2071. As humanity
flourishes across space, various disasters leave chaos to spread across the
planets. Enter Spike and Jet, lone
occupants of the spaceship, the Bebop.
They are bounty hunters out to clean up the galaxy of wanted
criminals…and collect the rewards that come along with them. But the life of a bounty hunter is far from
easy. From rival competitors to sexy
gamblers to spectres from their own past, not to mention the worst scum the
universe has to offer, nothing is making it easy to make a living this side of
the cosmos. Spike and Jet will take the
job…even if their success rate isn’t the greatest.
From the moment those first bombastic notes of the theme
song (Tank) kick in, you know you’re in for something special. I’m happy to finally begin reviewing this
show that many an Anime fan, myself included hold near and dear. This is Cowboy Bebop.
Quick mini background: Cowboy Bebop debuted in Japan in
1998 under the direction of Shinichiro Watanabe (who worked on Macross Plus
with Shoji Kowamori and went on to direct Samurai Champloo and the now airing
Space Dandy). In the mid 2000’s the
series premiered on the VHS American market and soon later, Cowboy Bebop had
the honor of being the first Anime aired on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim
block. Despite certain episodes cut from
it’s initial run due to the 9/11 attacks, which occurred a week after the first
episodes aired, Cowboy Bebop became a massive success on Adult Swim, running in
almost continuous rotation for the better part of a decade and beyond. The success of the series went on the spawn a
feature length film as well, Knockin on Heaven’s Door (which I may or may not
get to, we’ll see) and became a massive hit in not just the Otaku community but
also with casual fans of scifi and action as well.
So why is Bebop such a tremendous success? Is it the stylish action? The lively futuristic setting? The fun characters? The crisp animation? The musical score to end all musical
scores? Well if anyone watches the first
five episodes covered in this review, the answer is, well…a bit of everything.
This is the perfect set of introductory episodes for an
Anime series in general, quickly establishing setting, characters and general
flow of each episode. The first episode
sets the tone excellently, following Spike and Jet chasing a drug addict former
syndicate leader and his girlfriend across the Asteroids. Though we do get to see a good deal of larger
cities and other planets throughout the series, the Asteroids set up a pretty
dead on depiction of where the future of humanity could be in the next hundred
years or so. It’s a bit of a less
cluster f***ed version of Blade Runner and a lot less desolate than the Western
style future of Firefly. Times are rough
for some but there is room for everyone to breathe. We have hovercrafts and space ships zipping
around but on the ground looks like a typical present day downtown or slum area
with a bit of a technological advance.
Only tremendous difference are the giant Hyperspace Gateways that enable
quick travel across the galaxy, enabling a ship to get from one end to the next
in hours or days rather than months.
And it’s this world that is Spike and Jet’s
playground. There’s lots to do, people
to catch and cash to be made. Spike is
the pointman, albeit an occasional lazy one.
But like most Anime leads of his type (Trigun’s Vash the Stampede and
Rurouni Kenshin’s Kenshin) he doesn’t preach love and peace and not
killing. No underneath this lazy façade
is a bad ass who knows it and will rock your world six ways to Sunday. Case in point, his initial encounter with
Azimov in Episode 1 almost sees him dead.
But turns out it’s a clever act and when they meet up again, even
Asimov’s drugged up, psycho killer state is no match for the smooth bounty
hunter (who practices Jeet Kune Do, the martial arts style of legend Bruce
Lee). And there’s far more to him than
meets the eye. He may be an easy going
guy but Spike hides a dark past that is only glimpsed at in what could easily
be the shows best episode (I know five episodes in and I already have an all
time fav) Ballad of Fallen Angels. Spike
enters a church, out numbered and outgunned, facing an “old friend” and
proceeds to rip his would be killer to pieces before engaging in a life or
death dual with the terrifying Vicious.
It’s epic, it’s action packed and it’s just a boat load of Wow.
Balancing Spike’s “not giving a f***” attitude is his
partner, ex cop Jet Black. While Jet
doesn’t get in on too much of the action in these first few episodes we do get
to see that he can handle himself. But
his robotic arm isn’t Jet’s main weapon of choice, it’s his investigative
nature. While Spike can certainly figure
most situations out, Jet figures them out more thoroughly and is able to guide
Spike easier…more or less, toward a bounty.
I love any scene with Spike and Jet together. There’s a good sense of history between them
and they can praise, chide and kid with each other all at the same time. There’s a great feeling of more than just a
partnership, more like a brotherhood between these two. Even if they don’t get their mark, which is
often, they’re still a very effective team.
Rounding out the initial cast is the picture Anime
definition of “fan service” since Misato Katsuragi, Faye Valentine. Dressed in shorts, short yellow top, various
colored thigh highs, a loose red overcoat and ankle high boots, with nice
purple hair, Faye Valentine is sexy and she knows it. From her first appearance, she is not afraid
to flaunt it while firing a sub machine gun at unsuspecting gunmen before
realizing she’s in way over her head.
She’s not bad when it comes to blowing things up but is never scared to
use her pretty face and drop dead gorgeous bod to try and make things easier
for herself…and then blow s*** up when everything goes sideways…which it does
often. Her impulsive and reckless
attitude make her a nice match for Spike and their trade off of quips are both
entertaining and cute at the same time.
Having her hop on the crew adds eye candy and lots of fun conflict to
Spike and Jet’s carefree life. Add in an
adorable Data Dog named Ein and the Bebop gets more lively by Episode 5 than it
was in Episode 1, which isn’t a bad thing in the slightest.
While the characters do drive this show there are two
other elements that drive this series full throttle: the action and the
music. The action is very realistic and
even though Spike’s moves may suggest otherwise, he isn’t supernatural or super
strength enhanced…he’s just really good at being awesome. There’s little laser (save for the kick ass
super laser on Spike fighter hehe) fanfare and most of the action is old school
shoot em ups that all play out pretty naturally. And the music, oh man that music. Composed by Yoko Kanno (what hasn’t she
scored in the world of Anime lol, seriously Google her, it’s an impressive
resume), Bebop’s musical choices are catchy, unexpected and a feast for the
ears. While most it is an excellent
selection of Jazz, Kanno infuses lots of variety, giving us Blues, urban and
even a stunning organ and rock guitar mix that leads up to Spike confrontation
with Vicious (very In the Air Tonight if I can made that bold comparison). The music is placed at the right moments and
hits all the right notes and makes you want to track down the soundtracks for
your listening pleasure (and yes I am listening to it as I type this lol).
Whew, lots of praise, and honestly, I can’t think of any
real nitpicks with these first five episodes.
The stories are smart scifi and action packed, the characters are
instantly lovable, the music has been talked about to death so I’ll save
further praise for another review (trust me there will be more highlights) and
while it isn’t always a feel good show (note the sad but fitting ending of
Episode 1 aka the PERFECT PILOT) Bebop is something you never want to miss out
on episode after episode. We’ve had our
fill of dismal times with Evangelion…now it’s time to lighten some things up as
summer rolls on.
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