In the semi-distant future, bounty hunters have become a major reality. Cowboy Bebop follows the crazy antics of two bounty hunters named Spike Spiegel and Jet Black.
Throughout the anime they come across many odd faces of bounties and even some friends.
By the middle of the series, the Bebop--the ship Jet owns as an HQ for his team--is filled not only with Jet and Spike, but Faye, a beautifully dangerous bounty hunter, and Ed, a crazy 9-year-old tomboy master hacker. Throughout the twenty-six episodes and one movie (that takes place between episodes 24 and 25) the Bebop crew go through many bounties and crazy adventures just to scrounge around for some type of income to keep them alive.
In the many episodes the animation is just perfect, with real-physics fighting and great-choreographed battles, with an amazing soundtrack done by Yoko Kanno.
Bebop is an anime for the people who love comedy mixed with great action and drama.

Story & Characters

Very odd.
This is one of those series that doesn't need to be seen in order. ALthough some of the episodes make veiled references to characters in previous episodes, overall each episode stands on its own, yet evokes a wanting to see each and every one.

In addition, the cast of supporting characters make each episode a unique experience; from the crazy girl and her hacker dog to the large-breasted debtor, each character has his/her own unique (beleiveable) personality that make this series seem less like an anime, and more like a documentary of sorts.

However, that should not stop you plot-lovers out there! There is more than enough story, each one doled out in small segments to unravel the mystery behind Spike's past, or the sorrow behind Jet's arm. Let's just say, you won't be able to stop watching.

The one thing I didn't like, was that in learning about the past of the characters, you had to go back several episodes, yet you would never be told about them ever again. It was assumed that you knew everything about them. Even so, this should not stop you from picking upa DVD, or watching re-runs on TV.

Rating: 8

Art

Cowboy Bebop has animation that is nothing short of amazing. The characters (especially spike) move fluidly, evoking feelings of grace in the many, many fight scenes.
Whether watching the space ships maneuver, or laughing as Ein evades yet another captors grasp, each scene is somehow remeniscent of a scort of dance.

As if that wasn't enough to stir my soul into rating this highly, the landscapes are breathtaking; with space being barren, cities bustling, and fields ripe and fertile. The detail put into it is incredible, to the point where it becomes fun to pause a scene just to look at everything besides the main focus; be it a man reading a newspaper, or the ocean stretching out as far as the eye can see.

Rating: 9

Sound

Once again, I feel obliged to rate highly in this category.
As with most series, the sounds make or break the show. In this case, the music is beutifal (prompting me to surf the web for MP3's), the voices match perfectly (as so many other series have failed with) and the dubbing sounds just as good 9if not better than) the japanese voices.

Most of the music I heard was jazz, or music that had great deals of the brass family (trumpets, horns, etc...), and that was fine by me. Although I don't like that style as much as, say...j-pop, it fit well with the nature of the characters, just as the voices would fit.

Rating: 10

Presentation

As I said before, the series episodes can be viewed as single episodes, as opposed to a long storyline. Therefore, you are bound to get several different...genres of sorts when watching. Almost every episode has its fair shair of comedy, yet don't approach the slapstick line. Yet other episodes are so greif-stricken that they leave you wishing that the characters parents were still alive, or that his lover hadn't been shot, etc...
With each episode, you will laugh, you will cry...it will practically tell you an emotion to feel, and you will feel it.

Unfortunately, I have to rate them lower because they did such a good job. I am a man who does not enjoy seeing suffering; I am very empathetic. There were several episodes that just made me feel like crap when I watched them, and I would break down and cry at seeing my favorite character die from a gun wound, or a nice person be kidnapped, or something. Maybe this is unfair of me, but I just can't rate something highly that made me want to turn off the television and shoot myself.

Rating: 7

Final Verdict

8.17 (good)

Reviewed by Niobes, Oct 25, 2005

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