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Review: Cowboy Bebop (1998)
Wow. Okay. Cowboy Bebop definitely lived up to the hype. This show was perfectly balanced in every regard.
The tone of the show was generally light and comedic, but there was an underlying story line that was serious and emotional. The distinctive music and aesthetic style were unique, and the show generally stayed away from most anime tropes, which made it very accessible to a general audience of both anime and non-anime fans.
I would highly recommend this anime for anyone looking for a fun and short science fiction-comedy serious.
Spoilers. Also, I kind of rushed this review, so there might be stuff that I've missed, but this is all I managed to get out in two hours on a weeknight X'D
Story
To summarize, Cowboy Bebop's story was about a group of bounty hunters, and it followed an adventure-of-the-week format. In general, their targets always ended up getting away, but our main characters rarely left the situation empty handed, usually gaining a valuable experience or friendship.
At first, I was a little bothered that the stories didn't get too deep. However, I got used to it over time. While the stories didn't go deep into the backstories with the bounties, we were supposed to see things from the relatively limited point of view of our main characters. With each of these short stories, we got to peek further and further into the personalities and backstories of our main cast. In addition, the short episodes meant that the stories were absolutely jam-packed with content, and there were no scenes that were non-value adding. Over time, I got used to these shorter episodes, and appreciated that they showed me a story in a different way than the typical 40 episodes I was used to.
The pacing of the show was fantastic. Most of th episodes had a lighter tone. However, in the beginning, middle, and end, we'd have a handful of serious episodes that would delve deeper into the individual backstories of each character. I'll talk more about them in the character sections. I liked that each of them were dealing with their own demons that were different but also not so different.
There was also a lot of "show, don't tell," which I am a massive fan of. Like older anime, Cowboy Bebop was not afraid to use silence or pauses to emphasize a point, and that made the moments feel that much more authentic. Things were not being narrated by the minute, and it was up to the audience to interpret why the characters were doing what they were doing. I really loved the show for allowing the audience to think for themselves.
The show ended with Spike collapsing on the stairs after he'd just defeated Vicious. I choose to believe that he didn't die. Vicious' henchmen, while surprised that Spike was alive, weren't attacking him. I wonder if they acknowledged Spike as their new leader because he'd killed their old leader. In any case, I don't think Spike would want to lead a syndicate. He'd most likely return to the ship, where Jet and Faye were waiting. Ed and Ein were likely roaming earth, but I do think that eventually they'll rejoin the crew. Seeing as how Ed's father was always busy and rather forgetful of her, I don't think it's family that's tying her down, but rather it's her love of adventure that's drawn her away from the crew temporarily. Basically, I'm rooting for the found family ending, and I appreciate that the show's ambiguity gave me leeway to imagine that sort of ending for the characters.
There were also a lot of things about the characters that we weren't given the full details on. We still don't really know who Faye was, we don't really know the specific relationship between Spike and Vicious, etc. But I really didn't feel like I needed those gaps to be filled. Throughout the show, we learned about the characters' backstories when they were ready to face them. Otherwise, we were happy with the present. It was in line with one of the themes of the story, in which the characters were learning to leave behind their pasts that were causing them trouble, and focused on living in the present. It didn't matter to me what their pasts were, because I appreciated who they were in the present.
I really liked the worldbuilding, and how it drew from different cultures. It would make sense that people from all ethnicities would be living all over the solar system. While all of the characters did technically speak Japanese, I think it was just because this show was made for a Japanese audience. In reality, I think that most of the characters probably spoke a few languages, but only spoke in Japanese for the benefit of the Japanese viewers.
I LOVED that there were little to no anime tropes. The anime tropes made Steins;Gate nearly unwatchable for me and that was supposedly a critically acclaimed anime. When Ed joined the gang, I was afraid that she'd bring in a lot of anime tropes, but she did not and I breathed a sigh of relief. There were no "gimmick interactions" (such as characters having arguments about the same things over and over again without resolution) nor were any of the characters particularly stereotypical. Everything was done in a very genuine way, rather than an "on-the-nose" way that tropey animes prefer to do it.
I liked that there was minimal romance in this story. I'll talk about this below, but if this show was ever remade for a Western audience, you just know there'd be a ton of unneeded "sexual tension" between Faye and Spike in a way that was neither subtle nor sexy. In this anime, I saw true platonic friendship grow between all of these characters, and I really liked that there was no romantic element to it at all. You don't have to want to kiss someone to love them.
While this was technically a space cowboy story, the story did not pigeonhole itself in that genre. We saw stories that were more action-y (the first few episodes), we saw episodes that were more horror (the Mad Pierrot episode), and some episodes that were more science fiction (the Scratch Cult episode). That way, this story didn't feel as campy as other space westerns. I'll talk about it more below.
As seen above, I have literally zero complaints about the writing. Keiko Nobumoto is not on my radar, and I am definitely going to look up some of the other anime that she wrote. Samurai Champloo is definitely on my list, since Shinichiro Watanabe also directed it.
Production
Animation
The animation was pretty good. There were parts when it looked a little dated, but that was because of the pixellation and not the actual quality of animation.
I thought that the animation was great at showing really exciting scenes, both hand-to-hand combat scenes and space fight scenes. In addition, these thrilling scenes were very well designed and were not boring to watch at all. I especially loved the Bruce Lee-inspired fighting scenes >3
In addition, I didn't really see many instances of "lazy animating." I thought that sufficient work was put in to the animation to make it look life-like and rich.
Music
I absolutely loved the range of music. The jazzy music was kind of the trademark of the show, and we definitely had a lot of exciting jazz music during fight scenes and such.
But we also had a good share of sad emotional ballads or snazzy rock music, when it appropriately enhanced the environment or the atmosphere.
I don't recall whether there was any music that was reused, but this was the first time where I really felt that I could enjoy the music as another aspect of the show. I will definitely check out the sound track for this show.
On Wikipedia, it says that Watanabe would sometimes direct scenes based on the music that he listened to, which makes sense because of how well the music would suit the scenes.
Serious, A+++++ on the music.
Space Cowboy Genre
One of the initial things I noticed about this show was how significantly less campy it was than Firefly. I watched all of Firefly, including Serenity, but I could never really get into it because of how campy the show production felt.
Since CB was an animation, I think the production had a lot more control over its environment, and could kind of draw attention away from any aspects that could be seen as campy (such as the lighting, or equipment that didn't look realistic).
Now that I'm thinking more about it, I think the lighting and the colour palette was a big reason for why I felt CB was more welcoming. When I think of Firefly, I just think of rusted copper and dark lighting, but when I think of Cowboy Bebop, the image that comes to mind is a more vibrant world.
I also mentioned that the world in CB was pretty multicultural. This was also the case in Firefly, but CB kind of had a better go at it because the dialogue in other languages were dubbed well (i.e. the computer voices that were speaking in other languages), and otherwise, all characters were speaking in the language that the writers were comfortable with. In Firefly, we had A LOT of characters speaking in accented Mandarin and it threw me off. I got what they were going for, but it distracted me.
Back to CB though, I liked how the minor characters were from a variety of ethnicities, religions, walks of life, etc. And each one of them had rich stories to tell. I appreciated that level of diversity. As a person of Hong Kong descent, I also noticed a lot of the Chinese and Hong Kong-influenced tidbits in the environment and characters, and I totally appreciated those.
Pacing
I mentioned this above, but CB had the sort of pacing that I tend to see in older anime. Despite being so known for its music, it knew when to use silence to advance the story or to emphasize a feeling. This was also an extension of "show, don't tell." There were several instances when we'd see a character pause to think, and then decide on an action, rather than narrating their entire thought process. I really enjoyed this way of story telling, pauses and all, because it made me feel like I was living alongside those characters as they went about their days.
Also, I didn't know where to put this, but in Vicious and Spike's last battle, there was that one second pause before they each took their last shot. I've seen this sort of scene in other Japanese actions, so I get what they were going for, and I love how dynamic the final result ended up feeling.
Mature concepts
This show was a tad racier than I'd expected, but not at all unwelcome. Faye had broken into a room where a gay couple was in bed together, which was probably pretty racy for the time. When Jet was dressed up as a hippie, he had a marijuana plant on his shirt, which was surprising.
Characters
Spike Spiegel
Spike Spiegel was the epitome of cool, but the point was that he didn't try hard. He went with the flow. When the atmosphere was serious, he could play serious. And when the atmosphere was silly, he could do that too. That was why he was "effortlessly cool." Spike just said what he wanted when it came to mind, and that's why he came off as authentic.
Spike's back story was that he had been part of the Red Dragon syndicate, and had fallen in love with Julia. Julia was asked by Vicious to kill Spike, but Spike escaped. That being said, Vicious never stopped trying to kill Spike for whatever reason (probably because he would've known company secrets).
Julia expressed that she still loved Spike. Now, I don't know if Spike ever expected that they'd really run away and live a dream life together. I think he knew that was nearly impossible. However, he was fine spending whatever time with Julia that he could.
Vicious was constantly out to kill Spike, and that was why Spike had no choice but to kill Vicious. If it were up to Spike, he and the Red Dragon Syndicate would never cross paths ever again, and they'd just stay out of each other's hair. But because Vicious wouldn't stop hunting him down, either through Julia or on his own, Spike had to kill him in order to live a quiet life.
As I mentioned, I think that Spike didn't die in the end. While he was an enemy of Vicious, I think the members of the Red Dragon Syndicate still respected him, and so I think they would've at least not actively tried to hurt him after he collapsed.
Before Spike left the ship, he and Faye discussed letting go of the past. After the last two episodes, both Vicious and Julia were dead, and though it wasn't the most graceful, Spike finally no longer had to worry about two of the most important people in his life.
Spike said that because of his prosthetic eye, he had a hard time focusing on the present. We're never told why he had the eye, but it's another one of those things that we didn't need to know until Spike felt like telling us.
Anyway, Spike was a great main character. I mean, all of the four main characters were great, but so was Spike lol. He was so cool without being unapproachable, and his angst wasn't overdone.
Jet Black
Jet was honestly the most competent man out of the entire crew lol. Not only did he own the ship, but he was also always doing repairs, and cooking for the entire crew. Jet was revealed to have been a former cop, and throughout the show, it seems he had a lot of former contacts who would provide him information. So he was also probably the most well-connected of the main crew.
Jet's story involved getting over an ex-girlfriend, Alisa. She had left him because she found him too controlling, even if he was just trying to provide safety for her. In the end, Jet did what he had to do as a bounty hunter, but he also learned to let go of Alisa.
Jet's backstory was pretty simple, but I think it also reflected a bit on how he talked to Spike in the end before he left for his final battle. Alisa wanted to make her own decisions, even if she knew she'd get hurt by them. But if they were own decisions and she was willing to take consequence for any negative outcomes, is it really considered a bad ending? For Spike, he might've died in his fight with Vicious, but he'd be more at peace knowing that he gave it a shot and fought Vicious. So that was why Jet had to let Spike go even if he knew he'd never come back.
Jet was the papa bear of the crew. Great man.
Faye Valentine
As is the case for most female characters in anime, I was worried that Faye was going to be an oversexualized trope. I was pleased to see that Faye was shown as a more three-dimensional character.
Faye was more of a morally flexible bounty hunter. She had trust issues, to the point that she'd rather gamble away all her money than put it in the bank. Apparently she had a lot of debts left over from when she was scammed, but it was more of an afterthought lol. While Faye did use her sexuality while hunting down bounties, it seemed more like a tool/facet of Faye's person, rather than a personality trait.
Faye's backstory was her amnesia. She'd been woken up from cryogenic slumber and tricked into falling in love with a debt-laden con artist. During the show, she learned that everything she knew about herself was a lie, except for the fact that she was in a cryogenic slumber. She appeared in her 20s, but had been asleep for about 50 years.
A mysterious somebody sent Faye a video tape and a tape player. The tape was something she'd filmed as a teenager to her future self. The tape being played was a pretty emotional moment because it was the first time that Faye had ever seen herself so authentic and sincere. Even Jet and Spike were struck by how sincerely the younger Faye was cheering herself on. While it was not revealed who the tape was sent by, it doesn't really matter, because the fact is, she made the video for herself, so it would've found its way to her anyway.
In the last few episodes, Faye began to remember her past. The scene in which Faye was walking up a road to her house was pretty emotional. She was walking at first, but her pace became more frantic, and she sped up to a run. While it wasn't like the house was going to go anywhere, the fact was that Faye had spent so much time wandering and just wanted some place to call home. Unfortunately, her home was completely destroyed. Faye drew a rectangular bed for herself and pretended that she was sleeping at home. That entire scene really struck me because though Faye acted like a cold-hearted woman all the time, everybody could sympathize with her. She'd remembered something that she didn't even know she'd forgotten, and now that she remembered, it was a bittersweet feeling. Perhaps it might've been better not remembering, but I think that Faye would've preferred remembering but not being able to have that family anymore.
Faye was called by Spike, and had later met Julia, so despite trying to run away, she ended up gravitating back to the crew again. Before Spike left for his final battle, he and Faye had a conversation about trying to forget their pasts. I think she was a little bitter that Spike still had a past to go back to, despite acting like he didn't care at all. We know that actually cared a lot, but it still was hard on Faye knowing that she'd only remembered her past after it was all gone.
That being said, she and Spike both learned of the importance of living in the present, and I think she'll continue to stay with the crew because this is her familiy now.
Edward Wong
I was so worried Ed was going to be an anime trope but I'm glad it went a different way. Ed is kind of an androgynous weird kid. She's a girl, but she has a traditionally masculine name, and even her father forgets whether he has a son or daughter (though her father is extremely forgetful to the point of having forgotten his kid at a daycare for 7 years).
Anyway, I was so scared that Ed was going to be "innocently sexy" like a lot of anime tropes, but instead, she was just weird. Which is realistic! Most 13 years old you know are more weird that innocently sexy. In addition, her voice actor really sounded like a kid as opposed to those cringey high-pitched voices that I hear in more recent anime. I ended up finding Ed actually cute as a kid.
While Ed was a little quirky and weird, she also knew when to take things seriously, which made me so happy. When the crew was on an important mission, Ed would be on her A-game too. Of course, she had her own optimistic approach, but she knew what her priorities were.
While being a computer genius, I also liked that Ed was still a child. Of course, she was fun-loving, but there were also moments in which her childlike experiences would be taken advantage of, such as being tricked by the mushroom merchant.
Ed left the crew in the end (with Ein). Faye had told her that there is somewhere that she belonged (implying that Ed should go be with her father). However, I chose to interpret that Ed was going to go on adventures on her own. Considering her father was so forgetful and focused on his work, I don't think he'd be spending a lot of time with Ed anyway.
I think that Ed will go out into the world and learn even more than she already does, and the next time that she bumps into the crew, she'll be an even smarter and a just as optimistic friend.
Ein
Ein! So cute :3 While Ein was cute, I also liked that Ein functioned like an actual character with good and bad attributes. Being a dog, there were some scents and sound frequencies that he could sense. In addition, he was a "data dog." While I didn't really understand what that meant at first, we saw Ein very efficiently hack into Scratch's website so I think that Ein did have a very high level of brain power.
However, we also saw moments in which Ein caused trouble. For example, there was a scene when Ed was executing a program and Ein pressed a button that caused Ed to blow up at him.
In the end, Ein decided to join Ed on her journey. We saw that Ein had second thoughts about whether to leave, because he really did love his family. But perhaps he thought that Ed would be lonely on her own, and that's why he decided to join her.
Annie/Anastasia
Annie was a former acquaintance of Spike that we saw once near the beginning and once near the end. We don't know what their actual relationship was, but she was definitely part of the Red Dragon Syndicate. In the end, she died because she wouldn't give up any information about Spike's whereabouts.
Vicious
Vicious was a member of the Red Dragon Syndicate. He used to be buddies with Spike, but later turned on him, likely for the sake of his career. At the beginning and in the middle of the show, we saw episodes in which Vicious tried to kill Spike. We were never given a concrete reason for why Vicious killed Spike, but I think we didn't need the specifics, nor did we have the time to cover that in a way that would suit the storytelling of Cowboy Bebop.
One of my interpretations was that Spike was a threat to Red Dragon Syndicate as long as he lived because he knew its secrets, and he was also capable enough to take him down if he wanted. So Vicious decided to stamp him out before Spike could do that.
Despite being evil, I was invested in seeing Vicious' coup succeed. He was such a cool character with his long sword (Sephiroth vibes, anyone?). Anyway, very cool villain.
Julia
Julia was Spike's love interest. We never really saw her as a character until the end of the show. Faye described her as a normal woman, but someone you couldn't leave alone, either a devilish angel or an angelic devil. I thought that was a very interesting description, and I felt it made sense. There was nothing really about Julia that was particularly alluring, but what mattered in the context of the crew was how much she mattered to Spike. In addition, while Julia wasn't a bad person, she was haunted with bad vibes. She didn't hate Spike, but she was told to kill him for her own well-being. And she was tied to the syndicate that wanted him dead. So she was either a good person involved with the wrong people, or she was an enemy masquerading as a nice person.
In the end, Julia decided she'd fight with Spike until the end, and that she did. She said something before she died, but we don't know what it was. Not that it mattered, because what was important was already communicated between the two long before, both verbally and non-verbally.
Lin & Shin
While these two brothers were minor characters, I thought they were interesting, and I was hoping they'd have bigger roles.
Lin used to work for Spike, and I thought by virtue of that, we were going to see more interactions between them. Lin seemed to have become fully loyal to the syndicate, and thus protected Vicious against Spike. However, instead of shooting Spike, he just tased him. He did end up taking a bullet for Vicious though.
As for Shin, he was still loyal to Spike. Shin decided to go full rogue and get Spike in to the Syndicate because he knew he'd be the only one capable of taking out Vicious.
Gren
Though Gren was only in a couple of episodes, I thought he was an interesting character, and actually thought he'd play a bigger role than he did. He shed a bit of light on Vicious' past and the kind of person he was. Through Gren, we found out that Vicious was totally ruthless, betraying Gren for no good reason. In the end, Spike granted Gren the wish of being as close to Titan as he could while he died, which I thought was actually surprisingly sweet and sincere.
Themes
Past
All of the characters in this show were struggling with letting go of their pasts.
Spike was still haunted by the fact that he left Julia, and Vicious was actively out to kill him. He appeared to be living in the present, but he told Faye that one of his eyes was always living in the past. He said that it felt like he was watching a dream, and before he knew it, the dream was up. I think that dream might've been the present. He was living in the past so much that he forgot to enjoy the life he was living. I think that's one of the reasons he seemed so laid back. He was just less invested in the present than he was in the past. But as we know, by the end of the show, he decided he had to finally tie the loose ends of his past so that he could move forward.
It took Jet some time before he could let go of Alisa. He always had that watch that Alisa had left him as a goodbye gift. He thought of it fondly, but Alisa told him that when she was with him, she felt confined, stuck in time. So it turns out the watch had negative connotations. Anyway, seeing how Alisa cared so much for Rhint, Jet saw that it was time that he let go. Of course, he had some words for Rhint before handing him over to the authorities, but seeing Alisa finally speak her mind in front of him (instead of leaving a vague note), he understood that it was time he let go.
Faye didn't even know what her past was, and when she did, it was already gone. As I mentioned, she seemed a little bitter that Spike was still grappling with his past whereas Faye's was done before she even got to explore it. But since she didn't have a past to go back to anymore, Faye decided she might as well try to make a life in the present, and that's why she didn't speak to her old friend, and returned to the crew.
While Ed's father didn't give her the most parental support, I think Ed decided not to take it to heart. She didn't even seem mad at her dad for being so neglectful. But I think Ed's approach allowed her to live totally in the present, and to be more adventurous.
Family
Though Ed and Ein did end up leaving the family, we still saw how the characters bonded with one another, and how they learned to rely on each other.
This found family came together very naturally. Despite their differences, by the end of the show, we saw how each of the characters treated each other with respect, even Ed, who was an actual child.
The friendships in this show really left an impression on me because of how they pulled this off without any romantic relationships which is so freaking rare nowadays.
Adaptations
I honestly don't trust Western producers to be able to recreate the same dynamic and atmosphere of this show. Any Western live-action remake will feel too Hollywood, and I have a feeling that it'll feel as campy as Firefly will.
I honestly can't see John Cho as Spike Spiegel, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
But as I mentioned above, I don't trust the Western writers not to put in a ton of tropey sexual tension scenes between Spike and Faye!
In addition, there's a lot of wacky stuff that looks normal in an animation but weird in live-action. One such case would be Ed's weird behaviour, such as her flaily arms and legs lol.
I mean, the Wikipedia page shows a bunch of recent updates about the live action TV series, so it looks like this TV show is going to be A Thing. But I just don't see what value a live action would add. It's similar to all the Disney remakes. I don't know what value they are adding that will make it something that is worth watching over the original anime. They could make it more serious, but the anime already injected enough seriousness into it. The point of Cowboy Bebop was that it was silly with only a little bit of seriousness, and adding too much seriousness would just turn it into another Western drama. I don't know if I'm just being an elitist. I just don't have high hopes for this live action show, and I probably wouldn't watch it.
Overall
Overall, I thought this anime was spectacular. I have no complaints about it. The story is great, the characters are really interesting, the action is exciting, the music is smooth and unique, and everything just came together very well to make this a very polished final product that was both fun and hit the emotions when it needed to.
There is a Cowboy Bebop movie based on an event that happened between episodes 22 and 23. I might not get around to it any time soon considering my movie backlog, but I don't see any reason not to watch it. I also appreciate that it appears to be a separate story as opposed to "required watching" in order to understand the anime.
The tone of the show was generally light and comedic, but there was an underlying story line that was serious and emotional. The distinctive music and aesthetic style were unique, and the show generally stayed away from most anime tropes, which made it very accessible to a general audience of both anime and non-anime fans.
I would highly recommend this anime for anyone looking for a fun and short science fiction-comedy serious.
Spoilers. Also, I kind of rushed this review, so there might be stuff that I've missed, but this is all I managed to get out in two hours on a weeknight X'D
Story
To summarize, Cowboy Bebop's story was about a group of bounty hunters, and it followed an adventure-of-the-week format. In general, their targets always ended up getting away, but our main characters rarely left the situation empty handed, usually gaining a valuable experience or friendship.
At first, I was a little bothered that the stories didn't get too deep. However, I got used to it over time. While the stories didn't go deep into the backstories with the bounties, we were supposed to see things from the relatively limited point of view of our main characters. With each of these short stories, we got to peek further and further into the personalities and backstories of our main cast. In addition, the short episodes meant that the stories were absolutely jam-packed with content, and there were no scenes that were non-value adding. Over time, I got used to these shorter episodes, and appreciated that they showed me a story in a different way than the typical 40 episodes I was used to.
The pacing of the show was fantastic. Most of th episodes had a lighter tone. However, in the beginning, middle, and end, we'd have a handful of serious episodes that would delve deeper into the individual backstories of each character. I'll talk more about them in the character sections. I liked that each of them were dealing with their own demons that were different but also not so different.
There was also a lot of "show, don't tell," which I am a massive fan of. Like older anime, Cowboy Bebop was not afraid to use silence or pauses to emphasize a point, and that made the moments feel that much more authentic. Things were not being narrated by the minute, and it was up to the audience to interpret why the characters were doing what they were doing. I really loved the show for allowing the audience to think for themselves.
The show ended with Spike collapsing on the stairs after he'd just defeated Vicious. I choose to believe that he didn't die. Vicious' henchmen, while surprised that Spike was alive, weren't attacking him. I wonder if they acknowledged Spike as their new leader because he'd killed their old leader. In any case, I don't think Spike would want to lead a syndicate. He'd most likely return to the ship, where Jet and Faye were waiting. Ed and Ein were likely roaming earth, but I do think that eventually they'll rejoin the crew. Seeing as how Ed's father was always busy and rather forgetful of her, I don't think it's family that's tying her down, but rather it's her love of adventure that's drawn her away from the crew temporarily. Basically, I'm rooting for the found family ending, and I appreciate that the show's ambiguity gave me leeway to imagine that sort of ending for the characters.
There were also a lot of things about the characters that we weren't given the full details on. We still don't really know who Faye was, we don't really know the specific relationship between Spike and Vicious, etc. But I really didn't feel like I needed those gaps to be filled. Throughout the show, we learned about the characters' backstories when they were ready to face them. Otherwise, we were happy with the present. It was in line with one of the themes of the story, in which the characters were learning to leave behind their pasts that were causing them trouble, and focused on living in the present. It didn't matter to me what their pasts were, because I appreciated who they were in the present.
I really liked the worldbuilding, and how it drew from different cultures. It would make sense that people from all ethnicities would be living all over the solar system. While all of the characters did technically speak Japanese, I think it was just because this show was made for a Japanese audience. In reality, I think that most of the characters probably spoke a few languages, but only spoke in Japanese for the benefit of the Japanese viewers.
I LOVED that there were little to no anime tropes. The anime tropes made Steins;Gate nearly unwatchable for me and that was supposedly a critically acclaimed anime. When Ed joined the gang, I was afraid that she'd bring in a lot of anime tropes, but she did not and I breathed a sigh of relief. There were no "gimmick interactions" (such as characters having arguments about the same things over and over again without resolution) nor were any of the characters particularly stereotypical. Everything was done in a very genuine way, rather than an "on-the-nose" way that tropey animes prefer to do it.
I liked that there was minimal romance in this story. I'll talk about this below, but if this show was ever remade for a Western audience, you just know there'd be a ton of unneeded "sexual tension" between Faye and Spike in a way that was neither subtle nor sexy. In this anime, I saw true platonic friendship grow between all of these characters, and I really liked that there was no romantic element to it at all. You don't have to want to kiss someone to love them.
While this was technically a space cowboy story, the story did not pigeonhole itself in that genre. We saw stories that were more action-y (the first few episodes), we saw episodes that were more horror (the Mad Pierrot episode), and some episodes that were more science fiction (the Scratch Cult episode). That way, this story didn't feel as campy as other space westerns. I'll talk about it more below.
As seen above, I have literally zero complaints about the writing. Keiko Nobumoto is not on my radar, and I am definitely going to look up some of the other anime that she wrote. Samurai Champloo is definitely on my list, since Shinichiro Watanabe also directed it.
Production
Animation
The animation was pretty good. There were parts when it looked a little dated, but that was because of the pixellation and not the actual quality of animation.
I thought that the animation was great at showing really exciting scenes, both hand-to-hand combat scenes and space fight scenes. In addition, these thrilling scenes were very well designed and were not boring to watch at all. I especially loved the Bruce Lee-inspired fighting scenes >3
In addition, I didn't really see many instances of "lazy animating." I thought that sufficient work was put in to the animation to make it look life-like and rich.
Music
I absolutely loved the range of music. The jazzy music was kind of the trademark of the show, and we definitely had a lot of exciting jazz music during fight scenes and such.
But we also had a good share of sad emotional ballads or snazzy rock music, when it appropriately enhanced the environment or the atmosphere.
I don't recall whether there was any music that was reused, but this was the first time where I really felt that I could enjoy the music as another aspect of the show. I will definitely check out the sound track for this show.
On Wikipedia, it says that Watanabe would sometimes direct scenes based on the music that he listened to, which makes sense because of how well the music would suit the scenes.
Serious, A+++++ on the music.
Space Cowboy Genre
One of the initial things I noticed about this show was how significantly less campy it was than Firefly. I watched all of Firefly, including Serenity, but I could never really get into it because of how campy the show production felt.
Since CB was an animation, I think the production had a lot more control over its environment, and could kind of draw attention away from any aspects that could be seen as campy (such as the lighting, or equipment that didn't look realistic).
Now that I'm thinking more about it, I think the lighting and the colour palette was a big reason for why I felt CB was more welcoming. When I think of Firefly, I just think of rusted copper and dark lighting, but when I think of Cowboy Bebop, the image that comes to mind is a more vibrant world.
I also mentioned that the world in CB was pretty multicultural. This was also the case in Firefly, but CB kind of had a better go at it because the dialogue in other languages were dubbed well (i.e. the computer voices that were speaking in other languages), and otherwise, all characters were speaking in the language that the writers were comfortable with. In Firefly, we had A LOT of characters speaking in accented Mandarin and it threw me off. I got what they were going for, but it distracted me.
Back to CB though, I liked how the minor characters were from a variety of ethnicities, religions, walks of life, etc. And each one of them had rich stories to tell. I appreciated that level of diversity. As a person of Hong Kong descent, I also noticed a lot of the Chinese and Hong Kong-influenced tidbits in the environment and characters, and I totally appreciated those.
Pacing
I mentioned this above, but CB had the sort of pacing that I tend to see in older anime. Despite being so known for its music, it knew when to use silence to advance the story or to emphasize a feeling. This was also an extension of "show, don't tell." There were several instances when we'd see a character pause to think, and then decide on an action, rather than narrating their entire thought process. I really enjoyed this way of story telling, pauses and all, because it made me feel like I was living alongside those characters as they went about their days.
Also, I didn't know where to put this, but in Vicious and Spike's last battle, there was that one second pause before they each took their last shot. I've seen this sort of scene in other Japanese actions, so I get what they were going for, and I love how dynamic the final result ended up feeling.
Mature concepts
This show was a tad racier than I'd expected, but not at all unwelcome. Faye had broken into a room where a gay couple was in bed together, which was probably pretty racy for the time. When Jet was dressed up as a hippie, he had a marijuana plant on his shirt, which was surprising.
Characters
Spike Spiegel
Spike Spiegel was the epitome of cool, but the point was that he didn't try hard. He went with the flow. When the atmosphere was serious, he could play serious. And when the atmosphere was silly, he could do that too. That was why he was "effortlessly cool." Spike just said what he wanted when it came to mind, and that's why he came off as authentic.
Spike's back story was that he had been part of the Red Dragon syndicate, and had fallen in love with Julia. Julia was asked by Vicious to kill Spike, but Spike escaped. That being said, Vicious never stopped trying to kill Spike for whatever reason (probably because he would've known company secrets).
Julia expressed that she still loved Spike. Now, I don't know if Spike ever expected that they'd really run away and live a dream life together. I think he knew that was nearly impossible. However, he was fine spending whatever time with Julia that he could.
Vicious was constantly out to kill Spike, and that was why Spike had no choice but to kill Vicious. If it were up to Spike, he and the Red Dragon Syndicate would never cross paths ever again, and they'd just stay out of each other's hair. But because Vicious wouldn't stop hunting him down, either through Julia or on his own, Spike had to kill him in order to live a quiet life.
As I mentioned, I think that Spike didn't die in the end. While he was an enemy of Vicious, I think the members of the Red Dragon Syndicate still respected him, and so I think they would've at least not actively tried to hurt him after he collapsed.
Before Spike left the ship, he and Faye discussed letting go of the past. After the last two episodes, both Vicious and Julia were dead, and though it wasn't the most graceful, Spike finally no longer had to worry about two of the most important people in his life.
Spike said that because of his prosthetic eye, he had a hard time focusing on the present. We're never told why he had the eye, but it's another one of those things that we didn't need to know until Spike felt like telling us.
Anyway, Spike was a great main character. I mean, all of the four main characters were great, but so was Spike lol. He was so cool without being unapproachable, and his angst wasn't overdone.
Jet Black
Jet was honestly the most competent man out of the entire crew lol. Not only did he own the ship, but he was also always doing repairs, and cooking for the entire crew. Jet was revealed to have been a former cop, and throughout the show, it seems he had a lot of former contacts who would provide him information. So he was also probably the most well-connected of the main crew.
Jet's story involved getting over an ex-girlfriend, Alisa. She had left him because she found him too controlling, even if he was just trying to provide safety for her. In the end, Jet did what he had to do as a bounty hunter, but he also learned to let go of Alisa.
Jet's backstory was pretty simple, but I think it also reflected a bit on how he talked to Spike in the end before he left for his final battle. Alisa wanted to make her own decisions, even if she knew she'd get hurt by them. But if they were own decisions and she was willing to take consequence for any negative outcomes, is it really considered a bad ending? For Spike, he might've died in his fight with Vicious, but he'd be more at peace knowing that he gave it a shot and fought Vicious. So that was why Jet had to let Spike go even if he knew he'd never come back.
Jet was the papa bear of the crew. Great man.
Faye Valentine
As is the case for most female characters in anime, I was worried that Faye was going to be an oversexualized trope. I was pleased to see that Faye was shown as a more three-dimensional character.
Faye was more of a morally flexible bounty hunter. She had trust issues, to the point that she'd rather gamble away all her money than put it in the bank. Apparently she had a lot of debts left over from when she was scammed, but it was more of an afterthought lol. While Faye did use her sexuality while hunting down bounties, it seemed more like a tool/facet of Faye's person, rather than a personality trait.
Faye's backstory was her amnesia. She'd been woken up from cryogenic slumber and tricked into falling in love with a debt-laden con artist. During the show, she learned that everything she knew about herself was a lie, except for the fact that she was in a cryogenic slumber. She appeared in her 20s, but had been asleep for about 50 years.
A mysterious somebody sent Faye a video tape and a tape player. The tape was something she'd filmed as a teenager to her future self. The tape being played was a pretty emotional moment because it was the first time that Faye had ever seen herself so authentic and sincere. Even Jet and Spike were struck by how sincerely the younger Faye was cheering herself on. While it was not revealed who the tape was sent by, it doesn't really matter, because the fact is, she made the video for herself, so it would've found its way to her anyway.
In the last few episodes, Faye began to remember her past. The scene in which Faye was walking up a road to her house was pretty emotional. She was walking at first, but her pace became more frantic, and she sped up to a run. While it wasn't like the house was going to go anywhere, the fact was that Faye had spent so much time wandering and just wanted some place to call home. Unfortunately, her home was completely destroyed. Faye drew a rectangular bed for herself and pretended that she was sleeping at home. That entire scene really struck me because though Faye acted like a cold-hearted woman all the time, everybody could sympathize with her. She'd remembered something that she didn't even know she'd forgotten, and now that she remembered, it was a bittersweet feeling. Perhaps it might've been better not remembering, but I think that Faye would've preferred remembering but not being able to have that family anymore.
Faye was called by Spike, and had later met Julia, so despite trying to run away, she ended up gravitating back to the crew again. Before Spike left for his final battle, he and Faye had a conversation about trying to forget their pasts. I think she was a little bitter that Spike still had a past to go back to, despite acting like he didn't care at all. We know that actually cared a lot, but it still was hard on Faye knowing that she'd only remembered her past after it was all gone.
That being said, she and Spike both learned of the importance of living in the present, and I think she'll continue to stay with the crew because this is her familiy now.
Edward Wong
I was so worried Ed was going to be an anime trope but I'm glad it went a different way. Ed is kind of an androgynous weird kid. She's a girl, but she has a traditionally masculine name, and even her father forgets whether he has a son or daughter (though her father is extremely forgetful to the point of having forgotten his kid at a daycare for 7 years).
Anyway, I was so scared that Ed was going to be "innocently sexy" like a lot of anime tropes, but instead, she was just weird. Which is realistic! Most 13 years old you know are more weird that innocently sexy. In addition, her voice actor really sounded like a kid as opposed to those cringey high-pitched voices that I hear in more recent anime. I ended up finding Ed actually cute as a kid.
While Ed was a little quirky and weird, she also knew when to take things seriously, which made me so happy. When the crew was on an important mission, Ed would be on her A-game too. Of course, she had her own optimistic approach, but she knew what her priorities were.
While being a computer genius, I also liked that Ed was still a child. Of course, she was fun-loving, but there were also moments in which her childlike experiences would be taken advantage of, such as being tricked by the mushroom merchant.
Ed left the crew in the end (with Ein). Faye had told her that there is somewhere that she belonged (implying that Ed should go be with her father). However, I chose to interpret that Ed was going to go on adventures on her own. Considering her father was so forgetful and focused on his work, I don't think he'd be spending a lot of time with Ed anyway.
I think that Ed will go out into the world and learn even more than she already does, and the next time that she bumps into the crew, she'll be an even smarter and a just as optimistic friend.
Ein
Ein! So cute :3 While Ein was cute, I also liked that Ein functioned like an actual character with good and bad attributes. Being a dog, there were some scents and sound frequencies that he could sense. In addition, he was a "data dog." While I didn't really understand what that meant at first, we saw Ein very efficiently hack into Scratch's website so I think that Ein did have a very high level of brain power.
However, we also saw moments in which Ein caused trouble. For example, there was a scene when Ed was executing a program and Ein pressed a button that caused Ed to blow up at him.
In the end, Ein decided to join Ed on her journey. We saw that Ein had second thoughts about whether to leave, because he really did love his family. But perhaps he thought that Ed would be lonely on her own, and that's why he decided to join her.
Annie/Anastasia
Annie was a former acquaintance of Spike that we saw once near the beginning and once near the end. We don't know what their actual relationship was, but she was definitely part of the Red Dragon Syndicate. In the end, she died because she wouldn't give up any information about Spike's whereabouts.
Vicious
Vicious was a member of the Red Dragon Syndicate. He used to be buddies with Spike, but later turned on him, likely for the sake of his career. At the beginning and in the middle of the show, we saw episodes in which Vicious tried to kill Spike. We were never given a concrete reason for why Vicious killed Spike, but I think we didn't need the specifics, nor did we have the time to cover that in a way that would suit the storytelling of Cowboy Bebop.
One of my interpretations was that Spike was a threat to Red Dragon Syndicate as long as he lived because he knew its secrets, and he was also capable enough to take him down if he wanted. So Vicious decided to stamp him out before Spike could do that.
Despite being evil, I was invested in seeing Vicious' coup succeed. He was such a cool character with his long sword (Sephiroth vibes, anyone?). Anyway, very cool villain.
Julia
Julia was Spike's love interest. We never really saw her as a character until the end of the show. Faye described her as a normal woman, but someone you couldn't leave alone, either a devilish angel or an angelic devil. I thought that was a very interesting description, and I felt it made sense. There was nothing really about Julia that was particularly alluring, but what mattered in the context of the crew was how much she mattered to Spike. In addition, while Julia wasn't a bad person, she was haunted with bad vibes. She didn't hate Spike, but she was told to kill him for her own well-being. And she was tied to the syndicate that wanted him dead. So she was either a good person involved with the wrong people, or she was an enemy masquerading as a nice person.
In the end, Julia decided she'd fight with Spike until the end, and that she did. She said something before she died, but we don't know what it was. Not that it mattered, because what was important was already communicated between the two long before, both verbally and non-verbally.
Lin & Shin
While these two brothers were minor characters, I thought they were interesting, and I was hoping they'd have bigger roles.
Lin used to work for Spike, and I thought by virtue of that, we were going to see more interactions between them. Lin seemed to have become fully loyal to the syndicate, and thus protected Vicious against Spike. However, instead of shooting Spike, he just tased him. He did end up taking a bullet for Vicious though.
As for Shin, he was still loyal to Spike. Shin decided to go full rogue and get Spike in to the Syndicate because he knew he'd be the only one capable of taking out Vicious.
Gren
Though Gren was only in a couple of episodes, I thought he was an interesting character, and actually thought he'd play a bigger role than he did. He shed a bit of light on Vicious' past and the kind of person he was. Through Gren, we found out that Vicious was totally ruthless, betraying Gren for no good reason. In the end, Spike granted Gren the wish of being as close to Titan as he could while he died, which I thought was actually surprisingly sweet and sincere.
Themes
Past
All of the characters in this show were struggling with letting go of their pasts.
Spike was still haunted by the fact that he left Julia, and Vicious was actively out to kill him. He appeared to be living in the present, but he told Faye that one of his eyes was always living in the past. He said that it felt like he was watching a dream, and before he knew it, the dream was up. I think that dream might've been the present. He was living in the past so much that he forgot to enjoy the life he was living. I think that's one of the reasons he seemed so laid back. He was just less invested in the present than he was in the past. But as we know, by the end of the show, he decided he had to finally tie the loose ends of his past so that he could move forward.
It took Jet some time before he could let go of Alisa. He always had that watch that Alisa had left him as a goodbye gift. He thought of it fondly, but Alisa told him that when she was with him, she felt confined, stuck in time. So it turns out the watch had negative connotations. Anyway, seeing how Alisa cared so much for Rhint, Jet saw that it was time that he let go. Of course, he had some words for Rhint before handing him over to the authorities, but seeing Alisa finally speak her mind in front of him (instead of leaving a vague note), he understood that it was time he let go.
Faye didn't even know what her past was, and when she did, it was already gone. As I mentioned, she seemed a little bitter that Spike was still grappling with his past whereas Faye's was done before she even got to explore it. But since she didn't have a past to go back to anymore, Faye decided she might as well try to make a life in the present, and that's why she didn't speak to her old friend, and returned to the crew.
While Ed's father didn't give her the most parental support, I think Ed decided not to take it to heart. She didn't even seem mad at her dad for being so neglectful. But I think Ed's approach allowed her to live totally in the present, and to be more adventurous.
Family
Though Ed and Ein did end up leaving the family, we still saw how the characters bonded with one another, and how they learned to rely on each other.
This found family came together very naturally. Despite their differences, by the end of the show, we saw how each of the characters treated each other with respect, even Ed, who was an actual child.
The friendships in this show really left an impression on me because of how they pulled this off without any romantic relationships which is so freaking rare nowadays.
Adaptations
I honestly don't trust Western producers to be able to recreate the same dynamic and atmosphere of this show. Any Western live-action remake will feel too Hollywood, and I have a feeling that it'll feel as campy as Firefly will.
I honestly can't see John Cho as Spike Spiegel, but I will give him the benefit of the doubt.
But as I mentioned above, I don't trust the Western writers not to put in a ton of tropey sexual tension scenes between Spike and Faye!
In addition, there's a lot of wacky stuff that looks normal in an animation but weird in live-action. One such case would be Ed's weird behaviour, such as her flaily arms and legs lol.
I mean, the Wikipedia page shows a bunch of recent updates about the live action TV series, so it looks like this TV show is going to be A Thing. But I just don't see what value a live action would add. It's similar to all the Disney remakes. I don't know what value they are adding that will make it something that is worth watching over the original anime. They could make it more serious, but the anime already injected enough seriousness into it. The point of Cowboy Bebop was that it was silly with only a little bit of seriousness, and adding too much seriousness would just turn it into another Western drama. I don't know if I'm just being an elitist. I just don't have high hopes for this live action show, and I probably wouldn't watch it.
Overall
Overall, I thought this anime was spectacular. I have no complaints about it. The story is great, the characters are really interesting, the action is exciting, the music is smooth and unique, and everything just came together very well to make this a very polished final product that was both fun and hit the emotions when it needed to.
There is a Cowboy Bebop movie based on an event that happened between episodes 22 and 23. I might not get around to it any time soon considering my movie backlog, but I don't see any reason not to watch it. I also appreciate that it appears to be a separate story as opposed to "required watching" in order to understand the anime.