Cowboy Bebop: Yose Atsume Blues

I'm surprised that there are no reviews here for Cowboy Bebop XX: Mish Mash Blues.

Here's how we start: The story consists of 13 episodes that aired before this episode came out. Because of the violence portrayed in Japan, it was decided that there will be an extra special that never appeared on DVD.

The story will have the members of the Bebop that you've come to know narrate on how Bebop goes. They take turns narrating the episode about themselves and everything. The story is what enthused me, the Bebop talking to you instead of themselves, although there are some breaking the wall moments in the ... pre-series Cowboy Bebop.

The music is very obsessive. This time, it's not just jazz, it has pop, hip-hop and rap. The music while the narrative goes on is what interested me to write this quick review about this great extra episode that happened during the series.

I really enjoyed this special. The music, the characters, the sound everything. The only thing I got shook up with is that there is no Steven Blum or any other actors in the special. It only has the Japanese people voicing the characters.

I think this episode might be good for kids to watch despite Knockin' on Heaven's Door and the original series. Since there's no language or suggestive dialogue, I think it might be O.K. for teenagers to understand. Not to mention, the series has a lot of funny commercials throughout.

Overall: A must-see.

8.5

A common misconception of this episode is that it's just a recap of the 13 or so episodes that came before it. However, that is far from the truth, as it is in fact a compilation of the various messages that Cowboy Bebop was trying to convey up to this point in the form of 24 "life lessons".

This was made with the belief that the anime would end at that point, so it does it best to try to make sure the creators left something meaningful behind. The 24 parts/lessons are insightful and interesting, and are well accompanied by the clips from the previous ... episodes. I'm positive that at least one of the lessons can speak to you personally.

The music was amazing, which goes without saying, really. The ending song was amazing and is really well used.

All in all, this episode is definitely worth a watch.

For any cowboy bebop fan, this is a gem which you do not wanna miss out! :)

It is not a typical special nor is it a recap. This is a somewhat insider episode which let every of the main cast speak for themselves therefore giving us another chance of better understanding these great characters with so much depth!

There is not much to say, only that not watching this if you are a cowboy bebop fan, then you will miss out something quite good ^^

And even for people who have watched the series long time ago will probably still love it because it really highlights their ... personalities and also showing some great moments from the series itself ^^

Don´t waste your time reading my review, go watch it!

An absolute classic, love it or hate it, Cowboy bebop has spanned across a wide audience, making millions of fans all over the world, the show may seem American on its core, but it managed to pull interest from people with different cultures, is it the animation? no, maybe the story? probably both,; or even something else, either way, all of us who watched the origin series, can relate, this one, however, is special release, that never been aired outside of TV programmes, and only made it as a Bonus episode, showing off what a portion of the audience might have missed...

- Story (5.0/10):
There is ... no story backing up this animation per say, an all in one description would call this, a compilation of shots from scenes that never made it on Tokyo's TV programmes of the Cowboy series, due to excessive violence and suggestive content, all there is to it, is some philosophic commentary by the main cast, across all different the thirteen fist episodes.

- Art (8.0/10):
I've always admired this unique feel of the Cowboy Bebop animation, the colors and art style are just a rare type of eye candy, that seem to have extracted from modern animations, you don'"t get unbelievably beautiful characters with exaggerated eye sizes, or explicit body anatomy, no, it's all based on realistic human anatomy and faces, most of the characters are ugly, reflective, that's what we get in real life, it's a lot more suited to works that expand on our societies.

- Sound (5.0/10):
I'm giving this one a high score just because the nostalgia I'm getting is killing me right now, and as they sauy, nostalgia is a drug, the opening and ending songs, ugh, I'm getting back those days of my first experience with the main series, the soundtracks are just a killer in this one, but as for the voice acting, I watched the original in the english DUB, and that xwas one of thebest I've seen, I couldn't really take the most of this one, as I only stumbled accorss the SUBed version, but no more complains right?

- Character (8.0/10):
We get to see the Bebop crew all over again, not for long though, just snippets of what it seemed to be a great journey up ahead, the way how Fye sounds like a desperate young adult, that's very skeptical about her backstory, or Jet, the guy who's been stabbed many times in the past, both physicaly and emotionally, and then, we get our careless Ed, and his companion Ein, and finally, there is the cool badass dude, that acts and sound cool all the time without being so boring and predictibale, Spike, the crew does vary in personality, and as we 've seen on the priginal, they do fight moung thjemselves a lot, but something is strong keeping them all together, that strange nbond is a first for me.

- Enjoyment (7.0/10):
As much as I love this series, I couldn't feel the same way I did watch the original or the movie, this was very blunt for me, probably because I got used to the English voice acting when it comes to this one? I did enjoy the philosophic talk though, whilst it kept consistent with what was going at that point in the story, it meant something more, but some others were just terrible if taken out of context, like what Ed said about following strangers, probably that's why there were so many cuts from the series huh?

- Overall (7.0/10):
I would probably not be that excited to talk about this pick or bring it up on anime related conversations, Many people do not enjoy Cowboy Bebop for the classic it is, many of which are the youngsters, and I can understand where they are coming from, but still, this episode doesn't really add much to the experience as a whole, it's only for those hardcore fans, who would like to see more of the Bebop folks, no matter it was.

copied from my review on another site titled ''A review from a meta mindset(, mostly written to get people to look at this episode (with a meta mindset)).''

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Cowboy Bebop was started/approved with the intention of selling toys/merchandise of the space-ships, Watanabe was given creative reign and produced something fairly controversial, the show wasn't promoting their spaceships/toys enough, it was too violent (especially with the school violence going on at the time), and it had the whole jazz/blues thing it had going on, the producer pulled out halfway through the show (though luckily enough the show was picked up by Bandai) and an "ending episode" had ... be made in place of episode 14.
Watanabe used this episode to critique quite a few things that went on behind the scenes, while also having this commentary be accurate to the lifestyle of the characters presenting it.
The episode is divided into 24 parts; the ones I found most interesting, or have the clearest view on, will be discussed.

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Part 16: Violence

Due to a rise in school violence Japan was highly aware of violence in media, much like the American "video-game cause violence craze", for this reason Cowboy Bebop and its fairly realistic depiction of violence was looked at with contempt.
In part 16 Watanabe has Spike not only say his famous "be like water" quote, but also quote Bruce Lee by saying "what I am teaching is not self-defence or how to defeat opponents or anything like that... But rather, how to express yourself through movements.", Spike himself comments "you can tell Bruce Lee wasn't just some movie star or some martial artist, can't you?".
It's pretty clear Watanabe intended this as commentary on the accusations that Bebop glorifies and incentivises violence, he says there's philosophical depth and artistic expression in violence, that incredibly thoughtful and respectable people exist around violence.
It also has a scene of Spike buying a weapon, and when Spike comments about seeing the weapon before in some movie the salesman behind the counter, who looks like a real thug, has an excited and cute reaction, showing that even by owning a weapon shop and looking like a thug you are not automatically a violent person, hyperbolically showing that watching something violent isn't determinate of your character.

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Part 1, 2, 7, 8, 10 & 24: Beauty of Art

Part 1 goes into detail about how changing even a small seemingly insignificant thing could change a person entirely, part 7 talks specifically about writing; stating that the original intent deserves special attention.
Both of these are quite obviously about Bebop itself, especially since it talks about writing so directly, Watanabe believes in his artistic vision, and part 2 talks about what he believes about those who would meddle around with it; there are those that would "cut away at the bonsai tree (Bebop) until it loses all its personality" while in part 8 Faye states that it is precisely those flaws and undesirable traits others might cut off that "are what truly make a woman stand out".
Part 10 contains Watanabe's opinion on a lot of other stuff out there, shows that capitulated and no longer contain a true artistic vision, shows truly made to sell toys; he describes it as "sugar candy that will rot your brain".
The ending song, part 24, is about his fear that there will no longer be great artistic shows, that sugar candy and studio meddling will become the norm and the great days of artistic integrity will have died out.

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Part 7, 9 & 14: Watanabe's Intentions

Watanabe says he wants to surprise the audience in part 7, and in part 9 he makes it clear that the worst response to what he creates would be apathy, he wants people to have an opinion on his work "I spoke: "I don't feel anything toward anyone" Bull spoke: "that is.... the greatest misfortune on this earth"".
In part 14 the greatest thing about bounty hunting is said to be the freedom; the lack of a clear rule book, and the downside is said to be how once you start doing what you want you're told that it's against the rules and people will get mad, an obvious way of saying that once you start making a show like Bebop the higher-ups are gonna start complaining despite originally giving you free reign.

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I hope you'll enjoy watching Mish mash Blues with a (possibly) new way of looking at it.

"This Is Not The End. You Will See The Real "Cowboy Bebop" Someday!"

I never expected a recap to be this good. People might have skipped it coz of the common misconception that it's a recap of the first 13 episodes. But in reality, it is a collage of all those messages that we could never properly understand that the show called "Life Lessons"

Story: -
Montages of the same plot, but was great to see everyone talking so freely.

Art: -
Same as the original.

... Sound: 10/10
(Soundtrack was really catchy and the music was amazing, which goes without saying)

Character: 10/10
Viewers got to know what the characters really were on the inside.

Enjoyment: 8/10

Overall: 8/10
Definitely worth a watch.

As others have said before me, quite a few things stand out when it comes to this special.

The music is key: hip-hop, jazz, blues, Watanabe shows once again his masterful taste in music.
The mantra-like sentences shared during each part are, I admit, quite a bit too much but that's just the author's style that we've come to know -- Overall, the special is part of the entire Cowboy Bebop experience and aesthetic: albeit not an essential part of the story.

If you liked the genre-defining Cowboy Bebop, indulge yourself in this melancholic love letter to the series' aesthetic and unique charm.