Cowboy Bebop (1998)

Watchseries; Spike's classic line sums up his views on life. As a seemingly apathetic bounty hunter, he teams up with Jet Black on the good ship BeBop. Seeking those with hefty bounties, they run into Faye Valentine- a mysterious young vixen with a chip on her shoulder and an even larger price on her head.

This is by far one of the best anime series I've ever seen. It's funny, action-packed, and has a killer soundtrack. As with all anime, I recommend the subtitled version, but watch what you can get your hands on of this awesome series!

Spike's classic line sums up his views on life. As a seemingly apathetic bounty hunter, he teams up with Jet Black on the good ship BeBop. Seeking those with hefty bounties, they run into Faye Valentine- a mysterious young vixen with a chip on her shoulder and an even larger price on her head.

This is by far one of the best anime series I've ever seen. It's funny, action-packed, and has a killer soundtrack. As with all anime, I recommend the subtitled version, but watch what you can get your hands on of this awesome series!

Cowboy Bebop watchseries. Animation and anime I have loved for as long as I can remember, and Cowboy Bebop is one of the greatest examples of anime at its best. Everything about this show is exemplary. The animation is just wonderful, right from the detailed character designs, beautiful and haunting colours and the ethereal backgrounds to the coupling of the dazzling action and some of the most jaw-dropping futuristic spectacle in animation or otherwise known to man. The music stays in your mind for a long time and not in an irritating sense, always fits with the drama and shows complexity in mood and orchestration even with its very jazzy feel. Cowboy Bebop also displays some really fine writing, it is poignant and intense yet also humorous and thoughtful, and balanced without any qualms at all. The storytelling shows evidence of great ideas thoroughly and entertainingly explored with little too dark or too light-hearted, there is an ideal combination of both. The characters are interesting and not revolved around clichés, these characters especially Spike are well-developed and any person watching the show would relate to them. The voice work is very dynamic. In conclusion, an outstanding show in every aspect, don't miss it. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I'm not a big fan of anime. When I hear that word I think of Cartoon Network, of the overly wordy internal monologues from 'Speed Racer,' of the pseudo-interesting transformation scenes from 'Sailor Moon,' of one person rushing at another from what appears to be several hundred yards away in 'Dragonball Z,' of convoluted plots and robots that pull mile-long guns out of thin air in 'Gundam 0083.' It's all overly ridiculous, and in their attempts to look 'cool' a lot of animes instead end up looking stupid.

So boy was I surprised when I first saw 'Cowboy Bebop.'

I'm still in the process of watching all 26 episodes, so I don't know everything about the series, but from what I've seen, it's head-and-shoulders better than any anime out there.

It's a fairly simple premise: around 2020 there was a weird explosion which took out part of Luna and put moon rocks in orbit around Earth in a miniature asteroid belt. Earth was rendered more or less uninhabitable, but the same weird explosion also held the keys to Hyperspace Gates, a safe and reliable form of transportation which the planetless Earthlings used to colonize their solar system. With this expansion came an explosion in the Mafia, the black market, the criminal underworld; to control it, InterStellar Space Police was created. But even the ISSP wasn't enough, and so the Police began to put out bounties on criminals. A subculture of bounty hunters evolved; best estimates suggest that there are over 300,000 in the Sol system alone. They have revived and adopted an ancient title: "Cowboy."

'Cowboy Bebop' focuses on the travels of bounty hunter Spike Spiegel, a tall, lanky martial artist who oozes more style than Baz Luhrmann. He and his partner Jet Black travel the solar system in their ship, the Bebop (hence the title of the show), tracking down bounties and entertaining their audiences again and again. But it's not entirely accurate to say that the show FOCUSES on Spike and Jet, because there are two main characters who join the show in later episodes--Faye Valentine, a sexy, outrageous woman with a shadowed past and no tact (and a wardrobe that the animators seem to enjoy making look like it might fall off at any given moment) and a bizarre 13-year-old girl named Ed (don't ask) who can basically hack into any computer system and provides surreal comic relief on the side. But it's not entirely accurate to say the show focuses on THEM, either, because the star is undeniably Spike. The show starts and ends with his past. What about that past? Ah, but that would be telling.

In a medium where characters routinely jump fifty feet into the air and then produce huge beams of energy from somewhere, CB's realism is welcome and refreshing. The animation is fluid and subtle--watching Spike fist-fight the week's bounty in the premier episode is a sight to behold. It's obvious that the animators have put a lot more thought into realistic movement than they normally do. These cel-bound wonders are mixed with a sprinkling of CGI that would do Babylon 5 proud. All together, it creates a visually appealing mix, made even more endearing by the fact that the laws of physics evidently still apply. Despite his extensive martial arts training, Spike produces no energy beams, makes no Matrix-esque leaps, and more or less keeps his feet planted on the earth, the same as the series does.

Characters are handled exquisitely.

CB is a happy blend of story, action, and characters.

Set in the future, CB takes its name from the spaceship, around which the story loosely revolves. The main characters, Spike and Jet, try to make their living while not getting killed, traveling around looking for bounties.

Technically, the animation is very good, though a friend pointed out that sometimes the frame rate is low, or they use a still in a shot. These didn't bother me because they were used tastefully, and were balanced by action shots that carried a lot of energy.

The voice acting for the english version is great, and adds to character depth. They seem to understand who the characters are and how they would react.

The story line is interesting. With each episode being around 25 minutes, the time is filled with a balanced blend of action, character development, and plot. The story within an episode develops rapidly, while the whole series moves more slowly, with the exception of the last few episodes (where they were trying to wrap things up).

If you've never tried any anime, this would be my first choice. I watched it on DVD, and would definitely watch it again.

Cowboy Bebop is the best anime ever. I'm 21, don't tend to be fanboyish, and have seen plenty of others. And it's the best anime ever.

What other anime features a mix of the best choreographed/energetic/ kick-ass fighting scenes - hand-to-hand, hong-kong gun fights and air-space battle?

An unbelievable mix of comic, tragic, violent and fairy tale style episodes...

An incredible sound track - Yoko Kanno is a genius that can do memorable and emotional jazz, blues, classical, fantasy-style, j-pop and even heavy metal. I wouldn't even consider buying the soundtrack to any other anime.

It quite literally oozes "cool" - characters (Spike is probably the coolest - not awsomest, but stylishly coolest) music, action and narrative.

Hell, it's the only show that has both a "cute animal" character and a "cute annoying kid" character that I don't wish a horrible death upon. And if that doesn't convince you, then nothing will.

"One ship, one crew, one destiny" indeed. If you had to sum anime up into two words, it would undoubtably be "Cowboy Bebop." It's a 26 episode series that redefines what animation is and what it can do. The character developement is beyond comparison and the voice acting is unforgettable. If you see only one anime in your life, make it this one. I can't sum it up and give it the credit it deserves, but what I can say, is that it is the most compelling story to be turned into an anime that will have you laughing, and the more sensitive may even cry, but you will get goosebumps. All I can say is, don't forget to watch this before you die, it is worth it and then some.