STORY - 8/10
For promotional purposes, the series' creative director Shinichiro Watanabe said in the initial presentation that Cowboy Bebop would be "A new genre unto itself". Why he said so becomes apparent to anyone that watches the series past episode 1, where it becomes apparent that the show really can't be categorised under a single genre. It pulls inspiration from so many different visual media that it almost literally becomes a new genre. It has themes from genres like western, science-fiction, crime, mafia, romance, post-apocalyptic, even a bit of horror, and the list goes on. There even are a few homages to popular western media (like one that I especially adored somewhere in the middle of the series, which I won't spoil, but it has a hilarious conclusion). Anyway, all I'm saying is, it will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and most important of all, it will make you watch the series to the end.
The plot takes place in the late 21st century, with technology being as futuristic as you would expect; Space ships, planetary colonisation, and, of course, bounty-hunters. The main character Spike Spiegel is one of those bounty-hunters with an unknown past (which becomes more clear in later episodes). He is joined by his friend Jet, an ex-cop who lost his arm in an accident, years ago. They both go hunt bounties each episode, which usually ends up in them receiving no money at all.
The episodes are set up in a 'monster-of-the-week' style chronology, with overarching plot-lines occasionally bopping their head in to make the viewer remember they were there in the first place. This type of storytelling really has a lot of downsides, and is mainly the reason why I didn't give the story a 9/10. If you don't know what 'monster-of-the-week' means, it means that every episode is basically its own arc of the story, with new characters (aside from the main cast) coming in every episode. The big downside is that any buildup made in the previous arc is usually mostly forgotten by the time the next arc starts (this happens a few times later in). However, I'm not saying it is all bad. Because Cowboy Bebop has literally a bazillion different genres and themes, it's easier for the storywriters to address one or more themes per episode, instead of making it a huge clusterfuck of themes and ideas in one giant 24-episode plot. All-in-all, I think it could have been done better, but it would be really difficult.
ART - 9/10
I can't say much about the art except that it was pretty good. The fights are well-choreographed, the animation is smooth, however, it being such an old anime kind of has its downsides which may be hard to get used to. For example, the CG in some episodes are really outdated and practically destroy the immersion, but thankfully the CG is used extremely rarely. Most scenes are very well-made and even ahead of its time at some points. It really holds up well (aside from the CG).
SOUND - 10/10
Oh lawd, the music.
I can safely say that Cowboy Bebop (especially the movie) has the best anime soundtrack ever made. Like the series itself, it really is a mix of all kinds of genres. One episode you may be listening to a wonderfully composed vocal track, and the next episode you might be listening to a piece of hard rock. It not only enhances the thrill, or the enjoyment of certain scenes, it enhances any kind of scene. Dramatic, comedic, action-packed, silly, happy, sad, you name it. Yoko Kanno is by all means an amazing composer, and she even outdid herself. I can't even describe the feelings I felt when I first heard some of these amazingly well-done tracks, and it really is an experience I probably have only felt with maybe a handful of other anime. To round this segment up, Cowboy Bebop's soundtrack is amazing, and you should NOT listen to any tracks before watching the series, as it's kind of spoiler-y.
As an extra, I can't really say much about the original Japanese dubs, as I'm not Japanese, but I can certainly say that the English dub is incredibly well done, and if you aren't Japanese, I advise you to watch the dub instead of the sub.
CHARACTER - 9/10
Ah, the 90s. Character archetypes were still in their infancy, new archetypes were made up everywhere. It was all pioneering. This series might not have the most original characters ever made, but they certainly have amazing backstories. In a way, the character-building might have both gained and lost some of its values because of the 'monster-of-the-week' format. It gained some since every single backstory is bloody beautiful, and the format condenses much more character backstories into a shorter timeframe. On the downside, this makes it so the character buildup feels slightly rushed sometimes, and, like I said in the STORY segment, sometimes these buildups are just completely forgotten by the next episode. For example, there's one episode late in the anime where one of the main cast's characters who has amnesia basically finds out their past, with a terribly sad/dramatic ending to the episode. What, do you expect the drama to go on the next episode? Nope, just back to bounty-hunting with a new bounty to hunt. I might be spoiling things a bit here, but it's just a heads-up.
ENJOYMENT - 10/10
Personal enjoyment is probably the biggest factor in the end-score, which is a good thing for Cowboy Bebop because I enjoyed every last second of it. I can't really explain why. The anime is extremely enjoyable, there.
OVERALL - 9/10
Does Cowboy Bebop deserve to be engraved in culture forever? Yes. Yes it does. You honestly do yourself a disservice if you don't watch this before your 10th anime. Cowboy Bebop is a classic of anime, and visual media as a whole. The story is amazing and original, the art is good, and still holds up now, the sound is fucking amazing, the characters are interesting, and the series is enjoyable. What more do you want? A hyper-intelligent space-corgi? Oh, wait...
