouldn’t be amazing if a few secondary elements were affecting later missions? Or if they were at least mentioned in ing? In all honesty, there actually is a story in the finale, which somewhat brings closure to the entire show (it is deliberately open to interpretation) and thus it does at least feel like it didn’t end as aimless as it began.

The story is a very interesting take on episodic-formats but it is still not perfect for me as I always prefer an on-going plot to this. I would normally give it the base, but seeing how it smartly threw in character development here and there, I will raise it a lot more.

The sound department is another hard thing to explain. It is a blend of various types of music, mostly Jazz, Blues and Country. I was never a fan of such music; I’m more of a metal and hard rock dude. Listening to these songs was very hard to get into the mood of the show, especially when one is accustomed to the usual jpop or retro ballads. And yeah-yeah, I know how Jazz is the ultimate genre when it comes to ionate music and all others took pointers from it and are considered by the hardcores as watered down variations. I have heard that debate a billion times already. That still doesn’t mean I get to like hearing to those trumpets and basses for more than a few minutes. I otherwise clearly comprehend how the soundtrack of this anime is simply amazing in its execution. It doesn’t take a genius to realize it was done with ion and love for what it is all about. Personal tastes aside, I gladly it it has the most awesome Jazz music ever heard in anime and the OST is easily ranked in quality in the anime top 10 of all times. There, see, I it it.

I have no problem with the voice acting or the sound effects. None felt amateurish or lazy at any given point and they fit their roles perfectly. So in overall, despite not being a fan of such music (even hating it subconsciously) I objectively give the sound department the full score.

There is no need of analysis on the value of this anime. Gets the full score from the get-go for being one of the most memorable, different, quality material shows of the late 20th century. People still praise it and it’s not for its naked chicks or gay protagonists *coughcodegeass*.

Enjoyment… A completely personal section. It was episodic and had music I didn’t like. I dropped it 3 times before finally completing it and forgetting most of everything besides the main key events on each person’s backdrop stories. And that is pretty much all I can say to excuse my tastes. In fact, I got to enjoy more Watanabe’s later Samurai Champloo series, because Hip-hop and Kapoera samurais felt more captivating than Jazz cowboys in space. Yeah-yeah, I know Hip-hop is Jazz with stupid beats and lame lyrics, blah-blah. I’m not saying it is a boring show but not a show non-Jazz/episodic fans will enjoy to its fullest. That is all.

Cowboy Bebop is probabaly one of the best anime shows on Earth and I'll tell you why. The artwork is amazing and so is the animation and is good for old-schoolers to enjoy. The animation makes you feel like you're back in the 70s along with the music. It's jazzy and has its blues from the 50s-60s I think.

Story:

The story focuses on a duo of bossy bounty hunters who happen to be poor dogs. They need money so this guy named Jet (who's the owner of the ship) leads a man named Spike to help out to get some cash. They soon come across three other bounties and their names are Faye Valentine, the bossy gambler, Radical Edward, the playful but mischevious teen, and Ein, the smart and intelligent dog. Soon, their adventures begin... into an amazing one. I can't spoil the ending, but it does get funny every once in a while... it has its drama, comedy, romance, action and thriller, but is also very painful at the end... which most crybabies can't handle.

Sound:

I loved the jazzy music and blues in this. Especially with the Tank! opening or the Space Lion songs... both of these songs rocked and are one of my favorites in Cowboy Bebop. I also liked "Blues" too. And let me introduce the amazing voice actors they picked... Steven Jay Blum and Wendee Lee both did a great job with their characters and I thought that they had the best voices to ever exist in dubbed anime. At first, I never liked to watch anime dubbed, but now I'd want to watch it in subtitles except for Cowboy bebop, the voices really fit the characters' moods and attitudes and I'm very happy for the creator who did it. It was better than the Japanese subtitles... which were a lot better in dialouge because you could understand that some of the characters are moody every once in a while.

Characters:

Oh my gosh! My favorite is definietely Spike... he's my all-time favorite. And I loved Faye too... of course I didn't really care for her in the beginning, but now she seems like the funniest anime character ever behind Spike Spiegel. I also loved Ed too, who I'd say was pretty annoying at times, but I still loved her. Spike had his ion... he's quite mischevious and so is Faye who was pretty naughty, bossy and tomboyish while Ed is simply just onrery. Nothing to say about Jet but he was cool I guess. Ein was adorable!

Animation:

The animation seemd to match what the future may be like including the artwork. Yeah, I know it may be a little jumpier than most anime are, but it is pretty cool and I loved how they drew in the artwork for what how Mars, Jupiter or Asteriod would look like.

Enjoyment:

I guess I wasn't really enthused with the anime the first few episodes, but on Honky Tonk Woman, it got interesting... I didn't really like Gateway Shuffle very much, but Ballad of Fallen Angels made me want to watch the whole thing. There are very unique episodes such as Stray Dog Strut where Ein comes in and they have to track down a puppy, Honky Tonk Woman where they go to try to get money on gambling but coincendentally permitted a woman to the team who is actually a bounty, Gateway Shuffle where they capture a bounty who is fond of her son, Sympathy for the Devil where Spike has to help this senior kid-looking guy turn into a senior so that he could die and many more. My favorite episode would have to be Brain Scratch, but Toys in the Attic where the Bebop was filled with plutonium was interesting too and then I enjoyed the series mainly the whole way through even though there were some episodes that weren't my cup of tea or were just nothing special.

Overall: A Great series to watch for the old-schoolers and definetely for anybody who doesn't watch anime... they could warm-up with a very good start on Cowboy Bebop unless they've seen a couple.

Cowboy Bebop: 10-year anniversary review special of doom.

Cowboy Bebop, for the uninitiated, is an anime-original 26-episode science fiction anime that had its original run in 1999, ending on this very day 10 years ago. Made by studio Sunrise and conceived by director Shinichirō Watanabe, it was intended to serve as a fusion of different genres, as well as a fusion of media; anime with jazz music. The anime follows Spike Spiegel and Jet Black, a pair of interstellar bounty hunters that make their living tracking down interplanetary criminals while living aboard the spaceship “Bebop”.

So, in homage to its 10th anniversary, Cowboy Bebop being the show that introduced me to the concept of anime, I recently re-subjected myself to a viewing of my old Bebop DVDs. I wanted to see if the show was as good as the first time I saw it, eight years ago (and the two times after that). Turns out it wasn’t just my nostalgia talking.

By this point I presume you have seen my scoring at the right side and are probably a bit apprehensive. I don’t blame you – after all, giving a show a perfect “10” in overall score will, even at best, seem somewhat disingenuous. But, I am now going to try to reasonably explain exactly why I did this, without hopefully coming off as a foaming-by-the-mouth fanboy in the process.

Mainly it’s because, and this I feel I must say right off the bat, Cowboy Bebop is still, eight years and a lot of other good series after the fact, still the best anime I’ve ever seen.

Animation and Visuals: 10/10 – Head of the class in its time; still relevant today.

For a show this old, Cowboy Bebop has aged remarkably gracefully. I will it that the onset of CGI, and 10 years of advancement of the anime industry in general, have caused leaps forward in animation capability. This means the standards bar has risen: However, watching old shows, like Cowboy Bebop (and to a lesser degree Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Ghibli films of the era sometimes makes me wonder just how much.

Despite not having the CGI blastfests of modern shonen and mecha shows, Cowboy Bebop has excellent character detail, vibrant backgrounds and models (individual rivets are even visible in several machines), a decent drawing distance, well-placed shadows and good use of ambient effects such as cigarette smoke. A few very nicely-made montages also show up to show off the set pieces (and music) from time to time. Considering the standards of today, the character designs look a bit old or “retro” -- I’d use “primitive”, but it looks to me like *more* effort went into Bebop’s facials than it does in most anime today, rose-tinted though my eyes may be. Said faces are well-designed and quite a large amount of different facial expressions are visible, as well as a great variety in types of faces -- even minor characters tend to get uniquely designed appearances.

Bebop’s fight scenes are very good too; gunfights, kung-fu duels and starship fight sequences appear fairly regularly and are all well-animated and have good, fluid animation. The explosive effects are pretty impressive, too, and none of the fights managed to confuse me by annoying me with lots of camera cuts or many rapidly moving objects and bright, shiny lights.

Again, what I keep in mind here is that this show is 10 years old and lacks a lot of impressive CGI tech employed by big-name animator companies nowadays. I may be wrong, but I think the whole thing was done by hand – I certainly didn’t see any overt CGI elements, who even in modern anime tend to stick out. Now, I must it that most of the anime I’ve seen is from post-2000, but from what I have seen of anime from Bebop’s era I must say it ranks as the top, mostly beating the Ghibli movies’ about as impressive animation and character design by virtue of having a much longer duration in which to showcase varied graphic styles, backgrounds, and characters. Bebop was intentionally made to look more retro than it is, bringing to light old classics like Lupin III in its drawing style. The end result is perhaps a bit dated in today’s world, but it works and looks both good and unique.

I guess what I’m saying is, Production I.G. (or a similar big studio like Madhouse, Bones, or, well, Sunrise itself) could improve on it today if they were to make a remake and were given a budget similar to their graphical grand-slammers like the Gundam series, Stand Alone Complex or Xamd Lost Memories. I question just how much better it would look, even using modern technology, without having to completely redo the entire drawing style. I figure if it’s one rating where I’m giving the grade the most of a stretch it’s this one – the last years have shown me some pretty impressive series – but what the heck. It’s 10 years old, and still on the level with stuff from 2008 and 2009; not to mention outdoes about 9/10ths of most anime I’ve ever seen. Top marks.

Audio: 10/10 – The standard by which every anime is judged.

The soundtrack of Cowboy Bebop is by many considered to be the magnum opus of the composer Yoko Kanno, who worked with jazz ensemble “The Seatbelts” to produce the show’s soundtrack. Music is rather obviously a very strong focus in Cowboy Bebop – as I said, the concept behind the show is the blend of anime with jazz music, and boy does it show. Just to give a general impression of how thorough the soundtrack is; Soul Eater, an anime I reviewed recently, has 51 episodes and a 2-disc OP with about 40 tracks. Cowboy Bebop has 26 episodes and one movie, and has approximately 8-10 discs worth of soundtrack and about 90 tracks; even taking into that about a handful of tracks appear multiple times or have alternate remixes, that’s impressive work for an uninterrupted total of, oh, 8 hours of anime.

The music is dominated by jazz and Americana, though several other genres, a bit of opera, a bit of heavy metal, is also thrown into the mix. It’s all extremely well-crafted and several tracks easily stick out, even while it’s used in the series while events in the foreground are trying to compete for my attention. It’s one of those precious rare series where you can actually make out the music, and enjoy it, even while the episode is rolling in the foreground: The music becomes a seamless part of the immersion. The OP, “Tank!” is extremely catchy and gives a good preview of what’s to come, and the ED “The Real Folk Blues” is very cool (alternate ED themes “Space Lion” and “Blue”, used in each their episode, are even better). About the only thing I could think of that would mar Cowboy Bebop’s soundtrack is if the listener really hated jazz music. Apart from the fact that sound is audible in space at all, I have absolutely nothing to complain about the SFX either; it all sits just as it should.

Going along with the music is Cowboy Bebop’s voice cast, which is pretty much flawless in both the Japanese and the English dub (I personally prefer the Japanese, but I found the English one completely tolerable). Kōichi Yamadera underlines the sarcastic, devil-may-care persona of main character Spike extremely well, with Yukinori Ishizuka playing the older ‘straight man’ Jet (English equivalent Beau M. Billingslea is probably the weakest of the English replacements comparing to the original), and Megumi Hayashibara shows off her very impressive range in her character Faye Valentine. All the main characters’ roles are very good at bringing them to life as believable characters and showing off their personalities. The non-main voice roles are also good across the board; for an example, Norio Wakamoto (whom I am contractually obliged to mention whenever he makes an appearance in an anime) plays the chillingly low-key Vicious in a well-done contrast to many of his later over-the-top villain roles.

Anyway, as I stated, any anime soundtrack I listen to nowadays inevitably finds itself contrasted to the style, quality and range of Cowboy Bebop. And by making it the standard for excellence by which I judge everything else, I see little else to do but to give it top marks. And if you can somehow get a hold of said OST, you'll get a lot of good music to listen to as well.

Story: 10/10 – A freestyle mix of genres in self-containing arcs.

Cowboy Bebop is an episodic anime, in other words, the ‘story’, as it is, is told on a per-episode basis. All but four of them (two two-parters) are basically self-containing stories. This means that the viewer, in sitting down to almost any episode, can get the grip on what is going on pretty quickly. The stories are very well-written, coming from a mixture of different genres and employing its story elements accordingly, running a gamut of different moods and scenes. On their own, each episode isn’t exactly the height of originality: Most of them are a rather overt homage of the genre they belong to (this is not to say that they aren’t *well-done* homage; they are). Taken together, however, Cowboy Bebop is fairly unique in mixing so many genres into one single show on a per-episode basis. By devoting one episode to each genre, the show also avoids making sudden whiplashes in mood and setting (of which I can mention Code Geass R2’s drama + over-the-top mecha fights and Elfen Lied’s nude bloodbaths + quasi-romantic drama as less successful examples at trying this). The self-contained nature of each episode also means that most plot points from each episode is wrapped up at the end; story threads are seldom left hanging unless they provide foreshadowing for later events, and the pacing is good.

Despite being self-contained, however, all of the episodes provide a *something* to an overlapping ‘theme’ of the anime, be it as a reveal in one of the characters’ pasts, the introduction of a new main character or recurring side character. This overlapping ‘theme’ I would describe as being that one can never outrun one’s own past – eventually it must be faced (not a bad life lesson, come to that). The show takes care not to clumsily cram it down our throat, instead making its presence subtly present in every episode and leaving the viewer to unearth it – or not. Anyway, the overhanging theme is concerned towards driving the crew of the Bebop closer together and exploring their characters by using character-centric episodes that, when put together, constitute both character development and the exploration of their pasts. It also leads towards the inevitable ending of the series in episode 26, which sees the closure of Spike’s major character arc concerning his life prior to g onto the Bebop. Without spoiling anything, the ending is incredibly cool and emotionally touching, despite being something of a cliché, and gives us a good final showdown and a worthy end to it all.

Due to its unique nature with mix and match and having pretty much all of its episodes being of very high quality, providing both entertainment and some pieces to the overall theme that made me feel that none of the episodes were truly superfluous (even the more flippant ones like “Toys in the Attic” and “Mushroom Samba”), Cowboy Bebop deserves top marks for being the pinnacle of “a new episode, a new situation” storytelling; I don’t feel I can compare its story to the epics like Monster or Seirei no Moribito since they employ two completely different methods of storytelling.

Characters: 10/10 – Beautifully adult and fleshed-out main characters, workable and sympathetic side casts, believable and well-written interactions.

Cowboy Bebop’s main cast are the crew of the Bebop – the abovementioned Spike and Jet are soon ed aboard by the relatively intelligent dog Ein, self-proclaimed gypsy and card sharp Faye Valentine and maniacal computer hacker Edward (whose surname is too long to print). As I touched upon earlier, Cowboy Bebop’s stories are very character-driven: Most of the episodes showcase a little more of the characters to the audience. And what characters. The three main adult characters, Spike, Jet and Faye are all very maturely and intelligently written, being charming, believable as human beings, and not to mention very fascinating anti-heroes. Because they are all fully aged adults, they are at a stage of life where their personalities are fairly well-defined already and what we get to see is how events of their pasts are affecting their present selves. Instead of having them blab off their life’s stories at the drop of a hat (although that does happen once, and is the centre of that episode), their stories are instead told by unbidden flashback, the odd comment, and by other after-effects of their actions popping up in the story. Having the characters encounter these pieces of their own past, and new perspectives on their current lives, and showing how they react is very interesting to watch. Such introspection, though, doesn’t immediately affect how the characters act on an everyday basis (and probably shouldn’t have either), although you can see subtly how this development eventually comes to light in the later episodes. Bebop thus allows the characters to follow the stand-alone format of the episodes, while still showing that they have depth and are capable of growing as characters. As for Ed and Ein, they perform the role of a comedy duo whose childish tomfoolery contrast the more adult sensibilities of the other three; they are still extremely charming (and funny), but you would hardly expect to get large amounts of character development or backstory from characters that are intended to be two-dimensional from the get-go (which is not to say that you don’t get any). I must say, though, that even as a dog, Ein still has more personality, expressiveness and charm than the cast of Kurozuka combined.

The side characters are generally a lovable lot, existing on a per-episode basis that fulfil both their roles in the script irably and several of them coming across as interesting or entertaining in their own right. They range the entire gamut of various types, from psychotically creepy killer-for-fun Tongpu to loony scenery-chewing cowboy wannabe Andy, and with a few interesting recurring characters showing up too, like that trio of old-timers or the wacky hosts of the “Big Shot!” bounty hunting program. Obviously, with the time allotted, we don’t get the time to develop every last one of them as fully three-dimensional, rounded characters (for those of you who crave lots of that I seem to Monster being particularly, um, ‘in-deep’ in doing just that, even with characters that had no further importance; then again, Monster had time to do that and Cowboy Bebop obviously doesn’t), but the ones we’re supposed to feel with generally get what they need for us to sympathize with them, and the ones meant to scare or entertain get the scenes they need to make them effective.

For a cast that is extremely well-written and both entertaining, charming, sympathetic and believable without grasping for the standard anime archetypes, and for an extremely competent ing cast that perform their story roles without a hitch and leaves me with a favourable memory of just about all of them, be it as hero or villain, I give it top marks.

Value: 10/10 – If you can’t find something to like about this series, it is possible that anime just isn’t for you.

The reception that Cowboy Bebop has had since its launch, and its historical significance, is extremely impressive for a show which has consequently rejected all attempts at turning it into a franchise. In Japan, Cowboy Bebop has consequently placed well on ‘favorite anime’ lists for years after having finished its run, including making second place (after Neon Genesis Evangelion) on a ‘best anime of all times’ list in NewType 2004. The show was one of the major shows involved in bringing anime into the American public consciousness around the millennial shift, ran several successful reruns on Adult Swim, and Hollywood is currently making plans for a movie based on the series (…no comment). I think I can say that, barring the abovementioned Evangelion, you’d be hard-pressed to find a finished, one-season, purely anime original series that has had more historical significance, at least internationally.

Furthermore, it is also eminently accessible; what with its mixture of many genres and the fact that the show is extremely westernized to the degree that you need absolutely no understanding of Japanese culture to ‘get’ any of it, it has a wide range of appeal throughout multiple demographics. Newspapers and at least one movie magazine I know of have described Cowboy Bebop as a “gateway anime” (one of them using the line I’ve used at the top of the Value section), and I heartily agree (after all, it was mine). In short, I really can’t recommend this anime enough, to anyone who has even the slightest interest in the phenomenon – as for a next step for someone who’s already watched Bebop and want something similar, I can possibly recommend Samurai Champloo, which is more japanocentric but made by the same director. Ultimately, though, there’s nothing really quite like Bebop.

Cowboy Bebop is of course not entirely unique and built of whole cloth; few things are. It was inspired by, amongst other things, Outlaw Star. Its various episodes draw inspirations heavily from classic tropes of the genres they belong to. Ultimately, though, the potpourri of different genres that make up the series as a whole – as well as the importance of the soundtrack in the production – is something that is a unique milestone in the anime world. On its own, Cowboy Bebop has inspired several shows, even western ones (like, if I right, Joss Whedon’s Firefly).

And I think I’ve already mentioned something about its rewatchability, to whit, that my look-through prior to writing this is my fourth time (that I can ). And it still hasn’t gotten old. Top marks, no second thoughts.

Enjoyment: 10/10 – It’s got chills, thrills, laughs, cries, monkeys, mysteries, and even a bit of the blues. Something for almost every taste, and plenty for those with several.

I would hardly have put this anime on a pedestal to the degree I already have if it weren’t also for the fact that it’s a complete joy to watch. The mixture of different genres means that every episode brings something new to the table, the characters are interesting to watch, and the nice visuals and awesome soundtrack in the background means even landscape shots become interesting. At its most comedic (like “Mushroom Samba” or “Cowboy Funk”) Cowboy Bebop is eminently laughable, at its most somber and dramatic (like most of Spike’s episodes) it is very sobering to watch. I can say with honesty that I can’t think of a single piece of Bebop that I think of as a ‘lull’ in enjoyment.

Ok, let’s be honest: Due to its mixing of genres, Cowboy Bebop isn’t as good at some of its components as some other anime I’ve seen that specialize in that part, and it doesn’t cover everything – if I want to watch a high school comedy or mecha combat, for instance, I’ll watch Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei or Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann instead: Cowboy Bebop hasn’t got much of either. Overall, though, Bebop is extremely entertaining and I don’t feel a slightest sting of guilt over top marks in this category.

Total: 10/10 – BANG.

So, this is it. Dubitably, some of you may be wondering if giving Cowboy Bebop a 10 all across the board means that I consider it to be the perfect anime. In short, I don’t.

But then again I don’t believe in the concept of ‘perfection’ either and categorically refuse to keep the score of 10 unused due to it only being usable to describe some platonic ideal of anime. To me, the 10 represents the pinnacle of excellence of what I have seen, taking into how, given its situation, it has done everything as well as it possibly could have. I can’t judge how good something could *potentially* be judged by some imaginary standard of perfection, because I can’t judge something by the standards of something that I feel doesn’t exist.

What I can do, however, is to judge things by the standards of what I have seen, and ever since I started judging anime I’ve held up Cowboy Bebop as my standard for overall excellence, and as a categorical standard in several departments, amongst them music, character cast and overall enjoyment. And it has survived as this standard through 10 years of excellent shows (and several rewatches to try and keep the nostalgia factor down). Cowboy Bebop has been outdone in some ways; in categories it doesn’t compete in. (I can hardly judge it the ‘best mecha show’, now can I?). But as my overall favourite show? Nope. Not ever. So I finish this extremely overdone fanboy rant review by giving the 10-year jubilant a top mark 10 overall score, and recommend anyone reading this to watch it if they haven’t already; In my opinion, you’re doing yourselves a disfavour by not doing it.

I do hope, however, that one day I’ll actually see it sured by something. Just think, how awesome won’t *that* show be?

[br][br][br]I'll come out and say it straight from the start: Cowboy Bebop is my favorite anime series of all time. No anime series will ever top Cowboy Bebop (for me at least). I've altered some categories to better describe this series. [br][br]Animation: [br]The animation of Cowboy Bebop is noticeably dated by today's standards. It doesn't looks low-budget or lacking in detail, it just doesn't have the same polish you would expect from any dramatic series ten years its junior. Cowboy Bebop makes up for this with its creative use of cinematography. The "shooting" is done from a variety of unique angles and in congress with the soundtrack. [br]
[br]Story and Characters: [br]The crew of bounty-hunters on the ship Bebop consists of 4 (and a dog). They all get a couple of episodes that heavily develop their characters and offer us a glimpse into their past and into their soul. Each of these characters (maybe not Ed) could easily star in an entertaining series revolving around their pre-bebop lives. That's how interesting they are. Amazingly, the same can be said for the characters that only appear in the single episode stories. The series as a whole easily has 30 rainmaker characters. Imagine if every character in a Gundam series were unique, likeable and interesting. Wouldn't that make a huge difference.[br][br]The main protagonist, Spike Spiegel, is developed a bit differently. Even though he gets a few more episodes revolving around himself and the characters from his past than the others, information about his past is given in snippets. We are teased with hints and implications and some answers are never fully given, leaving you to fill in the blanks. This only adds to Cowboy Bebop's charm, giving it a Casablanca-like quality in the way Spike, Vicious and Julia can refer to and act in accordance with a complicated and heavy past without letting the viewers in on all the details. Not surprisingly, these episodes are also the best and most dramatic episodes of the series. [br][br]Music: [br]From the first episode, the quality of the selection of music peppered throughout the drama hits you like a ton of bricks. Yoko Kanno, already an established soundtrack veteran from series like Macross and Escaflowne, supplies Bebop with her best work yet. Though jazz and blues-heavy, the soundtrack runs the gamut from heavy-metal to bubblegum pop. Great collaborations from artists like Mai Yamane(vocals on the ED) contribute to making this the pinnacle of anime soundtracks. It's the only anime OST that I listen to a regular basis. More important than the quality of the music however, is its appropriateness. The OST works so well with the subject matter and is used so selectively well than you can feel it enhance the drama, and vice-versa. I think that effect is the true measure of its success. [br][br]Style: [br]Not usually a criteria in a review, style is the most unique strength of Cowboy Bebop, and most difficult to explain :( More than the obvious cool and calm way most of the main characters act : their witty replies, their clutchness when the pressure is on, and their overall demure; Bebop is crammed full of pop-culture references and influences. You can see Bruce Lee/kung fu influence in the fight choreography, the 40's drama influence in the character interactions and conversations, the sci-fi influence in the dramatic space-action scenes, on top of all the music and writing influences sprinkled and reflected over and over again throughout the series. When I'm debating the virtues of Cowboy Bebop with someone, one of the arguments I like to use to describe it's success is the quality of the ending scene of practically every episode. The last 30 seconds or so of every episodes is almost always a memorable and fitting ending to the story. It can be anything from dramatic pause by a contemplating character, or an ironic and clever turn of fortune that leaves its victim bemused but that final scene bring the whole episode together perfectly. Though difficult to explain in words, the reaction is quite palpable when witnessing it for the first (or second, or third) time. [br][br]Final Verdict: [br]Every 6 months or so I pick up my Cowboy Bebop DVDs and watch all the episodes over a period of a couple of days. Whenever I'm done, I never fail to have the urge to call up a friend or shoot them an email to pressure them into watching Cowboy Bebop, even to those friends with zero interest in anime (weirdos!). No other anime series has had such an effect on me and I know none other ever will. Thanks for your input!