As the sun begins to set, and the colors of the world are replaced by shades of silver, black, and blue, electric lights flare to life. Some give warmth and lend clarity to the darkened places best left alone and forgotten. Others, flickering in mad staccato bursts, only create more shadows, revealing places for remnants of the past and bad memories to congregate. A spaceship roars by in the inky black sky. A lighter bursts into ignition. A deep inhale, ash falling to the floor, and smoke is exhaled into the dirty air. Somewhere, someone goes to sleep alone, their memories the only thing wrapping its arms around them. This is the world of Cowboy Bebop.
It’s a place of heartache, grief, and bitter regret tinged with the possibility of hope for the future. Space age technology has propelled humanity into the depths of space, but all that’s out there is a greater void to become lost within. Equal parts western drama, noir crime fiction, and science fiction action, Cowboy Bebop redefined what was possible for the anime medium.
It’s no secret Cowboy Bebop is considered to be one of the greatest anime ever created, and in a very rare instance of uniformity, it absolutely deserves all the praise it’s garnered over the years. It’s easy to simply state that Cowboy Bebop is perfect, but it takes a little more effort to truly explain why. So, for anime fans who haven’t yet taken steps into the world of the Bebop, this is the definitive breakdown of what makes this series so utterly special.
Cowboy Bebop Is A Space-Age Crime Western
The Fact That Cowboy Bebop Has A Dog Just Makes It Better
It is the year 2071. Earth has become an uninhabitable wasteland due to an unprecedented accident involving a hyperspace gateway. As such, humanity has taken to the planets and moons of the solar system, finding refuge in the small spaces among the sea of stars. Humanity is rotten to its ugly core, not even alien planets are safe from the trash, refuse, and violence that have plagued humanity since antiquity.
Interplanetary crime is escalating to uncontrollable levels, which has led to the creation of the Inter Solar System Police. The ISSP has a simple system in place: should someone choose to help clean up the waves of crime spreading across the solar system, rewards will be duly administered. This operation has given birth to “cowboys”, or bounty hunters doing work for the ISSP’s monetary rewards.
Among these countless cowboys is the Bebop, a spacecraft manned by Jet Black, a former ISSP officer, and his friend, Spike Spiegel, a young man with a severe case of nonchalance mixed with ennui. Their attempts at earning a living bring them face-to-face with Faye Valentine, a young femme fatale with a mysterious past, and Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV, or “Radical Ed”, a teenage girl who is an elite hacker.
Together, with the addition of Ein, a genetically engineered Pembroke Welsh Corgi with human-level intelligence, the crew of the Bebop embark on one mission after another. They try desperately to earn enough money to get by, all the while running from their pasts, which are always just one step behind them.
Cowboy Bebop Blends Multiple Genres Into A Single Unforgettable Narrative
On The Surface, Cowboy Bebop Might Seem Ordinary, But It's So Much More
It would be easy to state simply that Cowboy Bebop is a fantastic anime due to the quality of its animation, the depth of its characterizations, and its unique setting, but there’s so much more to say than that. Cowboy Bebop is, first and foremost, a science fiction show. It is set in a future where interplanetary travel has been realized. It has all the obligatory futuristic weaponry, spacecraft, and technology to go along with this setting.
That being said, Cowboy Bebop is also a Western. The iconography of classic spaghetti Westerns, i.e., dusty saloons, ragged ghost towns, and the typical cowboy attire of leather boots, vests, and wide-brimmed hats are depicted regularly. Even the premise of the show, a ragtag group of bounty hunters going after outlaws, speaks to the themes of the Wild West.
As if those two genres weren’t enough, Cowboy Bebop is also a noir, balancing out its more outlandish and brighter episodes with dark, rain-soaked alleys, criminal organizations, and bitter hearts dripping with a love long gone foul. Hitmen, thieves, and femme fatales conspire in the shadows as men sink into themselves within a haze of cigarette smoke. Cowboy Bebop delivers a core neo-noir narrative against a backdrop of action-filled hijinks, an act that parallels the inner-workings of the characters that populate it. All the glitz and bombast and humor can only hide the pain for so long.
Cowboy Bebop Also Has One Of The Single-Greatest OST's Ever Composed
The Music Of Cowboy Bebop Is As Important As The Animation
Arguably the most famous and impactful aspects of Cowboy Bebop is its unmatched soundtrack, courtesy of the legendary Yoko Kanno. Multiple genres are represented within the show, from classic bebop and jazz to Western and whatever weird and quirky style Ed’s theme, “Cats on Mars” is.
Every song fits every scene perfectly, and, just like the blend of genres and the mix of dramatic content within the show, the music acts as a reflection of the characters. “The Egg and I” is a carefree march used when Spike and Jet explore the ruins of Earth for an old VCR. “Blue” is the tear-streaked culmination of a life lived in doubt, unhappiness, and tentative hope for a better future.
Interestingly enough, the music of Cowboy Bebop was one of the very first things that was developed, with Yoko Kanno having full creative control of what she composed. Director Shinichiro Watanabe was inspired to create new scenes and moments for the show based on the music that Kanno sent him. In this way, the music of Cowboy Bebop is symbiotically ingrained into the very fabric of the show, impacting it just as much as the writing and animation.
Cowboy Bebop's Animation & Commitment To Quality Is Unmatched
Every Element of Cowboy Bebop Merges Perfectly Together
Of course, no amount of fantastic music or stellar writing would matter if the animation itself was subpar, and, luckily for everyone, Cowboy Bebop is most certainly not subpar. The attention to detail in each and every scene is what brings the worlds of Cowboy Bebop to life. The trash and clutter of junk shops; dirty laundry and household appliances in a bedroom; the orbital ring systems hovering in place just outside the atmosphere of a planet; there is no shortage of stellar imagery to enjoy, which is amazing, as its all background content.
As for the main act, Cowboy Bebop delivers. Animation is silky-smooth and highly detailed, no matter what the scene. Watching Ed dance and prance around the Bebop, a laptop perched precariously on her head, is as well-animated as a fight scene between Spike and a very unlucky thug. And as the show is based in the future, the sleek designs of its spacecraft glimmer and shine as they race through the zero gravity of space. There is never a moment where the show skimps on the details when it comes to movement, action, or simply bringing its worlds to life.
Beneath Cwoboy Bebop's Humor & Explosive Action Is A Profound Tale Of Sorrow
Spike Spiegel's Dramatic Characterization Is Highly Relative
Spike Spiegel is an iconic character, always calm and collected, suave in his blue suit and disheveled hair. His tired eyes and devil-may-care attitude are a stark contrast to the straight-laced and no-nonsense attitude of Jet Black, the everyman dressed in more informal attire. And with Faye Valentine and Ed each contributing equal parts wry sarcasm and well-intentioned lunacy, the Bebop is full of arguments, silliness, and camaraderie, a make-shift family that finds comfort within its own deficiencies. Beneath the facades each one of them wears so valiantly, a deeper sadness is struggling to take over.
The core of Cowboy Bebop is the theme of existentialist loneliness. Spike runs from his past as hard as he can, yet no amount of distance takes him away from the life he once led. He spends his idle hours drifting into somber reflection, discontent with his lot in life. Jet plays the role of the stern father figure of the crew, yet as an ex-ISSP officer, he, too, has a past full of regret and loss that gnaws at him in the quiet minutes. His disposition is of a man who has become disillusioned with society at large, content only to look out for himself and those immediately closest to him.
Faye, for all her arrogance and apparent self-actualization, is no more than a lonely young girl fighting desperately to find a sense of purpose. Ed builds walls of non-sequitur and abstract quirkiness to hide from the fact that she was abandoned by her father at a very young age. Every member of the Bebop has suffered from loss and loneliness, and for all their different attempts at coping with their trauma, they each fail in their own way.
This speaks to the neo-noir angle of the show, as the flashbacks, uncertainty for the future, and the pervading sense of angst that fills each of its characters settle the show into the post-war genre. Happiness and fulfillment are fleeting, and no amount of misbegotten goods, money, or power can fill the void in their hearts. As the main character of the series, Spike is the purest representation of this dynamic, with his narrative propelling the show and, ultimately, bringing it to a close.
Cowboy Bebop Is, Without Exaggeration, One Of The All-Time Greats
You're Gonna Carry That Weight
What makes anime so fantastic is how it can cater to virtually every taste, every style, and every genre of entertainment imaginable. Anime can be perfect for the youngest of viewers, and it can be great for the most mature. It can depict stories that are rife with laughter, mirth, and warmth, or it can present the truest incarnations of violence, nihilism, and despair. As an art form like any other, anime is only as good as the skill of the artists that create it. In Cowboy Bebop‘s case, the combined skill of its director, composer, writer, and animators is second to none.
There is a loss so profound, so deep, so life-altering, that the only thing left for a person to do is drift quietly to the end of the line, nary a single care in the world. No amount of support, no amount of smiles from others, no amount of sunshine pouring in from a rising sun can dispel it. That final walk that is made, each step filled with the certainty that the end is a welcome respite from the hollow shell that had once been a heart, is all that matters when everything else falls away. This is the core of Cowboy Bebop. It asks how a person can continue on through endless waves of grief, and more poignantly, if it’s even worth it at all. When that stardust fiction crawls to a close, all that’s left is a person and their will to live. See you Cowgirl, Someday, Somewhere.
