Cowboy Bebop - Reviews

It’s a rare thing when the stars align, and something like Cowboy Bebop happens.  What I mean to say, is that this anime is over fifteen years old, and it still continues to be often talked about, and receive widespread fan praise – and it deserves it!!!  Having just finished watching for the fifth or sixth time, I’d like to try to answer the simple question:  What makes this show so damn great?  Well let’s look:

Art/Animation 10/10 – I don’t even take it easy on classic anime, or “artsy” experimental designs which shape up to be more incomprehensible and psychedelic than they are aesthetic. But this old show doesn’t need my charity, the artwork is superb.  The spaceships have dints and nicks in them, the buildings and the machines in the various shanty towns are weathered and lively; the attention to detail of this show seems way ahead of its time.  The backgrounds alone very strongly perpetuate the story’s “space-western” genre, with the dusty roads, the peddlers in the streets, and the flickering neon signs.

The character figures were great.  They were well-proportioned, and for the most part, they were interesting, and most certainly memorable.  Their expressions and body language was well-portrayed on-screen as well.  The spacecraft that they used were very imaginative and interesting as well.

So while the production values of some much newer titles may outshine Cowboy Bebop, it only seems marginal - this show’s art most certainly holds its own, even against today’s standards.  And that isn’t even to mention due praise for the show never being lazy with its animation.  The action scenes were amazing.  The movements were comprehensible, and the choreography was spot-on.  I can’t think of any moments when the show just copped out, and blacked out the screen while fighting happened – it all happens in real-time.  The animation was way ahead of its time, and definitely set the bar for future productions.

The artwork in this show seems like more than just good illustrations – it is an integral part of the story telling.  The backgrounds strongly uphold the setting, and the characters aptly convey emotional messages, even during times they are not speaking.  I also want to mention that the animation for the warpgates was mind-blowingly-cool.

Sound 10/10 – Let’s start with the music, which was absolutely fantastic.  Even those who do not necessarily like jazz or blues (which are this anime’s main themes), could almost certainly find a theme amidst this show that they appreciate.  There are even those who will say just that – “I don’t really like jazz, but the scores were so good, that I overlooked my own preference for this show only.”  That is kind of how I was with Watanabe’s other work, Samurai Champloo.  I’m not crazy about hip-hop but the score was so masterfully integrated with the show I could not help but allot a full score.

Digression aside, I happen to love jazz, and like blues, so there were no personal objections whatsoever with this show’s music.  The opening theme is boisterous and memorable, the ending theme is deep and darkly beautiful.  The background music isn’t just nice to listen to, it supports the show’s mood and atmosphere.

The score is great, and the voice acting is right up there with it.  Stephen Blum’s job with Spike is quite possible my favorite anime dubbing of all time.   And Wendee Lee’s job with Faye is just as good.  The voice actors were mature, and very well emoted and acted.  I did personally find Ed’s voice and character annoying, but not because she wasn’t well acted.  She was a kid after all, and a very eccentric one at that.

I absolutely love this show’s sound effects.  The gunshots are realistic, and the ships really made some pretty awesome sounds when taking off.  Cowboy Bebop’s music isn’t just part of flavor, and nothing about the sound felt gimmicky or miscalculated.  The music is integrated, and the voices are masterfully acted, even in the English dubbing.

Story 8/10 – Quite possibly the only chink in Cowboy Bebop’s armor, they do make some mistakes with the story.  We’ll start with the premise, which feels almost absent.  It’s hinted at via brief flashbacks while Spike is training, but that doesn’t do a first-time viewer any good.  I’ve found myself saying this a lot to my friends and those I recommend it to, that it seems almost mandatory to watch Cowboy Bebop twice to really have the ability to take in everything that’s there.  The premise is there!  It’s just insanely subtle, and enigmatic.  The man never stops thinking about his broken past.  But he’s changed now, and he keeps running from it.  I say this against CB’s credit, that a first time viewer doesn’t stand a chance at knowing what’s going on until maybe episode 5, and most likely not much until much later.

There are two reasons why I say what I said above.  The first reason is that CB never holds your hand when telling you its story.  It shows but it doesn’t tell.  I’m ok with this!  This is actually a very engaging way of telling a story, as you are constantly trying to piece together flashbacks, or integral decisions / snippets of dialogue.  It’s very mature in that sense, and you don’t get any stupid scenes where a villain stands and macho talks for 20 minutes about their entire plan, or with the protagonists childishly preaching about world peace or anything like that.  No standing ovations here, and for that we’re grateful.

The second reason, however, is what many people (myself included) consider an anime taboo.  The plot is not ongoing.  In other words, the events that occur episode to episode (sans a sparse two two-parters), are initiated, and subsequently wrapped up in one episode, and tend not to have any bearing on the ongoing story after that.  And no doubt did this cramp CB’s otherwise perfect style.  CB spent a lot of effort focusing more or less on the basic survival of the characters, their occasional struggles to even eat a single meal, or the fund the cost of maintenance of their ships – the severity of this theme is drastically squashed where one episode they’re struggling for food and money one episode, and then they’re way across the solar system doing something else with no explanation to how they got there.  Like much of CB’s story, you have to infer.   You might infer that they scored a decent target, and took care of such issues, but that gap can quickly shift from mysterious and creative to lazy, when you’re constantly filling in the gaps – and well, you are.  It’s ok, CB, I forgive you.

Naturally, when you’re going episode-to-episode with little self-contained stories, the pacing feels rather quick.  And for sure, it is.  There’s normally quite a bit of events, not-to-mention character development, and action packed into every single episode.  This is perhaps one of the very few redeeming qualities of CB’s episodic nature.

While the Sci-Fi aspect does get a little whacky and quite supernatural sometimes (like Mad Pierrot), the show is well grounded for the most part.  The crafts, the machines, and futuristic technology are all wonderfully imaginative, whilst remaining mostly concrete and comprehensible, and not seeming too much like magic disguised as technology (like pretty much any mecha anime).  The machines in this show have tangible limits, and are powered by fuel, and not by plot armor, or Deus ex Machina.  YES!

What’s more, is that the show really did have a solid conclusion.  It’s so strong, so cathartic, so bittersweet, that the ending almost entirely makes me forgive how loose the whole plot was in the first place.  It makes everything else about the show feel so… right.  The flashbacks all begin to make sense, the way Spike lived, the way he ran from his past, it all ties together.  It’s the sort of ending that will hit hard no matter how tough you are – no way around it.

Characters 10/10 – While Cowboy Bebop’s plot could use a deal of tightening, it most certainly makes up for it with very strong, very likable, and very well developed characters.  There’s much to love about the small, yet lively recurring casts: Spike is cool and badass, yet fallible and sometimes foolhardy.  Jet is the pragmatic and honorable sort of hard paternal type, and Faye is the likable “bad girl” and actually mature and sexy – not voiced by some chick with a voice higher pitched than a 6 year old, and not portrayed to simply be hot-air-blowing pair of tits.  Sure, she’s the show’s sex appeal, but it’s not overblown or distracting from the show, and that aspect alone does not dominate her characterization.

All of the characters, but for maybe Ed (and honestly, I don’t care about Ed), get a good deal of background plot as the story unfolds.  In the case of Jet and Faye you might get a straight narrative about some of their past endeavors, however Spike’s is more fragmented and ephemeral – but rich and gripping when you know what to look for.

While the events surrounding the characters often seem pointless or unrelated to the story around them, the show is almost always wise to continually throw in character development, and offer genuine insights to how the characters act and think.  Their goals are often very shallow or short sighted, but I find that fact endearing.  It makes the characters feel more human, and less like the typical impractical action hero who can do no wrong, and always has the best interests of mankind at heart.  In fact, CB never falls victim to such immature characterization.  The characters may exhibit temporary acts of idealism or heroism, but by and large, they’re just bounty hunters trying to make a living in a world that is more or less apathetic to true moral values.  The characters, to this end, further perpetuate CB’s nihilistic “cowboys in space” atmosphere.

The conclusion of the characters’ story lines is heavy, intesely cathartic, and outright sad.  I’d challenge anyone to watch this show start to finish, and not be stunned by this story’s dark conclusion.

Overall 9.5/10 - It is a small miracle I find myself speaking so highly of a show, despite having committed the heinous taboo of following an episodic plot instead of an ongoing one.  Indeed, this anime, now rightfully branded a classic, seems to withstand the test of time every time I watch it.  And believe me, I make my way back to it quite often.

Bang.

ART SECTION: 10/10
General Artwork 2/2 (classic)
Character Figures 2/2 (memorable)
Backgrounds 2/2 (detailed)
Animation 2/2 (great, especially for its time)
Visual Effects 2/2 (solid)

SOUND SECTION: 10/10
Voice Acting 3/3 (mature and well portrayed)
Music Themes 4/4 (diverse, and beautiful)
Sound Effects 3/3 (awesome)

STORY SECTION: 8/10
Premise 1/2 (enigmatic, and absent until several eps. in)
Pacing 1/2 (quick, but often wildly digressive)
Complexity 2/2 (heavy themes and deep undertones)
Plausibility 2/2 (well founded, sans a couple bizarre occurrences)
Conclusion 2/2 (heavy hitting)

CHARACTER SECTION: 10/10
Presence 2/2 (strong)
Personality 2/2 (funny, mature, cool)
Backdrop 2/2 (subtle, but very deep)
Development 2/2 (subtle, but it’s there)
Catharsis 2/2 (heavy and quite clear)

VALUE SECTION: 10/10
Historical Value 3/3 (all known, and widely acclaimed)
Rewatchability 3/3 (very high)
Memorability 4/4 (beautiful music, memorable characters, bittersweet ending)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 8/10
Art 1/1 (looks nice)
Sound 2/2 (outstanding)
Story 1/3 (deep and intriguing, but often muddled amidst fluff)
Characters 4/4 (very cool and memorable)

VERDICT: 9.5/10

Cowboy Bepop

One of the most popular and well-known works of the older generation. I didn't grow up with it and never saw or heard of this series in my younger days. It wasn't until this year that I watched it for the first time on recommendation and was pleasantly surprised.

The anime adaptation of Cowboy Bepop was especially convincing in the detailed realization and illustration of the Sci-Fi genre. Through this, an immensely detailed world was constructed, even if there was virtually no world-building, so the individual detail was in the foreground.

Furthermore, the anime possesses very impressive and likable characters that have both individual character backgrounds, as well as ambitions. This was well embellished by various amusing conversations and the interaction of the characters.

However, beyond all the positives, Cowboy Bepop also has certain flaws. First and foremost, this series has a relatively mediocre plot that is not convincing in any way. Very slow pacing and it is relatively episodic. What 70% of the anime only report on individual small experiences and bounty hunts.

[Story 4]

The story mostly revolves around the everyday tasks of Jet's crew, who somehow try to keep themselves on their feet by taking on various missions. Unfortunately, luck is not on their side and they usually come up empty or cause more damage than they deserve.

Along the way, you get to know the respective backgrounds of the 4 main characters and learn where fate will take them. Especially the background of Spike, followed by Fraye were in focus here. Spike's future as well as past with Julia, symbolically formed the rest of the plot and how he wanted to face Vicious.

Overwhelmingly, the result was disappointing, as there was almost no tension and the plot between Spike and Vicious was relatively monotonous. Julia was just an empty shell until the end and the finale resulted in a very weak climax. On the one hand, it's interesting to see how quickly and spontaneously this ending developed. On the other hand, you couldn't get anything out of it. Which left Spike's arc and the actual plot with an average ending. The extremely slow pacing didn't help the whole thing much.

My favorite were the 2 episodes about the fridge and the mushrooms.

[Characters 7]

The series was based only on the focus of 4 main characters. The respective side characters that one met in the course of the plot were relatively simple. They had small backgrounds and there were no great developments.

Vicious, who was the main antagonist of the series, was practically a pushover. He was built up with much more drama than he had in terms of influence and character. Compared to the 4 protagonists, he practically disappeared into thin air.

Faye had the most individual and interesting character arc, which was very much about her personality and development, making her undoubtedly the best character.

Spike is my personal favorite and I liked his personality a lot, even if it became very dull and linear in the long run. He reminded me quite a bit of "Patrick Jane" from "The Mentalist".

Jet had a rather simple background, but in my opinion, he had the strongest and most emotional personality, a real Tsundere as it should be.

Ed was mostly a comedy character with a relatively small but significant background. As a humorous character, however, she was more suitable.

In the end, the characters have been the biggest strength in this anime, through their balanced personalities.

[Animatioen 9]

I was especially fascinated by the backgrounds and their detailed designs, it's been one of the most beautiful post-apocalyptic worlds I've seen.

The actual animations have been very dynamic.

[Music 6]

Quite a short and individual intro which certainly lingers in the mind, how simple and crisp it was. Musically nothing earth-shattering, but that's not what matters.

The Osts have been very rare and were scattered very scarcely over the series to give respective moments more momentum. This also resulted in many moments lacking atmosphere.

[Conclusion.]

Cowboy Bepop is remarkable for its age and has stood the test of time and has a very good reputation in the community. For me, too, it was an interesting experience to have watched this anime. However, one thing is clear here. Cowboy Bepop has a much stronger appeal to the audience through its character than through the actual content. Although the series has been relatively empty, especially the characters have entertained me very well.

Whether I will be able to watch it again, however, is unclear.

[Enjoyment 8]

Lets see I first stumbled across Cowboy Bebop sometime in early 2004.  Which quite coincidencely is right around the same time that I had been getting into the rather old western movies though I was only beginning to develope a taste for jazz.  Of course during that same time I was a huge fan of anime and so when I heard the name Cowboy Bebop I must admit that it got me rather curious.  About just what this anime could be about and so it was with that curiosity that I started to watch Cowboy Bebop.

The story follows around a group of bounty hunters in the form of Spike Spiegel, Jack Black, Faye Valentine, and Edward(Ed) who travel around on the spaceship Bebop as they all try to escape from their various pasts.  While for the most part the series tends to be somewhat episodic with the it for the most part dealing with the main cast going out and hunting down there lastest bounty.  Though what keeps this series from becoming nothing more than an episodic mess that becomes quite uninteresting after awhile is that the story does an outstanding job in tying in the characters pasts into the plot as they try to sort out their past lives.

When Cowboy Bebop came out it was probably considered to be top of the line and of course by today's standards it well probably be considered out-of-date.  Sure it maybe missing all those things that today's anime has with their super pretty graphics and whatnot, but that being said Cowboy Bebop still retains that classic look that anyone can really appreciate for what it is instead of what it isn't.  The animation still looks fluid & detailed and the backgrounds do look more lively than with some of stuff that you get in newer anime.

As for the sound well really it is harder to find a title that has such a wide selection of music used as Cowboy Bebop does.  The series itself only shows what a major part the music played in it with each episode kind of following a musical theme that changes from episode to episode thus introducing a new theme with each epsiode.  Both the japanese and english voice actors in Cowboy Bebop did a superb job and really watching the series in their form is an enjoyable experience.

The characters are about what you would expect from looking at them and of course as the story progresses and you begin to learn more about there past as they try to deal with it the view you had of them at the beginning undergoes small changes and you begin to see them in a new light.  Really I could go into greater depth in explaining more about each character it would probably be faster if you saw the series yourself and then you would know what I'm talking about.

Overall while series like Cowboy Bebop have been done before what is different is that Cowboy Bebop does an outstanding job in its presentation.  And if your interested enough to check out the first episode then I can almost say with confindence that you will end up enjoying this series.

Much more than just an anime show.Great music. It passes many messages about life. It combines western with space and 60's in a awsome way.Characters are great,everyone with it's diferent past, as is the story.It really leaves that mystery blues/jazz feeling.I highly recomend it to anyone especially those that like jazz and or blues.

the dub is really reallly good