Cowboy Bebop

I’m gonna be one of those letterboxd people who presuppose that everyone really cares about my specific opinions. Really don’t know why this is here but cowboy bebop is one of those once in a lifetime pieces of media. The characters are all great, entertaining and compelling with unique backstories, yet the show subsists entirely in the episodic present which I find so interesting. We only really find out about the characters pasts through their relevance to the present which reflects the way that none of the characters really talk about the past or their struggles honestly. You never really see these characters express warmth or care to each other but there’s a feeling that you know that they need each other that none of them are really willing to admit. Not only that but the characters are just really fun and despite their faults you end up loving all of them. Spike is the ultimate anime badass who is so greatly cool and charismatic, yet stoic to a fault. Jet is the wise older member of the group who serves to ground the cast, almost serving as a surrogate father which is very endearing. Faye is arguably the most tragic character and I find the episodes dealing in her past to be the most compelling. Additionally she has a fun and spunky personality (some say she is a girlboss). Ein is a cute corgi which is always appreciated and Ed serves a lot of fun and wacky comic relief while also serving as the bright and gleeful portion of this brooding group. Each member of the group offers an array of different character traits that complement the other members perfectly. The episodic nature of the show isn’t for everyone but it works very well in my opinion to build an extremely diverse and interesting world with one off characters who are tragic, hilarious, terrifying and always interesting while building some really interesting lore to this anime’s idea of the future. Whats more is, like most science fiction, the series is able to touch upon a lot of different social or political issues in a very subtle and natural way. Subtlety really is the shows greatest strength because no one ever says “i am sad because i miss my girlfriend” or “the healthcare system is bad” but the series conveys it so well while incorporating it into the narrative perfectly. The episodic nature of the show also allows the show to play around with a lot of genres and aesthetics often inspired by 70s pulp fiction but never in a way that feels forced or uninspired. The music is famously phenomenal and is similarly quite diverse containing jazz, samba, country, classical, pop and blues all executed beautifully. I also doubt this was intentional but the show also has this really cozy y2k scifi toonami-early adult swim aesthetic that i go nuts for. The animation itself is also very fluid and and unique with a lot of great and memorable character and background designs. As a result, the action is also incredibly fun to watch with awesome hand-to-hand combat, spaceship dogfights and chase sequences. Probably the only complaint i could make is some of the sexualization of some characters can feel a bit jarring (which is a common problem i have with anime so I don’t really see it as specific to bebop) and there are a few lines about women that maybe didn’t age incredibly. Those are pretty minor complaints though. There are probably a million other things I could say but I feel like I’ve already said way too much lol. Anyway this was and still is one of my favorite pieces of media and my favorite anime of all time See you space cowboy…