| SPOILERS AHEAD OK bear with me, I haven't seen this discussed here. We all know what happened at the end of the series, I won't argue with that. However this film is peppered with clues suggesting it's an upbeat sequel not a feature length ep tucked between 22 & 23. So hear me out if you will... 1. The film's original subtitle is "Knocking on Heaven's Door" 2. Jet berates Spike for almost getting the old lady killed, and not caring (possibly just a bluff), being selfish etc 3. Spike wakes complaining of Deja Vu 4. Vincent tells us about Purgatory, it's where they're living now 5. It's Halloween and souls can ascend to heaven on this day 6. Both Spike and Vincent have already "died" (at least) once before 7. Vincent saw the world of the butterfly and wants to return there 8. When the shaman brings Spike back, Jet says of Vincent "He was dead from the beginning, just like you". Shaman encourages Spike to open his eyes to the truth of reality 9. Spike has changed by the end (cf #2); doesn't care about the bounty (perp not taken alive), doesn't flee, saves everyone on Mars 10. Spike sees the butterflies 11. Closing text "Are you living in the real world?" Basically: these are the adventures of a man trapped in purgatory and redeeming himself. Vincent's a funny case, on the surface your typical bad guy who wants to end the world. Except if we take what we're told literally, he's possibly the only one who really knows what's going on. He's died once and knows it; this isn't the real world. As he says, sanity is just dictated by events. He wants to return to the heavenly world of the butterflies, and take everyone else there (if they pray on their deathbeds). All things considered, this isn't such a villainous motive after all. Weirdly he also seems to find redemption, albeit not through his scheme. Which was kiiinda maniacal. He does so when he recovers his own, original identity / reality before the experiments. It's debatable if he's just another soul in this Martian Purgatory or a symbol to aid Spike's own personal redemption (he's from a Titan unit just like Vicious after all). Likewise the rest of the Bebop crew could be present as such avatars. Remember Spike never knew the gang split up before the end, so it's still consistent. At least I prefer this interpretation than to it being all one dream of Spike's (another suggested possibility). I hate films like that ! All of this begs the question: Is the whole series also Purgatory? Arguably all the Bebop crew have previously died (been left for dead / terminally ill / gone missing) before we meet them, and as I think back, so have several of the minor characters we meet, who try to rectify mistakes made in their pasts. OK I'm not sure why pre-cryo Faye deserves purgatory. Or the others for that matter. Just thinking out loud. I don't expect everyone to get on board with this perspective, but as food for thought it adds a fair amount of depth (that I wasn't expecting to find) to what's otherwise a great film in its own right. Anyone else have any thoughts? tl;dr Series finale is depressing, watch this last! |
BlackoutingDec 23, 2014 11:59 AM
| The "it was all a dream" aspect of Cowboy Bebop isn't literal in any sense: It's just a saying The fact of the matter is, the movie is officially recognized as a midquel, no more no less. What you're saying is more of a theory than anything. The true ending of Cowboy Bebop shouldn't be tainted, otherwise it will end up being just like every other anime out there in the 90%. |
| cool theories but no |
| And I mean that in the most sexually painful way possible. |
| Like cakedog said it would ruin the ending of cowboy bebop. I'm sure that the creators of the show have already expressed how this takes place somewhere during episode 22 and episode 23 of the series, perhaps hinting future events. |
| I've been here way too long... |
| "Now I do not know whether it was then I dreamt I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man." |
     Short of the day: Monotonous Purgatory(MAL) ✰Public Domain Club | One Piece Club✰ |
| I don't think it ruins the true ending at all. He dies and is dead. Not dreaming. This just happens after :P I admit the series has more of a punch if it ends totally fade-to-black, with the team all split up though. On the other hand, that just makes the film under the above interpretation more bittersweet. I don't know about official statements on this, though I'm not sure they'd want to explicitly spell out what I think they're getting at with this movie. It's better as something the viewer pieces together themselves. I'm less convinced on this logic applying to the whole series and never really bought into the "it was all a dream" motif that pops up throughout the show, it's quite underdeveloped. I'd rather everything was real. But here it seemed to be in your face the whole way, repeatedly referencing death. What came through more in the series was a certain light-touch spiritualism, and I don't feel like I'm making many assumptions, just taking certain things literally in this case. Anyway the beauty of things like this is everyone can take away what they want to. You can even play the whole series mostly out of sequence and enjoy it just as much. |
 He dead. End of story. |
 |
| Either it takes place after episode 9 but before episode 24, or it was all a dream. |
| Actually the truth is that Spike was in a coma the whole series and it was all a dream. |
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