Reviews

Have you ever done something special in your life? Perhaps it was something small and trivial like spinning a basketball on your fingertip or getting a Helpful vote for a review on this site. Maybe it was something that you will forever remember, like winning a video game tournament or having sex for the first time. Whatever the case, if you had done something special, did you try to re-create the magic, to reach those dizzying heights once more? Most people ho manage to do something extraordinary attempt doing it again and they either fail or end up settling for a vague imitation of what they’ve done. Shinichiro Watanabe, the most famous anime director not named Hayao Miyazaki, once achieved something special in Cowboy Bebop, for which he was endlessly praised. Bebop, Watanabe’s first project, established a ridiculously high standard that he would have to reach with his other works. Throughout his decorated career, Watanabe spearheaded a multitude of anime series, all receiving solid recommendations but none achieved the all-around excellence, the “something-for-everyone” magic, of Cowboy Bebop. Realizing that his efforts to create something original wouldn’t be good enough anymore, Watanabe decided to return to his roots and craft another intergalactic space opera of bounty hunters, christening it “Space Dandy”.

From the get-go, you can easily spot the similarities between Dandy and Bebop. For one, the wulong is the widely accepted currency in both series. Another, less obvious, hint is that the contaminated fridge from Cowboy Bebop’s Session 11 makes a cameo in episode 8 of Space Dandy. It’s obvious that Space Dandy is set in the same universe as Bebop but these two shows are so fundamentally different. What made Cowboy Bebop special, among other things, was its talent for world-building, how the setting was carefully crafted to perfection. The thing about Bebop’s universe was that although it was set in the future, it was still grounded in reality whereas the world of Dandy is so expansive and discombobulated that the feeling of continuity is gone. Then, there are the characters…

More than anything else, Cowboy Bebop was a show about people. From the cooler-than-cool protagonist Spike Spiegel down to the side-note trio of old men, this series portrayed its cast with painstaking amounts of emotion and depth that every character registered as realistic. With Space Dandy, however, the effort just isn’t there. Dandy (voiced by Ian Sinclair) is the titular character of the show; his overzealous speeches, hair-brained schemes, and memorable one-liners craftily cover up Dandy’s lack of dimensions and character development. Dandy’s sidekicks QT the vacuum cleaner and Meow the cat are barely worth mentioning. In a show chock-full of bizarre characters, in appearance and/or personality, it’s more than a tad frustrating that the only intriguing one (excluding Dandy) is the narrator (voiced by R. Bruce Elliot). Space Dandy’s narrator, in essence, is simply a bored viewer like the rest of us. He sometimes falls asleep. He gets aroused during fan-service moments. He occasionally forgets important elements of the show. He even yells at the characters when he’s irritated.

I too get upset at Space Dandy from time to time.

Why? It’s because this show is afraid. It’s afraid to venture outside the norm. It’s afraid to take risks. It’s afraid to attempt something groundbreaking. Instead, Space Dandy settles for doing what’s already been done before, albeit with a distinctive deviation. Don’t think so? Well, listen to what the ever-quotable Dandy has to say:

“I don’t fight it. Going against the flow means you’re swimming in place. One day, you’re too tired to paddle and then suddenly you drown. Whole thing was pointless and now you’re dead. The end. No, going with the flow is where it’s at and that’s (cue dramatic pause) the Dandy Way to live,” – from episode 1

Ironic, huh?

Space Dandy’s animation is, without a doubt, the crown jewel of this series. It’s mercurial (in a good way). It’s stunning. It’s abstract. It’s stylish. It’s absolute eye candy. And yet, this show’s beautiful, beautiful surface does little to conceal its incredibly bland humor (I laughed exactly twice in this season) and scarcity of dramatic appeal (When your MC dies in episode 1, inexplicably resurrects in episode 2, and forgets about episode 1, there’s no reason to sympathize with anyone in life-threatening situations). By the way, Cowboy Bebop possessed ample amounts of humor and drama.

The finale to Space Dandy’s season one failed to redeem this series but it was most certainly impressive. What began as an intriguing and heartwarming tale of romance evolved into a high-stakes showdown between a pissed-off army of machines ready to destroy mankind and a lone vacuum cleaner (QT) willing to save it (Oh, and there’s a really cool cameo from Brandon Potter, who’s among my favorite VAs ever). It was episode 13 that caused me to appreciate the most outstanding qualities of Space Dandy. The amusing previews do a fantastic job at maintaining the viewers’ interest. As mentioned, Space Dandy presents what’s been done before with a unique twist to it (Its portrayal of time loops and shape shifters are especially enjoyable). Every now and then, the show includes some magnificent moments, unforgettable scenes that truly capture the imagination, like the surfboard sequence at the end of episode 6. With Space Dandy, I finally feel as though Shinichiro Watanabe has stopped aiming for the next Cowboy Bebop and simply wanted to let loose with this project, and the result has been quite entertaining to watch.

Here’s to Season Two, Baby!