Rating:
10
Approval:
84.1% (11 votes)
Cowboy Bebop: 10-year anniversary review special of doom.
Cowboy Bebop, for the uninitiated, is an anime-original 26-episode science fiction anime that had its original run in 1999, ending on this very day 10 years ago. Made by studio Sunrise and conceived by director Shinichirō Watanabe, it was intended to serve as a fusion of different genres, as well as a fusion of media; anime with jazz music. The anime follows Spike Spiegel and Jet Black, a pair of interstellar bounty hunters that make their living tracking down interplanetary criminals while living aboard the spaceship “Bebop”.
So, in homage to its 10th anniversary, Cowboy Bebop being the show that introduced me to the concept of anime, I recently re-subjected myself to a viewing of my old Bebop DVDs. I wanted to see if the show was as good as the first time I saw it, eight years ago (and the two times after that). Turns out it wasn’t just my nostalgia talking.
By this point I presume you have seen my scoring at the right side and are probably a bit apprehensive. I don’t blame you – after all, giving a show a perfect “10” in overall score will, even at best, seem somewhat disingenuous. But, I am now going to try to reasonably explain exactly why I did this, without hopefully coming off as a foaming-by-the-mouth fanboy in the process.
Mainly it’s because, and this I feel I must say right off the bat, Cowboy Bebop is still, eight years and a lot of other good series after the fact, still the best anime I’ve ever seen.
Animation and Visuals: 10/10 – Head of the class in its time; still relevant today.
For a show this old, Cowboy Bebop has aged remarkably gracefully. I will admit that the onset of CGI, and 10 years of advancement of the anime industry in general, have caused leaps forward in animation capability. This means the standards bar has risen: However, watching old shows, like Cowboy Bebop (and to a lesser degree Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Ghibli films of the era sometimes makes me wonder just how much.
Despite not having the CGI blastfests of modern shonen and mecha shows, Cowboy Bebop has excellent character detail, vibrant backgrounds and models (individual rivets are even visible in several machines), a decent drawing distance, well-placed shadows and good use of ambient effects such as cigarette smoke. A few very nicely-made montages also show up to show off the set pieces (and music) from time to time. Considering the standards of today, the character designs look a bit old or “retro” -- I’d use “primitive”, but it looks to me like *more* effort went into Bebop’s facials than it does in most anime today, rose-tinted though my eyes may be. Said faces are well-designed and quite a large amount of different facial expressions are visible, as well as a great variety in types of faces -- even minor characters tend to get uniquely designed appearances.
Bebop’s fight scenes are very good too; gunfights, kung-fu duels and starship fight sequences appear fairly regularly and are all well-animated and have good, fluid animation. The explosive effects are pretty impressive, too, and none of the fights managed to confuse me by annoying me with lots of camera cuts or many rapidly moving objects and bright, shiny lights.
Again, what I keep in mind here is that this show is 10 years old and lacks a lot of impressive CGI tech employed by big-name animator companies nowadays. I may be wrong, but I think the whole thing was done by hand – I certainly didn’t see any overt CGI elements, who even in modern anime tend to stick out. Now, I must admit that most of the anime I’ve seen is from post-2000, but from what I have seen of anime from Bebop’s era I must say it ranks as the top, mostly beating the Ghibli movies’ about as impressive animation and character design by virtue of having a much longer duration in which to showcase varied graphic styles, backgrounds, and characters. Bebop was intentionally made to look more retro than it is, bringing to light old classics like Lupin III in its drawing style. The end result is perhaps a bit dated in today’s world, but it works and looks both good and unique.
I guess what I’m saying is, Production I.G. (or a similar big studio like Madhouse, Bones, or, well, Sunrise itself) could improve on it today if they were to make a remake and were given a budget similar to their graphical grand-slammers like the Gundam series, Stand Alone Complex or Xamd Lost Memories. I question just how much better it would look, even using modern technology, without having to completely redo the entire drawing style. I figure if it’s one rating where I’m giving the grade the most of a stretch it’s this one – the last years have shown me some pretty impressive series – but what the heck. It’s 10 years old, and still on the level with stuff from 2008 and 2009; not to mention outdoes about 9/10ths of most anime I’ve ever seen. Top marks.
Audio: 10/10 – The standard by which every anime is judged.
The soundtrack of Cowboy Bebop is by many considered to be the magnum opus of the composer Yoko Kanno, who worked with jazz ensemble “The Seatbelts” to produce the show’s soundtrack. Music is rather obviously a very strong focus in Cowboy Bebop – as I said, the concept behind the show is the blend of anime with jazz music, and boy does it show. Just to give a general impression of how thorough the soundtrack is; Soul Eater, an anime I reviewed recently, has 51 episodes and a 2-disc OP with about 40 tracks. Cowboy Bebop has 26 episodes and one movie, and has approximately 8-10 discs worth of soundtrack and about 90 tracks; even taking into account that about a handful of tracks appear multiple times or have alternate remixes, that’s impressive work for an uninterrupted total of, oh, 8 hours of anime.
The music is dominated by jazz and Americana, though several other genres, a bit of opera, a bit of heavy metal, is also thrown into the mix. It’s all extremely well-crafted and several tracks easily stick out, even while it’s used in the series while events in the foreground are trying to compete for my attention. It’s one of those precious rare series where you can actually make out the music, and enjoy it, even while the episode is rolling in the foreground: The music becomes a seamless part of the immersion. The OP, “Tank!” is extremely catchy and gives a good preview of what’s to come, and the ED “The Real Folk Blues” is very cool (alternate ED themes “Space Lion” and “Blue”, used in each their episode, are even better). About the only thing I could think of that would mar Cowboy Bebop’s soundtrack is if the listener really hated jazz music. Apart from the fact that sound is audible in space at all, I have absolutely nothing to complain about the SFX either; it all sits just as it should.
Going along with the music is Cowboy Bebop’s voice cast, which is pretty much flawless in both the Japanese and the English dub (I personally prefer the Japanese, but I found the English one completely tolerable). Kōichi Yamadera underlines the sarcastic, devil-may-care persona of main character Spike extremely well, with Yukinori Ishizuka playing the older ‘straight man’ Jet (English equivalent Beau M. Billingslea is probably the weakest of the English replacements comparing to the original), and Megumi Hayashibara shows off her very impressive range in her character Faye Valentine. All the main characters’ roles are very good at bringing them to life as believable characters and showing off their personalities. The non-main voice roles are also good across the board; for an example, Norio Wakamoto (whom I am contractually obliged to mention whenever he makes an appearance in an anime) plays the chillingly low-key Vicious in a well-done contrast to many of his later over-the-top villain roles.
Anyway, as I stated, any anime soundtrack I listen to nowadays inevitably finds itself contrasted to the style, quality and range of Cowboy Bebop. And by making it the standard for excellence by which I judge everything else, I see little else to do but to give it top marks. And if you can somehow get a hold of said OST, you'll get a lot of good music to listen to as well.
Story: 10/10 – A freestyle mix of genres in self-containing arcs.
Cowboy Bebop is an episodic anime, in other words, the ‘story’, as it is, is told on a per-episode basis. All but four of them (two two-parters) are basically self-containing stories. This means that the viewer, in sitting down to almost any episode, can get the grip on what is going on pretty quickly. The stories are very well-written, coming from a mixture of different genres and employing its story elements accordingly, running a gamut of different moods and scenes. On their own, each episode isn’t exactly the height of originality: Most of them are a rather overt homage of the genre they belong to (this is not to say that they aren’t *well-done* homage; they are). Taken together, however, Cowboy Bebop is fairly unique in mixing so many genres into one single show on a per-episode basis. By devoting one episode to each genre, the show also avoids making sudden whiplashes in mood and setting (of which I can mention Code Geass R2’s drama + over-the-top mecha fights and Elfen Lied’s nude bloodbaths + quasi-romantic drama as less successful examples at trying this). The self-contained nature of each episode also means that most plot points from each episode is wrapped up at the end; story threads are seldom left hanging unless they provide foreshadowing for later events, and the pacing is good.
Despite being self-contained, however, all of the episodes provide a *something* to an overlapping ‘theme’ of the anime, be it as a reveal in one of the characters’ pasts, the introduction of a new main character or recurring side character. This overlapping ‘theme’ I would describe as being that one can never outrun one’s own past – eventually it must be faced (not a bad life lesson, come to that). The show takes care not to clumsily cram it down our throat, instead making its presence subtly present in every episode and leaving the viewer to unearth it – or not. Anyway, the overhanging theme is concerned towards driving the crew of the Bebop closer together and exploring their characters by using character-centric episodes that, when put together, constitute both character development and the exploration of their pasts. It also leads towards the inevitable ending of the series in episode 26, which sees the closure of Spike’s major character arc concerning his life prior to signing onto the Bebop. Without spoiling anything, the ending is incredibly cool and emotionally touching, despite being something of a cliché, and gives us a good final showdown and a worthy end to it all.
Due to its unique nature with mix and match and having pretty much all of its episodes being of very high quality, providing both entertainment and some pieces to the overall theme that made me feel that none of the episodes were truly superfluous (even the more flippant ones like “Toys in the Attic” and “Mushroom Samba”), Cowboy Bebop deserves top marks for being the pinnacle of “a new episode, a new situation” storytelling; I don’t feel I can compare its story to the epics like Monster or Seirei no Moribito since they employ two completely different methods of storytelling.
Characters: 10/10 – Beautifully adult and fleshed-out main characters, workable and sympathetic side casts, believable and well-written interactions.
Cowboy Bebop’s main cast are the crew of the Bebop – the abovementioned Spike and Jet are soon joined aboard by the relatively intelligent dog Ein, self-proclaimed gypsy and card sharp Faye Valentine and maniacal computer hacker Edward (whose surname is too long to print). As I touched upon earlier, Cowboy Bebop’s stories are very character-driven: Most of the episodes showcase a little more of the characters to the audience. And what characters. The three main adult characters, Spike, Jet and Faye are all very maturely and intelligently written, being charming, believable as human beings, and not to mention very fascinating anti-heroes. Because they are all fully aged adults, they are at a stage of life where their personalities are fairly well-defined already and what we get to see is how events of their pasts are affecting their present selves. Instead of having them blab off their life’s stories at the drop of a hat (although that does happen once, and is the centre of that episode), their stories are instead told by unbidden flashback, the odd comment, and by other after-effects of their actions popping up in the story. Having the characters encounter these pieces of their own past, and new perspectives on their current lives, and showing how they react is very interesting to watch. Such introspection, though, doesn’t immediately affect how the characters act on an everyday basis (and probably shouldn’t have either), although you can see subtly how this development eventually comes to light in the later episodes. Bebop thus allows the characters to follow the stand-alone format of the episodes, while still showing that they have depth and are capable of growing as characters. As for Ed and Ein, they perform the role of a comedy duo whose childish tomfoolery contrast the more adult sensibilities of the other three; they are still extremely charming (and funny), but you would hardly expect to get large amounts of character development or backstory from characters that are intended to be two-dimensional from the get-go (which is not to say that you don’t get any). I must say, though, that even as a dog, Ein still has more personality, expressiveness and charm than the cast of Kurozuka combined.
The side characters are generally a lovable lot, existing on a per-episode basis that fulfil both their roles in the script admirably and several of them coming across as interesting or entertaining in their own right. They range the entire gamut of various types, from psychotically creepy killer-for-fun Tongpu to loony scenery-chewing cowboy wannabe Andy, and with a few interesting recurring characters showing up too, like that trio of old-timers or the wacky hosts of the “Big Shot!” bounty hunting program. Obviously, with the time allotted, we don’t get the time to develop every last one of them as fully three-dimensional, rounded characters (for those of you who crave lots of that I seem to remember Monster being particularly, um, ‘in-deep’ in doing just that, even with characters that had no further importance; then again, Monster had time to do that and Cowboy Bebop obviously doesn’t), but the ones we’re supposed to feel with generally get what they need for us to sympathize with them, and the ones meant to scare or entertain get the scenes they need to make them effective.
For a cast that is extremely well-written and both entertaining, charming, sympathetic and believable without grasping for the standard anime archetypes, and for an extremely competent supporting cast that perform their story roles without a hitch and leaves me with a favourable memory of just about all of them, be it as hero or villain, I give it top marks.
Value: 10/10 – If you can’t find something to like about this series, it is possible that anime just isn’t for you.
The reception that Cowboy Bebop has had since its launch, and its historical significance, is extremely impressive for a show which has consequently rejected all attempts at turning it into a franchise. In Japan, Cowboy Bebop has consequently placed well on ‘favorite anime’ lists for years after having finished its run, including making second place (after Neon Genesis Evangelion) on a ‘best anime of all times’ list in NewType 2004. The show was one of the major shows involved in bringing anime into the American public consciousness around the millennial shift, ran several successful reruns on Adult Swim, and Hollywood is currently making plans for a movie based on the series (…no comment). I think I can say that, barring the abovementioned Evangelion, you’d be hard-pressed to find a finished, one-season, purely anime original series that has had more historical significance, at least internationally.
Furthermore, it is also eminently accessible; what with its mixture of many genres and the fact that the show is extremely westernized to the degree that you need absolutely no understanding of Japanese culture to ‘get’ any of it, it has a wide range of appeal throughout multiple demographics. Newspapers and at least one movie magazine I know of have described Cowboy Bebop as a “gateway anime” (one of them using the line I’ve used at the top of the Value section), and I heartily agree (after all, it was mine). In short, I really can’t recommend this anime enough, to anyone who has even the slightest interest in the phenomenon – as for a next step for someone who’s already watched Bebop and want something similar, I can possibly recommend Samurai Champloo, which is more japanocentric but made by the same director. Ultimately, though, there’s nothing really quite like Bebop.
Cowboy Bebop is of course not entirely unique and built of whole cloth; few things are. It was inspired by, amongst other things, Outlaw Star. Its various episodes draw inspirations heavily from classic tropes of the genres they belong to. Ultimately, though, the potpourri of different genres that make up the series as a whole – as well as the importance of the soundtrack in the production – is something that is a unique milestone in the anime world. On its own, Cowboy Bebop has inspired several shows, even western ones (like, if I remember right, Joss Whedon’s Firefly).
And I think I’ve already mentioned something about its rewatchability, to whit, that my look-through prior to writing this is my fourth time (that I can remember). And it still hasn’t gotten old. Top marks, no second thoughts.
Enjoyment: 10/10 – It’s got chills, thrills, laughs, cries, monkeys, mysteries, and even a bit of the blues. Something for almost every taste, and plenty for those with several.
I would hardly have put this anime on a pedestal to the degree I already have if it weren’t also for the fact that it’s a complete joy to watch. The mixture of different genres means that every episode brings something new to the table, the characters are interesting to watch, and the nice visuals and awesome soundtrack in the background means even landscape shots become interesting. At its most comedic (like “Mushroom Samba” or “Cowboy Funk”) Cowboy Bebop is eminently laughable, at its most somber and dramatic (like most of Spike’s episodes) it is very sobering to watch. I can say with honesty that I can’t think of a single piece of Bebop that I think of as a ‘lull’ in enjoyment.
Ok, let’s be honest: Due to its mixing of genres, Cowboy Bebop isn’t as good at some of its components as some other anime I’ve seen that specialize in that part, and it doesn’t cover everything – if I want to watch a high school comedy or mecha combat, for instance, I’ll watch Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei or Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann instead: Cowboy Bebop hasn’t got much of either. Overall, though, Bebop is extremely entertaining and I don’t feel a slightest sting of guilt over top marks in this category.
Total: 10/10 – BANG.
So, this is it. Dubitably, some of you may be wondering if giving Cowboy Bebop a 10 all across the board means that I consider it to be the perfect anime. In short, I don’t.
But then again I don’t believe in the concept of ‘perfection’ either and categorically refuse to keep the score of 10 unused due to it only being usable to describe some platonic ideal of anime. To me, the 10 represents the pinnacle of excellence of what I have seen, taking into account how, given its situation, it has done everything as well as it possibly could have. I can’t judge how good something could *potentially* be judged by some imaginary standard of perfection, because I can’t judge something by the standards of something that I feel doesn’t exist.
What I can do, however, is to judge things by the standards of what I have seen, and ever since I started judging anime I’ve held up Cowboy Bebop as my standard for overall excellence, and as a categorical standard in several departments, amongst them music, character cast and overall enjoyment. And it has survived as this standard through 10 years of excellent shows (and several rewatches to try and keep the nostalgia factor down). Cowboy Bebop has been outdone in some ways; in categories it doesn’t compete in. (I can hardly judge it the ‘best mecha show’, now can I?). But as my overall favourite show? Nope. Not ever. So I finish this extremely overdone fanboy rant review by giving the 10-year jubilant a top mark 10 overall score, and recommend anyone reading this to watch it if they haven’t already; In my opinion, you’re doing yourselves a disfavour by not doing it.
I do hope, however, that one day I’ll actually see it surpassed by something. Just think, how awesome won’t *that* show be?
