I enjoyed Cowboy Bebop a lot more than most anime, so it was by no means unenjoyable. However, I never liked it as much as a lot of people and also by comparison to a lot of really popular anime so I'm going to try and pinpoint the reasons for that.. it's still a very entertaining anime though make no mistake!
Basically, it just comes down to not really being a big fan of the characters at times.. Spike is kind of a bit easygoing for me, Jet is kind of a bit stiff, Ed is kind of too random, Faye is sort of greedy.
Well ok, Faye is pretty cool, it's true, then Ed.. but overall I the biggest thing was that Cowboy Bebop kind of starts off insanely slow and is very, very cautious
Now, that is, on the one hand, appealing! Certainly Cowboy Bebop is one of the more engaging anime for that reason, but when things often had a kind of filler-y approach for the most part.
The story moves around a lot, basically Spike and Jet are perpetually out of $ because they keep almost failing to get so-and-so or such-and-such, as a consequence the anime is more about the banter and character experiences as much as the big mega moments involving old hatreds or new optimism or whatever it is.
Like, ok, it's a unique blend of different worlds, it's fantastical, it's realistic, it's sensible and boisterious, it's a strong personality, it's Cowboy Bebop, but, the best? Hmm I mean consider there are lots of really engaging anime out there.
Ok, lets make a deal, and put Cowboy Bebop up there, but the movie much more resonant in many ways, it incoporated the cool things about the anime and kind of squished it into something that didn't feel like it dragged as much.
Overall, I can't say I hated Cowboy Bebop, it just felt like the experiences of emotional high were few and far and in between, thus, an 8 (ah screw it, I'll just give it a 9)
