Cowboy Bebop

I went into this show with the expectation that I might like it more but I ended up liking it significantly less. There are way too many things I could say, I am going to make it short. This will mean a lot of my thoughts will probably be not delivered as well as I wish but it is what it is. My main takeaway is that I actually do not like a single thing about this show.

Don’t confuse this with dislike though. The first time I thought I appreciated its artistry, the show is factually well produced but when it comes to actual ... appeal, it doesn’t appeal to me whatsoever. The art is well drawn but not aesthetically unique or interesting. The colors are 90s, they aren’t vibrant, they aren’t flat. They are just colors. The character designs are cool and make sense for the setting (Faye is questionable but idc) but they do not appeal to my aesthetic sensitivities. The Ost is there. I overall liked 3 tracks in the entire show, and with liked I mean noticed and enjoyed greatly. The rest was unnoticeable or unimpressive. So basically, decent but nothing I will list in my favorite OST list. The plot – I honestly doubt there even is one. Yes, yes, there is the thematic core of Spike’s character arc that eventually reaches its climax by the end, but I felt it wasn’t overarchingly as important as other shows, especially plot driven ones. This show is a tale of a few characters, hence why it is episodic, but I failed to see relevance or major takeaways in the episodic stories towards the characters or even to just worldbuild the world. In the end it just ends up being a space show where things happen to people. I know that isn’t really a sentence that describes anything nor is it not something that could be said about everything but it is the rawest way for me to state my particular feelings towards this series. Over the span of 26 episodes, I thought 7 were good at best. I didn’t count but it was definitely not more than 9. And with good I mean good, not great not amazing. The rest was either bad, dreadfully bad, unamusing, or okay.


Spike is a character that barely reacts to his surroundings so I don’t ever know what he thinks or worries about, so when his arc ends, I am just kinda… okay? I did enjoy Faye’s character backstory the most, the tape scene being the most emotionally engaging. I don’t understand how the syndicate relates to anything in the universe, or how bad they are in that universe etc. I am not ashamed to admit I do not understand some things in this show but I don’t “understand” them in a personal way that would connect me to the overall narrative in a meaningful way, not in a plot-understanding way (nobody will understand this sentence lmao). I also think Vicious is extreme toast bread villain. All he does is look ugly and quote some poetic nonsense, Spike does that too sometimes. The quoting went out of hand towards the end. All these things are still mature in a way, like they don’t offend me or are pretentious, but they are really underwhelming in many ways. When it comes to a “main” character involved in a rivalry with a villain that is actually good, Psycho-Pass is better at that. It is also better with its “episodic” narrative to expand the world, and I think PP’s worldbuilding isn’t the best.


Speaking of episodic, having a “driver” MC react or engage with episodic people’s tragedies, Kino is way better at that than Spike, though Kino is a non-actor (usually). Also took away more lessons per episode in that show than I did here. Then OST and aesthetic; I have a myriad of shows I like more than this. VEG which I don’t like much because of its last few episodes also had me way more emotionally engaged than this show.

I am saying all of this to justify my score basically. I am not giving Bebop a 5 because I think it is average as far as anime on a major scale go. As I already said, it is at least mature about the things it is doing, I just have seen shows that do similar things way better than it, and I am not into those shows either. I wasn’t emotionally engaged or entertained. There is not much to criticize about it as an anime production because at the time they were high tier, but they aren’t appealing to my tastes. The characters are fine but I don’t “like” them. I don’t find their team interactions special. The pacing is also egregiously slow I felt. In any case I would even say it is the exact same show as Dandy, but a bit more “mature”, but Dandy had overall more episodes I “cared” about.


The last 3 episodes were honestly great. I really liked the tone, the OST was the best it ever has been and it tied the knots of the very minimal plot we have gotten so far together really well. However I still feel like it doesn’t entirely excuse the lack of consistency until this point and it also failed to round out these characters in non-trope ways. Julia just kinda represents this weird male gaze masculine power fantasy for the male character of sacrificing yourself for your loved one after they have passed, but before you do you take revenge. Basically, the plot of any B-type action film where the wife dies at the start of the film. I don’t see how this is any different. It kinda just bores me at this point.


Either way, I think I heard the shot now, and this will be the last time I ever watch this show again. I am glad if you got some great catharsis from any of the character arcs, but I just did not. This wouldn’t be the first show that is a bit “older” that I watched and my main takeaway was “it certainly was monumental for its time” and it probably won’t be the last time.

This review contains a bit of spoilers there and there

I was young enough to watch this anime when it first came out in the late 90's but I never bothered to watch until 2022 because, as little as I knew, it never clicked with me, I never found it interesting despite I never really watched it, I just had that feeling.

Now in 2022 I know for sure that that feeling I had wasn't wrong, it was spot on; I genuinely have no idea how this anime is so highly scored, it's one of the most plain - boring anime I've ever seen, not super bad, ... but so ungodly filled with edgy-ness and cliché it's almost unbearable at some points.

Why edgy? because most characters show the maturity or plainly act like teenagers, with only Jet acting vaguely like an adult - what I mean by that? simply put, they're always over-dramatic or over-theatrical, it's like they have a couple of traits each but those traits are so engrossed in each of their action they don't really feel like real people: Spike for example, the main character, is a typical introvert-cool-easy-going type, which is okay when that's a part of your character, what is not ok is when that is ALL of your character, seriously, aside from vaguely hinted tragic backstory filled with all the cliché you could stuff in (an unrequited love, a past you ran away from, a nihilistic yet tranquil behavior).
Even worse, almost no character is really explored despite the serie has 26 episodes plus a movie, ED, Jet and Faye have a backstory that's barely mentioned, yet at times it's treated like of an huge importance in the episode, yet not enough important to explore.
The story flow is a pure mess. The episodes are auto-conclusive and can be seen in pretty much any order, which wouldn't be a problem if this was some sort of slice of life, but instead it's an anime that pretends to have an overarching story which only matters in the last episode and that's it - it's like all the filler episodes (almost all) pretend to be part of a greater story yet they do act like fillers, with nothing of relevance really developed past their own enclosed mini story of a characters you have no time to grow to be attached to to the point you care about for whatever happen in the said episode, resulting in barely any interested from the viewer (me) as, as I just said, these 1-episode characters have zero appearances / mentions outside their own episode; this becomes clear pretty early in the anime so you end up realizing that no matter what happens, it's yet another one-time story with one-time character that is given too much weight for what is worth.

So while the anime wastes time developing 1-episode long characters, it neglects it's main cast to an astonishing degree, only dedicating one or two episodes to the main characters and leaving tiny bits spread among other episodes.

The sci-fi element is staggering bad as well, the anime is supposed to take place around 2070 yet it's clearly just the late 90's with spaceships... the writer clearly didn't even bother to try and image a future, he just took the 90's and added spaceships and THAT'S IT - I'm NOT faulting the writer for not imaging the future "Right", I'm faulting the writer for not even TRYING to come up with something, so lazy writing, I hate so much when writers use the sci-fi elements but don't really do anything they couldn't do in the current time with slight differences...

Another BIG problem with the anime is it's lack of a mood, it is a comedy? it is serious? it flip flops with moments clearly absurd moments yet it pretends the viewer to take it very seriously when it says so...
Also, where the hell is the police? why capturing the criminals, down to small thugs, is the duty of random bounty hunters?

The most lame of all episodes is that one where a kid gains "Eternal youth" by staring at a space gate explosion... only problem is: 1) It's not simply "Eternal youth", the kid become literally immortal as it can take a bullet in the head and regenerate in seconds, and: 2)Why the hell, in all of of planet earth, he is the only one who got this effect?, not to mention, HOW exactly staring at an explosion or being exposed to some magic rays gives you super regeneration? the anime doesn't even try to explain, it simply happens and damn you if you try to question! you see, the writer wanted to use the genre "Sci-fi" but he was too lazy and non-creative to come up with ideas, so instead he used the genre "Fantasy" disguised as "Sci-fi", and that's because, when things happens with no reason, that's just fantasy, that's magic, that's no "Sci-fi" - I myself can come up with a teleporter device that can teleport you from one place to another and call it "Sci-fi" when I could to the same thing with a wizard casting a teleport spell on you and archive the same goal... in both cases, I would give 0 explanations so why would bother with the teleporter (Sci-fi) and instead going straight to the Wizard? (fantasy).

The movie is also lame, the antagonist is just some crazy person wanting to destroy the world by killing almost everyone with thin as air reasonings; It's pretty lame the fact that Spike gets shot in the chest in a scene yet he is 100% good as new the next day, while in Episode 26 Jet gets shot in the leg and it's pretty much down for the rest of the episode.

Oh yeah, and let's not forget about ED and just how random she is, at some point she meets a guy that's supposed to be her father but she cares more or less about 0 but then in the same episode ED decides to leave the gang, and the dog follow too, and... that's it, the anime is super anti-climatic when it should have had a bit of an emphasis... maybe? no? okay, whatever; ED's presence was thin as air anyway, she was basically the random super hacker of the show written by someone who clearly doesn't know what hacking looks like (Granted the anime was written in the late 90's but still...), and thinks it's like some sort of high-tech voodoo of some sort, really I've never seen a "Sci-fi" this bad.

A fantastic show that defines the space western genre but is let down by mediocre character development and a rushed ending pretending to be deep when in reality, is just premature. Watch episodes 1 through 23 while skipping Jupiter Jazz part 1 and 2, and then watch the movie as a finale, you'll finish the show feeling much more fulfilled instead of let down. The characters throughout the show fail to arc meaningfully or form any bonds otherwise. The entire ending of the show could've been drastically improved is the characters could follow a path of reason. Its hard to describe the short comings ... of the show without spoiling its better parts. It really is a great work of early anime but I wholeheartedly recommend avoiding Spike's plot line.

Ah Cowboy Bebop, this was an anime that was important for me being the anime fan I am today. Back in 2008, I quit watching anime for a number of reasons but then I watched Bebop back in 2012 and then I slowly got back into the medium again. This and Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex were the two shows that helped me get back into it. This is going to be both a write up and a review, and this will kind of pain me to say but after watching the show again, I think it's a 6 out of 10.

Introductions out ... of the way, I don't think Bebop is a *bad* show, I think it's decent but it really is mostly a style over substance show. I don't like it when people critique any piece of media that way since you need both style and substance to make an entertaining story, but Bebop is mainly carried by its style more than anything else. If the show didn't have the animation that it did, if the music didn't fit the scenes as well as it did, and if the dub was off in any way, the show would not have the following that it has. The best way to describe Cowboy Bebop is that it's a bare minimum comfort food story done with style that sneaks in a more interesting episode here and there.

I might as well get into the most debateable aspect of Bebop that either make or break the show for some people is well, the episodic standalones. Fact of the matter is, Cowboy Bebop doesn't really have a serial narrative that you expect a lot of an anime to have, it has a number of episodic standalones that has either nothing to do or vaguely something to do with the main plot. Here is the thing, I am not against this style of storytelling, in fact, as someone who wants to be a fictional writer, I find when a writer can pull this kind of story telling off to be an impressive feat. Mainly in that he has to find a way to get a viewer invested within a short time of 22 minutes, I think the Simpsons, "Homer's Enemy" and the various episodes of the Boondocks do this sort of thing very well. Here's the problem with Bebop's standalones, while most of them aren't bad, none them really stand out in any way either. Outside of Mad Pierrot and Cowboy Andy, I can't think of many that really click with me. Mad Pierrot being an interesting thriller story of sorts and Cowboy Andy being a funny parody on the Western. The rest of the standalones? Outside of "Gateway Shuffle", "Heavy Metal Queen", "Toys in the Attic", and "Boogie Woogie Feng Shui", the episodes are mostly serviceable comfort food at best. I can see why Adult Swim still plays this series to this day because back in the days of only having TV channels late at night, Bebop would probably be a good show to watch to have the time pass by. The biggest problem with the episodic standalone episodes I feel is that they revolve around too many of the same concepts like, "good people in bad situations", "wacky hijinks", or just introducing a new concept out of nowhere in every episode. The writing never makes a point or a message that would last with me, and that is fine, but considering the acclaim this series gets, I was expecting more.

Next point, the sci fi setting, I think it's pretty obvious that Shiniciro Wantanabe is a big fan of movies and not just westerns either, he likes all kinds of genres like film noir, gangster movies, cyberpunk stories, sci fi horror, buddy cop stories, war epics, family movies and so on. I feel that Bebop was better off being just a gangster story and removing all the other genres and sci fi setting that the series pays homage to because the gangster narrative with Spike, Vicious and the Syndicate I felt was the most interesting part, but the series forgets about that a lot of time just to pay subpar tributes to different kinds of storytelling and movies. When I got to Ballad of Fallen Angels I am like, "I want to know more about Vicious and what his deal was, more about Mao, more about Annie, more about the whole power struggle with rival crime syndicates and why Vicious took that moment to want to kill Spike and killed Mao, what Mao and Spike's relationship was. Ballad of Fallen Angels as the 5th episode and it felt like there could've been more set up to it. I felt if Bebop was more about this and was a toned down on the episodic standalones, the show would be better for it.

This is going to be a weird comparison but I always felt Cowboy Bebop was the Jak 3 of anime. Both forget what they are, one being a gangster tale and the other being a 3D platformer and the best parts of both are when they remember to be those things. 90% of the run time of both is spent being subpar versions of other kinds of genres in their respective mediums. It is rather strange how the former is considered to be the greatest anime ever while the other is considered to be the "worst" in its trilogy and is considered to be a game with a cult following.

Let's talk about Bebop as a serial narrative...or what little there is of one. The series throws a lots of concepts at the viewer like cowboys, animal and human experimentation, bounty hunters, immortality, corporation scandals, eco terrorism, cryosleep, assassins, crime syndicates, a corrupt police force, a destroyed earth, techno cults, a war, it has all of these things and all of them don't feel like they bleed into each other that well. The series drops these concepts as soon as they get introduced, as standalone stories they aren't that interesting and as a serial narrative, it just makes the world building a mess and makes me scratch my head every 10 seconds.

This will now lead into my next two points, the ensemble cast and the character of Vicious. I'll talk about the former first, the series promotes an ensemble cast and makes you think it's about the crew of the Bebop and their adventures together when that isn't true, it's ultimately Spike Spiegel's story and everyone just so happen to a supporting character. Sounds weird? Here is the thing, whenever Bebop has it's episodes resembling a serial plot, half the cast are conveniently written out of the story. Jet never gets involved that much and him and the main antagonist, Vicious don't even exchange dialogue together. "Radical Edward" is always never in these episodes with a prominent role because the silly nature of his character would not jell well with the serious episodes of Bebop which is also why he is written out of the story before the series' finale. It's funny how shows like Dragon Ball Z and Naruto get bashed for, "main character or GTFO" when Bebop is, "Spike or GTFO". And before you bash Goku for being a "bad dad" remember Edward's dad ditched him and sent him to a rundown orphanage and then ditches him again and runs away when he sees Ed again, and I am wondering what is the lesson here, Ed realizes his dad is a deadbeat and decides to ditch the Bebop crew? What is the point of that? Okay, back on topic, now here is the biggest problem with the Bebop finale while the ending on its own is decent enough, the stuff leading up to the ending just gets my head scratching. Are some of my major issues with it have to do with the before mentioned "Spike or GTFO". Why didn't the finale involve Faye and Jet in any meaningful way? At least DBZ and Naruto would have characters job to opposing force to establish how strong they are. Faye and Jet should've at least participated in the final shootout before Spike fights Vicious, instead of Shin, it should've been Jet. Faye realizing she has nowhere to go could at the very least have her die for Spike to establish how strong their bond has been since being together. Imagine in the first Lethal Weapon where in the finale Murtaugh decides to ditch Riggs after the former saves his daughter, yeah, it wouldn't do a good job at establishing their bond now would it? Instead all the finale of Bebop does is constantly remind you of a character I hardly care about which is Julia. Faye crazes over her, Jet talks about her, Annie's last dying moments is her acknowledging Julia, Vicious wants Julia dead, Spike has a obsession with Julia, this all wouldn't be so bad, if I actually knew more about Julia outside of flashbacks or if Faye and Jet had any agency of their own.

Now the character that Bebop detractors as here and there they tend to show up tend to criticize, the main antagonist Vicious. Here is the thing, I don't dislike Vicious as much as they do, I think Vicious is both a decent and terrible character at the same time. I only think he is decent because of his voice actor in English because he does a good job at carrying a lot of this material and the way he talks and delivers his lines gives a lot of character that the actual story doesn't really give him. Ignoring him, what was Vicious' plan outside of killing Spike? Why did he want to kill the Red Dragon elders so badly? Why did he testify against Gren? Why does he go after Spike on occasion? Why are those henchmen who helped with the coup so loyal to Vicious? Why does he never go after other members of the Bebop to get to Spike? I can go on, but I felt Vicious as a villain was wasted potential, if the series just committed to the gangster narrative, then maybe there would've been more character and even him having more agency in the story.

Overall, I feel Cowboy Bebop should've been a maybe a 10 episode OVA rather than an anime series, it would feel less bloated and the storytelling would be tighter overall. Note I don't think Bebop is bad, I think it has too many issues that prevent from being an anime I consistently enjoy or an anime where I don't have to zone out during over half its run time. That and I feel the show's mostly critical immunity has gotten me more critical on it in general.

Cowboy Bebop is an old anime set in the distant future where interplanetary travel is possible. The plot focuses on the adventures of a group of space bounty hunters who are completing missions (some successful and others not so much).

Most episodes tend to be self-contained and don't develop the characters until the final chapters.

My opinion:
Plot → I don't usually like anime whose plot doesn't progress in a linear fashion. Until the final chapters nothing interesting happens.
Setting → I don't really like science fiction or the futuristic either
Characters → Although they are objectively well written, their development does not occur until almost the end of the ... work, where they explain their origins.

Conclusion: In general, it was a boring anime for me, since it gives the feeling that there is no interesting plot to follow. The highlight is the past of the characters, but this is not explained until the last chapters. If the beginning of a series doesn't grab you, it's hard to get to the end to discover the true potential of this work.

Final score: 7

Frankly Cowboy Bebop suffers from its age.

Its got great music, and good animation. But its clear the story and more importantly the animation are limited by the tools available to the studio at the time.

The fights are great and are probably the biggest reason to watch the show, but their so few and far between you can count them on your hands and all in they probably total ten minutes of the whole show.

The music is also really good. It both suits the anime and is enjoyable on its own. Not every track is something I'd enjoy but it all works.

But problems start to emerge ... with the episode format and the characters.

Each episode follows the same exact thread; new bounty guy shows up, hi-jinks ensue as the Bebop crew try to catch him/her, new character joins the team, plot twist happens to keep the Bebop crew from getting paid, and then bounty guy or random new character dies and everybody is sad.
Every. Single. Episode. And it really doesn't work, I don't care about anyone these characters only get a few minutes of screen time each and then just die for cheap shock value.

The cast also aren't much better. Jet never really does anything, Faye is just plain annoying, Ed exists to be either a Deus Ex Machina or deliver info dumps, and Spike.

A lot of people really like Spike. I'm not one of them.
He comes across as completely arrogant, like he's too cool to give a damn about his friends or anything.
He's so unsympathetic and detached that it really makes it hard to root for him, especially when he's ditching the Bebop crew for the sixth time to go do some random thing.

The final issue is one that I admit is very personal and probably wont effect anyone else but its still the one that kills the show for me.

There is no real sense of stakes. The Bebop crew is always getting beaten up, their ships wrecked and their bounties escaping. But they never suffer anything for it. Oh sure they complain about a lack of money and food. But it never amounts to anything. There is never a moment where they are bared from doing something, ANYTHING because of the constant losses they suffer.

In one episode they establish that in the whole universe, there is one guy who can work on Spike's personal space ship, parts are getting rarer and the repairs are complex and expensive. Then at the end of the episode Spike sheers both wings off the thing and utterly beats the snot out of it.
And in the next episode the ship is completely fine, restored to the same condition it started the series in.

In the third (I think) episode Spike gets shot like five times and launched out a forth story window . And he's completely fine. No long term injuries or anything.

It just really makes me feel like nothing is at risk. I can't feel broke up at the end because the team has been shown to rebound from similar situations in the past with no difficulty too many times.

I'm not worried about how Jet will fix the Bebop because their ships have been magically fine in every episode. Spike has survived worse injuries than a single bullet and sword cut. Faye is dumb and I don't care about her memories. Ed is the only character I really cared about but she was dumped from the show 3 episodes back for no real reason and no one else showed any concern for her so why should I?

It really lets the show down. Music's still bangin' tho.

I know what your thinking a six for Cowboy Beebop how could you? Well I'm sorry, but it was just a six out of ten anime for me. I don't think it was a waste of my time but I didn't really like it either. The characters are good and interesting but they don't really interact, they don't really change all that much and they don't get satisfying ends to their character arcs. Some of the episodes are certainly interesting, but a lot of them are pretty dry, and the lack of an overarching plot thread and the lack of progress between episodes means that ... it can get pretty boring and repetitive.

Spike's mysterious backstory never really becomes interesting and neither does his rival whose name and appearance make him seem far to much like a character who doesn't realize he's in the wrong anime, which makes it really hard to take the rivalry seriously. It doesn't help that his rival has a personality almost as mysterious as his backstory, and yet were supposed to take his and Spike's rivalry very seriously.

The opening is of course amazing and the fights are very well animated. As I said it wasn't bad but when someone was talking about how good it was and asked me to back them up, I simply found myself going wellll. It's a 6/10 for me.

I loved the story, but to say that I loved the anime, that's another story...

Why's that? Because out of 26 episodes, only six of them are really contributing to the main story of the show. The rest consists of fillers adding some more or less relevant character development, that's all.

If I had to do it again, I would only watch the episodes 1, 5, 12, 13, 25, and 26. That's all you need to watch in order to understand the main story, you're missing some character development but it wasn't so important in the first place.
The only drawback in doing this is that Faye's story ... will remain incomplete, but if you want to know more about her you can just add 5 more episodes to the list: 3, 15, 18, 23, and 24.
Here you have it, the 11 must-watch episodes of the series, the rest felt more or less boring and useless to me.

If it wasn't for all those filler episodes, I would've easily given it an 8 but I really felt like I was wasting my time when watching some of those so I'm going with a 6.

It's like true love at first sight, you either feel it or don't. This is a "must see" and I see why, is very well crafted, the animation is amazing considering it's from 1998 and the story is very cryptic and alluring. It's very unique and special, but, because of that, it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. This story is very episodic, with a few glimpses here and there of the overarching story and the past of the main characters, some episodes have a very good story but others not so much. The last four episodes explains everything and ties everything, but ... the finale is open ended, and, in my personal opinion, kinda rushed. I see why people like and I can appreciate it as a work of art, but I personally didn't like it much, I just saw it because it was pushed to me as a "must see" (and I don't regret seen it) but I was expecting a twist or turning point like Steins;Gates did in episode 12, when it truly kicked in. I recommend it? As I said in the title, you either feel it or don't, and like love, it's not anyone's fault.

I may rewrite this, been a while since I watched it. So from what I remember:

Entertaining show and lots of fun action. The story isn't very memorable, it doesn't do anything surprising to the viewer. If you're looking for action and some funny moments, this is a great watch. The style, setting, theme all make for a great base for a show. Characters aren't bad, I think they're all cool, nut they're nothing to go preaching about though.

The story doesn't really explore any new or interesting ideas, just a western-action kind of series. I enjoyed the all the action scenes, they usually did something ... different every time. I really enjoyed the overall style, definitely a strongpoint. All the characters had something interesting about them, but not much past Spike and somehow Ed. Only characters I really cared about. i obviously cared about Jet, he's a homie, so he's cool by default.

Definitely good in the "eye of the beholder" kind of show. If you have no interest, you probably still won't care after watching.

Cowboy Bepop

One of the most popular and well-known works of the older generation. I didn't grow up with it and never saw or heard of this series in my younger days. It wasn't until this year that I watched it for the first time on recommendation and was pleasantly surprised.

The anime adaptation of Cowboy Bepop was especially convincing in the detailed realization and illustration of the Sci-Fi genre. Through this, an immensely detailed world was constructed, even if there was virtually no world-building, so the individual detail was in the foreground.

Furthermore, the anime possesses very impressive and likable characters that have both individual ... character backgrounds, as well as ambitions. This was well embellished by various amusing conversations and the interaction of the characters.

However, beyond all the positives, Cowboy Bepop also has certain flaws. First and foremost, this series has a relatively mediocre plot that is not convincing in any way. Very slow pacing and it is relatively episodic. 70% of the anime are only based on small experiences and bounty hunts.


[Story 4]

The story mostly revolves around the everyday tasks of Jet's crew, who somehow try to keep themselves on their feet by taking on various missions. Unfortunately, luck is not on their side and they usually come up empty or cause more damage than they deserve.

Along the way, you get to know the respective backgrounds of the 4 main characters and learn where fate will take them. Especially the background of Spike, followed by Fraye were in focus here. Spike's future as well as past with Julia, symbolically formed the rest of the plot and how he wanted to face Vicious.

Overwhelmingly, the result was disappointing, as there was almost no tension and the plot between Spike and Vicious was relatively monotonous. Julia was just an empty shell until the end and the finale resulted in a very weak climax. On the one hand, it's interesting to see how quickly and spontaneously this ending developed. On the other hand, you couldn't get anything out of it. Which left Spike's arc and the actual plot with an average ending. The extremely slow pacing didn't help the whole thing much.

My favorite were the 2 episodes about the fridge and the mushrooms.

[Characters 7]

The series was based only on the focus of 4 main characters. The respective side characters that one met in the course of the plot were relatively simple. They had small backgrounds and there were no great developments.

Vicious, who was the main antagonist of the series, was practically a pushover. He was built up with much more drama than he had in terms of influence and character. Compared to the 4 protagonists, he practically disappeared into thin air.

Faye had the most individual and interesting character arc, which was very much about her personality and development, making her undoubtedly the best character.

Spike is my personal favorite and I liked his personality a lot, even if it became very dull and linear in the long run. He reminded me quite a bit of "Patrick Jane" from "The Mentalist".

Jet had a rather simple background, but in my opinion, he had the strongest and most emotional personality, a real Tsundere as it should be.

Ed was mostly a comedy character with a relatively small but significant background. As a humorous character, however, she was more suitable.

In the end, the characters have been the biggest strength in this anime, through their balanced personalities.


[Animatioen 9]

I was especially fascinated by the backgrounds and their detailed designs, it's been one of the most beautiful post-apocalyptic worlds I've seen.

The actual animations have been very dynamic.

[Music 6]

Quite a short and individual intro which certainly lingers in the mind, how simple and crisp it was. Musically nothing earth-shattering, but that's not what matters.

The Osts have been very rare and were scattered very scarcely over the series to give respective moments more momentum. This also resulted in many moments lacking atmosphere.

[Conclusion.]

Cowboy Bepop is remarkable for its age and has stood the test of time and has a very good reputation in the community. For me, too, it was an interesting experience to have watched this anime. However, one thing is clear here. Cowboy Bepop has a much stronger appeal to the audience through its character than through the actual content. Although the series has been relatively empty, especially the characters have entertained me very well.

Whether I will be able to watch it again, however, is unclear.

[Enjoyment 8]

Having slept on this for over two decades to both my chagrin and that of my peers, to say that this was a bit of a disappointment would be one of the crowning understatements of the very same stretch of time. I hear Bebop described as the "least anime" of the medium as a whole which makes sense, what with it ostensibly being just a string of one-offs benchmarked by expository character moments and the occasional bit of filler, all of which vary drastically in terms of overall quality.

All in all, it's not necessarily unfocused as the primary aim's to highlight a wayward band of ... outcasts' unlikely bond and collaborative approach to the bounties they flub time and again, however the latter episodes bring about an abrupt bit of closure for all. A bit jarring on account of how Jet's arc wraps itself up (much) sooner than everyone else's and abrupt in this case is more synonymous with rushed as the two-part finale doesn't allow for emotions to bubble and burst. It's cathartic all the same but nowhere near as poignant, especially when the series hints at said poignancy with each semblance of closure it tosses our way. It's an aesthetically sumptuous and richly drawn world for sure, and it definitely scores points for being a freewheeling exercise in coolness, even if the decades-spanning hype train made this all the more underwhelming in the end.

Motivated by the legendary composer, Yoko Kanno, I’ve finally finished this classic series. I must say that I am not a big fan of the space and cowboy theme and not to mention the stand alone episodes, however, I can completely understand why this is a classic to people who are into this genre. Nevertheless, subjectively, I would give the majority of its success to Yoko Kanno’s compositions which govern the entire comedic and melancholic atmosphere of Cowboy Bebop. I’d have to say this is Kanno’s best compositions after Ghost in the Shell SAC. The music and atmosphere also reminded me of Michiko & Hatchin ... - with attempts to portray comedic and sorrowful struggles for the characters while reaching their goal.

While I do appreciate the characters and the humor, I felt that the plots were not particularly exciting or unique - it seemed to me like a bad mix of Lupin the Third and Ghost in the Shell SAC, and I’d prefer Fujiko Mine over Faye Valentine any day. I’d love to see more of Ed’s hacking in action, even though deep down I know it’s going to be a disappointment compared to the goddess, Motoko.

There was also not much character development throughout the series. Spike started out quite interesting, but his character remained constant throughout as with the others, whom all lacked substance, which made them all rather blend. This definitely created the my dissonance between the anime. I also found the worldbuilding and visuals to be predictable and what one would “expect” of futuristic planets. To me, they are not artistic, visually striking or novel, but I can understand how this would fascinate others with less aesthetic expectations.

Regardless of the suboptimal plot and characters, I’d have to say the Saul Bass inspired opening is my favorite opening in all of anime. No matter how many times I watch it, it’s so appealing while being the perfect match to the music - absolutely sexy and stylish. It is probably the only anime which I have watched all of the opening without skipping to the main story - really quite exquisite!

All in all, not one of my favorites. Just watched it to enjoy Yoko Kanno’s music.

There’s a lot I like and dislike about Cowboy Bebop. The characters are all fun and likeable. Ed was a little too “lol so random XD” in the beginning for me, but I warmed up to her. The world, as well as the fusion between the retro and futuristic technology was inspired. Unfortunately, that's about all I liked. One of the series biggest flaws it the overarching story. I didn't think it was very interesting. It was best when it was about four likeable characters and worst when it had to go back to the overarching plot (not a controversial stance, I’ve heard). Also, ... the show could be cryptic at times, with the character spouting dialogue that sounds deep but means nothing upon examination. It’s not a bad show, in fact it’s very good, but I expected more from what is considered the best anime ever made.

Cowboy bebop was somewhat of a good anime during the first couple of episodes but then it gets really sidetracked and the main character does a ton of side quests basically, meaning that the progression seems slow. It is a good unique concept in my opinion, but it never really "engaged" me. I saw myself fading in and out of sleep watching some episodes, and just left it at one point because it was so boring at some times. The characters are also unique though in their own way, I would only recommend this anime to people who have no other shows to watch and ... are bored out of their minds, but at least it has a good opening