Cowboy Bebop

"And the work which has become a genre unto itself shall be called: Cowboy Bebop"

For the last three days, I've been marathon-ing the Japanese anime series, Cowboy Bebop.

Consisting of 26 episodes (called 'sessions') and one feature length film, it follows the adventures of a group of bounty hunters (known as 'cowboys') who travel the solar system in the year 2071. It is considered by numerous polls as one of the top Japanese anime series of all time, as well as a worldwide commercial success.

The Bebop ship is home to Spike Spiegel and Jet Black and as the series goes on, Faye Valentine, Edward and Ein join the crew. The characters develop through the sessions as you learn more and more about them and their back story. I was surprised at how interesting these characters actually are, in comparision to other shows. There's so much more to them than you would think. The stories are terrific and the series as a whole never seems to do anything wrong. Every episode is strong in its own way and it rarely misses a beat, coming together as it progresses.

The world created for this series is a melting pot of cultures along with spaceships and is an original perspective of a potential future. The cultures are rich even as backdrops for the series and encompasses different real world influences to create them. A very visionary take, and all acts as a setting for these bounty hunters to exist within.

Spike Spiegel

A highlight about Cowboy Bebop besides its amazing animation, great stories and likable characters is its soundtrack! It encompasses various genres from jazz, to rockabilly and numerous other styles of American music of the 20th century - the names of most episodes are actually names of American rock albums. The series has produced four full albums and a handful of EPs in its time. Seeing Spike whupping dudes over a jazz soundtrack is a unique take on an action scene. Many things about this series is unique and really put it into a class of its own. You may not be a fan of anime (I wouldn't necessarily say I am) but you will appriciate the story and the characters of Cowboy Bebop. It is a fantastic series.

With Astro Boy and a live action Speed Racer flick on the way, as well as a Dragon Ball Z one in development, it seems that the next trend in Hollywood is influenced by Japanese anime. The superhero movies have eaten up the market for the past few years, it seems this will be the new big thing. I'd expect to see more films taken from anime series. Cowboy Bebop is one of the biggest, most successful and critically acclaimed series of all time, so you know it will be adapted into Hollywood. They'd have to do it right though. I could kind of see Keanu Reeves as Spike... is that bad?? It could work!


See you Space Cowboy...