Comments
Essential Anime: Cowboy Bebop
Written By Scrivs on May. 1, 2007.
12 Comments
Report Note
+ Clip This
This is part of my The Essential Geek Series.
Cowboy Bebop might go down as my favorite anime of all time. Great music, great action, great characters and most importantly great storyline. It is directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (expect to see this name a lot) and is about the adventures of four space bounty hunters travelling in their spaceship, the Bebop, in the year 2071.
The soundtrack has a heavy jazz and rock element to it (there is a new set where the soundtrack has been remixed, but I haven't watched it yet). All of the fight sequences are timed to the music that is currently being played so it really gets you into the flow of it. Each episode is called a session, ala jazz session, and the title's usually indicate that episode's musical theme.
In the year 2071, the crew of the spaceship Bebop travel the solar system trying to apprehend bounties. In the slang of the era, "Cowboys" are bounty hunters. Most episodes revolve around a specific bounty, but the show often shares its focus with the pasts of one of each of the four main characters and of more general past events, which are revealed and brought together as the series progresses.
When you come across series like this it can be hard to hit a quality ending, but the ending to this series will not disappoint. The last disc in the set really hits an emotional nerve while the story comes together in a hellified climax. Many times when I come across a list of the best anime of all-time Bebop is consistently in the top 5 behind Neon Genesis Evangelion, but for me it shines above it because of its rawness with regards to human emotion and its ending. If you are into anime are just getting started, Cowboy Bebop is essential to your collection.
SPOILER: Wikipedia's list of episodes.
bloglily
Written May. 1, 2007 / Report /
The Essential Geek -- what a great idea. I like it that you can sit in the back of the cafeteria and find out what matters -- or at least not get your ass kicked.
And thanks for the Cowboy Bebop tip.
Scrivs
Written May. 1, 2007 / Report /
Thanks bloglily and you are welcome.
Teej
Written May. 1, 2007 / Report /
I've been meaning to pick up Cowboy Bebop to watch it through, even though I never really got into it. It's probably also safe to rank it near or above Evangelion, as I'm assuming it doesn't have an ending that requires a hit of acid to understand.
My space bounty-hunter anime series was always Outlaw Star. It never really got popular, and was only one season long, but every episode had me hooked. If Cowboy Bebop is on iTunes yet, I'll pick it up for sure.
alexsuraci
Written May. 1, 2007 / Report /
I really agree with the ending of the series, I thought it was great. The soundtrack is also excellent; I remember watching this series back in the day on Adult Swim. For some reason I couldn't really get used to the fansubbed version of the series - I think the dubbed version has great voice acting. It's really the only series that I prefer the dubbed version to.
Scrivs
Written May. 1, 2007 / Report /
That's the thing though the ending is completely understandable because they give a lot of backstory. I will write about Evangelion next and give my interpretation of the ending a bit, but you can tell the creator was stressed as to how to end that series. In fact we have a discussion about the ending.
juventuz
Written May. 3, 2007 / Report /
If you like Cowboy Bebop, and who doesn't, then I'd highly recommend Samurai Champloo. Watanabe was the mastermind behind Champloo as well.
I think you can still catch both on [adult swim]
Kamigoroshi
Written May. 3, 2007 / Report /
Outlaw Star was in my mind way better than Cowboy Beebop. There was something about Cowboy Beebop that didn't sit right with me, especially right up until the end. If it's endings like those anyway, Evangelion</e> has a way more ambiguous ending than that which deserves a detailed discussion.
Then again, Full Metal Alchemist has a raw human ending to it too, but that isn't the same kind of genre as Cowboy Beebop. Maybe that's what makes Cowboy Beebop so unique. There isn't anything like it.
Scrivs
Written May. 3, 2007 / Report /
I'll pickup Outlaw Star next week to see what the hype is about. I heard about it years ago along with Bebop and went the Bebop direction and wasn't disappointed at all. Next discussion will definitely be on Evangelion and I have the Samurai Champloo box set so I'm well aware of its greatness.
xine
Written May. 7, 2007 / Report /
I remember watching Cowboy Bebop once but I was in a bad mood that time and thought everything was loud so I didn't really give it a chance. I've been hearing good reviews about it though, maybe I'll put it on my list too.
@Scrivs: I'll definitely watch out for more of The Essential Geek Series.
Michael
Written May. 17, 2007 / Report /
I remember watching Cowboy Bebop. I know a couple of people who didn't like the ending of Bebop but I thought it was perfect.
alexsuraci
Written May. 18, 2007 / Report /
I saw the dubbed version of Outlaw Star a long time a go on Cartoon Network. I remember liking it, but I don't remember it completely.
lealea
Written May. 18, 2007 / Report /
I concur. Cowboy Bebop is my favourite anime of all time (so far). The ending was perfect, and was one of the few series live or animated that made me gasp when it was over.
Also, one of the few series in anime where the woman isn't a bobble-headed high-pitched freak. Faye kicks serious ass. Though, scantily clad. LOL.