Cowboy Bebop

Series

The story of the bounty hunters of the Bebop (a ship) making a living in the future where outer space is merely a highway to the now advanced human race (but surprisingly the future setting still maintained somewhat the traditional architecture in most structures and vehicles).

Another way to describe it: Take a bunch of people, with different [complicated] pasts, personalities, and ideals. Put them in one ship … and watch the ride =)

Here’s a brief background on the zany lot of the Bebop (some characters are introduced later in the series, so consider this your spoiler warning)

1. Spike – former syndicate member
2. Jet – former government member (CIA type)
3. Faye – A woman with a HUGE debt from being in cryo-stasis
4. ED – ultra hacker
5. Ein – scientifically modified “data” dog

There basically aren’t much ways to summarize it. The reason being that Cowboy Bebop is “episodic” in nature. The only “story” that somewhat “links” the series together is Spike’s past, which is interspersed at different episodes… of course the others have their share of development (appropriately at that), but not as often as Spike. Other than that, I’d say each episode can stand on it’s own.

The animation is excellent. Character motion is very fluid especially w/ Spike’s fight scenes. Each episode usually has a gripping story. All in all, it’s an excellent series. The characters of the Bebop are sufficiently developed. And each “story” of any of the members is very appeasing. Of course I’d always welcome more development if possible (for me, you can never “overdevelop.” especially if you got 26 EPs to do it with) But again what was presented was enough to close the series without dissappointing anyone. Excellent job! The music was marvelous! Tastefully done (I just love Jazz and its variations), and arguably the best out there as a whole. So as you can see, Cowboy Bebop is excellent in all points I’ve discussed. And these are usually the points you should take into consideration when watching anime.

Knocking on Heaven’s Door

Cowboy Bebop has already established itself as one of the better anime series as my review (for all it’s worth) discussed. The movie is no slouch either.

Honestly it could be viewed as a standalone episode… a long one at that. But that doesn’t mean it was lacking in any way.

To those who know the series, they agree that most of the episodes don’t necessarily have to contribute to the story (past) of the main characters. Which is a double edged sword if you ask me: the seemingly intentional lack of spike/jet’s story (only bits and pieces were supplied throughout the series), can be bad for obvious reasons, or good because it can keep the series “open.”

The movie, again, does not attempt to add closure to whatever questions were left unanswered in the series. It’s about this guy/freak who want’s to kill of a chunk of the city’s (planet’s?) population using “biological warfare,” and his intentions, past will be revealed in time. And we’ll see Spike, Jet, Faye, Ein and Ed at it again with their usual antics as they do what they usually do. But again, the movie was excellent, it doesn’t try force itself to be anything like any exaggerated anime would usually do. Instead it focuses on the story at hand, and the details of it.

The animation is excellent, one of the best blend of CG and art… seamless and just right. With regards to the computer graphics, it doesn’t come on too strong that the veiwer notices it’s computer generated, actually it doesn’t make the user react at all unless he’s really paying attention to it… which means just the right amount was used… which is the way everything should be. With regards to the animation: WOW! The detail reminded me of Macross. I mean yes there are series on Divx / DVD nowadays that are very clear and smooth, but I tell you the movement and detail to real life motion was excellent. And another thing that impressed me was the “cinematoraphy” (if it’s applicable to animation). The “camera-movements,” are so good, if they applied them to live action, the movie would still probably look good. Overall, the visual appeal of the movie is excellent. The music again was good, as expected from the musical genre Bebop uses.

Again this is a recommended film. It’s visually superb, but the story/content will be comparable to the regular series, which isn’t bad, it’s just you’d expect more since it’s a movie.