T5W#139-Top 5 Cowboy Bebop Side Characters

Cowboy Bebop has one of the most expansive and lively worlds in all of Anime.  More to its credit, it isn’t just left to Spike, Jet, Faye, Ed and Ein to populate the galaxy with awesome.  Bebop has an equally memorable an diverse supporting cast of characters.  Some are there simply for one off episodes while others have popped up multiple times, either for comic relief or to be of actual help to the crew of the Bebop.  It’s just one of the many aspects of Bebop that makes it a title that can stand the test of time.  So this week as we continue Cowboy Bebop Month on T5W, im looking at the Top 5 Cowboy Bebop Side Characters.  And just to note: while they don’t appear as regularly as the main five, Julia and Vicious are more major players to the Spike central plot of Cowboy Bebop for me to consider them secondary, so they wont be included on this list.  The same goes for Vincent and Elektra in Cowboy Bebop: Knockin on Heaven’s Door as theyre both major players to the plot of that film.

#5-V.T.

Few space truckers can be as cool as V.T.  She was once the wife of one of the galaxys most notorious bounty hunters.  After he passed, this cool chick took up driving the Heavy Metal Queen along with her adorable cat, Zeros.  V.T. only appears once in Episode 7 “Heavy Metal Queen” but she and Spike had some good moments, both as friends and as opposite once we found out V.T. didn’t look kindly on Bounty Hunters, I guess she blamed the profession for the death of her husband.  Plus there was that fun mini game she had where people had to pay her a small sum of money (into a larger stack of bills) and if you guessed her name right, you’d get the whole stack.  Naturally, Spike got it right but he’s a nice guy and he let V.T. keep the game going and only taking the money he contributed to the pile.

#4-Punch and Judy

The ever lovable hosts of “Big Shots for the Bounty Hunters”, Punch and Judy drop frequent intel on different Bounty Heads…or just their names.  Yeah these two rarely ever have any helpful information and kind of flounder about whenever their on screen.  Still, their costumes and chemistry are nice, definitely making good use of the wild west motif.  And yeah…Judy’s pretty hot in her costume too.  It’s a shame that the crew never met these guys in their on screen personalities, though Faye did glimpse Punch at an airport picking up his mom just after he lost his job.

#3-Andy von de Oniyate

Ah Andy.  He’s dumb as a rock but man is he entertaining.  The central guest star of Episode 22 “Cowboy Funk” Andy’s oblivious attitude to his destructive aloofness finds him constantly compared to Spike.  Though I beg to differ cause Spike is at least possessing a brain full of Zen compared to Andy, who’s really mostly cosplaying a cowboy for the hell of it.  Still his showdowns with Spike are a lot of fun and in the end, Andy may be a goof but he’s an easy going guy.  Hell he even trades his cowboy persona for that of a Samurai, even changing his name to Musashi.  And seeing as how he has a brief cameo in the movie, it looks like he and his trusted steed are still going strong.  Ride on Space Samurai

#2-Bob

Like everyone on this show, Jet Black could have his own prequel series.  His rise and fall from the ISSP is a tragic tale and Jet has few friends left from that era.  Bob was seemingly a one and done character, first appearing in Episode 4 “Gateway Shuffle” and having to be bribed by Jet to get some intel.  Yet Bob makes a couple more returns throughout the series and even in the movie to help Jet by passing on some helpful info.  Guys like that don’t just do things without good reason.  Bob always seems like one of the few honest(ish) ISSP cops who hasn’t been corrupted by the Syndicates and he does have some faith in Jet…not a lot though since Jet has to remind him that whatever trouble he gets into wont come back to bite Bob in the ass one day.

#1-The 3 Old Men (Antonio, Carlos, and Jobim)

Just who the hell are these guys?  It is never really made clear who these card playing geezers actually are.  They are, however, the most recurring side characters in all of Cowboy Bebop.  Their appearances are sporadic, often theyre found at a table playing cards and bickering about being cheated out of their money.  Really, theres hardly ever a purpose to this trios appearances but they always make you smile when they appear.  Theyre a constant throughout Cowboy Bebop that will produce some unexpected chuckles.  Equally funny is that Spike and Crew spot these guys all the time, and vise versa, and yet no party ever remembers one another.  Heck, Antonio, Carlos and Jobim are so popular they even end up helping to save the day in The Movie…though before they do they cant decide if theyre flying to Saturn or heading out to sink a World War II battleship…classic.