Once upon a time, in New York City in 1941... at this club open to all comers to play, night after night, at a club named "Minton's Play House" in Harlem, they play jazz sessions competing with each other. Young jazz men with a new sense are gathering. At last they created a new genre itself. They are sick and tired of the conventional fixed style jazz. They're eager to play jazz more freely as they wish then... in 2071 in the universe... The bounty hunters, who are gathering in the spaceship "BEBOP", will play freely without fear of risky things. They must create new dreams and films by breaking traditional styles. The work, which becomes a new genre itself, will be called... "COWBOY BEBOP".
Series at-a-glance:
Genre: Science Fiction, Western, Film Noir, others*
Creator: Shinichirō Watanabe
Studio: Sunrise
Length: 26 sessions
Year: 1998
Highlights: Fantastic music, genre roulette, and Spike Spiegel
When I originally formulated the idea of what would eventually become this series of article on anime, my primary focus was to engage those people who are interested in anime but have little experience with it. I wanted to write about series that are high quality, but are also easy to start and follow for someone who is new to the medium. This is still the case, but I believe the time has come when I can start covering series that are a little more advanced than those we have covered so far. From now on, much of what will be covered will be series and films higher up on in the hierarchy of anime, which are often more complex but correspondingly more acclaimed. This is not to say any of the previous series and films are bad (I have seen the entirety of every series I write about, and I only write about the good ones), but if you are joining us on this anime journey from now on, these series may not be the best ones to start with. All of that being said, this week we are talking about a series considered one of the greatest ever made, and one of my personal favorites: Cowboy Bebop.
Cowboy Bebop takes place in the year 2071, and is about the crew of the spaceship Bebop. They are bounty hunters, chasing quarry across the solar system to capture and turn into the police for their reward money. The main character is Spike Spiegel, a calm and collected man who likes to live his life according to the “flow”, with a mysterious past and significant skills in the martial art Jeet Kune Do. His partner is Jet Black, a former cop and the eldest member of the crew, and the owner of the Bebop. Joining them is Faye Valentine, a beautiful woman who also has a cloudy past along with a habit for gambling. Providing computer expertise is Ed (full name Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV), a 13 year-old with amazing hacking skills but a highly eccentric personality. Finally, there is Ein, a Welsh corgi who may or may not actually be the most intelligent member of the crew.
Genre: Science Fiction, Western, Film Noir, others*
Creator: Shinichirō Watanabe
Studio: Sunrise
Length: 26 sessions
Year: 1998
Highlights: Fantastic music, genre roulette, and Spike Spiegel
When I originally formulated the idea of what would eventually become this series of article on anime, my primary focus was to engage those people who are interested in anime but have little experience with it. I wanted to write about series that are high quality, but are also easy to start and follow for someone who is new to the medium. This is still the case, but I believe the time has come when I can start covering series that are a little more advanced than those we have covered so far. From now on, much of what will be covered will be series and films higher up on in the hierarchy of anime, which are often more complex but correspondingly more acclaimed. This is not to say any of the previous series and films are bad (I have seen the entirety of every series I write about, and I only write about the good ones), but if you are joining us on this anime journey from now on, these series may not be the best ones to start with. All of that being said, this week we are talking about a series considered one of the greatest ever made, and one of my personal favorites: Cowboy Bebop.
Cowboy Bebop takes place in the year 2071, and is about the crew of the spaceship Bebop. They are bounty hunters, chasing quarry across the solar system to capture and turn into the police for their reward money. The main character is Spike Spiegel, a calm and collected man who likes to live his life according to the “flow”, with a mysterious past and significant skills in the martial art Jeet Kune Do. His partner is Jet Black, a former cop and the eldest member of the crew, and the owner of the Bebop. Joining them is Faye Valentine, a beautiful woman who also has a cloudy past along with a habit for gambling. Providing computer expertise is Ed (full name Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV), a 13 year-old with amazing hacking skills but a highly eccentric personality. Finally, there is Ein, a Welsh corgi who may or may not actually be the most intelligent member of the crew.
Jet, do you know that there are three things I particularly hate: kids, animals, and women with attitudes. So tell me, why are all three of them neatly gathered on our ship?!
Cowboy Bebop is considered one of the greatest anime series of all time because it breaks many traditional anime conventions. One of the most notable is how the series refuses to be tied down to any one genre. While broadly science fiction, it incorporates elements of numerous other genres. The series uses many elements from the Western genre, combining it with science fiction to make a sort of retro or used-future style that would be (arguably) copied by the acclaimed American series Firefly. Many of the episodes also take many cues from Film Noir, especially the more serious episodes. You can always tell when the episode is going to have a downer ending because the colors will all be muted greys, the characters become much more somber and philosophically reflective, and it will always be raining, all of which give dramatic weight to the more serious episodes. Spike’s fighting style shows influence from martial arts films, especially the Bruce Lee movies of the early 1970s (it’s telling that one of the primary inspirations for Spike was Bruce Lee). Many of the episodes deal with organized crime, and they draw upon aspects of the Japanese Yakuza and American pulp detective genres in terms of characterization and dramatic style.
And all of that is just the major genres; Cowboy Bebop has elements of numerous others. The series seemed willing to try almost any genre at least once- for example, there is one episode that spoofs the Ridley Scott movie Alien, another that ventures into horror territory, and even one that parodies the Blaxploitation genre. These tendencies are furthered enforced by the often anachronistic setting, such as having 20th century handguns side-by-side with domed cities on Mars and old fashioned dogfights in space. In addition, the series will swing broadly back and forth between comedy and drama, although it is most fondly remembered for its drama-focused episodes, especially those dealing with Spike’s past.
And all of that is just the major genres; Cowboy Bebop has elements of numerous others. The series seemed willing to try almost any genre at least once- for example, there is one episode that spoofs the Ridley Scott movie Alien, another that ventures into horror territory, and even one that parodies the Blaxploitation genre. These tendencies are furthered enforced by the often anachronistic setting, such as having 20th century handguns side-by-side with domed cities on Mars and old fashioned dogfights in space. In addition, the series will swing broadly back and forth between comedy and drama, although it is most fondly remembered for its drama-focused episodes, especially those dealing with Spike’s past.
I’m just an old-fashioned cowboy.
The other aspect it is really well-known for is the music. Unlike most visual media where music is merely an aspect of the background, music in Cowboy Bebop takes center stage. Shinichirō Watanabe is a major fan of American music, and the name of the show even comes from a style of jazz. Music is a vital element of the show, as important to helping to establish the setting and characters and telling the story as the dialogue, animation, or any other element. Where another show might just show a character sitting in a lonely bar, Cowboy Bebop will really drive the point home by having a saxophone player wail out a melancholy solo while Faye or Jet solemnly sip their drink. This musical emphasis is further shown by the fact that episodes are called “sessions”, and many of them are named after iconic songs, such as “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Toys in the Attic”, and “Sympathy for the Devil”.
Most commonly the music consists of American jazz, but numerous other styles appear as well, from pop to blues to folk to rock and heavy metal (it’s also telling that the other primary inspiration for Spike was Bob Dylan). Similarly to how the show refuses to stay in one genre, the music is often a mish-mash of styles and genres. Two of my personal favorites are “Green Bird”, a haunting vocal and piano piece sung in a made-up language that takes inspiration from traditional church choirs, and “Space Lion”, a melancholy jazz piece with a vocal section inspired by Native American tribal chants. The music of Cowboy Bebop has become legendary within the anime community (especially its opening song “Tank!” and its closing song “The Real Folk Blues”), and the music is such high quality that many music aficionados are fans of it without even realizing that comes from an anime series.
Most commonly the music consists of American jazz, but numerous other styles appear as well, from pop to blues to folk to rock and heavy metal (it’s also telling that the other primary inspiration for Spike was Bob Dylan). Similarly to how the show refuses to stay in one genre, the music is often a mish-mash of styles and genres. Two of my personal favorites are “Green Bird”, a haunting vocal and piano piece sung in a made-up language that takes inspiration from traditional church choirs, and “Space Lion”, a melancholy jazz piece with a vocal section inspired by Native American tribal chants. The music of Cowboy Bebop has become legendary within the anime community (especially its opening song “Tank!” and its closing song “The Real Folk Blues”), and the music is such high quality that many music aficionados are fans of it without even realizing that comes from an anime series.
I’m just watching a bad dream I never wake up from.
Due to both of these reasons, Cowboy Bebop is often considered a difficult anime to start with, as the unconventional nature of the series tends to alienate people without any experience in anime (although I’ve heard that this is the gateway series for a number of musicians). Due to this fact, I would recommend that this not be the first series to watch if you have no experience with anime, the same way I would recommend that the first book someone read not be by Nietzsche or a text on quantum physics. However, Cowboy Bebop is often considered one of the greatest anime series ever made, especially by American audiences. So, if you have some experience, then you can’t go wrong with the crew of the Bebop.
See you, space cowboy.
This article is part of the Guide to AnimeLand series. Recent entries have included 5 Centimeters Per Second, Eden of the East, and Hetalia.
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