In the 90s, anime was still sort of a niche thing, nothing near what it has become nowadays. Quality over quantity was the way to go when it came to bringing anime over to the states. And believe me, folks, if you haven’t see Cowboy Bebop before, you’re in for some quality anime.
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The entire premise of Cowboy Bebop surrounds a group of bounty hunters, who travel around on a ship called Bebop. Originally led by a man named Spike and his pilot/business partner, Jet, and they go from planet to planet searching for new profits/criminals to track down and turn in for bounties. Along the way, during their many adventures, the pair picks up new shipmates with unique personalities and new struggles. Now, that seems pretty straightforward when you read it like that, but it’s far more complicated and mature than it sounds. The subjects of homosexuality, drug dealing, revenge and loneliness play a huge role in the overall body of work in this series. Those are pretty lofty subjects for a show that premiered on Adult Swim in 2001, and believe me after watching Family Guy get canceled multiple times because their content in the early 2000s, it was a miracle that Cowboy Bebop survived the way it did — even on cable.
Anyway, outside of the mature subjects, the show doesn’t simply go episodic — meaning that each one isn’t a simple, self-contained storyline with a few reoccurring characters here and there. Rather, Cowboy bebop has reoccurring storylines (as well as characters) that continually surround smaller situations, but collide with each other at the appropriate times. Of course, all of this isn’t very surprising considering that screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto and director Shinichiro Watanabe led the way on this series because of their work on Macross Plus (an ongoing storyline from the Robotech universe — or Macross universe, depending on which side you like).
As a whole, the show stays the course with its attitude from beginning to end. It’s built around an ‘old west’ style, but with a 60s flavor sprinkled in for visual high sensation. Each episode brings comedy, pain and the guarantee that the story will keep going, regardless of what happens. There are few anime that can pull this off without getting boring or rundown. Because of how the story is shaped and how enormous of a universe our bounty hunters get to travel through, the stories are always fresh from episode to episode. I love that about Cowboy Bebop.
Speaking of episode, while all the episodes in the complete series certainly make this editor/reviewing happy, there are a few stand alone episodes that make me particularly smile (sometimes feel sad). Here are my top picks from the Cowboy Bebop series:
– Stray Dog Strut: A target named Abdul Hakim has stolen an ‘item’ and placed it in a solid steel briefcase. Hakim is determined to hold onto it and is willing to kill anyone who tries to take it from him. Sounds pretty serious, right? Yeah, the item is a corgi named Ein. This is the first of many episodes featuring Ein and is one of my favorite because it introduces Ein. So, there we have it.
– Sympathy for the Devil: This is a very warped episode that revolves around a young boy, who is a ruthless killer. Spike has to watch his step and soon discovers that there’s something amiss about this ‘young’ boy. This is one of the more serious episodes in Cowboy Bebop and one that ends in a blaze of emotional glory. A darn good ending, though.
– Ganymede Elegy: This is a sad story that mostly features the past of Jet. He returns to a town to find a long-lost ex-girlfriend that has caught herself up a new fella, who happens to be Jet and Spike’s bounty. This is a slow episode that has plenty of melancholy drama attached to it. It has a sad ending, though the right one. Definitely one of the favorites of the bunch.
– Toys in the Attic: This episode is a combination of funny, tragic and disgusting. What more could you want out of a Cowboy Bebop episode? There is a black, blob-y alien on the loose on the ship. The alien is poisoning everyone upon contact. Spike is the only one that can save the day and he does so in the most 2001: A Space Odyssey sort of fashion. This is a brilliant episode, folks — especially the moral.
– The Real Folks Blues (Part 1/2) – You need to watch this one, if you haven’t. Lots of drama and serious subject matters. I won’t ruin it for you.
Cowboy Bebop should never be lost in the mix with other anime, rather it should stand out on its own because it deserves to be recognized and respected — even after all these years. If you’re any sort of an anime fan then you probably should consider this for your library.
As for the Blu-ray portion of this release, for a show that was premiering in 1998, and is still in its 4:3 format for most of the way, Funimation actually did a good job with cleaning it up and getting into HD. It’s certainly not a perfect transfer, but honestly speaking it’s impressive considering the age. The animation cel colors actually look great with emphasis on reds, yellows, blues and purples. There is some graininess in some scenes, and some artifacts in the animation, but as the show gets further through the series you can tell the animation was preserved just a bit better. Anyway, just know that the picture looks far better on Blu-ray than on DVD, but with some imperfections here and there (nothing that will disrupt the quality too much, though).
On the special features side of things, here’s what you should expect:
– Memo from Bebop: The Dub Sessions Remembered
– Dinner Aboard the Bebop
– Cowboy Bebop Session #0
– English and Japanese Audio Commentaries
– Interview with Wendee Lee
– Interview with Cartoon Network Producer Sean Akins
– Ein’s Summer Vacation
– Textless Opening & Closing Songs
– Tank! Music Clips
This is a solid amount of extra material for Cowboy Bebop fans. I know what anime fans are looking for in terms of options and extras, and this list seems to delivery just that. The commentaries and interviews alone will make the special features darn good. The added featurettes and even the Tank! music clips (and I’m not a fan of music anything in special features, but I’m really happy about this) adds value to the overall package.
Lots of good material with what is already a great release.
And with that said…
See You Space Cowboy.