The richness of the color red.

Looking at the slim box of this series, all the bright reds and oranges, as well as weapon-wielding characters, just screams at you, “Hey! There’s gonna be a high body-count!” The back of the box will even tell you as much in plain words. The illustrations for the front covers of the two slim DVD cases are just as blatant with imagery. The backs of all the two slim cases also sports some screen caps that you don’t have to squint to see, like on most DVD boxes. And on the reverse jacket sides (seen through the clear plastic) you’re treated to illustrations of the main protagonists. The DVD menus are straightforward and present all the episodes one by one, with an awesome soundtrack playing while you make your option choices. The soundtrack of the entire anime, actually, is fairly energetic and really suits the high-end animation. Not only this, but Coyote Ragtime Show is one of those rare anime series where the English voice cast is better than the original Japanese cast. Now, the Japanese cast is great, but you find that the English cast is much more emotive and gives the characters more personality. So, kudos to you, Funimation, for excellent casting choices!

Hold on while I reload.

I have to say, the extras for Coyote Ragtime Show are plentiful. You get the standard DVD credits, clean opening/ending animations, and small host of Funimation trailers. The trailers are even off the beaten path, containing titles such as Full Metal Panic!, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles, Black Cat, and so on. Then you innocently click on the section for production art (found on disc one). I fully expected just a small handful of incomplete animation cels or character designs. NO. You get a plethora of sketches, both complete and very first drafts, from animation out of every episode on the disc. It takes you by surprise to go through sketch after numerous sketch while awesome music plays, seeing a ready-to-color image to a simple doodle of eyes and a mouth. It’s something I can’t recall seeing on any anime DVD before, and it’s certainly a treat for any would-be artist or anyone interested in seeing how such stunning animation is made from the ground-up.

Let the bodies fall where they may.

Coyote Ragtime Show takes everything you loved about the series Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop and expertly combines those elements into twelve action-packed episodes. It’s got amazing animation, gratuitous gun violence, hot women, and a bitchin’ soundtrack. Not only that, but it contains a bucket of extras that will (and I timed it) keep you occupied for a good twenty or thirty minutes after the fact. Action lovers rejoice, for you have a new instant classic. For everyone else, if you can force yourself to watch movies like the Bourne Trilogy or any given movie directed by Michael Bay or John Woo, then you have absolutely no excuse to not watch this show and enjoy it.