I wanted this desperately to succeed because I’ve wanted more Bebop for 20 years. So that brings us to Netflix’s live-action adaption of Cowboy Bebop. It was suddenly here and gone with everyone lucky enough to see it talking about it for the rest of their lives. And there’s only 26 of them, along with a movie, Knockin’ on Heavens Door that was released in 2001. Just about every episode feels like you’re watching a movie. There are a lot of cinematic touchstones in the series, so that’s not too surprising. Bebop is the first TV show soundtrack I ever paid any attention to. If you hate jazz, it’ll make you realize why someone could like the genre so much. If you’ve never heard jazz before, it can make you a fan. He both runs away and toward his past through the series. The guy used to be in a notorious crime syndicate and escaped it without the love of his life. He’s also extremely loyal when it comes to his friends. He’s an incredible fighter, a fantastic marksman, and he can pilot a ship through hell and back. He’s tall and thin, effortlessly charming, often dry and funny. He’s dressed in a simple blue suit with a yellow button-down shirt and a loose tie, his hair more of a messy mop than a selected hair-do. They immediately show you that this man is the coolest guy ever. Every adventure feels unique and the character-building is engrossing.Ī good example of what’s loved about this series is the main character, Spike Spiegel. It’s a really eclectic show that pulled from a lot of different inspirations and pop culture. Most episodes jump around genres, from film noir, sci-fi, Hollywood summer blockbuster, and a whole lotta Westerns. The tech on the ships is very dated, think of how Alien is set far into the future but the displays and such are very analog with big switches, knobs, and levers, and low-resolution monitors that only display 3 shades of green. In a world set in the year 2071, the vibe is entirely 1970s. Set in the distant future, Cowboy Bebop follows a rag-tag team of bounty hunters as they scrape up the money to fight another day while also dealing with their individual sordid pasts. Sure, people are blasting guns at each other and beating each other with fists and feet, but the presentation is so cool. There was a ton of hyper-violence in anime for action/horror fans (and let’s face it, predominantly boys), but Bebop took a different approach. Not too long after this, the Adult Swim block of anime started on Cartoon Network which started the mainstream emergence of the genre in the US.Ĭowboy Bebop immediately stood out. There are some exceptions, one could argue Heavy Metal, but that was from 1981 so animation for adults was really rare here (I could even throw Cool World from 1992, but I think you get my point). There was nothing like it being made in the US. As a 17-year-old who already loved animation, action movies, and sci-fi, seeing the animation and storytelling that was being made on the other side of the planet was mindblowing. Plus, a lot of people hated the English dubs that came out and wanted the most accurate experience with the original Japanese voice actors with English subtitles (which is still true today).Ĭowboy Bebop was the first anime I ever watched, along with the likes of Ninja Scroll, Trigun, and Ghost in the Shell. It took forever for English translations to be done by the companies that bought the Japanese rights to distribute the shows elsewhere. I think he would also download the earliest fan subs from forums (oh, the days off BBS and listservs) and sell those. That show has over 200 episodes) and sell them. He’d duplicate legit releases (that cost a fortune at the time, it was like $40 for 3 episodes of Dragon Ball Z on one VHS. Not thinking anything of it at the time, it was super illegal. Probably the first internet marketed business I ever encountered. In high school, a classmate ran an anime business out of his bedroom. Largely underground, VHS bootlegs were traded much like music concert bootlegs. The anime started airing in 1998 and at the time, the medium was extremely niche in the United States.
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