Cowboy Bebop is hailed as one of the greatest anime of all time. It is an original anime based on any source material, and is comprised of 26 episodes. Despite the word “cowboy” in the title, this isn’t a classic western taking place in the past. Instead, it is a space western with the anime set in the future where space travel is a common thing. Humans have colonizes most of the planets and moons such as Ganymede, Mars and Venus. Despite humans reaching all the way throughout the Solar System, there is no evidence of aliens yet. While this is with hindsight and 20+ years of technological advances, it is interesting to see what the writers of the anime thought was going to be the future of technology.
The story follows a bounty hunter by the name of Spike, and his partner Jet. The beginning of the anime and this continues for pretty much the whole duration, is very episodic. In each episode, the pair will be trying to track down a target. We’re shown how Spike is barely getting by and the next bounty will be the one that will help him stay above the water. Unfortunately, the general trend is that by the end of the episode, no matter what happens, they will lose the bounty in one way or another. Therefore it can become a bit too predictable and hard to invest into what’s currently happening.
Each episode has its own self contained story and rarely has anything that carries over to the next episode. As a result, all these characters are introduced and never seen again, making it quite hard to be invested in their plight when you know that they are either going to die, get caught or go away. The biggest exception are character developments to the main cast, sometimes it’s done in a subtle clever way, others it’s right in your face. Some of their stories elicit a sense of nostalgia.
We’re slowly introduced to the mechanics of how the space bounty hunting network operates. It’s mainly via a channel that communicates new bounties and updates. Spike can hold his own in a fight. In most cases, while he may not be as strong in terms of brute strength, he is quick and clever. He’s to take down others that are twice his size. Jet on the other hand looks like he has the brute strength, but he also is the one with all the connections as he knows many people in various ports.
The team slowly expands to beyond the pair and ends up being a ragtag team of bounty hunters. Faye Valentine not only has a memorable name but you’ll likely remember her introduction too. She is different to all the other characters, not only in appearance but in her personality. There’s just something about her that makes her standout along with the rest of the cast. The other team member, Ed, is an odd one. She is an expert hacker but also very whimsical and hard to know how she would react. She’s pretty likeable though, especially with her odd gestures and you just never know what she is thinking. She tends to be on the naïve side and is one of the airheaded type.
The backstories of the cast are slowly told over the course of the anime. It touches upon things that weren’t explained when they were initially introduced. Faye’s history is one of the more interesting ones as she is not really normal like the others. She is in a unique situation that had resulted in her to be like this. The second half of the season has less episodes that are purely about hunting down a target, which gives it more variety. One of the first episodes to break the chain was to go for a theme related to the space setting. It was done really well and reminds you of films such as Alien, where you’re stuck on a ship in space and trapped with something out to get you. It doesn’t quite get to the point of horror but there were several tense and uncomfortable moments.
The show has excellent animation, aesthetics and its own stylish charm. The soundtrack is distinctive, and is one of its most unique and standout elements. The spaceship dogfights are a lot of fun to watch. The only real character that isn’t part of the cast and isn’t a one-episode wonder is Vicious. He is someone important from Spike’s past and also ties in with the finale of the anime. With its episodic nature, it was hard to see how the anime will manage to close itself, but having Vicious be a part of that was a good closing point.
Overall, Cowboy Bebop was a good anime for its time, with great animation and a unique classy vibe. However, the storytelling is weaker in that it is very episodic. The ragtag team of bounty hunters is its biggest charm, especially since the characters are so varied and each having their own quirk.
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